Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

Religion: Instant Energy
Monday, Jul. 26, 1976

"In this country they have Father's Day and Mother's Day, and they
might as well have a Guru's Day," said the small, closely cropped
Indian dressed in a red wool ski hat, red silk robes and red knee
socks. He was himself a notable guru, Muktananda Paramahansa. So, last
week at a secluded retreat that was once a Catskill Mountains resort
hotel in upstate New York, more than 2,000 followers staged a day-long
celebration in honor of the man they consider a saint.

There were prayer sessions from which rose chants of Sanskrit verses.
Then the blue lights in the meditation hall dimmed, and the faithful
swayed rhythmically to and fro. Finally, Muktananda proclaimed (in
Mindi, a Hindi dialect), "Now is the auspicious hour of the auspicious
day. The sun and moon are strong." That heralded the main event: the
marriage of 16 couples, the women in saris, with garlands of flowers.
The guru, who is licensed to perform weddings as a minister in an
ordination mill called the Universal Life Church, blessed the rings
and said, "May you live together in love."

Muktananda, 68, known to his followers as Baba (father), is America's
newest fashionable guru. With 62 centers in North America besides the
Catskills ashram, he has attracted more than 20,000 devotees since his
arrival in 1974. He has also received respectful visits from such
celebrities as California Governor Jerry Brown, Singers James Taylor
and Carly Simon, Anthropologist Carlos Castaneda and Astronaut Edgar
Mitchell. At home in India, too, he has a considerable following.
There are centers of his disciples all over the subcontinent. He will
return there this fall in a chartered Air India 747, together with 400
American devotees and a pet bull terrier. But this is undoubtedly not
his last sojourn in the U.S. Says the guru: "Americans are good,
loving and affectionate, law-abiding and disciplined. They have
everything material; now they are searching for and deserve to find
true happiness." Americans who encounter the guru return the
compliment. Says Joy Anderson, a former dancer who now runs the
Catskills ashram with her husband: "He is the perfect guru for the
West. We expect when we put something in to get something out —like
instant coffee—and from Baba you get instant experience."

The principles of Muktananda's teachings are traditionally Hindu:
"Meditate on yourself. Honor and worship your own inner being. God
dwells within you as you." But whereas most gurus lead their disciples
through a slow evolutionary process, Muktananda transmits shakti—
energy or elemental force—in one two-day ritual of teaching and
meditation called an "intensive" (fee, plus modest room and board:
$100). In the climactic moment, the guru places his fingers on the
disciple's closed eyes and gently pushes the head back and forth. The
disciple is then supposed to feel the power flowing into him as if by
an electric charge. Some people say they have experienced flashing
lights, visions, ethereal sounds, and even, among women, orgasm.

Molten Gold. Muktananda had much the same experience himself when he
was initiated by his teacher Nityan-anda in 1947. Inspired at the age
of 15 by his first encounter with the man, he left his home in
southern India to seek out various sages and swamis. Twenty-five years
later he found Nityananda again: "His eyes, wide open, were gazing
straight into mine. I was dazed, I could not close my eyes; I had lost
all power of volition. I saw a ray of light entering me from his
pupils. It felt hot, like burning fever. Its color kept changing from
molten gold to saffron to a shade deeper than the blue of a shining
star. I stood utterly transfixed."

The suppliants who look to Baba Muktananda for such experiences are
generally older than those who follow some other gurus, and they
include a high proportion of professionals: lawyers, actors, educators
and a surprising number of psychologists. Attorney Ron Friedland, 35,
is recuperating from a heart attack. During his convalescence, he
says, he learned that "if you have taken all there is to take out of a
career, and there is nothing more to aspire to, then you know you only
have one-third of the pie—even if it's the fattest, richest third."
Jerry Bender, 38, was making $50,000 a year in Los Angeles as the
chairman of two small film corporations when he began to feel unhappy
about his high-pressure existence. "Now," he says of his sojourn at
the ashram, "I'm in love for the first time in my life. I'm in love
with life. Before this I was in business. Today I am more creative.
When I go back to my business, I'll probably earn $200,000 a year."

Says Russell Kruckman, who once taught literature at Northwestern: "I
don't think people come here looking for a religion. What they come
for is an experience that will give meaning and substance to their
lives. You don't have to believe or profess anything to be a follower
of Baba. We don't become Hindus. People get whatever it is they get
from Baba, and their lives are changed."

Sometimes the changes are small indeed. A number of disciples report
having donated a pack of cigarettes to the guru and thereby been freed
from the desire to smoke (others, even after the guru has touched them
with his sheaf of peacock feathers, still sneak out of the ashram for
a quick puff). But many testify that the guru has genuinely helped
them to cast off "negative emotions" and achieve a certain
tranquillity. Says Muktananda of his own mysterious powers: "I am
however you see me. If you see me as a saint, I am a saint. If you see
me as a fool, I am a fool. If you see me as an ordinary man, I am an
ordinary man." Asked how he sees himself, he answers, "I see myself as
myself."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914413,00.html

Behavior: THE TM CRAZE: 40 Minutes to Bliss
Monday, Oct. 13, 1975

Before each game, New York Jets Quarterback Joe Namath finds a quiet
spot and seems to nod off. In the middle of a gale on Long Island
Sound, while her friends are wrestling with lines and sails, Wendy
Sherman, a Manhattan adwoman, slips to the bow of a 36-ft. yawl, makes
herself as comfortable as she can, and closes her eyes. On warm
afternoons in Rome, Ga., Municipal Court Judge Gary Hamilton and his
wife Virginia can be found on their screened porch, apparently dozing.
It is not a compulsion to sleep that these and perhaps 600,000 other
Americans have in common. It is TM, or Transcendental Meditation, a
ritual that they practice almost religiously twice a day and every
day.

Last week the man who brought TM to America and the rest of the world,
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, was in the U.S. on one of his infrequent visits
to spread The Word. The white-bearded guru visited his new university,
the Maharishi International University in Iowa, and then flew to Los
Angeles, where he taped the Merv Griffin show. Scores of his followers
were in the audience, welcoming their leader with the traditional
Indian greeting in which the hands are held, prayer-like, just below
the chin.

"He's the greatest spiritual leader of our age," proclaimed one of the
Maharishi's devoted band. "He hasn't established a religion, but a
knowledge to benefit mankind."

Outside the TV studio, however, a group of Christian fundamentalists
was present to demonstrate that the diminutive guru has attracted more
than a few detractors. JESUS IS THE LORD, NOT MAHARISHI, read their
signs. The Maharishi saw them, then was whisked away in his limousine
to a suite in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. "We are not a religion," he
retorted.

Why is there so much fuss about something so arcane-sounding as
Transcendental Meditation? Simple. TM is the turn-on of the '70s—a
drugless high that even the narc squad might enjoy.

All it demands of its practitioners is that they sit still for 20
minutes each morning and evening and silently repeat, over and over
again, their specially assigned Sanskrit word, or mantra.

This simple exercise is the cureall, its adherents claim, for almost
everything from high blood pressure and lack of energy to alcoholism
and poor sexual performance. "I use it the way I'd use a product of
our technology to overcome nervous tension," says Stanford Law
Professor John Kaplan. "It's a nonchemical tranquilizer with no
unpleasant side effects."

That recommendation alone is enough for many people in this Valium-
saturated age, and the TM organization can scarcely keep up with those
seeking nirvana by the numbers. Some 30,000 are signing up every month—
more than three times as many as a year ago. There are now 370 TM
centers around the country, and around 6,000 TM teachers.

The movement is biggest in that supermarket of Eastern cults and fads,
California, which claims 123,000 meditators. According to the TM
organization's statistics, there are also 300,000 TM meditators and
2,000 teachers in other countries. Canada leads the way with 90,000,
followed by West Germany (54,000).

Books about TM are on both the hardcover and paperback bestseller
lists, up there, for the moment at least, with the joys of sex, the
dictates of diet, and the woes of Watergate.*

Maharishi International University occupies a 185-acre campus in
Fairfield, Iowa, and is offering 600 students courses in such ordinary
subjects as administration as well as such esoterica as "Astronomy,
Cosmology and the Science of Creative Intelligence" (SCI, as it is
always called, is the grand and somewhat amorphous theory behind TM).
The revenues of the World Plan Executive Council-U.S., the umbrella
name for the burgeoning American TM movement, now amount to $12
million a year.

At national headquarters in Los Angeles, 60 full-time employees
oversee a conglomerate of euphoria that includes the Students
International Meditation Society, which has programs on 100 campuses;
the International Meditation Society, which gives both beginning and
advanced TM courses; and the American Foundation for the Science of
Creative Intelligence, which caters to businessmen. In addition to the
many TM centers, there are also five fully owned and hundreds of
rented country retreats offering lectures, seminars and advanced
meditation (up to 120 minutes a day, or three times the usual dosage).
One such center that the movement owns is set amid 465 acres of
unspoiled countryside at Livingston Manor in New York's Catskill
Mountains. It has a 350-room hotel, a sophisticated printing plant for
the masses of TM newsletters and other literature, and a videotape and
sound-recording complex worthy of a TV network.

TM is even setting up a television station in Los Angeles. Channel 18
is scheduled to go on the air in November with taped lectures by the
Maharishi and variety shows featuring such famous meditators as Stevie
Wonder, Peggy Lee and the Beach Boys, who have written a one-line TM
song ("Transcendental Meditation is good for you"). Station KSCI will
report only good news. there is talk of a TM network sending smiles
from sea to sea.

TM is often mistaken for other nostrums of the '60s and '70s, but it
has little or no relationship to most of them. For example, Esalen,
which inspired the encounter movement in the '60s, in cludes such
therapy as nude communal bathing and rolfing—deep-probing, painful
massages that are supposed to release the unawakened consciousness.
Arica, a nationwide spiritual organi zation, searches for "the
Essential Self through, among other things, Egyptian gymnastics and
African dances. Meditation is only incidental to Arica, and involves
concentrating on the plan ets Jupiter and Saturn and the colors blue
and black. Est, a San Francisco-based group, puts large numbers of
people together in a room and keeps them there for up to 15 hours at a
time, with only three toilet breaks. This supposedly forces modern man
to look at his existential roots and discover, as Founder Werner
Erhard phrases it, that "what is, is." Because of the confusion of
names, the Maharishi is also often mistaken for the junior guru, the
Maharaj Ji, 17, the pudgy, high-living "Perfect Master" of the Divine
Light sect. In contrast to all of the other consciousness-raising
groups, TM appears refreshingly dull and commonplace.

The only exotic component of TM, indeed, is the some what mysterious
figure of the Maharishi himself. Questioned about his past, he roars
with laughter. "You see," he explained to TIME'S Robert Kroon, "I am a
monk, and as a monk I am not expected to think of my past.

It is not important where I come from. I am totally detached and
peripatetic, like Socrates."

This much is known: he was born in India's Central prov ince some time
around 1918 (he refuses to give his age) into the Kshatriya or warrior
caste. In 1940 he took a degree in physics at Allahabad University. He
decided, however, to seek enlightenment in a less scientific and more
orthodox Indian way: he spent 13 years, from 1940 to 1953, with Guru
Dev, a swami who left home at the age of nine to seek enlightenment.
Guru Dev revived a lost meditation technique that originated in the
Vedas, the oldest Hindu writings. According to one legend, Guru Dev
charged the Maharishi with a mission: to find a technique that would
enable the masses to meditate. The Maharishi hid away in the Himalayas
for two years. When he emerged, he started the TM movement. In 1956 he
took the name Maharishi, meaning Great Seer in Sanskrit. Now in his
late 50s—though looks as old as the Vedas themselves—the Maharishi, by
all accounts, is a living advertisement for the energy TM supposed to
release. He is forever jeting round the world to visit TM centers in
89 countries. Last month, for ample, he was in Courchevel, a ski
resort in the French Alps, where the movement has temporarily
converted the posh Anapurna Hotel into a training center. In
Courchevel, the Maharishi has a two-seater helicopter always at the
ready to save driving up and down the mountains. The center is a place
of great contrasts. Near the hotel's indoor swimming pool there is a
dais covered with a saffron-colored cloth and surmounted by a portrait
of Guru Dev. Yet nearby is the inevitable color TV studio, ready to
record the Maharishi's every word and gesture.

His aides are always awed and reverential around him. The headquarters
of the movement, they say, is not in one physical spot but rather
"wherever Maharishi is"—true believers do not use the article before
his name. He is the only one in the movement who is not expected to
and does not meditate on a regular basis. "He doesn't have to," says
Robert Cranson, who served two years as one of his secretaries. "He
long ago achieved a perpetual fourth state of consciousness. The
clarity of his mind is awesome."

The Maharishi believes that if only 1% of the population any community
or country is meditating, the other 99% will feel good effects and
crime will be reduced. If 5% meditates, he adds, great things will
really begin to happen. "A good time for the world is coming," he
says. "I see the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. I am only giving
expression to the phenomenon that is taking place."

Whether the Age of Enlightenment is at hand remains to be seen, but
meditating the TM way is in fact as easy as the Maharishi says it is.
First off, a would-be meditator must attend two introductory lectures
of an hour to an hour and a half. Tl if he is still interested, he
pays his fee: $125 for an individual with lower rates for college and
high school students and children four (the minimum age) to ten.

The initiate takes off his shoes and gathers his "offering": a fresh,
white handkerchief, several pieces of sweet fruit and a bunch of
flowers. TM claims to be totally secular, and the offerings are
supposedly meant only as symbols: the flowers represent the flowers of
life, the fruit the seed of life, and the handkerchief the cleansing
of the spirit. After handing over his gifts, the newcomer is taken to
a private room, where his teacher lights candles and incense and
places the fruit, flowers and ha kerchief on an altar under a color
portrait of Guru Dev. The teacher then chants in Sanskrit and
introduces the meditator to his mantra, the one word that is meant to
keep him meditating for the rest of his life.

The meditator is never supposed to reveal his mantra—not to wife,
husband, lover or children. Each teacher is personally given a set of
mantras by the Maharishi—exactly 17 according to one knowledgeable
source. He must parcel them out to his initiates, based on a secret
formula that presumably includes temperament and profession. Duly
initiated, the fledgling meditator is ready for his meditating
classes, which last about an hour and a half each and which must be
taken on three consecutive days or nights. Together with others, up to
50 or more, he sits in a lecture room, meditates for ten minutes or
so, opens his eyes with the others, then meditates again. With the
help of charts and diagrams, TM theories are explained by instructors
who, following the movement's dress code, are invariably well-groomed
and conservatively clothed.

How do you meditate? According to Physicist Lawrence Domash,
chancellor of the Maharishi European Research University in Weggis,
Switzerland, describing meditation is like "trying to explain the
innards of a color television set to a tribe of Pygmies. What you can
do is tell the Pygmy how to switch on the set and tune in to a station
so he can enjoy the program." In fact, say the TM people, there is no
wrong way to meditate. About 30 seconds after the eyes close, the
mantra should come into the mind on its own; if it refuses, the
meditator gently nudges it and starts repeating it silently to
himself. He does not have to repeat it at any particular speed or to
any special rhythm, such as his heart beat or his breathing. Other
thoughts can come into his mind—they almost invariably do—and the
mantra can slip away for a time, to come back a few seconds or a few
minutes later.

There are only a few rules for meditation. It must be done for 20
minutes (some people, for reasons that only their teachers know, are
prescribed only 15 minutes) in the morning and late afternoon or
evening, but it must never be done before going to bed. One couple who
violated the rule by meditating at 9:30 p.m. told TIME Reporter-
Researcher Anne Hopkins that they were so full of energy afterward
that they could not fall asleep until 4 a.m. It must never be done
immediately after a meal. Meditating can be done almost anywhere—on
trains, in cars, in hotel lobbies.

The only real no-no in meditating is trying. If you try to be a good
meditator, you will, paradoxically, almost certainly be a bad
meditator. Meditating, TM officials insist, cannot be forced, and it
must be done in all innocence, a word they use over and over again.
"If you list instructions, you can't do it," asserts Charles Donahue,
coordinator of TM's Northeast region. "It's like falling asleep. You
can tell someone what he has to do—brush his teeth, put on his p.j.s
and so on—before going to bed. But how do you describe the actual
process of falling asleep? You can't."

Even TM officials admit that 20% to 25% of the people who try TM give
it up after a while. Others claim the apostasy rate is still higher.
One of those who quit is Victor Zukowski, owner of a Sharon, Mass.,
beauty parlor. "Look, I really tried," he says. "I paid my $125,
attended all the sessions, and submitted to a ridiculous initiation
ceremony. I meditated for six months, and do you know what happened? I
fell asleep ev ery time. I just don't think it's right to charge
people $125 for nothing."

For many people, however, TM seems to work:

¶ Richard Nolan, 31, is a Democratic Congressman from Minnesota. "When
you are in the political arena," he says, "your day can start at 6 or
7 in the morning at a plant gate, and before you know it, it's 4 in
the afternoon and you still have hours of work in front of you. That's
when it is nice to meditate, so you can get the rest you need."

¶ Marilyn Forman, 40, is a housewife in Melville, Long Is land. When
she found herself screaming at her two children and wondering, "Why
can't I control myself?" she signed up for TM.

By the end of her second week she felt noticeably less tense and
realized that her "boiling point" had been raised to a reasonable
level. "Whatever TM does," she says, "it releases those pressured,
tense, harried feelings we all have from life today."

¶ Curly Smith, 53, a native Oklahoman, is now a land developer in
Boulder City, Nev., living "mighty fine"—enough to pilot his own Lear
jet. "I'm a very practical person," he says. "I found that with TM I
could take life's pressures better. My mind was clearer, and I had a
better disposition. The darndest thing about it is that all you have
to do is say your mantra twice a day.

Period. Everything else just falls into place. With me, I immediately
lost my taste for booze. I mean, my friends back in Okie City couldn't
believe that. Curly Smith not drinkin'. Lord Almighty!"

These glowing testimonials are reinforced by scientific studies that
at least partially back up TM's claims. The tests are relatively new
and not definitive enough to amount to final proof in the eyes of most
doctors, who are also made a little uncomfortable by the fact that
much of the research has been carried out under the auspices of the TM
organization or has been published by the Maharishi International
University Press. Among significant findings:

¶ Blood pressure drops. Working with 22 hypertensive patients for 63
weeks, two researchers from Harvard and U.C.L.A. found a significant
drop in systolic and diastolic blood pressure after the patients began
meditating.

¶ Oxygen consumption is as much as 18% lower during meditation,
according to a study by the same researchers. This denotes a marked
slowing of the metabolism.

¶ Alpha waves, produced by electrical activity in the brain and
generally associated with a feeling of relaxation, become denser and
more widespread in the brain during meditation.

This has been established in studies by a neurologist at Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston and by two psychiatrists at Hartford's
Institute of Living.

¶ Other studies show meditators becoming less dependent on cigarettes,
liquor and drugs or hallucinogens of any kind.

The Federal Government has so far funded 17 TM research projects,
ranging from the effects of meditation on the body to its ability to
help rehabilitate convicts and fight alcoholism. Some companies even
think that TM can improve corporate efficiency. TM courses have been
given at, among others, AT&T, General Foods, Connecticut General Life
Insurance Co., Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Chicago, and the Crocker
National Bank of San Francisco.

The chief scientific challenge to TM is not that it is wrong but
rather that it is not the only meditative technique to benefit the
body. Says Dr. John Laragh, director of the cardiovascular unit at New
York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan and perhaps the
leading expert on hypertension in the U.S. (TIME cover, Jan. 13):

"I'm not sure that meditating has had any different effect on blood
pressure than relaxing and sitting on a couch and reading a book." To
find out, Laragh will soon conduct his own study of the effects of TM
on a group of hypertension patients. Cardiologist Herbert Benson of
Harvard Medical School, who collaborated on much of the original
scientific research on TM, now says that he has a method that gives
the same results; anybody can learn it in a minute, he says, without a
fee and without going to TM classes. "To say there is really only one
way to get the relaxation response is silly," says Benson, whose book
The Relaxation Response has just been published (Morrow; $5.95).
Simply stated, Benson recommends that the meditator sit down and, with
eyes closed, relax his muscles, beginning with his feet and working up
to his face. He then breathes only through his nose, and as he
breathes out, he says the word one silently to himself. With every
breath out he silently repeats "one," continuing for ten to 20
minutes.

"Anyone who claims exclusivity is immediately suspect," says
Psychiatrist Stanley Dean, summing up the chief scientific complaint
against TM. "The TM people's claim that theirs is the best of all
possible worlds is nonsense. It is a sales gimmick. Meditation has
been a way of achieving mental serenity through the ages, and they
have no patent on it. TM is an important addition to our medical
armamentarium, but it is not exclusive."

Other psychiatrists, always wary of anyone seeming to poach on their
preserve, say that the TM organization does not screen prospective
meditators and that the technique—especially a sequence of extra
meditations called "rounding"—might well cause unstable persons to go
over the edge.

Paradoxically, TM is also criticized for being too practical and not
meditative enough. Most Hindu gurus, for instance, teach one or
another form of yoga, which combines practical exercises with
meditation to achieve union with Brahma—the ultimate reality or
Absolute. Yoga itself is the Sanskrit word for a yoking, or union. The
various branches of Buddhist meditation—Zen and Tibetan, for example—
usually require great discipline and concentration to try similarly to
gain nirvana, that ineffable state of liberation and union with
ultimate reality in which suffering is eliminated and compassion and
wisdom are attained. "Transcendental Meditation does not reach the
stage of giving you awareness of your real self," complains Dr. Kumar
Pal, secretary of the Yoga Institute of Psychology and Physical
Therapy in New Delhi. "It is merely a technique, a very limited
technique, and it is not yogic because it lacks the prerequisites of
yogic meditation. A moral life is the sine qua non of yoga practice.
The students and admirers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi have no need to
give up sex, liquor and other immoral habits. They are reveling in
immoral habits at the cost of basic moral values." TM, adds A.K.
Krishna Nambiar, publisher and editor of Spiritual India, "can make
you a better executive, but it cannot give you the spiritual ecstasy
that other, more spiritual meditation techniques do. It can never lead
the meditator to turya, the fourth and eventual stage of spiritual
ecstasy which is the final aim of meditation and which makes the
meditator one with and part of the universe."

On the other hand, some Jews and Christians, like the placard-carrying
fundamentalists in Los Angles last week, say that TM, despite its
claims to being purely secular, is really Hinduism in disguise. Their
argument has at least some merit, and though the ordinary meditator
sees traces of religion only in the initiation ceremony, the rites for
TM teachers are permeated with Hindu words and symbols.

The invocation, for example, reads in part: "To Lord Narayana, to
lotus-born Brahma, the Creator, to Vashishta, to Shakti, and to his
son, Parashar, to Vyasa, to Shukadava . . . I bow down . . . At whose
door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night,
adorned with immeasurable glory, preceptor of the whole world, having
bowed down to him, we gain fulfillment."

Whatever it has borrowed from Hinduism, TM does owe something to
religious tradition, and all major religions—Christianity, Judaism and
Islam, as well as the Eastern faiths—at one time or another have
included both meditation and the repetition of a mantra-like word.
"Clasp this word tightly in your heart so that it never leaves no
matter what may happen," advised a 14th century Christian treatise,
The Cloud of Unknowing. "This word shall be your shield and your
spear."

Perhaps the most significant fact about the TM craze is that, in the
words of Krister Stendahl, dean of the Harvard Divinity School, it
suggests a "genuine hunger for mystical and religious experiences." It
is the most visible manifestation of the industrialized nations
looking for relief from the pressures of modern life in Eastern
spiritual or quasi-spiritual movements. The ideal of combining Western
technological society with Eastern spiritual serenity has long
appealed to many American and European victims of what they regard as
the tensions of the 20th century. Japan is sometimes cited as having
achieved that ideal, with tycoons coming home from the shipyard or
computer plant and slipping into their kimonos and into the serenity
of the past. This is possible in Japan because it has preserved the
framework of old traditions and values. Without those, TM or any
similar movement in the West can be at best palliative.

Judged on its own terms and used as a technique and not as a religious
panacea, TM works—at least for many. It will not necessarily make
people better, but it may very well make them feel better or, if
nothing else, think that they feel better.

And that is about as much as they can expect from 40 minutes a day.

* TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress, by Harold
Bloomfield, Michael Peter Cain and Dennis T. Jaffe (Delacorte; $8.95),
and The TM Book, by Denise Denniston and Peter McWilliams (Price/Stern/
Sloan; $3 95). both in third place this week. Another book that deals
in part with TM, Adam Smith's Powers of Mind (Random House; $10), is
due later this month.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947229,00.html

Mystics: Soothsayer for Everyman
Friday, Oct. 20, 1967

What do Shirley MacLaine, the Beatles, Mia Farrow and the Rolling
Stones have in common? The answer, as any tabloid reader knows by now,
is a starry-eyed devotion to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a bearded Indian
guru who preaches a method of "transcendental meditation" that might
be summed up as how to succeed spiritually without really trying.

India, of course, has countless yogis, swamis, mystics and meditators
who variously expound Hinduism's belief that ultimate reality can be
known not through reason, but only through the soul's intuition of
itself. Though some of these holy men have managed to get a hearing
outside their own country, none has done so well in modern times as
the Maharishi (Great Sage), who had a considerable following even
before he met and conquered the Beatles last August while on a lecture
tour of England.

Peace Without Penance. Son of a government revenue inspector, the
Maharishi discovered his concept of transcendental meditation during
two years of seclusion in the Himalayan mountain village of Utar
Kashi. The Great Sage's explanation of his message is a trifle opaque:
"When the conscious mind expands to embrace deeper levels of thinking,
the thought wave becomes more powerful and results in added energy and
intelligence." In a word, some skeptics have suggested, "Think." All
that is required to achieve this state of "pure being," says the guru,
is a little reflective thought, preferably half an hour at a time for
beginners.

The Maharishi has been sharply criticized by other Indian sages, who
complain that his program for spiritual peace without either penance
or asceticism contravenes every traditional Hindu belief. His critics
are also upset by the Maharishi's claim that the Bhagavad Gita,
Hinduism's epic religious poem, has been wrongly interpreted by most
previous commentators. The Maharishi contends that its real lesson is
that "any man, without having to renounce his way of life, can enjoy
the blessings of all these paths" by simply following his own
meditative technique.

Perhaps because of its comfortable teachings, the Maharishi's
"Spiritual Regeneration Movement" has spread quickly outside India.
Transcendental meditation is now practiced by an estimated 100,000
followers in 35 countries from Denmark to New Zealand. Headquarters of
the spiritual empire is the Maharishi's academy on a shaded, 15-acre
site overlooking the sacred Ganges River at Rishikesh, 130 miles north
of New Delhi. When the guru, a bachelor, is not proselytizing about
the globe, he resides at Rishikesh in a simple, red brick bungalow,
where he often meditates for 20 or 30 days at a stretch. His bedroom
is air-conditioned.

Calm & Insight. Last week the academy was being spruced up in
preparation for the arrival of the Beatles. The Liverpool boys are
particularly enthusiastic about the convenience of the Maharishi's
method, since they can be regenerated without interrupting their
schedule. "You can close your eyes in the middle of Piccadilly and
meditate," exults George Harrison. The Beatles, who now meditate at
least once a day, are convinced that the guru's guidance has endowed
them with greater calm and insight.

The Maharishi evidently believes that his teachings are of special
spiritual benefit to affluent, tension-ridden Westerners. In Aalborg,
Denmark, last week, he defended his movement in couch-oriented terms.
"Modern psychology has pointed to the need of educating people to use
a much larger portion of the mind," said he. "Transcendental
meditation fulfills this need. And," he added sagely, "it can be
taught very easily."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902143,00.html

INDIA: The Five Ms
Monday, May. 02, 1955

Among India's many primitive sects, one of the strangest is the
orgiastic Shakta. The five elements of Shakta worship are madya
(liquor), mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (grain), and maithuna
(sexual intercourse), and it has long been their custom to worship the
Hindu goddess Shakti by seeking unity of body and soul in communal sex
rites. Such is kanchalia dharam, the ceremony of the blouse.

In kanchalia dharam, the women place their upper garments in a large
earthenware jar and, after all have feasted and drunk, each man draws
out a garment and goes off with its owner, regardless of her marital
ties.

The Old Way. Nehru's modern India would like to change Shakta customs.
The government has sent community development officers into the
villages to instruct the Shaktas in modern farming and hygiene and to
teach them to read and write. The government men noted that the
ancient stone pillars embedded in stone rings —phallic symbols
worshiped by the Shaktas—were gathering moss in some villages, and the
officials concluded confidently that the old practices were on the way
out.

One day last week a 28-year-old Shakta named Odia Patel, clad only in
a loincloth, walked into a magistrate's office in Bali, a district of
Rajasthan in Northwest-Central India. In his hand he held a severed
human nose and a bloodstained knife. Said he: "This is my wife's nose.
I cut it off because she was unfaithful to me. And this is the knife I
used."

The Wedding Costume. Inquiry revealed that Odia's wife was a young
woman named Naji, who came from another village and was not herself a
Shakta. One night Odia told her to put on her wedding costume, a black
kanchalia and a billowing scarlet skirt, scarlet headshawl, heavy
silver bangles, toe rings and silver nose ring. Odia then placed on
her forehead a silver lingam, a highly stylized phallic symbol hung
from a silver chain, and led her to a place where, at the behest of a
guru (priest), 84 Shaktas and their wives had assembled in a secluded
place for the ceremony of kanchalia dharam.

Under the intoning guru's direction, the Shakta women and Naji took
off their blouses and put them in a large earthenware jar, and the
group drank liquor and feasted on goat flesh. But when Naji discovered
the meaning of the ceremony, she refused to participate further. "You
must take part in our sacrament," said the guru. Husband Odia also
insisted. When her blouse was drawn from the jar, Naji ran off into
the darkness.

Shamed by her performance, Odia followed her. "After I cut off her
nose," he told the police, "she begged forgiveness and asked me not to
report the matter to the police, but I refused to listen." When the
police reached Odia's hut, they found that Naji had hanged herself.
She had been faithful, after her own fashion.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866274,00.html

Unholy Mess: The Bhagwan faces a federal rap
Monday, Nov. 11, 1985

For a holy man, it was a world of trouble. There, in a third-floor
medical cell of the Mecklenburg County jail in Charlotte, N.C., sat
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh last week, facing 35 counts of conspiring to
violate immigration laws. Back home in Rajneeshpuram, Ore., where he
ran a 1,300-member commune that espouses free love and the good life,
the Bhagwan (Revered One) was accustomed to more deferential
treatment, not to mention a more elegant life- style that offered,
among other amenities, no fewer than 90 Rolls-Royces.

Apparently tipped off that immigration charges against him had been
secretly handed up by a federal grand jury in Portland, the Bhagwan
departed forthwith from Rajneeshpuram. The guru and six disciples
chartered two Learjets and took off so quickly that their pilots had
to obtain final clearances while aloft. As the Bhagwan's retinue tried
to arrange a flight to Bermuda, Federal Aviation Administration
controllers tracked the planes. When Rajneesh's touched down at 2 a.m.
at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, authorities arrested him.

In reported frail health from diabetes, assorted allergies and back
ailments, the Bhagwan was incarcerated in the prison infirmary.
Rajneesh's need for back surgery was the purported reason for his
coming to the U.S. from Poona, India, in June 1981. The surgery was
never performed, and Immigration and Naturalization Service officials
have charged him with lying about it. The Government also charged the
guru and seven of his aides with arranging sham marriages so that
foreign disciples could move to the U.S. as spouses.

Although the sect leader was accused of immigration-law violations,
INS Agent Joseph Green testified in Charlotte that the guru's
followers were plotting to kill the U.S. Attorney in Portland and the
Oregon attorney general if the Bhagwan was imprisoned. A week earlier,
an Oregon grand jury filed attempted murder charges against Ma Anand
Sheela, 35, the Bhagwan's former secretary. She had fled the commune
in September, prompting accusations from Rajneesh that she had
conspired to murder his physician. Sheela was arrested last week in
West Germany. In addition to the attempted murder indictment, she too
has been charged with violating U.S. immigration laws. If she can be
extradited to the U.S., she may rejoin her guru, not in the commune
she helped establish, but in a courtroom.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960361,00.html

Books: Transcendence, Incorporated
By HP-Time.com;R.Z. Sheppard Monday, Dec. 24, 1979

KARMA COLA by Gita Mehta

Simon & Schuster; 201 pages; $9.95

The '60s introduced the medium as the message, and the '70s perfected
the package as the product. Both points converge in Karma Cola:
Marketing the Mystic East, where, from millenniums before Marshall
McLuhan and Ernest Dichter, the pitch has been that the substance is
the illusion. And vice versa: not long ago, an Indian airline promoted
a package tour with the slogan NIRVANA FOR $100 A DAY.

Gita Mehta's witty documentary satire illustrates that the cost can be
considerably higher. This is especially true for the thousands of
Europeans and Americans who have flocked to the Indian subcontinent in
search of enlightenment, cheap dope and, like the Californian who
turned her sadhana into a course on "inner environments," opportunity.
As reckoned by the Hindus and Gore Vidal, this dark, chaotic age of
Kali seethes with confusions, corruption and misapprehension. Karma,
for example, a rather severe concept of determinism, has been turned
into a metaphysical jelly bean by hippies, shopping-center swamis and
jet-lagged gurus. "Karma," writes Mehta, "is now felt as a sort of
vibration and Krishna is a doe-eyed pinup."

Mehta, 36, is an Indian-born, Cambridge-educated former teacher of
Greek tragedy. She has clarifying things to say about those who think
that life is a bed of roses and those who believe it is a bed of
nails: "For us [Hindus], eternal life is death—not in the bosom of
Jesus—but just death, no more being born again to endure life again to
die again. Yet people come in ever-increasing numbers to India to be
born again with the conviction that in their rebirth they will relearn
to live. At the heart of all our celebrations, which are still lively
and colorful, is the realization that we are at a wake. But the
tourists we draw because of that color and that liveliness appear to
think that they are at a christening."

The East not only accommodates Western delusions but also compliments
them with imitation. There are the lyrics of a popular Indian song
inspired by a movie that found God in a hash pipe: "Take a drag. Take
a drag. I'm wiped out./ Say it in the morning. Say it in the evening./
Hare Krishna Hare Rama Hare Krishna Hare Rama." There are also Western
notions on better transcendence through chemistry. Mehta notes that
young foreigners frequently sell their passports to buy drugs; the
documents are reported stolen and easily replaced at local embassies.
She also reports that villagers who refused to take smallpox
vaccinations 15 years ago are now "dropping uppers and downers with
the best of them," and "Benares looks set on replacing Bangkok as
Needle City, Asia."

Opium as the opiate of the people is not a new story; blending
religion, drugs and pop culture in an ancient culture is. When Allen
Ginsberg made his pilgrimage to India in 1962, his influence was
limited to the handful of people who read his poetry. When the Beatles
headed east in 1966-68, they affected tens of millions with their
celebrity and music. They also laid the foundations of the
international guru business. Mehta has an impish eye for the spirit
trade; a multinational convocation of celibates meets in Delhi under
the motto ROYALTY is PURITY PLUS PERSONALITY; downtown, hundreds of
Children of God are demonstrating for the principle of making love for
Jesus. A California touch therapist attends a session in an ashram
only to discover that his Indian counterparts use 2-ft.-long clubs.
The visitor emerges with a broken arm. At a Delhi football stadium the
followers of one guru await the miraculous proof of God from their
master. His evidence: "God exists because if you look in the Oxford
English Dictionary under the letter G, you will eventually find the
word God." The prize for Hindu chutzpah, however, goes to the master
who asked an ambassador's wife about the pain in her leg. "It has
never given any pain," replied the woman. The unflustered guru's
response: "Leg will be better now."

Not all Mehta's observations are that amusing. A French couple arrive
at their consulate with their dead baby. They demand and get money for
the infant's funeral but then leave the body at a crematorium with a
note that reads, "A Present for the French Consul." Hippies lie stoned
and malnourished on the beaches of Goa: a young European woman sits
for days in a stupor with her fatherless child hanging onto a withered
breast; a cult of ritual murderers, known as the Anand Marg, stalks
the streets for victims; an American would-be rabbi buys a six-year-
old waif from her father and is shocked when she attempts to
demonstrate her gratitude with sexual favors.

In only 201 pages, Mehta embraces an enormous variety of life and
death. Her style is light without being flip; her skepticism never
descends to cynicism. Given her subject this is a miracle of rational
ism and taste.

−R.Z. Sheppard

Excerpt

"At one morning session at the World Conference on the Future of
Mankind, the English-speaking delegates in Committee Room B were
discussing 'Science and Spiritual Wisdom.' After the third speaker, a
meteorologist, had delivered his speech, an earnest American student
stood up and asked,

'Sir? Isn't science leading us deeper and deeper into the possibility
of total self-annihilation?' The meteorologist hunched closer to the
microphone . . .

'Let us say there is a nuclear holocaust. What will it do? I shall
tell you what it will do. It will cleanse the world!

'Don't you understand? We are going toward a postnuclear, post-
Armageddon Golden Age!'

The American student nodded sagely and sat down, grasping the moral
significance of nuclear war for the first time."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947140,00.html

Finding God on YouTube
Faith leaders of all flavors have discovered the video pulpit

Watch Video:

Dattatreya Siva Baba was first introduced to mainstream America years
ago when self-help writer Wayne Dyer dedicated a book to the Indian-
born guru. But Baba has since discovered a cultural mover even more
powerful than Dyer. Baba reports that some 3 million people have
viewed his clips since he began putting short versions of his
teachings up on YouTube 15 months ago. Whether expounding on the laws
of cause and effect, or the god Ganesha's birthday, the snowy-bearded
Baba sits in the same leopard-skin print chair; only his headgear
changes color. The clips usually pull in 6,000 viewers the day he
posts them. But "Guided Grace Light Meditation," which was posted in
July when he announced that astronomical phenomena indicated that the
world is due for a golden age, has been viewed on YouTube more than
300,000 times. "I think 300,000 people having that meditation every
day has a great impact on world consciousness," he says, adding, "I
have always wanted to reach the world inclusively so that people don't
have to pay to listen to me and I don't have to pay a lot of money."
Amen.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1847259_1847281_1847277,00.html

Religion: Junior Guru
Monday, Nov. 27, 1972

He is called Balyogeshwar Param Hans Satgurudev Shri Sant Ji Maharaj—
hardly a name likely to become a household word. A little over a year
ago only a handful of people outside India knew who he was. But last
fortnight, when Guru Maharaj Ji (as he is short-titled) flew from the
U.S. to New Delhi to celebrate a three-day festival in honor of his
late guru father, he was accompanied by seven jumbo jets filled with
new followers from the West. They were only a fraction of the number
he had left behind.

No venerable ascetic in flowing white beard and robes, the latest star
from the East to hit the guru circuit is a plump, cherubic 14-year-
old, lightly mustachioed with peach fuzz, his neatly trimmed black
hair slicked back. He dines on vegetables—liberally supplemented by
mounds of Baskin-Robbins ice cream. He does not practice yoga or
formal meditation (having surpassed, he says, the need for it), but he
has a passion for squirt guns and triple Creature Features horror
movies.

The Maharaj Ji's mother and three older brothers literally worship
him, kissing his "lotus feet" whenever they are in his presence. To
them as to his other followers, he is the "Perfect Master" and "Lord
of the Universe." By their testimony, the Maharaj Ji began, while
still a toddler, to deliver inspired satsangs (sermons)—and to amaze
the devotees of his father (then the Perfect Master) by awakening them
in the morning with the exhortation, "Get up, get up. Do meditation!
If you don't, I will beat you with a stick!"

Silver Steed. When his father died, the Maharaj Ji was eight. "I
didn't want to be the guru," he says. "I would have been satisfied to
be a mischievous little boy. But a voice came to me saying, 'You are
he; you are to continue.' " At the funeral, therefore, he confronted
his father's mourning flock: "Why are you weeping? The Perfect Master
never dies. Maharaj Ji is here, amongst you."

Four years later, in 1970, Guru Maharaj Ji inaugurated his
international mission with a triumphal ride through Delhi in a golden
chariot, trailed by miles of elephants, camels and devotees. In 1971
the master's American premies (loved ones) heralded his advent in the
U.S. with a press release stating: "He is coming in the clouds with
great power and glory, and his silver steed will drift down at 4 p.m.
at Los Angeles international airport, TWA Flight 761." That was enough
to attract a coterie of guru buffs and various other seekers. In
little over a year their number has swelled to some 30,000 youthful
followers who man "Divine Light" centers in 45 states.

The teen-age master suggests a stringent life-style for his devotees,
devoid of drugs, sex, tobacco and alcohol. In exchange he offers the
gift of knowledge designed to open the initiate's "third eye" of inner
awareness and thus bring him perpetual peace. Knowledge sessions
sometimes last twelve hours or more and are conducted by 2,000
delegated mahatmas throughout the world. "If you can become perfect,"
the Maharaj Ji told his disciples in Delhi's Ram Lila Grounds last
week, "you can see God. That's the way I did it."

A Great Kid. The premies adore their chubby guru, despite his
frustrating habit of showing up hours late for rallies or sometimes
not at all. "People who stick to their schedules become like a rock,"
he explains. As a mark of their devotion, his premies wear their hair
short and shave their beards. Makeshift barber chairs were set up in
Air India's lounge at Kennedy Airport in New York to shear some
lingering longhairs before the Divine Light pilgrims took off for the
Delhi festival. The grateful faithful have also laden their lord with
gifts, including a Rolls-Royce, a Mercedes and two private planes.

When he and his devotees landed in New Delhi, customs officials
thought they had caught the Perfect Master with an embarrassment of
riches—a suitcase containing diamonds and other jewels plus $65,000
worth of undeclared foreign currency. The guru's retainers claimed
that the money amounted to only $12,000 and represented excess funds
from their Divine Bank for travel expenses. The jewels, they said,
were the "gifts of devotees from many nations" to the Lord of the
Universe. Indian officials were unconvinced, and launched an
investigation.

The amiable young master remained unperturbed at the airport as he
smilingly greeted his followers from a marigold-decorated throne set
up on the back of a Jeep. "The amazing thing about him," said his
private secretary, Gary Girard of Los Angeles, "is that he can
meditate 24 hours a day no matter what is happening."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944540,00.html

INDIA-PAKISTAN: The Trial of Kali
Monday, Oct. 27, 1947

On a bed of stretched thongs in an open courtyard in Lahore, half
naked, her head "wrung steeply back, her legs rigid in a convulsion as
of birth, a woman lay dead.

Under the law of the English, whose writ ran for a third of mankind,
it was fixed that whenever a person, however humble, died of violence
or even unexpectedly, public inquiry was made into the causes of his
death. If guilt seemed to fall upon another, a trial was held and
punishment sought lest murder, undetected or held lightly, spread.

In India and Pakistan since mid-August at least 100,000 have died, not
of germs or hunger or what the law calls "acts of God," but of brutal
slaughter. Scarcely one died in fair combat or with the consolations
of military morale.

No human tribunal ever conceived could try that case, with its clouds
of witnesses, the surging contagion of its guilt. Yet the mind,
squinting at the horror now that the tide of blood had washed back,
naturally cast the evidence in the familiar and dreadful form of The
Trial. The world, with one war still red under its nails and another
beating in its belly, knew, more or less subconsciously, that it would
have to build a prisoner's dock bigger than the subcontinent of India,
that the crime was not contained by geography, and that the less the
crime was understood the more it would infect the whole of humanity.

Before the Fact. The accused had many aliases; Satan and Evil were
two. In India, however, the accused was feared and terribly
propitiated by millions as Kali, goddess of death and catastrophe,
wife-conqueror of the eternal Siva, the dancer. Not in Kali's name
were the 100,000 killed. The Moslems despised her as a wretched idol.
The Sikhs* ignored her. Even most Hindus no longer participated in the
rites of Kali's priests, who dismembered goats (in lieu of human
victims), spraying the blood upon worshipers crowded in fields of
which Kali was mother, fructifier and scourge. Nevertheless Kali, the
Black One, could stand as symbol (or perhaps as scapegoat) for the
horror that had walked hand in hand with bright liberty into India.

Kali has been in India at least 50 centuries, long before Hinduism,
which gradually assimilated her. A few years after the Prophet Mohamed
sent Islam forth to conquer the world, Moslems appeared in India.
After the 11th Century they were masters, sometimes in fact but more
often in name, of the subcontinent. Some Moslems in India today
descend from the conquerors; more are the children of Islam's vigorous
proselytizing, and none the less fanatical for that.

Six centuries of Hindu political inferiority began to be reversed when
the great Sivaji in the mid-17th Century led his Marathas against the
Moslems. Thus, by the time the British reached India, both Hindu and
Moslem were deeply immersed in hate, deeply conscious of dispossession
before the British dispossessed both. Through all the changes, Kali,
both as mother and as evil, persevered, so that when freedom came
there were more Indians than ever to hate each other more intensively
than ever.

Corpus Delicti. If there had indeed been a Prosecutor to try the
enormous case of this murdered woman and the 100,000 other Indians, he
might have opened with a point of wide application.

An ancient Hindu holy book, the Vishnu Purana, he could recall, says
that the life of man will run in four cycles. The last is to be the
Age of Kali. It closes in, says the book, when "society reaches a
stage where property confers rank, wealth, becomes the only source of
virtue, passion, the sole bond of union between husband and wife,
falsehood the source of success in life, sex the only means of
enjoyment, and when outer trappings are confused with inner
religion."

Then the Prosecutor could turn to India: "Everywhere the armed and the
many devoured the helpless and the few. In Calcutta, in Lahore, in
Amritsar, in Old Delhi and New Delhi and throughout the magnificent
plain of the dismembered Punjab, in homes and shops and factories and
farms and villages and in the religious sanctuaries of all faiths,
amid the clotting of the terrified in depots and on guarded trains and
on lonely station platforms and in the vast shelterless encampments of
refugees and their hypnotized columns across the land, the devastation
raged alike among Hindus and Moslems and Sikhs.

"In the first six weeks of Independence, about half as many Indians
were killed as Americans died during nearly four years of the second
World War. There is still no possible numbering of the wounded and the
mutilated who survived, or of those who must yet die for lack of the
simplest medical facilities, or of so much as a roof over their heads.
It is unbearable, and unwise as well, to cherish memory of the bestial
atrocities which have been perpetrated by Moslem and Sikh and Hindu
alike. It is beyond human competence to conceive, far less to endure
the thought of, the massiveness of the mania of rage, the munificence
of the anguish, the fecundity of hate breeding hate, perhaps for
generations to come."

The Eyewitness. On this point, the witness Niranjan Singh, a Sikh,
testified. Singh, a few weeks ago a prosperous merchant in the
Montgomery district of the Punjab, now moves about New Delhi on
crutches. He said:

"I shall never rest until revenge is taken upon the Moslems for all
the wicked atrocities they have perpetrated upon innocent people.
Moslems killed my old father, abducted my young daughter, slew my son
and maimed my foot. No mercy whatsoever should be shown to them. I've
always treated my Moslem laborers with kindness but the dirty swine
have repaid me with brutality.

"I smelled trouble in my village when Moslems began gathering at the
mosque every day for long conferences. One morning Moslems from all
neighboring areas gathered around our village and attacked it. But
although we were outnumbered, we held them for eight hours. We had
only our kirpans [swords] and a few old rifles. They had modern
weapons. When finally they broke through, there was not one among us
who had not sustained some injury or other. The brutes killed my 90-
year-old father and when my young son rushed to his defense, they
speared him to death. I had been injured on my forehead and gushing
blood had made me partly blind. A young, cowardly Moslem attacked me
from behind with a hatchet, injuring my foot. Before I fell and
fainted, I saw some Moslems carrying away my 16-year-old daughter, who
put up stiff resistance.

"I was left among the dead for two days, dying of thirst, when at last
a Hindu battalion of the Indian Army visited our village and rescued
me. I insist revenge be taken on these traitors and brutes. We ought
to declare war on Pakistan."

The Madness. The Prosecutor said:

"The stone of murder spread like a huge wave. This outrage in
retaliation for that one and that in retaliation for still another,
and a new one in retaliation for the latest before it, and still a
newer in retaliation for that, another set aflame by the stories of
refugees and another still by pure rumor, and another in retaliation
for that and still another by rumor. The genius of India has ever been
for myth, not rationality: and no man's reason may be expected to
remain intact under the intricate chemistries of horror, heartbreak,
revenge, the vertiginous contagion of mobs, a thousand years'
collective, unconscious fertilization in allegiance to one faith and
culture.

"Mere rumor, which runs at its wildest under such circumstances, is
enough to dethrone reason; great terror, in a brave man or a cringer,
can turn loose adrenal energies which must exhaust themselves in
outrage and spoliation. It would be untrue to describe as a form of
religious madness, even in religious India, a madness which operates
also with equal fury among godless men. But where deep religiousness
is present it is inevitably used, inevitably adds its own peculiar
intensity."

The Bereaved. India's Premier Jawaharlal Nehru testified: "India has
disgraced herself in the eyes of the world."

The Prosecutor commented:

"The thousand million of Asia, lifting up their hands for freedom, had
looked to India for leadership. Now, East and West, hope is undermined
and confidence destroyed. India's killings, not instigated by any
alien force, are more morally burdensome upon Asia's cause than is
China's war."

Mahatma Gandhi's confidante, ex-secretary and the present Indian
Health Minister, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, testified: "Gandhiji is very
sad today. He has told me repeatedly that he is experiencing the pain
and anguish of a thousand daggers pierced in his body."

During the killing, Gandhi had warned that there was danger of open
war between India and Pakistan.

But the Prosecutor said:

"The world thought war was the ultimate horror, and civil war the
worst of wars. It is not. India is what Macaulay called it, a
'decomposed society.' Even the British could not establish law; they
merely kept order. A decomposed society cannot make war, which
requires law, authority, organization. India and Pakistan may progress
to the point where they can make war or even to the point where, being
able to make war, they will decide to live in amity. But in the six
weeks of the killing India and Pakistan were beneath war."

The Killers. The Court (which is composed of all men who want, for
their own self-preservation, to understand violence) needed
clarification of this point. One way of putting the court's question
was this:

"It has long been held that mass killing is the work of states, not of
peoples. War, some say, is caused by professional militarism, the
existence of large arsenals and the itch of governments to exercise
their most spectacular function. Similarly, the killing of 6,000,000
Jews in Europe was the work of a state, mad with its organized power.
Are you suggesting that the Indian killing sprang out of the people
themselves, out of the evil which you call Kali?"

The Prosecutor's answer: "Although leaders of the two states are, in
different degrees, responsible for agitating or at least for
misunderstanding the communal hatred, the appalling fact is that most
of the killing was unorganized and spontaneous. In this case, a rare
and significant one, the state power was not guilty. As for armaments,
the massacres in India and Pakistan were as far removed as possible
from modern war or from the gas chambers of Maidanek. The murderers
with whom we are dealing used knives, chisels, ropes, hockey sticks,
screwdrivers, bricks and slender fingers."

The Half Innocent. At least half innocent of the killing are the
leaders who had demanded liberty or death for India and got, by Kali's
black grace, both.

"When tragedy runs amok blame is universal, inextricable and
irrelevant. That the horror was deeper than the ideals or ambitions of
the leaders was ironically demonstrated when they tried to stop it.
Mohamed Ali Jinnah urged restraint, but the killing did not cease.
Gandhi fasted in Calcutta with ultimate local effect, but elsewhere
the killing did not cease. When he visited their sanctuary, 30,000
groaning Moslems virtually adored him, but the killing did not cease.
Nehru personally rescued two Moslem girls from a gang of Sikhs, but
the killing did not cease. A conference between Nehru and Pakistan's
Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan ended in complete accord and the Joint
Defense Council ordered troops to fire on all rioters and looters, but
the killing did not cease. The newly communalized police force proved
ineffectual and sometimes took part in the riots, and the killing did
not cease. The newly communalized armies, now that the British troops
were inactivated, were like bodies from which the bones had been
drawn.

"At length, by no outward control or rational cause, but only because
destruction itself sickens, the violence quieted, for the time being,
at least."

Mohamed Ali Jinnah, Governor General of Pakistan, did not testify.
Seeing few, taking advice from none, he sulked in Karachi, the raddled
capital of his already half-ruined country. Of him, the Prosecutor
said:

"Jinnah is far too easy a villain: conceivably an obsessed child of
Mohamed conceivably a man seized in his declining years by that most
dangerous form of satyriasis which longs for naked power alone, Jinnah
has beyond question done more than any other man in India to
exacerbate the sores of communalism and to tease and torment their
rawness; and this purely to secure his nation, and a torn body for
India.

"Even so, he is much too shallowly accountable, and there are
extenuating circumstances. He is only a portion of Islam, and today
all Islam stirs. In India, moreover, his people are a minority,
largely an impoverished minority, and could by no means fully trust in
the majority's will; Congress Party leaders consistently ignored his
Moslem League in favor of Moslems he regarded as Congress puppets;
Nehru himself, Gandhi himself, must be held as sorely responsible for
underestimating the force that Jinnah tapped, just as Western leaders
for so long underestimated the evil wellspring that Hitler opened
up."

The Orphans. A witness who had seen the Punjab border between Pakistan
and India testified:

"At Wagah, a little town on the grand trunk highway between Amritsar
and Lahore on the Pakistan side of the border, armed Baluchi troops,
all certified Moslems from the frontier territory of Baluchistan,
called a loud halt to travelers trying to go through the border. A
mile down the road, at Atari, armed Dogras, who are a Punjabi Hindu
tribe, searched and checked all Pakistan-bound vehicles. The mile
between the two posts was no man's land. On the Pakistan side, just
behind an improvised guardhouse, a bulldozer was digging graves for
Moslem bodies which arrived from the India side of the frontier."

Another witness had been to the map room in New Delhi where the riots
had been spotted in the neatest Pentagon tradition, and where now,
still more incongruously, the tidy pins show columns of humanity
passing in opposite directions to escape their tormentors. Each column
has its thousands of unspeakable histories, yet on the map each exodus
is a mere number.

The Prosecutor summed up the evidence behind the maps:

"Men, women and children and bullocks and groaning carts were plodding
eastward and westward beneath the autumn skies and nights of the
cloven Punjab; past unharvested fields, past empty villages and
eviscerated villages and villages which resemble rained-out brush
fires. Huge, forlorn concentrations of Sikhs and Hindus labored
forward to leave the West Punjab forever. On one day last week,
columns No. 8 and 9 moved across the famous Balloki headworks between
Amritsar and Lahore and passed into the Indian Dominion; not far
behind, foot columns No. 10, 11 and 12 lumbered steadfastly eastward.
Carefully feeling its way around Amritsar, a foot convoy of perhaps
100,000 Moslems made towards Lahore and Jinnah's Promised Land, at a
rate of ten miles a day.

"One madly ironic note was furnished by a group of Jainist monks who
alighted from an airplane at New Delhi, their mouths and nostrils
scrupulously masked. Fleeing for their own lives, they had not
neglected a strange precaution of their sect. The Jains believe that
the air is a living thing and that they protect the air from injury by
filtering it through the masks as they breathe.

"At one village, on foot, a wretched gaggle of perhaps 100 refugees
arrived. One of them, a woman, was stripped of everything save a
clutched newspaper. Her companions were so stupefied by woe that it
had occurred to none of them to share their clothing with her.

"From Dasuya in Hoshiarpur district came a mass of 114,000 Moslems,
which branched into lesser columns and slowly diminished in the
direction of Bahawalpur State.

"The refugee movement each way is now at a rate of about 150,000 each
week; last week it was speeded up, for both Governments hope to finish
it off by mid-November. From the East Punjab into Pakistan, 2,550,000
Moslems have crossed, leaving 2,400,000 still to be evacuated;
2,275,000 Sikhs and Hindus have crossed from the West Punjab and the
North-West Frontier Province into their Dominion, leaving 1,800,000,
chiefly in isolated pockets, still to come. It is one of the great
exchanges of population in recorded history."

The Despoiled. An American witness testified:

"It is almost impossible to have a watch repaired in New Delhi now;
the watch craftsmen were Moslems. So were the tailors and the barbers,
the butchers, and the cooks, the waiters and bearers, the rug dealers,
and the drivers of tongas and taxicabs.

"In Lyallpur, Moslem shopkeepers refuse to sell durable goods, because
the increasing scarcity is sure to force the price up; moreover, even
if the shopkeeper did sell, he would have no place to bank the money
(for Hindus and Sikhs were the bankers) and no wholesaler from whom to
buy more goods (for Hindus and Sikhs were the wholesalers). In Lahore,
on the other hand, there is a corrupt buyers' paradise in looted
goods. A refrigerator goes for 100 rupees ($30), a radio for 30.
Parker "51" fountain pens, which used to sell for 60 rupees, now go
for 5. "There is no economic exchange between Pakistan and India.
India may survive this schism; Pakistan cannot. Almost its whole
middle class, which was Hindu, has fled. The literacy rate, never
higher than 9%, is now less than half that. Pakistan's Government is
not able to support more refugees. It is trying to shut off the flood.
Moslems who hear that Pakistan will not let them enter are embittered
and terrified."

The Threatened. Another witness had talked to rich Hindus who last
week had begun fleeing into Calcutta from Eastern Pakistan. These
Hindus, he said, reported increased activity of the Moslem League
National Guard organizations. If terrorism breaks out in northeast
India, where 13,000,000 Hindus live, the carnage might be unimaginably
greater than in the Punjab.

And had the Punjab killing ended, or was it merely suspended? Two
weeks ago Master Tara Singh, leader of the Sikhs, estimated that the
killing would last three more months and that 500,000 Hindus and Sikhs
and as many Moslems would die of murder, epidemic and starvation. In
another statement, Tara Singh gave this grisly forecast an algebraic
twist. He pointed out that fleeing Sikhs (who are richer) had left six
million acres of land, while an equal number of fleeing Moslems had
left only two million acres. His proposal: drive enough Moslems from
their farms to balance the property exchange.

The Motive. At this point the Attorney for the Defense addressed the
court:

"Do not forget that for centuries Moslem and Hindu and Sikh lived side
by side, if not in harmony, at least in uneasy tolerance. It is true
that over the centuries, from time to time, they killed and rioted and
even fought great wars, but not more often or more fiercely than
peoples elsewhere. This in spite of India's abysmal poverty which
turns men against one another, in spite of the enraging climate,
either osmotic dust or illimitable ooze.

"If this society, stable enough to breed 400 million men, is
decomposed, then forces outside the peoples of India, not within them,
must be to blame."

The Prosecutor answered: "Hindu and Sikh and Moslem tolerated each
other, insofar as they did so, not through love or virtue but because
each community was aware that its rival did not possess the power to
coerce it into a hated way of living. Neither the Rajputs, nor the
Moguls, nor the British ever established in India a state whose police
reached out to the ordering of people's daily lives. Now, with
independence, with the possibility of modern states, each community
saw behind the other the shadow of the policeman and the propagandist.
The Indian communities rushed into violence not to seize power, but
out of the fear of the power that was about to fall into the hands of
others. And this is a primal fear, deeper than rivalries between such
nations as have already known and submitted to police power wielded in
their own names."

The Guilt of Innocence. The Defense Attorney tried again. He recalled
how the subcontinent had been brought to freedom by good men,
nonviolent men, men above superstition and narrow sectarian hatred.
How could such evil come from a victory won by moral force alone?

And how equally admirable, he said, was it that Britain, another great
and ancient nation, even grander and far more benign in her twilight
than Imperial Rome before her, had at length bowed before that moral
force in a moral beauty as unprecedented and still more graceful. The
Defense Attorney recalled the midnight ceremonies of India's
manumission in New Delhi two months ago as extraordinarily touching,
the action itself as one of history's rare moments of good will and
good hope.

The Prosecutor did not deny the point. But, said he:

"Gandhi and Nehru and their like, innocently intent upon their lofty
goal, ascribed communal strife to British machination, so blinding
themselves that, in all good faith, they assumed that once liberty was
achieved, communal violence would immediately cease, and brotherhood
and British guilt prove themselves thenceforth.

"Thus, not in spite of innocence but because of it, blood appeared;
and not the jubilant blood of birth alone, but blood more especially
pleasing to Kali, who is both mother and demolisher. India tore
herself in two in the womb as a condition to being born at all. Even
in the womb, the two unborn nations tore at each other, and from the
instant they were born they fell upon each other in maniacal fury."

Thrones & Altars. The fury, now apparently spent, might be renewed to
pour in fresh evidence against Kali. Of the 562 princely states,
danger lay in three which stood apart from both India and Pakistan.
One was little Junagadh, whose dog-loving Moslem Nawab* has announced
for Pakistan against the wishes of most of his subjects, who are 80%
Hindu. One was Kashmir, most of whose people are Moslem, but opposed
to Jinnah's Moslem League. The third was fabulous Hyderabad, whose
Nizam had a good chance of maintaining his state's independence.
India's Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel is applying pressure
on all three states; of the Government's top ministers Patel is the
most outspokenly anti-Moslem, although he is more moderate than
extremist Hindu "Brownshirt" groups. Troops of both India and Pakistan
are actually near Junagadh's borders.

Or renewal of the fury might come from, an utterly unpolitical cause.
This week, in tense Calcutta and elsewhere in Bengal, worshipers of
the goddess Durga will celebrate her festival with clay images and
ceremonial parades. Durga is the good side of the same ambivalent
goddess of which Kali is the evil face.* In this same week Moslems
will celebrate Id-el-Atha, their version of the story of Abraham and
Isaac. Usually they sacrifice cows, but this week many, lest the
Hindus be offended, plan again to sacrifice sheep.† Even so, the two
coincident festivals might touch off killing in Bengal, which, along
with Bihar and the United Provinces, is considered the next great
danger spot.

The Sky & the Sea. Whether the killing remained suspended or was
mercifully at an end or was to be tragically revived, India was not to
be singled out for condemnation or contempt. No nation had ever come
into the world without bloodshed. In every process of hope, ambition,
confused value, self-deceit, India is merely the world in small, and
one more terrible warning to the conscience of the world. India's
gravest error, her deepest sin, is rampant in all the world and never
so madly so as in those portions of the world which call themselves
"modern": the incapacity of those who desire to lead people, whether
for power or in the highest of good will, to know, love, fear,
respect, or even to imagine, what human beings are.

Said the Prosecutor, in closing: "Yet, in spite of Kali the Destroyer
and because of Kali the Mother, India has been and is a great and
ancient land, a wellspring and tabernacle of some of the most inspired
conceptions of the divine will in man which man has ever dreamed of;
and more lately a fount of brotherhood and, among the nations, a
preacher of peace. If India could descend to the depths, it could also
look up to moral Himalayas. Its recent sin was great, but not unique,
especially not unique in origin. It sprang from Kali, from the dark
and universal fear which rests in the slime on the blind sea-bottom of
biology."

*A Hindu reformist sect founded by Guru Nanak, a contemporary of
Luther. *The Nawab Saheb of Junagadh once threw away 100,000 rupees on
the wedding of his prize Airedale bitch, which wore ribbons to the
ceremony; vows were read for her and her dog. *In 1802, after the
Peace of Amiens, a group of British residents of Calcutta presented
the temple of Kali with 5,000 rupees as a thank offering for victories
over Napoleon. A century later Kali became a symbol of anti-British
Indian nationalism, a place to which Mahatma Gandhi succeeded. That
this substitution was only temporary was indicated not only by the
killing but by Gandhi's recent loss of popularity among Hindus.
Because he preached communal peace, Hindu extremists last week had
begun to call him "the Mudathma," meaning "stupid one." †Until about a
century ago, the sheep was customary. The cow was a vindictive,
communal-minded substitution.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,854810,00.html

Religious Unrest in India
By Simon Robinson/New Delhi Friday, May. 18, 2007

While India's image makers may want the world to believe that business
is the country's new religion, for many here there are older faiths —
and faith-driven feuds — that matter more. At least five people were
killed Friday in the southern city of Hyderabad, when a bomb exploded
in a mosque crowded with worshipers attending Friday prayers. Police
say they found and defused two other bombs close by. So far, no one
has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The timing of the bombing may be linked to the sentencing Friday of
100 people convicted of playing a role in a series of deadly blasts in
Mumbai (formerly Bombay), in 1993. Those attacks, which killed 257
people, were carried out by the Muslim-dominated Mumbai underworld to
avenge earlier religious riots that had left 2,000 people dead. But
the authors and motive of Friday's mosque bombing could remain a
mystery. Months after last year's bomb attacks that killed more than
35 people near a mosque in the western state of Maharashtra, there are
still no suspects beyond vague police suggestions.

Elsewhere, across the north of the country, rival Sikh groups clashed
for the fourth straight day after the leader of one sect dressed, for
a newspaper advertisement, in a fashion similar to the much adored
17th century Sikh figure Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru.
Enraged Sikhs from other sects attacked properties belonging to the
Dera Sacha Sauda, whose leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had committed
the perceived religious insult. The clashes have killed two people and
injured at least 30, and the national government has sent in troops to
stop further unrest. "The sect chief has committed a grave offense by
trying to imitate Guru Gobind Singh," said Sikh writer Kharak Singh.
"He must issue an unconditional apology. A stubborn attitude will
precipitate matters."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who happened to be opening a conference
on interfaith harmony Friday, said that there is no place for
religious intolerance in India. "Any political formation trying to
incite people in the name of religion, whatever religion, is in fact
betraying both religion and our constitution," the Prime Minister
said. All nations, "big and small will have to come to terms with
their growing internal diversity. No modern and open society can be a
monolith."

So why the recurring religious unrest in India? Moderate Muslim
activist J.S. Bandukwala says that "to a great extent" India has
resolved the question of religious identity which had split the
country for decades. "But in such a huge population it's so easy for
someone to plant a bomb and cause chaos," he says. "I don't think
there's anything police can do to stop this sort of thing."

Bandukwala, a physics professor in Gujarat, a western state torn by
bloody communal riots in 2002, has long campaigned against religious
extremism and for moderation and debate. While he sees progress, in
part because of the rising middle class in India, Bandukwala says "on
religious issues people get very quickly built up in this part of the
world. If anybody wants to create a problem they just have to insult
an iconic figure or plant a bomb and you see the results." In some
ways, he says, "it's remarkable that India has evolved into a mature
democracy after just 60 years."

Not just a mature democracy but a vibrant, fast-growing economy. The
world has come to know a new India over the past few years, a place of
outsourcing and hi-tech start-ups, of software engineers and steel
barons. We expect such places to be shiny and secular and scientific,
focused on technological breakthroughs and making money. We don't
expect religious riots and communal clashes and bombings. In India,
full of paradoxes and wonderful, frustrating inconsistencies, you have
both: hi-tech business parks and age-old religious grudges; software
savvy alongside sectarian brutality. Resolving those contradictions
may well decide India's future.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1622914,00.html

Religion: Yogi Bhajan's Synthetic Sikhism
Monday, Sep. 05, 1977

The leader of 3HO inspires devotion—and hostility

Nine years ago, he was an anonymous yoga teacher who owned little but
a suitcase full of beads. Today he earns over $100,000 a year in
lecture fees as Yogi Bhajan, the "Supreme Religious and Administrative
Authority of the Sikh Religion in the Western Hemisphere." Thousands
of American disciples in his Healthy-Happy-Holy Organization ("3HO")
revere the robust, bearded Bhajan as the holiest man of this era. With
equal fervor, opponents denounce him as a charlatan and a heretic.

The kind of Sikhism preached by Bhajan, 48, an Indian born in what is
now Pakistan, is far different from that practiced by 10 million
Indians. Sikhism, a blend of reformed Hinduism and Islam, is practical-
minded, allows democratic election of its priests, and abhors
personality cults. Bhajan's powerful personality is central to his
sect, and ambition has driven him far since his days as an unknown
customs officer at the Delhi airport.

In 1968 Bhajan emigrated to Toronto, later that year moved to Los
Angeles and eventually started his own ashram—spiritual commune—in a
garage. Although India's Sikhs are renowned as meat eaters, Bhajan has
insisted that his followers be strict vegetarians. While yoga is not
part of Sikhism, Bhajan teaches the practice, and not the mild form
widespread in the U.S. but Tantrism, a strenuous, mystical variety
practiced by men and women in pairs. Claiming to be the only living
master of Tantrism, Bhajan stresses Kundalini yoga, which supposedly
releases secret energy that travels up the spine. He reveals breathing
and massage techniques said to improve sexual performance. And he
preaches: "The man who ties a turban on his head must live up to the
purity of the whiteness and radiance of his soul."

Undeniably, Bhajan has struck some kind of chord. There are now 110
ashrams of various sizes in the U.S., Canada, and overseas. The yogi
claims to have won some 250,000 followers, but a more realistic
estimate would place the number of zealots at several thousand,
although many more flock to his meetings. Bhajan's base is a well-
groomed 40-acre ranch near Espanola, N. Mex., where his quarters are
said to feature a domed bedroom and a sunken bath. Neighbors are
nervous about 3HO's expensive land purchases in the area.

Less visible than the cymbal-clanging Hare Krishnas, the 3HO disciples
rival them in devotion. Men and women alike follow the Sikh traditions
of not cutting their hair and bearing symbolic daggers, combs and
bracelets. Ashram members rise at 3:30 a.m. to practice yoga and
meditate, sometimes while staring at a picture of Bhajan. They often
work twelve hours a day on low salaries and skimpy diets at 3HO small
businesses, such as landscaping companies, shoe stores, and quality
vegetarian restaurants. Full-fledged initiates follow Bhajan's every
dictum on diet, medical nostrums, child rearing, even orders to marry
total strangers. Guru Terath Singh Khalsa, who is his lawyer and
spokesman, says that Bhajan is "the equivalent of the Pope."

For most of the converts, the discipline of Bhajanism seems to have
rilled a deep spiritual vacuum. Many are in their mid-20s and come
from upper-middle-class homes. A number had been dependent upon LSD
and marijuana; the movement claims that all have broken the habit.

The adherents are flushed with the rosy beauty of new faith. "We got
involved in Sikhism so we could re-establish a direction in our lives
based on real principles," a young Jewish woman at a Los Angeles
ashram told TIME Correspondent James Wilde.

Chimed in an ex-Catholic who misses the Latin Mass: "The
demystification of the church turned me off." Even a Massachusetts
girl who has broken with the movement says wistfully, "At the ashram
we had the nucleus of a real family. It was one of the most beautiful
things I have ever experienced."

Bhajan has important backers in India. High Priest Guruchuran Singh
Tohra, president of the management committee for northern India's Sikh
temples, confirms that his council has given "full approval" to 3HO
and recognizes the yogi as a preacher. Tohra, however, says that this
does not mean Bhajan is the Sikh leader of the Western Hemisphere, as
he claims. The Sikhs do not create such offices. Nor, Tohra adds, has
the committee given Bhajan the rarely bestowed title, Siri Singh Sahib
(the equivalent of saying "Sir" three times), which he uses.

Bhajan has his critics—and they are severe. Many traditional Sikhs
insist that yoga has no place in their religion. Sikh Historian
Trilochan Singh says Bhajan's synthesis of Sikhism and Tantrism is "a
sacrilegious hodgepodge." Far more important, High Priest Jaswant
Singh, a leader of the Sikhs in eastern India and comparable in status
to Bhajan Backer Tohra, last week denounced Bhajan's claims. He and
his council professed to be "shocked" at Bhajan's "fantastic
theories." Yoga, Tantrism and the "sexual practices" taught by Bhajan,
the council declared, are "forbidden and immoral."

There are more delicate matters at issue, many raised by people who
knew Bhajan when. Judith Tyberg, respected founder of Los Angeles'
East-West Center, where Bhajan briefly gave courses, questions his
knowledge of Kundalini yoga. She fired him from her faculty after
three months for another reason —which she refuses to divulge.

Bhajan has repeatedly been accused of being a womanizer. Colleen
Hoskins, who worked seven months at his New Mexico residence, reports
that men are scarcely seen there. He is served, she says, by a coterie
of as many as 14 women, some of whom attend his baths, give him group
massages, and take turns spending the night in his room while his wife
sleeps elsewhere.

Colleen and her husband Philip, Bhajan's former chancellor, who quit
last year, say they could no longer countenance Bhajan's luxurious
life-style when so many of his followers had to scrimp along.
Filmmaker Don Conreaux, an early apostle, says that originally the
yogi was "against titles, against disciples. Now he teaches only
obedience to him." When Philip Hoskins quit last year, he says, Bhajan
told him he would suffer 84 million reincarnations and be "reborn as a
worm for betraying your teacher."

The current chancellor insists that Bhajan "lives in a moderate
manner," and asserts that reports of illicit affairs and of women in
the yogi's bedroom are "absolutely untrue." Yogi Bhajan himself was
unwilling to grant TIME an interview until he visits India this month
with a group of disciples for a Sikh festival. When he arrives there,
the "Supreme Authority" of the Sikh religion in the Western world may
have to answer a few questions from his fellow Sikhs about the kind of
religion he is preaching—and practicing.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915413,00.html

Austrian Murder Sparks Protests in India
By Madhur Singh / New Delhi Tuesday, May. 26, 2009

Followers of Dalit leader Guru Ravi Das Sabha brandish swords, steel
rods and bamboo sticks during a protest in Amritsar, India, on May 25,
2009

Altaf Qadri / AP

Caste rivalries and a fight over offerings at a cash-rich Sikh temple
in Vienna echoed far and wide on Monday as sectarian violence once
again erupted in India's Sikh-majority state of Punjab. At least two
people have been killed and 14 injured since news reached Punjab
yesterday via text messages and mobile phones that a Sikh preacher of
a lower-caste sect, 57-year-old Sant Rama Nand, had been shot dead in
a clash in a temple in Austria. Thousands of lower-caste Sikhs took to
Punjab's streets armed with swords and batons, burning buses and
blocking trains. A curfew was imposed in five Punjab towns, and
military and paramilitary forces have been called into the state. The
situation remains tense today as the authorities try to arrange to
have the slain preacher's body flown directly to his village for
cremation.

Over the years, the quaint little gurdwara on the Rudolfsheim Street
on the outskirts of Vienna has become a hub of Sikh separatists who
supported an insurgency in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s. The
insurgency was eventually stamped down by an iron-fisted state, and
many of its supporters sought and received political asylum in Europe.
As Austria's legal South Asian community has become more established,
thousands of illegal Sikh migrants from all over Europe have
gravitated there. "The gurdwara was lush with offerings from a
nostalgic and large-hearted diaspora," says Ramesh Vinayak, who heads
the Punjab edition of the national daily Hindustan Times, and who
visited the Vienna gurdwara in 2005. (See photos of India's Nehru
dynasty.)

Around the same time, the Ravidasias, a lower-caste community who are
not considered Sikhs though the groups share some similarities,
including worship in gurdwaras, swelled in numbers among Austria's
Indian diaspora. Disgruntled lower-caste youths from an increasingly
prosperous Punjab — where the landed castes have been reaping the
benefits of the Green Revolution since the 1950s and 1960s — were
making their way to Europe in droves. "What we see now is a result of
rising Dalit assertion," says Vinayak. "The lower castes set up their
own gurdwara, splitting the congregation and the [revenue from the]
offerings. The pro-Khalistanis (those supporting a separate Sikh
nation) at the older gurdwara felt threatened." Those tensions came to
a head this Sunday when management of the new gurdwara invited some
preachers of Dera Sach Khand, a Ravidasia sect, to address the
congregation. A violent clash ensued, in which Baba Rama Nand was shot
and 15 people were injured. Baba Rama Nand later died in hospital.
(Read "Five Challenges Facing India's Election Victors.")

When news of the killing began to trickle into Punjab, state
authorities went on alert. Although there is no specific history of
Ravidasia-Sikh violence in Punjab, violence has taken place between
followers of various sects across the state, mostly with support of
lower castes among both the Sikhs and non-Sikhs. By Monday afternoon,
large-scale rioting spread to six districts, leading Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, to issue a televised appeal. "Invoking
the teachings of the Gurus, I appeal to all sections of people in
Punjab to maintain peace," he said. The situation has spun out of
control before. In May 2007, a prominent sect leader with significant
political links, Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda, had
invited the ire of the Sikh masses when he addressed a congregation
dressed as the tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, which is against Sikh
tenets. Ram Raheem Singh's support base is primarily among the lower
castes. At least one person was killed and over a hundred injured in
the six days of violence that followed.

The events in Punjab — and thousands of miles away in Austria — point
to a broader problem: the dangerous mix of inequitable development and
enduring caste-based resentment. The northern state has a higher than
national average population of Scheduled Castes, an umbrella term for
various lower castes, with 28.95% in Punjab against India's average of
16%. "Dalit Sikhs and Ravidasias, especially in the fertile Doaba belt
which sends out a large number of immigrants, have seen immense
prosperity lately, and with it, a rising Dalit consciousness and
assertion," says Dr. Ronki Ram, reader in the Department of Political
Science at Panjab University in Chandigarh, who has recently authored
a paper on the topic. This assertion has found a voice in hundreds of
little sects that have sprung up all over the state, enmeshing socio-
economic struggle with religion in a lethal combination. It is ironic
that Sikhism, the dominant religion of the state, was born in the 15th
century with a promise of equality for all genders, classes and
castes, since a growing inequality among its followers is causing so
much unrest. "The social milieu is lacking equality," says Ram. "That
is the root of the problem."

(See photos of India's slumdog entrepreneurs.)
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1877000,00.html

Watch "The Real Slum Of Slumdog."
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,13419832001_0,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900882,00.html

Love Guru: Transcendent ... Not!
By Richard Corliss Thursday, Jun. 19, 2008

Mike Myers' signature shtick is the grin and shrug of a little boy
who's just said something naughty or possibly made fart bubbles in the
bathtub, and who relies on charm to get away with it. He used it on
Saturday Night Live as young Simon, of course, and as basement TV host
Wayne Campbell, and once or twice as Linda Richman. Austin Powers
occasionally flashed that someone-stop-me grin through his misshapen
English teeth. (Dieter the German performance artist and Shrek, not so
much.) The Cat in the Hat was nothing but irritating-ingratiating
impishness. And for the longest time — it's nearly two decades since
he joined SNL — when Myers smiled, audiences smiled back. They were
his co-conspirators in preadolescent aggression.

That may change this weekend with the debut of The Love Guru, Myers'
first time on screen since 2003. The headlines of early reviews are
the sort that give publicists migraines: "Sheer Self-Indulgence," "No
Enlightenment, Few Laughs," "Lame Self-Help Romp" and "Guru Is Doo-
Doo." About the only encouraging words so far are from Indian and
Indian-American journalists, who had been primed to hate the movie
from advance reports that its treatment of Hindu and Hindu-esque
teacher-preachers — especially of the best-selling, evangelistic,
Deepak Chopra variety — would be derisory. Those reviewers are saying,
basically, that The Love Guru is not as awful as they thought it would
be.

That's where I am, though not for religious reasons. Mostly I'm in
synch with the Myers character: Maurice Pitka, a goofy innocent who
loves potty humor but has a generous heart. He's not far from Adam
Sandler's Zohan, another sweet soul with a few personality defects. A
North American kid raised in India, Maurice at 13 came under the
tutelage of a cross-eyed swami (Ben Kingsley, giving the goose to his
Oscar-winning Gandhi). "I want to become a guru so people will like
me," young Maurice tells his master, "so I will love myself." I find
such self-knowledge, not to mention self-absorption, appealing in the
nakedness of its need.

Soon Maurice is an adult in L.A., a hit on the lecture circuit and the
author of such popular tomes as If You're Happy and You Think It,
Think Again and Stop Hitting Yourself. Stop Hitting Yourself. Why Are
You Still Hitting Yourself? Pitka is famous, but, he thinks, not
famous enough. Rather like the Sean Penn guitarist in Woody Allen's
Sweet and Lowdown, who realizes he's no Django Reinhardt, Pitka
rankles at being No. 2 to Chopra. His manager (John Oliver of The
Daily Show) convinces him that he can get on Oprah if he can just
restore the frayed marriage of Darren Roanoke (Romany Malko), a
Toronto Maple Leafs star whose wife is having an affair with banana-
schlonged goalie Jacques "Le Coq" Grande (Justin Timberlake). This
brings him in contact with Maple Leafs owner Jane Bullard (Jessica
Alba).

I acknowledge that the movie's stabs at wit are not so much sophomoric
as freshmanic. In his Indo-American accent, Pitka asks Darren, "What
is it you cahn't face?" (cahn't rhyming with hunt — your kids will
explain the joke to you). And even at 80 minutes or so, The Love Guru
is overly long and repetitious, unable to sustain its comic conceit.

You'll recognize this failing in movies with other graduates of SNL.
Trained at the Second City improv company, blossoming on late-night
TV, they created or inhabited recurring characters who had five
minutes to establish themselves. Even the most amusing of these
characters, if they were to be expanded, were suited more to half-hour
sitcoms than to feature films. But that's where the Blues Brothers,
the Coneheads, Stuart Smalley, Pat, Mary Katherine Gallagher and the
Roxbury guys went, not always justifying their films' running time.
Leaving SNL for movies means you can't go back, which deprives the
show of some brilliant sketch talent — Dan Aykroyd, Joe Piscopo,
Martin Short, Molly Shannon, Dinitra Vance, the irreplaceable Phil
Hartman — and consigns those actors to movies and TV shows that don't
show them off to their best advantage.

Wayne's World was one of the few SNL movie spin-offs that worked. It
set Myers on a mostly successful Hollywood career, whose strangest
entry, the indie 54 (in which he played Studio 54 co-owner Steve
Rubell), was also the most promising. But Myers didn't do any other
dramatic parts, maybe because so much money was thrown his way to keep
reprising Austin Powers and Shrek. And it's taken him longer and
longer to devise new characters. Pitka is his first in movies since
Austin Powers (and Dr. Evil) in 1997.

I like parts of The Love Guru because they sometimes take the form of
an Indian musical, with Myers' sitar strumming becoming the bass line
for the Dolly Parton song 9 to 5 and he and co-star Alba giving their
all to a Bollywood-style dance number. I approve of the opening
narration in the stately tones of Morgan Freeman, which turns out to
be Myers speaking into a "voice-over box" set on the "Morgan Freeman"
key. And I'm a big fan of Timberlake's farce skills; he shows here
that he has a future in movies, at least as the guy who can upstage
the star comic. (Other guest stars either show up fleetingly, like
Jessica Simpson, Kanye West, NHL star Rob Blake and Chopra himself, or
are used to ill effect, like Stephen Colbert as a hockey announcer.)

So, as much as I'd like to, I cahn't join the chorus of critical
contumely. The Love Guru is a shambling, hit-or-miss thing, like an
old Laurel and Hardy two-reeler. And like the situations those comics
often got into, this movie is a fine mess.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1816243,00.html

Lal Bahadur Shastri
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lal Bahadur Srivastava Shastri شاستری بڈھا

3rd Prime Minister of India
In office
9 June 1964 – 11 January 1966
President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Preceded by Gulzarilal Nanda
Succeeded by Gulzarilal Nanda

Born 2 October 1904(1904-10-02)
Mughalsarai, United Provinces, British India
Died 11 January 1966 (aged 61)
Tashkent, Uzbek SSR
Birth name Lal Bahadur Srivastava
Political party Indian National Congress
Spouse(s) Lalita Shastri nee Devi
Occupation Academic, Activist
Religion Hindu
Lal Bahadur Srivastava Shastri (Hindi: लालबहादुर शास्त्री شاستری
بڈھا , pronounced [laːl bəˈhaːdʊr ˈʃaːstriː]; 2 October 1904 - 11
January 1966) was the third Prime Minister of the Republic of India
and a significant figure in the Indian independence movement.

Early life

Lal Bahadur was born in Mughalsarai, United Provinces, British India
to Sharada Srivastava Prasad, a poor school teacher, who later became
a clerk in the Revenue Office at Allahabad[1] and Ramdulari Devi. When
he was three months old, he slipped out of his mother's arms into a
cowherder's basket at the ghats of the Ganges. The cowherder, who had
no children, took the child as a gift from God and took him home. Lal
Bahadur's parents lodged a complaint with the police, who traced the
child, and returned him to his parents[2].

His father died when he was only a year and a half old. His mother
took him and his two sisters to her father's house and settled down
there[3]. Lal Bahadur stayed at his grandfather Hazari Lal's house
till he was ten. Since there was no high school in their town, he was
sent to Varanasi where he stayed with his maternal uncle and joined
the Harischandra High School. While in Varanasi, Shastri once went
with his friends to see a fair on the other bank of the Ganges. On the
way back he had no money for the boat fare. Instead of borrowing from
his friends, he jumped into the river and swam to the other bank[4].

As a boy, Lal Bahadur loved reading books and was fond of Guru Nanak's
verses. He revered Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Indian nationalist, social
reformer and freedom fighter. After hearing a speech of Mahatma Gandhi
at Varanasi in 1915, he dedicated his life to the service of the
country[5]. He also dropped his surname Shrivastav, as it indicated
his caste and he was against the caste system[1]. During the non-
cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi in 1921, he joined processions
in defiance of the prohibitory order. He was arrested but let off as
he was a minor[6]. He then enrolled at the nationalist Kashi
Vidyapeeth in Varanasi. During his four years there, he was greatly
influenced by the lectures of Dr. Bhagawandas on philosophy. Upon
completion of his course at Kashi Vidyapeeth in 1926, he was given the
title Shastri ("Scholar"). The title was a bachelor's degree awarded
by the Vidya Peeth, but it stuck as part of his name[3]. He also
enrolled himself as a life member of the Servants of the People
Society and began to work for the upliftment of the Harijans at
Muzaffarpur[7]. Later he became the President of the Society[8].

In 1927, Shastri married Lalita Devi of Mirzapur. In spite of the
prevailing hefty dowry tradition, Shastri accepted only a charkha and
a few yards of khadi as dowry. In 1930, he threw himself into the
freedom struggle during Mahatma Gandhi's Salt Satyagraha. He was
imprisoned for two and a half years[9]. Once, while he was in prison,
one of his daughters fell seriously ill. He was released for fifteen
days, on the condition that he not take part in the freedom movement.
However, his daughter died before he reached home. After performing
the funeral rites, he voluntarily returned to prison, even before the
expiration of the period[10]. A year later, he asked for permission to
go home for a week, as his son had contracted influenza. The
permission was given, but his son's illness was not cured in a week.
In spite of his family's pleadings, he kept his promise to the jail
officers and returned to the prison[10].

Later, he worked as the Organizing Secretary of the Parliamentary
Board of U.P. in 1937[11]. In 1940, he was sent to prison for one
year, for offering individual Satyagraha support to the freedom
movement[12]. On 8 August 1942, Mahatma Gandhi issued the Quit India
speech at Gowalia Tank in Mumbai, demanding that the British leave
India. Shastri, who had just then come out after a year in prison,
traveled to Allahabad. For a week, he sent instructions to the freedom
fighters from Jawaharlal Nehru's hometown, Anand Bhavan. A few days
later, he was arrested and imprisoned until 1946[12]. Shastri spent
almost nine years in jail in total[13]. During his stay in prison, he
spent time reading books and became familiar with the works of western
philosophers, revolutionaries and social reformers. He also translated
the autobiography of Marie Curie into Hindi language[9].

In government

Following India's independence, Shastri was appointed Parliamentary
Secretary in his home state, Uttar Pradesh. He became the Minister of
Police and Transport under Govind Ballabh Pant's Chief Ministership.
As the Transport Minister, he was the first to appoint women
conductors. As the minister in charge of the Police Department, he
ordered that Police use jets of water instead of lathis to disperse
unruly crowds[14].

In 1951, he was made the General Secretary of the All-India Congress
Committee, with Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister. He was
directly responsible for the selection of candidates and the direction
of publicity and electioneering activities. He played an important
role in the landslide successes of the Congress Party in the Indian
General Elections of 1952, 1957 and 1962.

In 1951, Nehru nominated him to the Rajya Sabha. He served as the
Minister of Railways and Transport in the Central Cabinet from 1951 to
1956. In 1956, he offered his resignation after a railway accident at
Mahbubnagar that led to 112 deaths. However, Nehru did not accept his
resignation[15]. Three months later, he resigned accepting moral and
constitutional responsibility for a railway accident at Ariyalur in
Tamil Nadu that resulted in 144 deaths. While speaking in the
Parliament on the incident, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru,
stated that he was accepting the resignation because it would set an
example in constitutional propriety and not because Shastri was in any
way responsible for the accident[3]. Shastri's unprecedented gesture
was greatly appreciated by the citizens.

In 1957, Shastri returned to the Cabinet following the General
Elections, first as the Minister for Transport and Communications, and
then as the Minister of Commerce and Industry[7]. In 1961, he became
Minister for Home[3]. As Union Home Minister he was instrumental in
appointing the Committee on Prevention of Corruption under the
Chairmanship of K. Santhanam[16].

Prime minister

Main article: Premiership of Lal Bahadur Shastri

Jawaharlal Nehru died in office on 27 May 1964 and left a void. The
then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj was instrumental in making
and installing Shastri as Prime Minister on 9 June. Shastri, though
mild-mannered and soft-spoken, was a Nehruvian socialist and thus held
appeal to those wishing to prevent the ascent of conservative right-
winger Morarji Desai.

In his first broadcast as Prime Minister, on 11 June 1964, Shastri
stated[17]:

“ There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the
cross-roads of history and must choose which way to go. But for us
there need be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking to right or
left. Our way is straight and clear – the building up of a socialist
democracy at home with freedom and prosperity for all, and the
maintenance of world peace and friendship with all nations. ”

Shastri worked by his natural characteristics to obtain compromises
between opposing viewpoints, but in his short tenure he was
ineffectual in dealing with the economic crisis and food shortage in
the nation. However, he commanded a great deal of respect in the
Indian populace, and he used it to gain advantage in pushing the Green
Revolution in India; which directly led to India becoming a food-
surplus nation, although he did not live to see it. During the 22-day
war with Pakistan, Lal Bahadur Shastri created the slogan of "Jai
Jawan Jai Kisan" ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer"), underlining
the need to boost India's food production. Apart from emphasizing the
Green Revolution, he was instrumental in promoting the White
Revolution[16]. Greatly impressed by a visit to the Kaira district in
October 1964, he urged the rest of the country to learn from the
successful experiment at Anand. The National Dairy Development Board
was formed in 1965 during his tenure as Prime Minister.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution_in_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_Jawan_Jai_Kisan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution_in_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Flood

Though he was Socialist, Shastri stated that India cannot have a
regimented type of economy[16]. During his tenure as Prime Minister,
he visited Russia, Yugoslavia, England, Canada and Burma in 1965[7].

War with Pakistan

See Also: Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965

The problem for Shastri's administration was Pakistan. Laying claim to
half of the Kutch peninsula, Pakistan sent incursion forces in August
1965, which skirmished with Indian tank divisions. In his report to
the Lok Sabha on the confrontation in Kutch, Shastri stated[17]:

“ In the utilization of our limited resources, we have always given
primacy to plans and projects for economic development. It would,
therefore, be obvious for anyone who is prepared to look at things
objectively that India can have no possible interest in provoking
border incidents or in building up an atmosphere of strife... In these
circumstances, the duty of Government is quite clear and this duty
will be discharged fully and effectively... We would prefer to live in
poverty for as long as necessary but we shall not allow our freedom to
be subverted. ”

Under a scheme proposed by the British PM, Pakistan obtained 10%, in
place of their original claim of 50% of the territory. But Pakistan's
aggressive intentions were also focused on Kashmir. When armed
infiltrators from Pakistan began entering the State of Jammu and
Kashmir, Shastri made it clear to Pakistan that force would be met
with force[18]. Just in September 1965, major incursions of militants
and Pakistani soldiers began, hoping not only to break-down the
government but incite a sympathetic revolt. The revolt did not happen,
and India sent its forces across the Ceasefire Line (now Line of
Control) and threatened Pakistan by crossing the International Border
near Lahore as war broke out on a general scale. Massive tank battles
occurred in the Punjab, and while Pakistani forces made some gains,
Indian forces captured the key post at Haji Pir, in Kashmir, and
brought the Pakistani city of Lahore under artillery and mortar fire.

On 17 September 1965, while the Indo-Pak war was on, India received a
letter from China. In the letter, China alleged that the Indian army
had set up army equipment in Chinese territory, and India would face
China's wrath, unless the equipment was pulled down. In spite of the
threat of aggression from China, Shastri declared "China's allegation
is untrue. If China attacks India it is our firm resolve to fight for
our freedom. The might of China will not deter us from defending our
territorial integrity."[19]. The Chinese did not respond, but the Indo-
Pak war resulted in great personnel and material casualties for both
Pakistan and India.

The Indo-Pak war ended on 23 September 1965 with a United Nations-
mandated ceasefire. In a broadcast to the nation on the day the of
ceasefire, Shastri stated[17]:

“ While the conflict between the armed forces of the two countries has
come to an end, the more important thing for the United Nations and
all those who stand for peace is to bring to an end the deeper
conflict... How can this be brought about? In our view, the only
answer lies in peaceful coexistence. India has stood for the principle
of coexistence and championed it all over the world. Peaceful
coexistence is possible among nations no matter how deep the
differences between them, how far apart they are in their political
and economic systems, no matter how intense the issues that divide
them. ”

Death at Tashkent

Shastri statue in Mumbai

the name is seen in the plaque in Mumbai in Maharashtra, IndiaAfter
the declaration of ceasefire, Shastri and Pakistani President Muhammad
Ayub Khan attended a summit in Tashkent (former USSR, now in modern
Uzbekistan), organised by Kosygin. On 10 January 1966, Shastri and
Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ayub_Khan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashkent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashkent_Declaration

The next day Shastri, who had suffered two heart attacks earlier, died
supposedly of a heart attack at 1:32 AM.[7]. He was the only Indian
Prime Minister, and indeed probably one of the few heads of
government, to have died in office overseas.[20]

Mystery of Shastri's Death

Although officially it was maintained that Shastri died of heart
attack, his widow, Lalita Shastri kept alleging that her husband was
poisoned. Many believed that Shastri's body turning blue was an
evidence of his poisoning. Indeed a Russian butler attending to him
was arrested on suspicion of poisoning Shastri, but was later absolved
of charges.[21]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalita_Shastri

In 2009, when Anuj Dhar, author of CIA's Eye on South Asia, asked the
Prime Minister's Office under an RTI plea (Right to Information Act),
that Shastri's cause of death be made public, the PMO refused to
oblige, citing that this could lead to harming of foreign relations,
cause disruption in the country and cause breach of parliamentary
privileges.[21]

The PMO did inform however that it had in its possession one document
related to Shastri's death, but refused to declassify it. The
government also admitted that no postmortem examination had been
conducted on him in USSR, but it did have a report of a medical
investigation conducted by Shastri's personal physician Dr. R.N. Chugh
and some Russian doctors. Furthermore, the PMO revealed that there was
no record of any destruction, or loss, of documents in the PMO having
a bearing on Shastri's death. As of July 2009, the home ministry is
yet to respond to queries whether India conducted a postmortem and if
the government had investigated allegations of foul play.[21]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuj_Dhar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA%27s_Eye_on_South_Asia

Circumstances of Shastri's death do indeed make a case for close
inquiry. On the night of 11 January, Shastri was awakened by a severe
coughing fit. Dr. R.N. Chugh came to his aid. Shastri was unable to
speak and pointed to a flask kept nearby. A staffer brought some water
which Shastri sipped. Shortly afterward, Shastri became unconscious
and attempts to revive him proved futile.

A cold case forensic enquiry which keeps these facts in consideration,
could point to three causes - in order of probability.

Myocardial Infarction (ordinarily known as Heart Attack)

Café Coronary (impaction of food in windpipe - in this case, drops of
water)
Poisoning by some very quick acting poison, say cyanide although its
probability is minimal.

Memorial

All his lifetime, Shastri was known for honesty and humility. He was
the first person to be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, and a
memorial "Vijay Ghat" was built for him in Delhi. Several educational
institutes, Shashtri National Academy of Administration (Mussorie) is
after his name these were some examples. The Shastri Indo-Canadian
Institute was named after Shastri due to his role in promoting
scholarly activity between India and Canada.[22]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Ratna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raj_Ghat_and_associated_memorials

In 2005, the Government of India created a chair in his honour in the
field of democracy and governance at Delhi University[23].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_University

Personal life

Lal Bahadur Shastri had five sons, including Anil Shastri and Sunil
Shastri, who are politicians.[24]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Shastri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunil_Shastri

References

^ a b "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Fatherless Child".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page4.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Loving Grandfather".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page5.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ a b c d "Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri - A Profile". Government Of
India.
http://pmindia.nic.in/pm_shastri.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Strong and Self-respecting".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page6.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Tilak and Gandhi".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page8.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Young Satyagrahi".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ a b c d "Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904-1966)". Research Reference and
Training Division, Ministry Of Information And Broadcasting,
Government Of India.
http://rrtd.nic.in/lalbahadurshastri.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Servants of the People Society".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ a b "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Freedom's Soldier".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page11.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ a b "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Sense of Honor".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page12.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Prime Minister's address at the inauguration of centenary year
celebrations of late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri". Prime Minister's
Office, Government Of India. 2005-10-02.
http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=30. Retrieved
2007-03-13.
^ a b "Lal Bahadur Shastri: In Prison Again".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page13.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ LiveIndia.com − Lal Bahadur Shastri
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Responsibility of Freedom".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page15.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: I Am Responsible".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page17.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ a b c "Prime Minister Inaugurates Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial: Text
Of Dr Manmohan Singh's Speech". Press Information Bureau, Government
Of India. 2005-05-07.
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=9089. Retrieved
2007-03-13.
^ a b c "Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Might of Peace". Press Information
Bureau, Government Of India. 2006-09-29.
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=21051. Retrieved
2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Force will be met with force".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page24.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: China Cannot Frighten Us".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page25.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ "Lal Bahadur Shastri: Shastriji is Immortal".
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page27.htm.
Retrieved 2007-03-13.
^ a b c Dhawan, H. "45 years on, Shastri's death a mystery - PMO
refuses to Entertain RTI Plea Seeking Declassification of Document".
The Times of India, New Delhi Edition, Saturday, 11 July 2009, page
11, columns 1-5 (top left)
^ "Mission of the Shastri Institute".
http://www.sici.org/about/.
^ "PM's speech at conclusion of Lal Bahadur Shastri Centenary
Celebrations". Prime Minister's Office, Government of India.
2005-10-04.
http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=205. Retrieved
2007-03-13.
^ The Shastri saga
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/10/02/stories/2004100200930300.htm

Further reading

John Noyce. Lal Bahadur Shastri: an English-language bibliography.
Lulu.com, 2002.
Lal Bahadur Shastri, 'Reflections on Indian politics', Indian Journal
of Political Science, vol.23, 1962, pp1–7
L.P. Singh, Portrait of Lal Bahadur Shastri (Delhi: Ravi Dayal
Publishers, 1996) ISBN 81-7530-006-X
(Sir) C.P. Srivastava, Lal Bahadur Shastri: a life of truth in
politics (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995) ISBN
0-19-563499-3
(Sir) C.P. Srivastava, Corruption: India's enemy within (New Delhi:
Macmillan India, 2001) chapter 3 ISBN 0-333-93531-4

External links

Why has history forgotten this giant?
http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/oct/06spec1.htm
The politician who made no money
http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/oct/07spec1.htm

The Rediff Special/Kuldip Nayar
October 06, 2004

Part I: Why has history forgotten this giant?

Kuldip Nayar was Lal Bahadur Shastri's press advisor from 1960 to 1964
and travelled with him extensively. He provides an insight into the
former prime minister's life.

Shastri and the Congress

Shastri has been forgotten by the nation. He has been pushed into the
background. I have no doubt that there was a Congress conspiracy to
underplay Shastri after his death.

The Congress is the party that should have put him to the fore but I
remember visiting a Congress meeting where Shastri's portrait was not
even displayed with respect.

He simply didn't fit in. Mrs Gandhi was strongly against the Congress
old guard. When he died there was a strong resistance against his
cremation in the area where Gandhi and Nehru had been laid to rest.
Most Congressmen wanted his body taken to Allahabad. When Mrs Lalita
Shastri said she would go public only then did the Congressmen relent.

They even protested against inscribing the slogan -- Jai Jawan, Jai
Kisan on his samadhi. Then again, only when Mrs Shastri threatened to
go on a hunger strike was it was allowed.

After leaving the Press Information Bureau I became a reporter.
Wherever I went to meet Congress leaders, I was labelled as 'Shastri
ka aadmi' [Shastri's man].

Now, a committee has been set up by the Congress-led government to
celebrate his birth centenary but it seems like an afterthought. I
think after the death of Shastri, the Congress did not know where to
fit him. When Mrs Gandhi succeeded him, the Congress didn't know where
to put his legacy in the scheme of things then.

Shastri stands for austerity.

Shastri stands for simplicity and consensus.

Shastri represents an ideology that was right of Centre but not left
of Centre. After all, he is the man who said we need the five-year
plan but let us have a one year holiday from plan.

I remember vividly a small incident that brought out the stark
difference between the two (Shastri and Indira Gandhi) leaders.

During Shastri's tenure his home in Janpath was upgraded quite a bit
to suit the status of a PM.

After his death, while searching for a suitable home Mrs Gandhi went
to see Shastri's home. She entered the home, had a round inside and
said, "middle class!"

The making of Shastri

Shastri was selected by veteran Congress leaders K Kamaraj, Neelam
Sanjeeva Reddy and S Nijalingappa to lead the nation. Moments after
Nehru's death I asked him who should become PM, he said it should be
the unanimous decision of the Congress.

He gave two names in order. First, Jayaprakash Narayan and second,
Indira Gandhi. He told me he wanted a unanimous decision over the
selection. "But if there is a contest (which Morarji Desai
contemplated) then I can defeat Morarji Desai but not Indira Gandhi,"
he told me.

Probably he was right. However, the question didn't arise because
Kamaraj was asked to talk to members informally. Shastri was made PM
but Morarjibhai never accepted the decision.

After Shastri became PM he had to face the war with Pakistan. When the
Chamb border was attacked Shastri was asked to take a tough decision
whether to cross the international border. The army chief said it
would be difficult to hold on for long at Chamb. Shastri gave the
order saying -- before they can capture Chamb you should capture
Lahore.

After the war was over, I asked Indira Gandhi if Nehru would have
allowed the crossing of the international border. Mrs Gandhi said,
'Whatever the generals would have advised him he would have followed."

But I wonder.

A slight man made of steel

After the war, Shastri's name was all over. Before the war many people
laughed at him for his softness but not after the war. He came out as
a tough hero.

His toughness was evident at Tashkent. When Russian Prime Minister
Alexei Kosygin (left: Shastri with Kosygin and Indian's then external
affairs minister Swaran Singh) wanted Shastri to sign the agreement
for peace with General Ayub Khan of Pakistan after the 1965 war,
Shastri insisted on adding the assurance, "never again will weapons be
used to sort out problems between India and Pakistan."

Ayub was maintaining a vague stance by quoting UN resolutions. "Then
you will have to find another PM," said Shastri during the arguments.
In the final agreement General Ayub Khan had not mentioned those words
but Shastri continued to press for it.

Ayub finally wrote it at the very last moment. General Ayub's
handwritten assurance is still preserved in the Indian archives.
Shastri was a slight person but with a strong mind.

Also read: Kuldip Nayar on the Tashkent summit

Shastri can't be revived

If the Congress wants to celebrate Shastri, it will have to re-
emphasis the honesty of Shastri. He stood for the small men of India.

But the Congress has changed completely. Since Mrs Gandhi said that
corruption is a world phenomenon, Congressmen are not losing sleep
over it. Neither can I imagine Shastri imposing the Emergency.

All those Congressmen seen active during the Emergency are part of
this government. Ambika Soni is a confidante of Sonia Gandhi, Pranab
Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, Kamal Nath all were part of the establishment
then.

How can these leaders bring in the values of Shastri?

The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty culture has also played a role in minimising
Shastri's legacy. When Shastri was made a minister without portfolio
in the Nehru's Cabinet, he was uncomfortable. Once in a huff he told
me, "I shall quit and retire to Allahabad."

While cajoling him not to entertain an such idea I said, "Nehru has
you in his mind."

Shastri said, "Unke dimag main to unki putri hai. (He has his daughter
in his mind as successor.)"

As soon as Shastri died the dynasty culture returned to the Congress.
Shastri's message of life was that if he could become PM anybody could
because he was a common man. As the Bible says the meekest shall
inherit the earth, he proved it.

In 1942 (during the Quit India Movement), when he was in a jail, his
daughter was ill and he was released on parole. But he could not save
her life because doctors had recommended costly drugs.

Shastri never made money. In 1963, on the day when he was dropped
under the Kamaraj plan I went to meet him. He was sitting in his home
without a light.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" I asked. He said, "From today all
expenses will be borne by me." He told me as a MP and minister he
didn't earn enough to save for his rainy day.

On that evening, I told him to turn a columnist to earn some money. So
he wrote a column on Lala Lajpat Rai. That was the first syndicated
column in India.

I syndicated it to four newspapers and collected Rs 500 from each.
Quite a hefty sum!

The second column was on Nehru but before he could write more he was
recalled to the Cabinet.

I don't see the revival of the values Shastri stood for. A day before
his first press conference after becoming PM I asked him what will be
your message tomorrow?

He said: "I'll tell them that during my tenure there will not be any
increase in food price and as PM of India I would ask members of the
Planning Commission to have one more column in their charts to show me
how many jobs will be created after spending thousands of crores of
rupees."

He was a man concerned about the common man of India. Can these values
return to this country?

I don't think so.

As told to Senior Editor Sheela Bhatt

Image: Uday Kuckian

http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/oct/07spec1.htm

The Rediff Special/Sheela Bhatt
October 05, 2004

Seven miles from Kashi in Uttar Pradesh is Mughalsarai. A hundred
years ago, Lal Bahadur, India's second prime minister, was born there
on October 2, 1904, the same day as India's greatest statesman
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, born 35 years before Shastriji.

Though his parents Sharada Prasad and Ramdulari Devi were Srivastavas,
Shastri dropped his caste identity in his early years. In 1921,
inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gandhi, he cut short his studies
to join India's freedom movement.

Later he joined the Kashi Vidyapeeth and earned the epithet 'Shastri'
by obtaining a degree on philosophy.

He won the hearts of Indians when he showed exemplary courage in
taking quick decisions as prime minister June 1964 to January 1966)
during the India-Pakistan war in 1965. His leadership in war was an
answer to that most often asked question at that time: 'After Nehru,
who?'

But his untimely death on January 10, 1966 in Tashkent, in suspicious
circumstances, deprived him the chance for history to sit in
judgement.

In a haphazardly taken decision, the central government has formed a
committee to celebrate Shastri's life and work in the year of his
centenary.

In an ongoing series rediff.com salutes the 'gentle giant' who led
India through the critical years after succeeding Nehru.

Has the nation forgotten Shastri? Is Shastri, who epitomised honesty
and sincerity in public life, relevant today?

Anil Shastri, one of the late prime minister's six children and member
of the Congress party, recounts memories of his father in a
conversation with Senior Editor Sheela Bhatt.

On the Congress treatment of Shastri

I don't think India has forgotten Lal Bahadur Shastri. Whatever he did
is remembered even today. I must say since Sonia Gandhi has taken
charge Shastriji's portraits are displayed in all the annual sessions
of the party.

Many people have observed that there was a conspiracy to underplay
Shastri's legacy within the Congress. This serious charge is untrue
for the simple reason that due to his untimely death his contribution
to the nation was confined to those 18 to 19 months when he was PM.

Nehru ruled the country for 17 years, Indira Gandhi for 16 years and
Rajiv Gandhi for 5 years. Obviously the Nehru-Gandhi contribution is
unparalleled because nobody got this opportunity. And remember
Shastriji considered him as a protégé of Pandit Nehru. He was never
outside the sphere of the Nehru ideology which is the Congress
ideology.

Our nation is going to celebrate his birth centenary throughout the
year. The committee is formed under the chairmanship of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.

Even in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, celebrations have been organised on a
big scale. E Ahmed, minister of state for external affairs, was in
Tashkent to participate in the celebrations.

Shastriji who represented a certain value system is more relevant
today than before because a majority of us today have no value
systems. I feel difficult to contest elections. I feel a little out of
place but for my lineage I have survived in politics.

His father

I still miss him although I was just 16 years old when he died. If he
would have lived 10 more years he would have done much more for the
country.

He was down to earth. A real son of the soil. His grounding was from
the grassroots level. He was a practical man too. He strongly believed
the laws of the land should be changed because the British formed them
to rule over India.

He did make an attempt by constituting the administrative reforms
commission and made Morarji Desai its chairman. But after he died the
idea was shelved.

The most cherished memory I have is the verses of Guru Nanak, which
were displayed on his table. As Nehru kept Robert Frost's lines --
'Miles to go before I sleep', on his desk, my father kept Nanak's
quotes in Gurmukhi.

When translated into English they mean -- 'O Nanak! Be tiny like the
grass, for other plants will whither away, but grass will remain ever
green.'

When under the PL 480 programme, America was going to send inferior
quality of wheat to India, he opposed it. He asked the nation to go
hungry once a day than accept poor quality food from US.

Before making this announcement he asked my mother not to cook evening
meals. He himself followed what he recommended.

The 1965 war with Pakistan

He appeared very modest but was a man of steel. He had the ability to
take quick decisions. It was demonstrated on August 31, 1965. On that
day he came home for an early dinner. One of his secretaries told him
that the three chiefs of the defence services had come to see him. He
immediately left for his office next door at 10, Janpath.

The three chiefs visited him to inform him that the Pakistan army had
crossed the international border with 100 battle tanks in the Chamb
sector of Jammu. They told him that in a short span of time the
Pakistan army would cut off Kashmir from the rest of India.

Without losing time he asked for the opening of a new front including
Lahore. Retaliate with full force, he said. What I remember is that
the historic meeting lasted less than five minutes. Arjan Singh, the
then chief of the air force was present. He is the only surviving
member from that meeting.

He told them, "Be prepared for war." He called Defence Minister Y B
Chavan and informed him of the decision. He responded positively and
expressed his support. He didn't wait for international reactions. The
next day, newspapers reported that the Indian army was marching
towards Lahore. It was a big morale booster for the country.

During those tense days, in his address to the nation from Red Fort on
Independence day, he said: "Hathiyaron ka jawab hathiyaron se denge.
(Force will be met with force.) Hamara desh rahega to hamara tiranga
rahega. (Our flag will survive only if our country does)"

On Shastri and the Nehru-Gandhi family

Pandit Nehru was very found of him. Shastriji was around 15 years
younger but he trusted him fully. In 1956, when a train accident
killed 144 passengers near Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, Shastriji resigned.
Panditji refused to accept the resignation but he prevailed upon
Panditji to accept it.

On the following day in Parliament, Nehru said no one could wish for a
better comrade than Lal Bahadur. A man of the highest integrity and
devoted to ideas is called Lal Bahadur, said Nehru.

Once he was sent to Kashmir by Nehru to help resolve the theft in the
Hazaratbal shrine. Nehru asked him whether he had enough woollens for
the trip.

"Are you aware Kashmir must be having snowfall at this time?" asked
Nehru.

Shastri showed him the jacket he was wearing and Nehru immediately
gave his own mink overcoat. My father was short in stature so he told
Nehru the coat was quite long. But Nehru said woollen overcoats were
always longer. That no one would know it was a borrowed one.

On his return from Kashmir when father went to him to return the
overcoat, Nehru asked him to keep it. The next day newspapers
reported: Nehru's Mantle Falls on Shastri.

Shastriji and Indiraji also enjoyed a close relationship. She had the
highest personal regard for him. After Nehru's death in 1964, the
Congress chose him as a consensus candidate. He did make an attempt to
persuade Indira Gandhi to take over as prime minister. He went to see
her and asked her to become prime minister.

She put her foot down and said no. "You become PM and I'll totally
support you," she said. When he was PM he would drop by at 1,
Safdarjung Road (Indira Gandhi's home) without intimation just to chat
with her.

Image: Uday Kuckian

http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/oct/06spec1.htm

Vinoba Bhave
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add
inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual
inaccuracies. (January 2008)

Vinoba Bhave,( विनोबा भावे ), born Vinayak Narahari Bhave (September
11, 1895 - November 15 1982) often called Acharya (In Sanskrit means
teacher), was an Indian advocate of Nonviolence and human rights. He
is considered as a National Teacher of India and the spiritual
successor of Mahatma Gandhi.[1]

Early life and background

He was born in Gagode, Maharashtra on September 11, 1895 into a pious
family of the Chitpavan Brahmin clan. He was highly inspired after
reading the Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharat, Ramayan at a very early age.
His father was a devout Hindu and his mother, who died in 1918, was a
great influence on him. In his memoir, Bhave states that, "there is
nothing to equal the part my mother played in shaping my mind".
Specifically, his devotion and spirituality.

His two brothers, Balkoba Bhave and Shivaji Bhave, were also bachelors
devoted to social work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitpavan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin

Career

Freedom struggle

Vinobha Kutir at Sabarmati AshramHe was associated with Mahatma Gandhi
in the Indian independence movement. In 1932 he was sent to jail by
the British colonial government because of his fight against British
rule. There he gave a series of talks on the Gita, in his native
language Marathi, to his fellow prisoners.

These highly inspiring talks were later published as the book "Talks
on the Gita", and it has been translated to many languages both in
India and elsewhere. Vinoba felt that the source of these talks was
something above and he believed that its influence will endure even if
his other works were forgotten.

In 1940 he was chosen by Gandhi to be the first Individual Satyagrahi
(an Individual standing up for Truth instead of a collective action)
against the British rule. It is said that Gandhi envied and respected
Bhave's celibacy, a vow he made in his adolescence, in fitting with
his belief in the Brahmacharya principle. Bhave also participated in
the Quit India Movement.

Religious and social work

Gandhi and VinobaVinoba's religious outlook was very broad and it
synthesized the truths of many religions. This can be seen in one of
his hymns "Om Tat" which contains symbols of many religions.

Vinoba observed the life of the average Indian living in a village and
tried to find solutions for the problems he faced with a firm
spiritual foundation. This formed the core of his Sarvodaya (Awakening
of all potentials) movement. Another example of this is the Bhoodan
(land gift) movement. He walked all across India asking people with
land to consider him as one of their sons and so give him a portion of
their land which he then distributed to landless poor. Non-violence
and compassion being a hallmark of his philosophy, he also campaigned
against the slaughtering of cows.

Literary career

Vinoba Bhave was a scholar, thinker, writer who produced numerous
books, translator who made Sanskrit texts accessible to common man,
orator, linguist who had excellent command of several languages
(Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, English, Sanskrit), and a social reformer. He
wrote brief introductions to, and criticisms of, several religious and
philosophical works like the Bhagavad Gita,works of Adi
Shankaracharya, the Bible and Quran. His criticism of Dnyaneshwar's
poetry as also the output by other Marathi saints is quite brilliant
and a testimony to the breadth of his intellect. A university named
after him Vinoba Bhave University is still there in the state of
Jharkhand spreading knowledge even after his death.

Later life and death

Vinoba spent the later part of his life at his ashram in Paunar,
Maharashtra. He controversially backed the Indian Emergency imposed by
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, calling it Anushasana Parva (Time for
Discipline).

He fell ill in November 1982 and decided to end his life. He died on
November 15, 1982 after refusing food and medicine for a few days.
Some Indians have identified this as sallekhana. It is the Jain
religious ritual of voluntary death by fasting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallekhana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting

Criticism

V. S. Naipaul has given scathing criticism of Bhave in his collection
of essays citing his lack of connection with rationality and excessive
imitation of Gandhi. Even some of his admirers find fault with the
extent of his devotion to Gandhiji. Much more controversial was his
support, ranging from covert to open, to Congress Party's Govt under
Indira Gandhi which was fast becoming unpopular.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul

Awards

In 1958 Vinoba was the first recipient of the international Ramon
Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.[2] He was awarded the Bharat
Ratna posthumously in 1983.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Magsaysay_Award
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Ratna

Bibliography

Geeta Pravachane (in all Indian languages)
Vichar Pothi (in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and also translated into
English by Vasant Nargolkar.)
Sthitapragnya Darshan (Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati also translated in
English)
Madhukar (collection and compilation of his articles written over the
years (before freedom was achieved.)
Krant Darshan (as no. 4)
Teesri Shakti or The Third Power (his views on political life of the
nation)
Swarajya Shastra (his political treatise)
Bhoodan Ganga - in 9/10 volumes, (in Marathi, Hindi) collection and
compilation of his speeches from 18 April 1951)
Manushasanam, (his selections from Manusmruti,
Moved By Love: The memoirs of Vinoba Bhave

Quotes

"All revolutions are spiritual at the source. All my activities have
the sole purpose of achieving a union of hearts."
"Peace is something mental and spiritual. If there be peace in our
(personal) life, it will affect the whole world"
"Jai Jagat! — Victory to the world!"
"It is a curious phenomena that God has made the hearts of the poor
rich, and those of the rich poor."
"What we should aim at is the creation of people power, which is
opposed to the power of violence and is different from the coercive
power of state."
"A country should be defended not by arms, but by ethical behavior."
"We cannot fight new wars with old weapons."
"When a thing is true, there is no need to use any arguments to
substantiate it."
"There is no need for me to protest against the government’s faults,
it is against its good deeds that my protests are needed."
"Do not allow yourself to imagine that revolutionary thinking can be
propagated by governmental power."
"I beg you not to adopt any "go slow" methods of nonviolence. In
nonviolence you must go full steam ahead, if you want the good to come
speedily you must go about it with vigor. A merely soft, spineless
ineffective kind of nonviolence will actually encourage the growth of
the status quo and all the forces of a violent system which we
deplore."

See also

Mohandas Gandhi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Gandhi
Gandhism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhism
Lanza del Vasto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanza_del_Vasto

Further reading

Vinoba Bhave: The Man and His Mission, by P. D. Tandon. Published by
Vora, 1954.
India's Walking Saint: The Story of Vinoba Bhave, by Hallam Tennyson.
Published by Doubleday, 1955.
Acharya Vinoba Bhave, by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
India, Published by Publications Division, Government of India, 1955.
India's Social Miracle: The Story of Acharya Vinoba Bhave and His
Movement for Social Justice and Cooperation, Along with a Key to
America's Future and the Way for Harmony Between Man, Nature, and God,
by Daniel P. Hoffman. Published by Naturegraph Co., 1961.
Sarvodaya Ideology & Acharya Vinoba Bhave, by V. Narayan Karan Reddy.
Published by Andhra Pradesh Sarvodaya Mandal, 1963.
Vinoba Bhave on self-rule & representative democracy, by Michael W.
Sonnleitner. Published by Promilla & Co., 1988. ISBN 818500210X.
Struggle for Independence : Vinoba Bhave, by Shiri Ram Bakshi.
Published by Anmol Publications, 1989.
Philosophy of Vinoba Bhave: A New Perspective in Gandhian Thought, by
Geeta S. Mehta. Published by Himalaya Pub. House, 1995. ISBN
817493054X.
Vinoba Bhave - Vyakti Ani Vichar (a book in Marathi) by Dr Anant D.
Adawadkar, Published by Jayashri Prakashan, Nagpur.

References

^ The King of Kindness (Vinoba Bhave, Bhoodan, Gramdan, Sarvodaya,
Gandhi Movement)
http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/GT_Vinoba.html
^ Online biography of Vinoba Bhave on www.rmaf.org.ph accessed in
January 2010

^ List of Bharat Ratna Awardees recipients on india.gov.in accessed in
January 2010

External links

The King of Kindness: Vinoba Bhave and His Nonviolent Revolution
http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/GT_Vinoba.html
"Talks on The Gita" by Vinoba Bhave
http://hindubooks.org/vinoba/gita/
Citation for 1958 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationBhaveVin.htm
Pen and Ink Portrait of Vinoba Bhave
http://www.kamat.com/database/biographies/vinoba_bhave.htm
Vinoba Bahve - his work on leprosy (with photo 1979)
http://web.telia.com/~u85411425/Vinoba.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinoba_Bhave


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lal_Bahadur_Shastri

Vinoba Bhave

Vinoba Bhave, 1895 - 1982, was the spiritual successor of Mahatma
Gandhi. He is famous for the land gift movement, Bhoodhan movement,
where people donated land to the landless poor of India.

His importance is illustrated by the fact that when Jawaharlal Nehru
became the first prime minister of the independent republic of India,
Nehru first of all went to see Vinoba Bhave to get his blessing.

In his relentless work on improving the life in the Indian village
Vinoba Bhave soon realized that leprosy was a common illness that
required their attention. A leprosy centre was therefore opened in
Dattapur in 1936 with Manoharji Diwan in charge.

It was therefore quite natural that 43 years later the head of the
National Leprosy Control Programme in India, Dr K.C. Das, when
travelling in India visiting the member states and their control
programmes, he also paid a visit to Vinoba Bhave.

Here we can see Dr K.C. Das standing at Vinoba Bhave's left side
(Vinoba sitting). Next to Dr Das is Dr Ravi Shankar Sharma, Medical
Officer of Dattapur Leprosy Home, now its Chief. Then sitting are
Hemprabha Bharali (from Assam), Lakshmi bahen, Rama bahen, Kusumtai
Deshpande, Lakschmi Phookan (Assam), Padma bahen, and Shakuntala
bahen. The picture was taken in the ashram of Vinoba Bhave in Paunar
in 1979, just three years before his passing away.

Page updated by GK, 2008-03-29

http://web.telia.com/~u85411425/Vinoba.htm

Kamat Research Database.

Biography: Vinoba Bhave

Born: 1895 Died: 1982

Kamat's Potpourri

Vinoba Bhave (1895 -1982)
Portrait in India ink by V.N. O'key

Vinoba Bhave was a great innovative experimenter in Gandhian
techniques. He placed reliance on the Gandhian philosophy of change of
heart and used the instrument of moral appeal of the Bhoodan (donation
of lands) movement to secure land to the landless to satisfy peasants
hunger for land. The Bhoodan movement initiated by Vinoba Bhave
created a social climate to land reforms and their smooth
implementation.

Source: Adhunika Bharat Ke Nirmata, V.N. O'Key Felicitation Committee,
Bombay, 1989

http://www.kamat.com/database/biographies/vinoba_bhave.htm

The 1958 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

CITATION for Vinoba Bhave

Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 1958, Manila, Philippines

Seven years ago, seeing the force of a simple act of human
generosity�one man's voluntary gift of land�in the solution of a
bitter village conflict, VINOBA BHAVE dedicated himself to the
propagation of a new kind of social revolution in India.

The vehicle he originated for this work, known as the Bhoodan
Movement, has as its primary tangible objective "land for the
landless." Its intangible implications are even more significant.
Emphasizing a voluntary giving�first of land and more recently also of
cash, kind, labor, intelligence, life and of whole villages�he has
sought to bring his people to a fuller realization of man's nobler
nature.

Many among his countrymen have responded to his abiding faith in the
basic goodness of human character and the tempering effect of human
conscience. In them, he has awakened a consciousness of inner strength
and nurtured a social morality. Thus, in his seven years of walking to
the villages of India, he has labored to create with gentle persuasion
the climate for social reform wherein, by ways he has proposed, needed
change could be accomplished voluntarily.

He has sought nothing for himself, least of all recognition of his
achievements. Rather, his has been a life selflessly devoted to
finding and conveying to his people an approach to the problem of
poverty that is within the means of every man. He, in his way, as our
late President Ramon Magsaysay did in his, has given himself humbly
and unstintingly in service to his people.

In electing ACHARYA VINOBA BHAVE to receive the first Ramon Magsaysay
Award for Community Leadership, the Board of Trustees recognizes his
furtherance of the cause of arousing his countrymen toward voluntary
action in relieving social injustice and economic inequalities.

http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationBhaveVin.htm

The King of Kindness
Vinoba Bhave and His Nonviolent Revolution
By Mark Shepard

Excerpted and adapted from the book Gandhi Today: A Report on Mahatma
Gandhi’s Successors, Simple Productions, Arcata, California, 1987,
reprinted by Seven Locks Press, Washington, D.C., 1987

For more resources, visit Mark Shepard’s Gandhi Page at
www.markshep.com/nonviolence

Copyright © 1987, 1988 Mark Shepard. May be freely copied and shared
for any noncommercial purpose as long as no text is altered or
omitted.

Vinoba, 1978.
Photo by Mark Shepard.

All revolutions are spiritual at the source. All my activities have
the sole purpose of achieving a union of hearts.

—Vinoba

Jai jagat!—Victory to the world!

—Vinoba

Once India gained its independence, that nation’s leaders did not take
long to abandon Mahatma Gandhi’s principles.

Nonviolence gave way to the use of India’s armed forces. Perhaps even
worse, the new leaders discarded Gandhi’s vision of a decentralized
society—a society based on autonomous, self-reliant villages. These
leaders spurred a rush toward a strong central government and an
industrial economy as found in the West.

Yet Gandhi’s vision was not abandoned by all. Many of Gandhi’s
“constructive workers”—development experts and community organizers
working in a host of agencies set up by Gandhi himself—resolved to
continue his mission of transforming Indian society.

Leading them was a disciple of Gandhi previously little known to the
Indian public, yet eventually regarded as Gandhi’s “spiritual
successor": a saintly, reserved, austere individual called Vinoba.

In 1916, at the age of 20, Vinoba was in the holy city of Benares
trying to come to a decision.

Should he go to the Himalaya mountains and become a religious hermit?
Or should he go to West Bengal and join the guerillas fighting the
British?

Then Vinoba came across a newspaper account of a speech by Gandhi.
Vinoba was thrilled. Soon after, he joined Gandhi in his ashram. (An
ashram is a religious community—but for Gandhians, it is also a center
for political and social action.)

As Vinoba later said, he found in Gandhi the peace of the Himalayas
united with the revolutionary fervor of Bengal.

Gandhi greatly admired Vinoba, commenting that Vinoba understood
Gandhian thought better than he himself did. In 1940 he showed his
regard by choosing Vinoba over Nehru to lead off a national protest
campaign against British war policies.

After Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, 1948, many of Gandhi’s
followers looked to Vinoba for direction. Vinoba advised that, now
that India had reached its goal of Swaraj—independence, or self-rule—
the Gandhians’ new goal should be a society dedicated to Sarvodaya,
the “welfare of all.”

The name stuck, and the movement of the Gandhians became known as the
Sarvodaya Movement. A merger of constructive work agencies produced
Sarva Seva Sangh—“The Society for the Service of All”—which became the
core of the Sarvodaya Movement, as the main Gandhian organization
working for broad social change along Gandhian lines.

Vinoba had no desire to be a leader, preferring a secluded ashram
life. This preference, though, was overturned by events in 1951,
following the yearly Sarvodaya conference in what is now the central
Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. At the close of that conference,
Vinoba announced his intention to journey through the nearby district
of Telengana.

He couldn’t have picked a more troubled spot.

Telengana was at that moment the scene of an armed insurrection.
Communist students and some of the poorest villagers had united in a
guerilla army. This army had tried to break the land monopoly of the
rich landlords by driving them out or killing them and distributing
their land.

At the height of the revolt, the guerrillas had controlled an area of
3,000 villages. But the Indian army had been sent in and had begun its
own campaign of terror. Now, many villages were occupied by government
troops during the day and by Communists at night. Each side would kill
villagers they suspected of supporting the other side. So most
villagers lived in terror of both sides.

The government had clearly shown it would win, but the conflict wasn’t
nearly over by the time of the Sarvodaya conference. Vinoba hoped to
find a solution to the conflict and to the injustice that had spawned
it. So, refusing police escort, he and a small company set off on
foot.

On April 18, the third day of his walk, Vinoba stopped in the village
of Pochampalli, which had been an important Communist stronghold.
Setting himself up in the courtyard of a Muslim prayer compound, he
was soon receiving visitors from all the factions in the village.

Among the visitors was a group of 40 families of landless Harijans.
(Harijan was Gandhi’s name for the Untouchables, the outcasts from
Hindu society. Literally, it means “child of God.”) The Harijans told
Vinoba they had no choice but to support the Communists, because only
the Communists would give them land. They asked, Would Vinoba ask the
government instead to give them land?

Vinoba replied, “What use is government help until we can help
ourselves?” But he himself wasn’t satisfied by the answer. He was
deeply perplexed.

Late that afternoon, by a lake next to the village, Vinoba held a
prayer meeting that drew thousands of villagers from the surrounding
area. Near the beginning of the meeting, he presented the Harijans’
problem to the assembly. Without really expecting a response, he said,
“Brothers, is there anyone among you who can help these Harijan
friends?”

A prominent farmer of the village stood up. “Sir, I am ready to give
one hundred acres.”

Vinoba could not believe his ears.

Here, in the midst of a civil war over land monopoly, was a farmer
willing to part with 100 acres out of simple generosity. And Vinoba
was just as astounded when the Harijans declared that they needed only
80 acres and wouldn’t accept more!

Vinoba suddenly saw a solution to the region’s turmoil. In fact, the
incident seemed to him a sign from God. At the close of the prayer
meeting, he announced he would walk all through the region to collect
gifts of land for the landless.

So began the movement called Bhoodan—“land-gift.” Over the next seven
weeks, Vinoba asked for donations of land for the landless in 200
villages of Telengana. Calculating the amount of India’s farmland
needed to supply India’s landless poor, he would tell the farmers and
landlords in each village, “I am your fifth son. Give me my equal
share of land.” And in each village—to his continued amazement—the
donations poured in.

Who gave, and why?

At first most of the donors were farmers of moderate means, including
some who themselves owned only an acre or two. To them, Vinoba was a
holy man, a saint, the Mahatma’s own son, who had come to give them
God’s message of kinship with their poorer neighbors. Vinoba’s prayer
meetings at times took on an almost evangelical fervor. As for Vinoba,
he accepted gifts from even the poorest—though he sometimes returned
these gifts to the donors—because his goal was as much to open hearts
as to redistribute land.

Gradually, though, the richer landowners also began to give. Of
course, many of their gifts were inspired by fear of the Communists
and hopes of buying off the poor—as the Communists were quick to
proclaim.

But not all the motives of the rich landowners were economic. Many of
the rich hoped to gain “spiritual merit” through their gifts; or at
least to uphold their prestige. After all, if poor farmers were
willing to give sizeable portions of their land to Vinoba, could the
rich be seen to do less? And perhaps a few of the rich were even truly
touched by Vinoba’s message.

In any case, as Vinoba’s tour gained momentum, even the announced
approach of the “god who gives away land” was enough to prepare the
landlords to part with some of their acreage.

Soon Vinoba was collecting hundreds of acres a day. What’s more,
wherever Vinoba moved, he began to dispel the climate of tension and
fear that had plagued the region. In places where people had been
afraid to assemble, thousands gathered to hear him—including the
Communists.

At the end of seven weeks, Vinoba had collected over 12,000 acres.
After he left, Sarvodaya workers continuing to collect land in his
name received another 100,000 acres.

The Telengana march became the launching point for a nationwide
campaign that Vinoba hoped would eliminate the greatest single cause
of India’s poverty: land monopoly. He hoped as well that it might be
the lever needed to start a “nonviolent revolution”—a complete
transformation of Indian society by peaceful means.

The root of oppression, he reasoned, is greed. If people could be led
to overcome their possessiveness, a climate would be created in which
social division and exploitation could be eliminated. As he later put
it, “We do not aim at doing mere acts of kindness, but at creating a
Kingdom of Kindness.”

Soon Vinoba and his colleagues were collecting 1,000 acres a day, then
2,000, then 3,000. Several hundred small teams of Sarvodaya workers
and volunteers began trekking from village to village, all over India,
collecting land in Vinoba’s name. Vinoba himself—despite advanced age
and poor health—marched continually, touring one state after another.

The pattern of Vinoba’s day was daily the same. Vinoba and his company
would rise by 3:00 a.m. and hold a prayer meeting for themselves. Then
they would walk ten or twelve miles to the next village, Vinoba
leading at a pace that left the others struggling breathlessly behind.
With him were always a few close assistants, a bevy of young,
idealistic volunteers—teenagers and young adults, male and some
female, mostly from towns or cities—plus maybe some regular Sarvodaya
workers, a landlord, a politician, or an interested Westerner.

At the host village they would be greeted by a brass band, a makeshift
archway, garlands, formal welcomes by village leaders, and shouts of
“Sant Vinoba, Sant Vinoba!” (“Saint Vinoba!”)

After breakfast, the Bhoodan workers would fan out through the
village, meeting the villagers, distributing literature, and taking
pledges. Vinoba himself would be settled apart, meeting with visitors,
reading newspapers, answering letters.

In late afternoon, there would be a prayer meeting, attended by
hundreds or thousands of villagers from the area. After a period of
reciting and chanting, Vinoba would speak to the crowd in his quiet,
high-pitched voice. His talk would be completely improvised, full of
rich images drawn from Hindu scripture or everyday life, exhorting the
villagers to lives of love, kinship, sharing. At the close of the
meeting, more pledges would be taken.

There were no free weekends on this itinerary, no holidays, no days
off. The man who led this relentless crusade was 57 years old,
suffered from chronic dysentery, chronic malaria, and an intestinal
ulcer, and restricted himself, because of his ulcer, to a diet of
honey, milk, and yogurt.

As the campaign gained momentum, friends and detractors alike watched
in fascination. In the West, too, Vinoba’s effort drew attention. In
the United States, major articles on Vinoba appeared in the New York
Times, the New Yorker—Vinoba even appeared on the cover of Time.

By the time of the 1954 Sarvodaya conference, the Gandhians had
collected over 3 million acres nationwide. The total eventually
reached over 4 million. Much of this land turned out to be useless,
and in many cases landowners reneged on their pledges. Still, the
Gandhians were able to distribute over 1 million acres to India’s
landless poor—far more than had been managed by the land reform
programs of India’s government. About half a million families
benefited.

Meanwhile, Vinoba was shifting his efforts to a new gear—a higher one.

After 1954, Vinoba began asking for “donations” not so much of land
but of whole villages. He named this new program Gramdan—“village-
gift.”

Gramdan was a far more radical program than Bhoodan. In a Gramdan
village, all land was to be legally owned by the village as a whole,
but parceled out for the use of individual families, according to
need. Because the families could not themselves sell, rent, or
mortgage the land, they could not be pressured off it during hard times
—as normally happens when land reform programs bestow land title on
poor individuals.

Village affairs were to be managed by a village council made up of all
adult members of the village, making decisions by consensus—meaning
the council could not adopt any decision until everyone accepted it.
This was meant to ensure cooperation and make it much harder for one
person or group to benefit at the expense of others.

While Bhoodan had been meant to prepare people for a nonviolent
revolution, Vinoba saw Gramdan as the revolution itself.

Like Gandhi, Vinoba believed that the divisiveness of Indian society
was a root cause of its degradation and stagnation. Before the
villagers could begin to improve their lot, they needed to learn to
work together. Gramdan, he felt, with its common land ownership and
cooperative decision-making, could bring about the needed unity.

And once this was achieved, the “people’s power” it would release
would make anything possible.

Vinoba’s Gramdan efforts progressed slowly until 1965, when an easing
of Gramdan’s requirements was joined to the launching of a “storm
campaign.” By 1970, the official figure for Gramdan villages was
160,000—almost one-third of all India’s villages!

But it turned out that it was far easier to get a declaration of
Gramdan than to set it up in practice. By early 1970, only a few
thousand villages had transferred land title to a village council. In
most of these, progress was at a standstill. What’s more, most of
these few thousand villages were small, single-caste, or tribal—not
even typical Indian villages.

By 1971, Gramdan as a movement had collapsed under its own weight.

Still, the Gramdan movement left behind more than a hundred Gramdan
“pockets”—some made up of hundreds of villages—where Gandhian workers
settled in for long-term development efforts. These pockets today form
the base of India’s Gandhian movement. In these locales, the Gandhians
are helping some of India’s poorest by organizing Gandhian-style
community development and nonviolent action campaigns against
injustice.

As for Vinoba, he returned to his ashram for the final time in June
1970, after thirteen years of continual marching and five more of
presiding over the “storm campaign.”

During his final years, Vinoba continued to inspire new programs—for
instance, Women’s Power Awakening, a Gandhian version of women’s
liberation. He also launched an ongoing campaign against “cow
slaughter” to try to halt the butchering of useful farm animals, a
practice destructive of India’s traditional agriculture.

In the mid-1970s, Vinoba and some close followers became estranged
from Sarva Seva Sangh when he opposed the nationwide protest movement
of fellow Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan against the government of Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi (no relation to the Mahatma). The “JP Movement”
led to Indira Gandhi’s infamous declaration of Emergency and then
indirectly to her temporary ouster from office. In the long run, the
value of that movement’s accomplishments proved open to question, and
much of Vinoba’s criticism of it was borne out.

Vinoba died on November 15, 1982. In his dying, as in his living, he
was deliberate, instructive, and, in a way, lighthearted. After
suffering a heart attack, Vinoba decided to “leave his body before his
body left him.” He therefore simply stopped eating until his body
released him.

Another Great Soul had passed.

More on Vinoba and the Sarvodaya Movement

Most of these titles can be difficult to buy. For possible sources,
see Other Gandhi Resources on my Gandhi Page.

Vinoba on Gandhi, by Vinoba Bhave, Sarva Seva Sangh, Benares, 1973.
Selected talks. Clear, lucid, and sometimes controversial.

Democratic Values, by Vinoba Bhave, Sarva Seva Sangh, Benares, 1964.
Selected talks on his social philosophy.

Selections from Vinoba, edited by Vishwanath Tandon, Sarva Seva Sangh,
Benares, 1981.

Gandhi Today: A Report on Mahatma Gandhi’s Successors, Simple
Productions, Arcata, California, 1987 (reprinted by Seven Locks Press,
Washington, D.C., 1987). Includes the more complete account from which
this article is drawn.

Since Gandhi: India’s Sarvodaya Movement, by Mark Shepard, Greenleaf
Books, Weare, New Hampshire, 1984. Booklet, mimeographed. An earlier,
more detailed, more critical account—with much unauthorized editing.
Also lists additional sources. Available only from Greenleaf Books.

India’s Walking Saint: The Story of Vinoba Bhave, by Hallam Tennyson,
Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1955. A first-hand account by a
visiting American Quaker.

Gandhi to Vinoba: The New Pilgrimage, by Lanza del Vasto, Schocken,
New York, 1974. Biography, plus a journal of a Bhoodan tour. By a
prominent European Gandhian and the founder of the Community of the
Ark.

Vinoba: His Life and Work, by Sriman Narayan, Popular Prakashan,
Bombay, 1970.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave, by Vishwanath Tandon, Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting, New Delhi, 1992. (Acharya is a title of respect
meaning “spiritual teacher.”)

Fragments of a Vision: A Journey through India’s Gramdan Villages, by
Erica Linton, Sarva Seva Sangh, Benares, 1971. By a visiting
Englishwoman. An inspiration for my own book.

Nonviolent Revolution in India, by Geoffrey Ostergaard, JP Amrit Kosh,
Sevagram, and Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi, 1985. An extensive
scholarly treatment of the Gandhians after Gandhi, though slanted more
toward Jayaprakash Narayan.

Contact Info

For info on contacting today’s Gandhians, please see Other Gandhi
Resources on my Gandhi Page.

Read the book!

Gandhi Today
A Report on India’s Gandhi Movement
By Mark Shepard

http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/GT_Vinoba.html

INDIA: A Man on Foot
Monday, May. 11, 1953

The farms around Benares, India's holy city, are nourished by the
sacred Ganges. The soil is black and crumbly, as rich-looking as
chocolate. Cane grows as high as a man's head. Water is knee-deep in
the lush paddies. It is a happy land, where plump little children
stand beside the road, laugh and wave to passing automobiles, where
slender farm girls, with water jars balanced gracefully on their
heads, smile shyly before covering their faces with colorful head
cloths. Old men sit in the doorways of mud huts, contentedly puffing
on long-stemmed hookahs.

But as the traveler goes on across the sluggish River Son, then turns
south into the state of Bihar, the landscape begins to change. The
land is dry and almost desert-like. Scattered here & there, like the
bare bones of long-dead hills, are piles of gigantic stones. Jackals
wander across the fields, and black kites wheel lazily in the sky.
Tiny villages huddle beside the road, and when an automobile
approaches, naked children cower in fright, then invariably, as
panicky chickens do, dart into the car's path. Gaunt women, stripped
to the waist, work in the fields.

Trudging across this bleak land last week, surrounded by adoring
crowds wherever he went, was a gentle, half-deaf little wisp of a man,
dressed in the garb of poverty—a homespun dhoti and cheap brown canvas
sneakers—but lighted by a flame of authority that has made him one of
India's most notable spiritual leaders. His name is Vinoba Bhave
(pronounced bah vay). He has no place in the government or any other
secular organization; he is what Hindus call an acharya (preceptor).
Only a land with holy cities, sacred rivers and thin margins between
want and plenty could have produced frail (5 ft. 4 in., 86 Ibs.),
ascetic Vinoba Bhave. In two years he has become such a power in India
that only Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is better known to the
Indian masses.

New Urgency. Vinoba, as he is known to millions, was a trusted and
faithful disciple of the late Mahatma Gandhi. He even looks somewhat
like Gandhi, except for a grey beard and frowsy dark hair. He has the
same emaciated body, wears the same sort of bifocal glasses, speaks in
the same calm, soft voice, with kindly humor. One of the most learned
men in India, he has studied Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Marathi,
Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu, Kanarese, Malayalam and English, and this
array of languages serves him well on his travels through polyglot
India. It is not for his learning, however, that India's millions have
given their hearts to Vinoba Bhave. They have done that because he,
like their beloved Bapu (as they call Gandhi), has brought them a new
hope.

It is no new doctrine that Vinoba preaches. It only seems so, because
the times have given it new urgency. Walking from one to another of
India's 700,000 villages, he asks those who have land to share it with
those who have none. Without using the words of the gentle Evangelist
who preceded him by two thousand years, he tells his audiences that it
is more blessed to give than to receive. To those who have land he
says: "I have come to loot you with love. If you have four sons,
consider me as the fifth, and accordingly give me my share." To
impoverished tenants and landless laborers he says: "We are all
members of a single human family."

The results of this simple approach to man's better nature have been
astonishing. Bhave calls his campaign Bhoomidan-yagna, which means a
sacrificial offering of land. Since he began his land distribution
campaign two years ago, Vinoba has walked 6,500 miles on tireless
feet, and has distributed more than a million acres of land to the
poor. The largest single gift was 100,000 acres from a maharajah. The
smallest was a gantha (one fortieth of an acre), donated by a
Telingana peasant who owned only one acre himself.

Every Man's Heart. Not all of the gifts are prompted by charitable
impulse. Some wealthy landowners support Vinoba Bhave and make
donations because they hope his gentle usurpation will appeal to the
mystic strain in all good Hindus more than the violence of Communism.
Bhave has proved that, under certain circumstances, Indians do prefer
his way, that Bhoomidan-yagnn is more effective in ending unrest than
jailing thousands of Reds. "

At one place he said: "Whatever village I go to, people tell me about
the atrocities of the Communists. I pray to God to let the feeling of
love for Communists also reside in my heart. Although the Communists
commit acts of violence, still, hovr can we hate them? I wish everyone
to realize God. I always pray to Him that He should kindle good faith
in the heart of every man." In another village, held in a vise of
terror, he spoke directly to the Communists: "Do you really believe in
your ideology? If so ... why not come in the daytime instead of by
night? If you want to loot the people, loot as I do, with sincerity
and affection."

Every party in India approves of Bhave's movement, including Nehru's
Congress Party and the Socialists—every party, that is, except the
Communists. Even the Communists do not denounce the man or his goal,
only his method (which they profess to scorn as inadequate and
unworkable, despite the fact that it works). For 30 years the Congress
Party has talked land reform, studied schemes, but has accomplished
little. After independence, Nehru turned over land legislation to the
state governments, where it has been obstructed by landowner
interests. Of India's 357 million people, in a land where plague,
pests, drought, floods, debt and ignorance conspire to perpetuate
abject poverty, Bhave is one man who is doing something tangible about
redistributing the land. To the Western eye, there arc visible
shortcomings in Vinoba's Bhoomidan-yagna. It has not increased the
number of acres or the quantity of crops, and therefore—his critics say
—provides no conclusive answer to India's immense agricultural
problem. Although more than 70% of India's people work the land for a
living, the nation must import food or starve. Yet Bhoomidan-yagna has
given pride of ownership to hundreds of thousands, and hope to
millions more.

Eight Swishes. Vinoba Bhave is a sick man: he has a duodenal ulcer and
malaria. For food, he takes only two cups of milk daily, the second
laced with honey. Yet somehow he finds the energy to walk a steady ten
to 20 miles a day. When he is on the road, he and his disciples get up
in some sleeping village at 3 a.m. There is a patter of handclaps, a
tinkling bell, the flash of a kerosene lantern, the shuffling of
sandals in the dust, and the little group departs for the next
village, singing hymns. When he is not on the road, Vinoba gets up an
hour later and meditates for an hour. At 5, he has his first cup of
milk, swishing each mouthful exactly eight times before swallowing.

Bhave's entourage numbers a dozen or more enthusiastic young Hindus,
male and female, average age about 24, who stay three months to a year
with him, so that the membership is constantly changing. Some
disciples usually precede him to the next village, to announce his
arrival from a sound truck and to see that everything is in order
(including latrine-digging, if a big crowd is expected). The only
permanent member of the group is Damadar Das, 38, who joined Gandhi at
18 and became Bhave's secretary after the Mahatma died. Damadar Das
mails copies of Vinoba's speeches to the newspapers and keeps track of
the land deeds, although each one is shrewdly inspected and initialed
by Bhave personally.

Bhave's ashram (retreat) is at Puanar in Madhya Pradesh, about six
miles from Gandhi's former ashram at Wardha. The main bungalow at
Puanar, donated by Gandhi's old benefactor, the late Millionaire
Jamnalal Bajaj, seemed so luxurious to the ascetic Bhave that he was
tempted to refuse it. Finally he accepted, but stripped the bungalow
to its bare walls. Like Gandhi before him, Bhave is an expert spinner
and weaver. Unless it is raining, he sleeps outdoors every night,
whether on the road or at Puanar.

Lifelong Celibacy. Vinoba Bhave was born 57 years ago to a Brahman
(high-caste) family in Gangoda, a village in western India. His given
name was Vinayak, but Gandhi changed it to Vinoba in later years, and
the disciple accepted it as his name. At ten the boy began his career
of holy man: he made a resolution of lifelong celibacy, gave up sweets
and started going barefoot. Gandhi, who in young manhood was a lawyer
and a comfortably married man, admired Vinoba's untarnished virginity.
The Mahatma frequently said that his only regret in life was that he
had known the delights of sex.

At 20, Bhave was shipped off to study at Bombay, but went instead to
Bengal. Apparently (he is reticent about his early life) he joined the
nationalist movement in Bengal, eating at public kitchens. He studied
Sanskrit at Benares, and became deeply immersed in Hindu theology. He
first saw Gandhi in 1916. Being too shy to approach the Mahatma, Bhave
wrote a letter instead, and Gandhi invited him to join the ashram at
Sabarmati. When Gandhi learned that his new follower had not written
to his family for several years, he sat down himself and wrote to
Bhave's father: "Your Vinoba is with me. His spiritual attainments are
such as I myself attained only after a long struggle."

Return Before Nightfall. Bhave was restless at Sabarmati, however, and
went away to study more Sanskrit, telling Gandhi that if he did not
find peace of soul he would be back in a year. Over the ensuing
months, the others in the ashram forgot his promise, but one morning
at prayers, the Mahatma said that this was the day Vinoba had promised
to return. Vinoba was back before nightfall.

In 1932 Bhave suffered his first arrest for taking part in Gandhi's
civil-disobedience movement. Thereafter he spent several more terms in
British jail, serving a total of about two years. After India won her
nationhood, through the bloody communal riots between Hindus and
Moslems and through Gandhi's death, Bhave remained in obscurity,
except for occasional newspaper articles carrying his strictures
against money. To Bhave, money "tells lies and is like a loafing
tramp." For a medium of exchange he favored scrip, showing the number
of hours a person had worked to earn it.

Two years ago he went to the state of Hyderabad to attend a meeting of
Gandhi's old disciples. The Communists were terrorizing Hyderabad,
especially the Telingana district, and Bhave was appalled by what he
found there.

Culture & Blood Baths. In the 10,000 square miles of Telingana,
8,000,000 peasants had long suffered the worst land tyranny in India.
They were virtual serfs, without hope of getting land of their own.
Communist guerrillas moved in to correct this—in their own way. They
killed or put to flight scores of landowners, distributed the land,
seized whole villages and set up their own schools. In battles between
guerrillas and state constables backed by government troops, 3,000
people were killed and 35,000 Reds jailed. Both landowners and farmers
were caught in the murderous crossfire.

Bhave wandered into areas from which the police had warned him to stay
away, but he was unharmed. At first he preached ahimsa (Gandhi's old
nonviolence), but he soon saw that this was not enough. "I confess,"
he said, "that the incendiary and murderous activities did not unnerve
me, because I know that the birth of a new culture has always been
accompanied in the past by blood baths. What is needed is not to get
panicky, but to keep our heads cool and find a peaceful means of
resolving the conflict. The police are not expected to think out and
institute reforms. To clear a jungle of tigers, their employment would
be useful. But here we have to deal with human beings, however
mistaken and misguided. When a new idea is born, new repression cannot
combat it."

Then Vinoba Bhave thought of asking landowners to give land to the
landless, saying (or at least politely implying) that if they did not,
the Communists or the government might take it away. Thus Bhoomidan-
yagna was born, in bloody Telingana. Even the Nizam of Hyderabad,
reputed one of the richest and most miserly men in the world, gave
some land, though neither the Nizam nor Bhave would say how much (the
merit acquired by giving is lost by boasting of it). Some 35,000 acres
were collected and reassigned to the most destitute. Gradually the
revolt and the terror died down.

Palms & Mango Leaves. Prime Minister Nehru's government was delighted.
Nehru too is Gandhi's heir—but a modern, half-Westernized one. Gandhi
had a political core which Bhave ignores and Nehru has inherited.
Nehru, moreover, believes in industrialization and irrigation and vast
schemes; Bhave believes in self-denial and spinning wheels. After
Bhave's triumph in Telingana, Nehru wanted him to come to New Delhi
and discuss Bhoomidan-yagna with the National Planning Commission, and
offered to send a plane down to fly Vinoba back. Vinoba said: "I will
come, but in my own time, and as always." He walked, with members of
his ashram. New Delhi was 795 miles away.

That slow plodding to the capital, which took two months, was a
triumphant journey. At nearly every town and village, Bhave found
arbors of palms and mango leaves erected for him to walk through.
Underfed, ragged villagers crowded around to touch the holy man's
feet, and to bathe them when he would stop for a rest. Municipal
dignitaries garlanded him with flowers, which the little ascetic
passed back to the crowd. At each departure, the elders walked with
him a mile toward the next village. And at every stop, he held a
prayer meeting and carried on with Bhoomidan-yagna.

At New Delhi, he stayed in a bamboo hut near the concrete ghat in
which Gandhi's body was cremated. Nehru called twice, in the midst of
a busy election campaign. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the President of India,
came and told Bhave to take as much as he wanted of Prasad's land
holding in Bihar. Members of the Planning Commission came and stayed
for hours. Even a delegation of Communists, headed by Party Boss Ajoy
Ghosh, paid a courteous visit. After eleven days, Bhave left New Delhi
and has not been back to the capital since. He dislikes cities.

No Animal Matter. Three months ago, while walking through Bihar,
Vinoba Bhave was seized with acute malaria. His temperature rose above
103, but he kept on walking as long as he could, then continued by
bullock cart. In Chandil, a small village, he collapsed and was put to
bed, but he refused all medication. "God," he said, "either wants to
free me or desires to purify this body for employing it again in His
work." He also refused to be taken to a hospital in Patna, the state
capital. Said he: "Do not people also die in Patna?"

Crowds gathered around the house where the holy man lay ill. Half a
dozen state and national government officials sent doctors to care for
him. Dr. Prasad and others pleaded with him to take the drugs they
prescribed.

Finally, on being assured that the medicines contained no animal
matter, Bhave consented. He improved almost immediately. During his
convalescence, Nehru and Prasad flew down for a visit. And his
disciples carried on with Bhoomidan-yagna, collecting 33,000 acres of
land. When Bhave took to the road again, the donations came in so fast
that the ash ram's bookkeeping system was almost snowed under. Last
week, after 110 miles of dusty tramping in Bihar, he had picked up
another 365,000 acres.

The Way of Love. Nowadays Vinoba Bhave reads only three books:
Euclid's Elements, Aesop's Fables and the Bhagavad Gita. For him, as
for Gandhi, the Bhagavad Gita is the supreme book of human guidance.
This great Sanskrit poem, imbedded in a larger work called the
Mahabharata, is later than the Vedas and the Upanishads, and fills a
role in the Hindu holy books something like that of the New Testament
in the Bible. During one of his jail terms, Vinoba lectured every
Sunday on the Gita. He translated it into Marathi* verse, and this
work sold about a quarter of a million copies.

The Gita prescribes three paths for the soul's union with God: karma-
yoga, the way of action, Jnana-yoga, the way of knowledge, and bhakti-
yoga, the way of love. The poem is set in the frame of bloody battle,
a great battle on the plain of Kurukshetra. The hero, Arjuna, is
downcast because he must fight against men who, he suspects, are his
brothers, even though they are foes, and the god Krishna givers Arjuna
advice. Krishna persuades Arjuna that it is permissible to fight,
indeed, that he must fight, so long as the struggle serves no selfish
ends. Although most Indian scholars believe that the poem refers to a
real battle, Gandhi was so deeply committed to nonviolence that he
convinced himself that the battle of Kurukshetra was an allegory, that
it portrayed the conflict of good & evil in the human heart.

Bhave practices karma-yoga, the way to God through action in the
world: "You must perform every action sacramentally, and be free from
all attachment to results." It is not to be undertaken with out first
mastering the other yogas, learning control of the body, the breathing
and the mind; learning concentration through love and devotion by
prayer; gaining knowledge by meditation.

Vinoba Bhave has read and admired the scriptures of other religions,
and he knows that the way of love was discovered long ago in many
places outside the mountain-walled subcontinent of India. Yet in this
racked century, the way of love seems, as Bhoomidan-yagna shows,
always new.

"My object," says Vinoba Bhave, "is to transform the whole of society.
Fire merely burns; it does not worry whether anyone puts a pot on it,
fills it with water and puts rice in it to make a meal. Fire burns and
does its duty. It is for others to do theirs.

"The people are going to solve their problems, not I. I am simply
creating an atmosphere. The beginning is always small, but when the
atmosphere spreads, somebody will ask—and somebody will give."

*A Sanskritic language spoken in western India.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935318,00.html

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

List of Hindu deities
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of Hindu deities. Note that according to some Hindu
literature, there are 330 million (including local and regional)
deities,[1][2] not all of which can be listed.

A

Aakash http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akash_Bhairav
Acyutah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acyutah
Adimurti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adimurti
Aditi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aditi
Aditya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aditya
Agni http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni
Amman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariamman
Ammavaru http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammavaru
Anala http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasus
Anila http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasu
Anti Mahaakaalan
Anumati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_deity
Anuradha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakshatra
Ap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ap_(water)
Apam Napat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apam_Napat
Aranyani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranyani
Aravan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iravan
Ardhanari http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardhanari
Ardra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardra_(goddess)
Arjuna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna
Aruna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aru%E1%B9%87a
Arundhati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_(mythology)
Aryaman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aditya
Aslesa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aslesa
Asura http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura
Asvayujau http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asvayujau
Aswini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswini
Ayyappan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayyappan
Ayyanar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayyanar
Ayya Vaikundar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayya_Vaikundar

B

Baba Ramdevji http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Ramdevji
Bagala
Bagalamukhi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagalamukhi
Bahuchara Mata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahuchara_Mata
Balarama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balarama
Banka-Mundi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banka-Mundi
Bhadra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadra
Bhadrakali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadrakali
Bhaga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaga
Bhairava http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhairava
Bhairavi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhairavi
Bharani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharani
Bharati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati
Bhavani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavani
Bhumidevi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumidevi
Bhumiya
Bhutamata
Bhuvaneshvari http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhuvaneshvari
Brahma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma
Brahman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman
Brahmani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmani
Brihaspati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihaspati
Budha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budha
Buddha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_in_Hinduism
Buddhi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhi
Budhi Pallien http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budhi_Pallien
Balaji http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaji
Beeralingeswara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeralingeswara

C

Chamunda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamunda
Chamundi
Chandra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra
Chathan
Chhinnamasta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhinnamasta
Chitragupta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitragupta

D

Daksha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daksha
Dakshayani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshayani
Danu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danu_(Hindu_goddess)
Dattatreya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dattatreya
Deva http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deva_(Hinduism)
Devi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi
Devnarayan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devnarayan
Dhanvantari http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhanvantari
Dhara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhara
Dharma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma
Dharma Shasta
Dhatri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhatri
Dhumavati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhumavati
Diti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diti
Durga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga
Draupadi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draupadi

E

Esakki

G

Ganesha (see also Ashtavinayaka)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtavinayaka

Garuda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda
Gayatri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri
Ghanshyam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghanshyam
Guardians of the directions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_directions
Gusainji http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gusainji

H

Hanuman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman
Hari http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari
Hidumba

I

Indra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra
Indrani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indrani
Indilayappan
Īśāna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishana
Ishvara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishvara

J

Jagaddhatri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagaddhatri
Jyotiba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyotiba
Jagannath http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagannath
Jumadi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumadi

K

Kadutha Swami
Kala
Kali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
Kali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamadeva
Kamalatmika http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamalatmika
Kartikeya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartikeya
Karuppa Swami
Kashyapa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashyapa
Khatushyamji http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khatushyamji
Kirata Moorti
Krishna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna
Kubera http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubera
Khandoba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khandoba
Kathyayini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathyayini
Kannaki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannaki
Kamakshi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakshi

L

Lakshmi (see also Ashta Lakshmi)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashta_Lakshmi
Lalitha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalitha
Lakshman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshman

M

Madurai Veeran http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madurai_Veeran_(Hinduism)
Mahavidya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavidya
Mahavishnu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavishnu
Mariamman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariamman
Markandeya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markandeya
Matrikas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrikas
Meenakshi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi
Manasa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasa
Maruts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruts
Matangi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matangi
Manikanta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manikanta
Meenush http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenush
Mhasoba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhasoba
Veer Mhaskoba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veer_Mhaskoba
Mitra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitra_(Vedic)
Mohini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohini
Muthyalamma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muthyalamma
Murugan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murugan
Mariamman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariamman
Muniandi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muniandi
Muthappan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muthappan
Mahalasa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalasa
Mukyaprana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukyaprana
Mookambika http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mookambika

N

Naga Devata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_worship
Naga Raja
Naga Yakshi
Naina Devi
Nallacchan
Nandni http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandnimata
Nandi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_bull
Narada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narada
Narasimha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narasimha
Narayana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana
Nataraja http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja
Nirrith http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirrith
Nirrta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirrta
Nookambika http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nookalamma

P

Parashurama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parashurama
Parasiva http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasiva
Parjanya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parjanya
Parvati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parvati
Pashupati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupati
Prajapati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajapati
Prithvi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithvi
Pushan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushan
Purusha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purusha

R

Radha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radha
Rama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama
Ramnathi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramnathi
Ranganatha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranganatha
Rati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rati
Ratri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratri
Ravi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_(god)
Rbhus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rbhus
Renuka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renuka
Revanta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revanta
Rohini Nakshatram
Rudra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudra

S

Samaleswari http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maa_Samaleswari
Saraswati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati
Saranyu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saranyu
Sati
Savitr http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitr
Savitri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri_Devi
Sesha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesha
Shakti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti
Shakti Peethas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti_Peethas
Shantadurga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantadurga
Shiva (see also Astamurti)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astamurti
Sita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sita
Skanda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanda
Soma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma
Subrahmanya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subrahmanya
Surya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya
Svaha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svaha
Swaminarayan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaminarayan

T

Tara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Devi)
Tejaji http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tejaji
Tirupati Thimmappa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirupati_Thimmappa
Tripura Sundari http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura_Sundari
Tvashtri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tvashtri

U

Uma (goddess) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uma_(goddess)
Ushas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushas
Ugratara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Buddhism)

V

Vaishnodevi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnodevi
Vamana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamana
Varaha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varaha
Varuna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varuna
Vasu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasu
Vayu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vayu
Veerabhadra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerabhadra
Veer Mhaskoba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veer_Mhaskoba
Venkateshwara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venkateshwara
Vettakkoru Makan
Vishnu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu
Vishvaksena
Vithoba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vithoba
Vishwakarma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishwakarma
Vivasvat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivasvat

Y

Yakshi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakshi
Yama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_(Hinduism)
Yami http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yami
Yellamma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellamma
Yudhisthira

Aspects

Brahma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma
Prajapati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajapati

Shiva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva

Mahadeva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahadeva
Prajapati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajapati
Khandoba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khandoba
Jyotiba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyotiba
Bhairav
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhairav
Nataraja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja
Ardhanari
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardhanari
Haryardhamurti
Dakshinamurti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshinamurti
Pashupati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupati
Lingobhavamurti
Bhiksatanamurti

Devi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi

Bhavani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavani
Durga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga
Navadurga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navadurga
Shailaputri
Brahmacharini
Kushmanda
Skanda Mata
Katyayani
Maha Gauri
Nandni
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandnimata

Kala Ratri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kala_Ratri
Chandraghanta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandraghanta
Siddhi Dhatri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhi_Dhatri
Jagaddhatri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagaddhatri
Parvati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parvati
Sati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshayani
Shakti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti
Matrikas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrikas
Mahavidya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavidya
Kali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
Tara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Devi)
Tripura Sundari
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura_Sundari
Bhuvaneshvari
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhuvaneshvari
Bhairavi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhairavi
Chhinnamasta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhinnamasta
Dhumavati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhumavati
Bagalamukhi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagalamukhi
Matangi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matangi
Kamalatmika
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamalatmika
Lakshmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi
Ashtalakshmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtalakshmi
Adi-Lakshmi
Dhana-Lakshmi
Dhanya-Lakshmi
Santan-Lakshmi
Vijay-Lakshmi
Vidya-Lakshmi
Dhairya-Lakshmi
Gaja-Lakshmi

Shree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shree
Bhudevi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhudevi
Alakshmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alakshmi
Saraswati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati
Gayatri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri
Savitri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri
Shatarupa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatarupa
Vāc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C4%81c
Sarada

Vishnu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu
Venkateshwara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venkateshwara

Avatars

Brahma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma
Narada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narada

Lakshmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi
Sita Devi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sita_Devi
Rukmini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rukmini
Padmavati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmavati

Durga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga
Chandanayika
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandanayika

Vishnu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu

Dasavatara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasavatara

Matsya, the fish
Kurma, the tortoise
Varaha, the boar
Narasimha, the Man-Lion (Nara = man, simha = lion)
Vamana, the Dwarf
Parashurama, Rama with the axe
Rama, Sri Ramachandra, the prince and king of Ayodhya
Krishna
Buddha, the wise one
Kalki ("Eternity", or "time", or "The Destroyer of foulness"), who is
expected to appear at the end of Kali Yuga, the time period in which
we currently exist, which will end in the year 428899 CE.
Balarama is considered by some to be a Dashavatar instead of Buddha

The 25 Avatars of the Puranas

The Puranas list twenty-five avataras of Vishnu. A description of
these is found in the Bhagavata Purana, Canto 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puranas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavata_Purana

Catursana (the four sons of Brahma)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catursana
Narada (the travelling sage)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narada
Varaha (the boar)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varaha
Matsya (the fish)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsya
Yajna (Vishnu temporarily taking the role of Indra)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yajna
Nara-Narayana (the twins)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nara-Narayana
Kapila (the philosopher)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapila
Dattatreya (combined avatar of the trimurti)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dattatreya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimurti
Hayagriva (the horse)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayagriva
Hamsa (the swan)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa_(purana)
Prsnigarbha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prsnigarbha
Rsabha (father of King Bharata)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsabha
Prithu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithu
Narasimha (the Man-Lion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narasimha
Kurma (the tortoise)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurma
Dhanvantari (father of ayurveda)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhanvantari
Mohini (beautiful woman)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohini
Vamana (the dwarf)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamana
Parasurama or Bhargav rama (the warrior)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasurama
Raghavendra (Rama)(the king of Ayodhya)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghavendra
Vyasa (writer of the Vedas and Mahabharata)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyasa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata

Balarama (Krishna's elder brother)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balarama
Krishna (the cowherd)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna
Buddha (the reformer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha
Kalki (the destroyer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalki

See also

List of Hinduism-related articles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hinduism-related_articles

Notes

^ Jeffrey Brodd (2003), World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery, Saint
Mary's Press, p. 45, ISBN 9780884897255,
http://books.google.com/books?id=vOzNo4MVlgMC&pg=PA45&dq=%22330+million%22
: '[..] many gods and goddesses (traditionally 330 million!) [...]
Hinduism generally regards its 330 million as deities as extensions of
one ultimate reality, many names for one ocean, many "masks" for one
God.'

World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery By Jeffrey Brodd

Book overview

Intended for eleventh- and twelfth-grade students, this manual is
designed to help readers become better acquainted with the answers
each of the religions of the world offers to fundamental questions
about life, as well as the basic premise of each religion.
Illustrations, maps. and sidebars.

Limited preview - Edition: 2 - 2003 - 312 pages - Religion

This book has a more recent edition (2009).

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What people believe is a bedrock of who they are. "World Religions: A
Voyage of Discovery" looks the many faiths of the world, ranging from
the most primal religions of our prehistoric ancestors, to ...

poor product
User Review - K. Strauch - Amazon.com -
This book was not in satisfactory condition. Pages were ripped. The
cover was bent. There was all kinds of writing inside the book. We are
sorry we bought this book. There were drawings or doodles on various
pages.

It looked brand new
User Review - Libia Frias - Amazon.com -
It's in really good condition. No writing or markings inside which is
a plus. The first book to arrive.

Around the world...
User Review - Justin R. Cannon - Amazon.com -
There seem to be quite a few books here on Amazon without adequate
descriptions. This is basically a course prepared for 11-12th graders,
designed to introduce them to the people and practices of the ...


Textbook
User Review - Kenneth M. Wahlman - Amazon.com -
This exact book is a requirement for a theology course at Walsingham
Academy. It arrived in perfect condition, almost as quick as buying in
the store, except someone else drove. I am buying more ...

Review: World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery
User Review - A reader - weRead -
wanna read it just for the purpose of curiosity!

A student's perspective
User Review - Robert E. Guttridge - Amazon.com -
Very Informative and more up to date than you might think. A good
class room book

World Religions book
User Review - Rosemary S. Helmich - Amazon.com -
Our book arrived quickly, and it was in terrific condition! Thanks to
our seller for her diligence!


http://books.google.com/books?id=vOzNo4MVlgMC&sitesec=reviews&rf=st:us

^ Joe David Brown; Time-Life Books (1961), Joe David Brown, ed.,
India, Time, Inc., http://books.google.com/books?id=2XRuAAAAMAAJ&q=%22popular+figure%22
: "Though the popular figure of 330 million is not the result of an
actual count but intended to suggest infinity, the Hindu pantheon in
fact contains literally hundreds of different deities [...]"

Book overview

Snippet view - 1961 - 160 pages

http://books.google.com/books?id=2XRuAAAAMAAJ&q=%22popular+figure%22

http://books.google.com/books?id=vOzNo4MVlgMC&pg=PA45&dq=%22330+million%22#v=onepage&q=%22330%20million%22&f=false


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_deities

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1940s

Born 2 October 1869(1869-10-02)
Porbandar, Kathiawar Agency, British India

Died 30 January 1948 (aged 78)
New Delhi, Union of India

Cause of death Assassination
Resting place Rajghat, New Delhi, India

Nationality Indian

Other names Mahatma Gandhi, Bapu

Alma mater University College London, University of London

Known for Prominent Figure of Indian Independence Movement
Propounding the philosophy of Satyagraha and Ahimsa

Religion Hinduism

Spouse(s) Kasturba Gandhi

Children Harilal

Manilal
Ramdas
Devdas

Parents Putlibai Gandhi (Mother)

Karamchand Gandhi (Father)

Signature

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Hindi: मोहनदास करमचंद गाँधी, Gujarati:
મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, pronounced [moːɦən̪d̪aːs kərəmʨən̪d̪
ɡaːn̪d̪ʱiː] ( listen); 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-
eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian
independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to
tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded
upon ahimsa or total nonviolence—which led India to independence and
inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi
([məɦaːt̪maː]; Sanskrit: महात्मा mahātmā or "Great Soul", an honorific
first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore),[1] and in India also as
Bapu (Gujarati: બાપુ, bāpu or "Father"). He is officially honoured in
India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is
commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and
worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience while an
expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the resident Indian
community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in
1915, he organized protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers
concerning excessive land-tax and discrimination. After assuming
leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led
nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build
religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic
self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the
independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his
followers in the Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-
imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930.
Later, in 1942, he launched the Quit India civil disobedience movement
demanding immediate independence for India. Gandhi spent a number of
years in jail in both South Africa and India.

As a practitioner of ahimsa, he swore to speak the truth and advocated
that others do the same. Gandhi lived modestly in a self-sufficient
residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl,
woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple
vegetarian food, eventually adopting a fruitarian diet, and also
undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social
protest.

Early life and background

A young Gandhi c. 1886.Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi[2] was born on 2
October 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat,
India. His father, Karamchand Gandhi (1822–1885), who belonged to the
Hindu Modh community, was the diwan (Prime Minister) of Porbander
state, a small princely state in the Kathiawar Agency of British India.
[3] His grandfather's name was Uttamchand Gandhi, fondly called Utta
Gandhi. His mother, Putlibai, who came from the Hindu Pranami
Vaishnava community, was Karamchand's fourth wife, the first three
wives having apparently died in childbirth.[4] Growing up with a
devout mother and the Jain traditions of the region, the young
Mohandas absorbed early the influences that would play an important
role in his adult life; these included compassion for sentient beings,
vegetarianism, fasting for self-purification, and mutual tolerance
between individuals of different creeds.[citation needed]

The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and Maharaja
Harishchandra from the Indian epics, had a great impact on Gandhi in
his childhood. The story of Harishchandra, a well known tale of an
ancient Indian king and a truthful hero, haunted Gandhi as a boy.
Gandhi in his autobiography admits that it left an indelible
impression on his mind. He writes: "It haunted me and I must have
acted Harishchandra to myself times without number." Gandhi's early
self-identification with Truth and Love as supreme values is traceable
to his identification with these epic characters.[5][6]

In May 1883, the 13-year old Mohandas was married to 14-year old
Kasturbai Makhanji (her first name was usually shortened to
"Kasturba," and affectionately to "Ba") in an arranged child marriage,
as was the custom in the region.[7] Recalling about the day of their
marriage he once said that " As we didn't know much about marriage,
for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing
with relatives." However, as was also the custom of the region, the
adolescent bride was to spend much time at her parents' house, and
away from her husband.[8] In 1885, when Gandhi was 15, the couple's
first child was born, but survived only a few days; Gandhi's father,
Karamchand Gandhi, had died earlier that year.[9] Mohandas and
Kasturba had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888;
Manilal, born in 1892; Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900.
At his middle school in Porbandar and high school in Rajkot, Gandhi
remained an average student academically. He passed the matriculation
exam for Samaldas College at Bhavnagar, Gujarat with some difficulty.
While there, he was unhappy, in part because his family wanted him to
become a barrister.

Gandhi and his wife Kasturba (1902)On 4 September 1888, less than a
month shy of his 19th birthday, Gandhi traveled to London, England, to
study law at University College London and to train as a barrister.
His time in London, the Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he
had made to his mother in the presence of the Jain monk Becharji, upon
leaving India, to observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat,
alcohol, and promiscuity.[10] Although Gandhi experimented with
adopting "English" customs—taking dancing lessons for example—he could
not stomach the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and he
was always hungry until he found one of London's few vegetarian
restaurants. Influenced by Salt's book, he joined the Vegetarian
Society, was elected to its executive committee[10], and started a
local Bayswater chapter.[4] Some of the vegetarians he met were
members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 to
further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study of
Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in
reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the
original.[10] Not having shown a particular interest in religion
before, he became interested in religious thought and began to read
both Hindu as well as Christian scriptures.[4][10]

Gandhi was called to the bar on June 10, 1891 and left London for
India on June 12, 1891,[4] where he learned that his mother had died
while he was in London, his family having kept the news from him.[10]
His attempts at establishing a law practice in Mumbai failed and,
later, after applying and being turned down for a part-time job as a
high school teacher, he ended up returning to Rajkot to make a modest
living drafting petitions for litigants, a business he was forced to
close when he ran afoul of a British officer. In his autobiography, he
refers to this incident as an unsuccessful attempt to lobby on behalf
of his older brother.[4][10] It was in this climate that, in April
1893, he accepted a year-long contract from Dada Abdulla & Co., an
Indian firm, to a post in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, then part
of the British Empire.[4]

Civil rights movement in South Africa (1893–1914)

Gandhi in South Africa (1895)

Main article: Gandhi's work in South Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi%27s_work_in_South_Africa

M.K. Gandhi while serving in the Ambulance Corps during the Boer
War.In South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination directed at Indians.
He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move
from the first class to a third class coach while holding a valid
first class ticket.[11] Traveling farther on by stagecoach he was
beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make
room for a European passenger.[12] He suffered other hardships on the
journey as well, including being barred from several hotels. In
another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to
remove his turban - which he refused to do.[13] These events were a
turning point in his life, awakening him to social injustice and
influencing his subsequent social activism. It was through witnessing
firsthand the racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South
Africa that Gandhi started to question his people's status within the
British Empire, and his own place in society.

Gandhi extended his original period of stay in South Africa to assist
Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote. Though
unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in
drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He
helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894,[4][11] and through
this organization, he molded the Indian community of South Africa into
a homogeneous political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in
Durban he was attacked by a mob of white settlers and escaped only
through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. He,
however, refused to press charges against any member of the mob,
stating it was one of his principles not to seek redress for a
personal wrong in a court of law.[4]

In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling
registration of the colony's Indian population. At a mass protest
meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted
his still evolving methodology of satyagraha (devotion to the truth),
or non-violent protest, for the first time, calling on his fellow
Indians to defy the new law and suffer the punishments for doing so,
rather than resist through violent means. This plan was adopted,
leading to a seven-year struggle in which thousands of Indians were
jailed (including Gandhi), flogged, or even shot, for striking,
refusing to register, burning their registration cards or engaging in
other forms of non-violent resistance. While the government was
successful in repressing the Indian protesters, the public outcry
stemming from the harsh methods employed by the South African
government in the face of peaceful Indian protesters finally forced
South African General Jan Christiaan Smuts to negotiate a compromise
with Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas took shape and the concept of satyagraha
matured during this struggle.

Racism and Controversy
Some of Gandhi's early South African articles are controversial. On 7
March 1908, Gandhi wrote in the Indian Opinion of his time in a South
African prison: "Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilized - the convicts even
more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like
animals."[14] Writing on the subject of immigration in 1903, Gandhi
commented: "We believe as much in the purity of race as we think they
do... We believe also that the white race in South Africa should be
the predominating race."[15] During his time in South Africa, Gandhi
protested repeatedly about the social classification of blacks with
Indians, who he described as "undoubtedly infinitely superior to the
Kaffirs".[16] Remarks such as these have led some to accuse Gandhi of
racism.[17]

Two professors of history who specialize in South Africa, Surendra
Bhana and Goolam Vahed, examined this controversy in their text, The
Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South Africa, 1893–1914.
(New Delhi: Manohar, 2005). They focus in Chapter 1, "Gandhi, Africans
and Indians in Colonial Natal" on the relationship between the African
and Indian communities under "White rule" and policies which enforced
segregation (and, they argue, inevitable conflict between these
communities). Of this relationship they state that, "the young Gandhi
was influenced by segregationist notions prevalent in the 1890s."[18]
At the same time, they state, "Gandhi's experiences in jail seemed to
make him more sensitive to their plight...the later Gandhi mellowed;
he seemed much less categorical in his expression of prejudice against
Africans, and much more open to seeing points of common cause. His
negative views in the Johannesburg jail were reserved for hardened
African prisoners rather than Africans generally."[19]

Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela is a follower of
Gandhi,[20] despite efforts in 2003 on the part of Gandhi's critics to
prevent the unveiling of a statue of Gandhi in Johannesburg.[17] Bhana
and Vahed commented on the events surrounding the unveiling in the
conclusion to The Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South
Africa, 1893–1914. In the section "Gandhi's Legacy to South Africa,"
they note that "Gandhi inspired succeeding generations of South
African activists seeking to end White rule. This legacy connects him
to Nelson Mandela...in a sense Mandela completed what Gandhi
started."[21]

Role in Zulu War of 1906

Main article: Bambatha Rebellion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambatha_Rebellion

In 1906, after the British introduced a new poll-tax, Zulus in South
Africa killed two British officers. In response, the British declared
a war against the Zulus. Gandhi actively encouraged the British to
recruit Indians. He argued that Indians should support the war efforts
in order to legitimize their claims to full citizenship. The British,
however, refused to commission Indians as army officers. Nonetheless,
they accepted Gandhi's offer to let a detachment of Indians volunteer
as a stretcher bearer corps to treat wounded British soldiers. This
corps was commanded by Gandhi. On 21 July 1906, Gandhi wrote in Indian
Opinion: "The corps had been formed at the instance of the Natal
Government by way of experiment, in connection with the operations
against the Natives consists of twenty three Indians".[22] Gandhi
urged the Indian population in South Africa to join the war through
his columns in Indian Opinion: “If the Government only realized what
reserve force is being wasted, they would make use of it and give
Indians the opportunity of a thorough training for actual
warfare.”[23]

In Gandhi's opinion, the Draft Ordinance of 1906 brought the status of
Indians below the level of Natives. He therefore urged Indians to
resist the Ordinance along the lines of satyagraha by taking the
example of "Kaffirs". In his words, "Even the half-castes and kaffirs,
who are less advanced than we, have resisted the government. The pass
law applies to them as well, but they do not take out passes."[24]

In 1927 Gandhi wrote of the event: "The Boer War had not brought home
to me the horrors of war with anything like the vividness that the
[Zulu] 'rebellion' did. This was no war but a man-hunt, not only in my
opinion, but also in that of many Englishmen with whom I had occasion
to talk."[25]

Struggle for Indian Independence (1915–1945)

See also: Indian Independence Movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Independence_Movement

In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa to live in India. He spoke
at the conventions of the Indian National Congress, but was primarily
introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people by Gopal
Krishna Gokhale, a respected leader of the Congress Party at the time.

Role in World War I

In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, Gandhi was
invited by the Viceroy to a War Conference in Delhi.[26] Perhaps to
show his support for the Empire and help his case for India's
independence,[27] Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the
war effort.[28] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak
of World War I in 1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance
Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June
1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote "To bring
about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend
ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them...If we
want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible despatch, it
is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army."[29] He did however
stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he
"personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe."[30]
Gandhi's war recruitment campaign brought into question his
consistency on nonviolence as his friend Charlie Andrews confirms,
"Personally I have never been able to reconcile this with his own
conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where I have
found myself in painful disagreement."[31] Gandhi's private secretary
also acknowledges that "The question of the consistency between his
creed of 'Ahimsa' (non-violence) and his recruiting campaign was
raised not only then but has been discussed ever since."[28]

Champaran and Kheda

Main article: Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champaran_and_Kheda_Satyagraha

Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the Kheda and Champaran
satyagrahas.Gandhi's first major achievements came in 1918 with the
Champaran agitation and Kheda Satyagraha, although in the latter it
was indigo and other cash crops instead of the food crops necessary
for their survival. Suppressed by the militias of the landlords
(mostly British), they were given measly compensation, leaving them
mired in extreme poverty. The villages were kept extremely dirty and
unhygienic; and alcoholism, untouchability and purdah were rampant.
Now in the throes of a devastating famine, the British levied a tax
which they insisted on increasing. The situation was desperate. In
Kheda in Gujarat, the problem was the same. Gandhi established an
ashram there, organizing scores of his veteran supporters and fresh
volunteers from the region. He organized a detailed study and survey
of the villages, accounting for the atrocities and terrible episodes
of suffering, including the general state of degenerate living.
Building on the confidence of villagers, he began leading the clean-up
of villages, building of schools and hospitals and encouraging the
village leadership to undo and condemn many social evils, as accounted
above.

But his main impact came when he was arrested by police on the charge
of creating unrest and was ordered to leave the province. Hundreds of
thousands of people protested and rallied outside the jail, police
stations and courts demanding his release, which the court reluctantly
granted. Gandhi led organized protests and strikes against the
landlords who, with the guidance of the British government, signed an
agreement granting the poor farmers of the region more compensation
and control over farming, and cancellation of revenue hikes and its
collection until the famine ended. It was during this agitation, that
Gandhi was addressed by the people as Bapu (Father) and Mahatma (Great
Soul). In Kheda, Sardar Patel represented the farmers in negotiations
with the British, who suspended revenue collection and released all
the prisoners. As a result, Gandhi's fame spread all over the nation.
He is also now called as "Father of the nation" in Indian.

Non-cooperation

Main article: Non-cooperation movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-cooperation_movement

Gandhi employed non-cooperation, non-violence and peaceful resistance
as his "weapons" in the struggle against British. In Punjab, the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre of civilians by British troops (also known
as the Amritsar Massacre) caused deep trauma to the nation, leading to
increased public anger and acts of violence. Gandhi criticized both
the actions of the British Raj and the retaliatory violence of
Indians. He authored the resolution offering condolences to British
civilian victims and condemning the riots which, after initial
opposition in the party, was accepted following Gandhi's emotional
speech advocating his principle that all violence was evil and could
not be justified.[32] But it was after the massacre and subsequent
violence that Gandhi's mind focused upon obtaining complete self-
government and control of all Indian government institutions, maturing
soon into Swaraj or complete individual, spiritual, political
independence.

Mahatma Gandhi's room at Sabarmati Ashram
Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhi's home in GujaratIn December 1921, Gandhi was
invested with executive authority on behalf of the Indian National
Congress. Under his leadership, the Congress was reorganized with a
new constitution, with the goal of Swaraj. Membership in the party was
opened to anyone prepared to pay a token fee. A hierarchy of
committees was set up to improve discipline, transforming the party
from an elite organization to one of mass national appeal. Gandhi
expanded his non-violence platform to include the swadeshi policy —
the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. Linked to
this was his advocacy that khadi (homespun cloth) be worn by all
Indians instead of British-made textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men
and women, rich or poor, to spend time each day spinning khadi in
support of the independence movement.[33] This was a strategy to
inculcate discipline and dedication to weed out the unwilling and
ambitious, and to include women in the movement at a time when many
thought that such activities were not respectable activities for
women. In addition to boycotting British products, Gandhi urged the
people to boycott British educational institutions and law courts, to
resign from government employment, and to forsake British titles and
honours.

"Non-cooperation" enjoyed widespread appeal and success, increasing
excitement and participation from all strata of Indian society. Yet,
just as the movement reached its apex, it ended abruptly as a result
of a violent clash in the town of Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, in
February 1922. Fearing that the movement was about to take a turn
towards violence, and convinced that this would be the undoing of all
his work, Gandhi called off the campaign of mass civil disobedience.
[34] Gandhi was arrested on 10 March 1922, tried for sedition, and
sentenced to six years' imprisonment. He began his sentence on 18
March 1922. He was released in February 1924 for an appendicitis
operation, having served only 2 years.

Without Gandhi's uniting personality, the Indian National Congress
began to splinter during his years in prison, splitting into two
factions, one led by Chitta Ranjan Das and Motilal Nehru favouring
party participation in the legislatures, and the other led by
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, opposing
this move. Furthermore, cooperation among Hindus and Muslims, which
had been strong at the height of the non-violence campaign, was
breaking down. Gandhi attempted to bridge these differences through
many means, including a three-week fast in the autumn of 1924, but
with limited success.[35]

Salt Satyagraha (Salt March)

Main article: Salt Satyagraha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Satyagraha

Gandhi at Dandi, 5 April 1930, at the end of the Salt March.Gandhi
stayed out of active politics and, as such, the limelight for most of
the 1920s. He focused instead on resolving the wedge between the
Swaraj Party and the Indian National Congress, and expanding
initiatives against untouchability, alcoholism, ignorance and poverty.
He returned to the fore in 1928. In the preceding year, the British
government had appointed a new constitutional reform commission under
Sir John Simon, which did not include any Indian as its member. The
result was a boycott of the commission by Indian political parties.
Gandhi pushed through a resolution at the Calcutta Congress in
December 1928 calling on the British government to grant India
dominion status or face a new campaign of non-cooperation with
complete independence for the country as its goal. Gandhi had not only
moderated the views of younger men like Subhas Chandra Bose and
Jawaharlal Nehru, who sought a demand for immediate independence, but
also reduced his own call to a one year wait, instead of two.[36] The
British did not respond. On 31 December 1929, the flag of India was
unfurled in Lahore. 26 January 1930 was celebrated as India's
Independence Day by the Indian National Congress meeting in Lahore.
This day was commemorated by almost every other Indian organization.
Gandhi then launched a new satyagraha against the tax on salt in March
1930. This was highlighted by the famous Salt March to Dandi from 12
March to 6 April, where he marched 388 kilometres (241 miles) from
Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt himself. Thousands of Indians
joined him on this march to the sea. This campaign was one of his most
successful at upsetting British hold on India; Britain responded by
imprisoning over 60,000 people.

The government, represented by Lord Edward Irwin, decided to negotiate
with Gandhi. The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was signed in March 1931. The
British Government agreed to free all political prisoners, in return
for the suspension of the civil disobedience movement. Also as a
result of the pact, Gandhi was invited to attend the Round Table
Conference in London as the sole representative of the Indian National
Congress. The conference was a disappointment to Gandhi and the
nationalists, because it focused on the Indian princes and Indian
minorities rather than on a transfer of power. Furthermore, Lord
Irwin's successor, Lord Willingdon, began a new campaign of
controlling and subduing the nationalist movement. Gandhi was again
arrested, and the government tried to negate his influence by
completely isolating him from his followers. But this tactic failed.

Mahadev Desai (left) reading out a letter to Gandhi from the viceroy
at Birla House, Bombay, 7 April 1939In 1932, through the campaigning
of the Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar, the government granted
untouchables separate electorates under the new constitution. In
protest, Gandhi embarked on a six-day fast in September 1932. The
resulting public outcry successfully forced the government to adopt a
more equitable arrangement via negotiations mediated by the Dalit
cricketer turned political leader Palwankar Baloo. This was the start
of a new campaign by Gandhi to improve the lives of the untouchables,
whom he named Harijans, the children of God. On 8 May 1933, Gandhi
began a 21-day fast of self-purification to help the Harijan movement.
[37] This new campaign was not universally embraced within the Dalit
community, as prominent leader B. R. Ambedkar condemned Gandhi's use
of the term Harijans as saying that Dalits were socially immature, and
that privileged caste Indians played a paternalistic role. Ambedkar
and his allies also felt Gandhi was undermining Dalit political
rights. Gandhi, although born into the Vaishya caste, insisted that he
was able to speak on behalf of Dalits, despite the presence of Dalit
activists such as Ambedkar.

In the summer of 1934, three unsuccessful attempts were made on
Gandhi's life.

When the Congress Party chose to contest elections and accept power
under the Federation scheme, Gandhi resigned from party membership. He
did not disagree with the party's move, but felt that if he resigned,
his popularity with Indians would cease to stifle the party's
membership, that actually varied from communists, socialists, trade
unionists, students, religious conservatives, to those with pro-
business convictions and that these various voices would get a chance
to make themselves heard. Gandhi also wanted to avoid being a target
for Raj propaganda by leading a party that had temporarily accepted
political accommodation with the Raj.[38]

Gandhi returned to active politics again in 1936, with the Nehru
presidency and the Lucknow session of the Congress. Although Gandhi
wanted a total focus on the task of winning independence and not
speculation about India's future, he did not restrain the Congress
from adopting socialism as its goal. Gandhi had a clash with Subhas
Bose, who had been elected president in 1938. Their main points of
contention were Bose's lack of commitment to democracy, and lack of
faith in non-violence. Bose won his second term despite Gandhi's
criticism, but left the Congress when the All-India leaders resigned
en masse in protest of his abandonment of the principles introduced by
Gandhi.[39]

World War II and Quit India

Main article: Quit India Movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quit_India_Movement

Jawaharlal Nehru sitting next to Gandhi at the AICC General Session,
1942.World War II broke out in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
Initially, Gandhi favoured offering "non-violent moral support" to the
British effort, but other Congressional leaders were offended by the
unilateral inclusion of India in the war, without consultation of the
people's representatives. All Congressmen resigned from office.[40]
After long deliberations, Gandhi declared that India could not be
party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom, while
that freedom was denied to India itself. As the war progressed, Gandhi
intensified his demand for independence, drafting a resolution calling
for the British to Quit India. This was Gandhi's and the Congress
Party's most definitive revolt aimed at securing the British exit from
India.[41]

Gandhi's handwriting, on a note preserved at Sabarmati Ashram

Gandhi was criticized by some Congress party members and other Indian
political groups, both pro-British and anti-British. Some felt that
not supporting Britain more in its life or death struggle against the
evil of Nazism was unethical. Others felt that Gandhi's refusal for
India to participate in the war was insufficient and more direct
opposition should be taken, while Britain fought against Nazism yet
continued to contradict itself by refusing to grant India
Independence. Quit India became the most forceful movement in the
history of the struggle, with mass arrests and violence on an
unprecedented scale.[42] Thousands of freedom fighters were killed or
injured by police gunfire, and hundreds of thousands were arrested.
Gandhi and his supporters made it clear they would not support the war
effort unless India were granted immediate independence. He even
clarified that this time the movement would not be stopped if
individual acts of violence were committed, saying that the "ordered
anarchy" around him was "worse than real anarchy." He called on all
Congressmen and Indians to maintain discipline via ahimsa, and Karo Ya
Maro ("Do or Die") in the cause of ultimate freedom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa

Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were arrested in
Bombay by the British on 9 August 1942. Gandhi was held for two years
in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. It was here that Gandhi suffered two
terrible blows in his personal life. His 50-year old secretary Mahadev
Desai died of a heart attack 6 days later and his wife Kasturba died
after 18 months imprisonment in 22 February 1944; six weeks later
Gandhi suffered a severe malaria attack. He was released before the
end of the war on 6 May 1944 because of his failing health and
necessary surgery; the Raj did not want him to die in prison and
enrage the nation. Although the Quit India movement had moderate
success in its objective, the ruthless suppression of the movement
brought order to India by the end of 1943. At the end of the war, the
British gave clear indications that power would be transferred to
Indian hands. At this point Gandhi called off the struggle, and around
100,000 political prisoners were released, including the Congress's
leadership.

Freedom and partition of India

Main article: Partition of India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India

As a rule, Gandhi was opposed to the concept of partition as it
contradicted his vision of religious unity.[43] Of the partition of
India to create Pakistan, he wrote in Harijan on 6 October 1946:

[The demand for Pakistan] as put forth by the Moslem League is un-
Islamic and I have not hesitated to call it sinful. Islam stands for
unity and the brotherhood of mankind, not for disrupting the oneness
of the human family. Therefore, those who want to divide India into
possibly warring groups are enemies alike of India and Islam. They may
cut me into pieces but they cannot make me subscribe to something
which I consider to be wrong [...] we must not cease to aspire, in
spite of [the] wild talk, to befriend all Moslems and hold them fast
as prisoners of our love.[44]

However, as Homer Jack notes of Gandhi's long correspondence with
Jinnah on the topic of Pakistan: "Although Gandhi was personally
opposed to the partition of India, he proposed an agreement...which
provided that the Congress and the Moslem League would cooperate to
attain independence under a provisional government, after which the
question of partition would be decided by a plebiscite in the
districts having a Moslem majority."[45]

These dual positions on the topic of the partition of India opened
Gandhi up to criticism from both Hindus and Muslims. Muhammad Ali
Jinnah and contemporary Pakistanis condemned Gandhi for undermining
Muslim political rights. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his allies
accused him of politically appeasing Muslims while turning a blind eye
to their atrocities against Hindus, and for allowing the creation of
Pakistan, despite having publicly declared that "before partitioning
India, my body will have to be cut into two pieces".[46] This
continues to be politically contentious: some, like Pakistani-American
historian Ayesha Jalal argue that Gandhi and the Congress's
unwillingness to share power with the Muslim League hastened
partition; others, like Hindu nationalist politician Pravin Togadia
indicated that excessive weakness on Gandhi's part led to the division
of India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Jinnah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayesha_Jalal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_nationalist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravin_Togadia

Gandhi also expressed his dislike for partition during the late 1930s
in response to the topic of the partition of Palestine to create
Israel. He stated in Harijan on 26 October 1938:

Several letters have been received by me asking me to declare my views
about the Arab-Jew question in Palestine and persecution of the Jews
in Germany. It is not without hesitation that I venture to offer my
views on this very difficult question. My sympathies are all with the
Jews. I have known them intimately in South Africa. Some of them
became life-long companions. Through these friends I came to learn
much of their age-long persecution. They have been the untouchables of
Christianity [...] But my sympathy does not blind me to the
requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews
does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the
Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return
to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth,
make that country their home where they are born and where they earn
their livelihood? Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense
that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is
wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in
Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct.[47]

Gandhi advised the Congress to reject the proposals the British
Cabinet Mission offered in 1946, as he was deeply suspicious of the
grouping proposed for Muslim-majority states—Gandhi viewed this as a
precursor to partition. However, this became one of the few times the
Congress broke from Gandhi's advice (though not his leadership), as
Nehru and Patel knew that if the Congress did not approve the plan,
the control of government would pass to the Muslim League. Between
1946 and 1948, over 5,000 people were killed in violence. Gandhi was
vehemently opposed to any plan that partitioned India into two
separate countries. But an overwhelming majority of Muslims living in
India, alongside Hindus and Sikhs, favoured partition. Additionally
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, commanded
widespread support in West Punjab, Sindh, North-West Frontier Province
and East Bengal. The partition plan was approved by the Congress
leadership as the only way to prevent a wide-scale Hindu-Muslim civil
war. Congress leaders knew that Gandhi would viscerally oppose
partition, and it was impossible for the Congress to go ahead without
his agreement, for Gandhi's support in the party and throughout India
was strong. Gandhi's closest colleagues had accepted partition as the
best way out, and Sardar Patel endeavoured to convince Gandhi that it
was the only way to avoid civil war. A devastated Gandhi gave his
assent.

He conducted extensive dialogue with Muslim and Hindu community
leaders, working to cool passions in northern India, as well as in
Bengal. Despite the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, he was troubled when
the Government decided to deny Pakistan the 55 crores (550 million
Indian rupees) due as per agreements made by the Partition Council.
Leaders like Sardar Patel feared that Pakistan would use the money to
bankroll the war against India. Gandhi was also devastated when
demands resurged for all Muslims to be deported to Pakistan, and when
Muslim and Hindu leaders expressed frustration and an inability to
come to terms with one another.[48] Gandhi's arrival in Delhi, turned
out to an important intervention in ending the rioting, he even
visited Muslims mohallas to restore faith of the Muslim populace. He
launched his last fast-unto-death on January 12, 1948, in Delhi,[49]
asking that all communal violence be ended once and for all, Muslims
homes be restored to them and that the payment of 550 million rupees
be made to Pakistan. Gandhi feared that instability and insecurity in
Pakistan would increase their anger against India, and violence would
spread across the borders. He further feared that Hindus and Muslims
would renew their enmity and that this would precipitate open civil
war. After emotional debates with his life-long colleagues, Gandhi
refused to budge, and the Government rescinded its policy and made the
payment to Pakistan. Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community leaders,
including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha assured
him that they would renounce violence and call for peace. Gandhi thus
broke his fast by sipping orange juice.[50]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh

Assassination

See also: Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi

Raj Ghat: Gandhi's ashes at Aga Khan Palace (Pune, India).On 30
January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was walking to a platform from
which he was to address a prayer meeting. The assassin, Nathuram
Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu
Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by
insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.[51] Godse and his co-conspirator
Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted; they were executed on 15
November 1949. Gandhi's memorial (or Samādhi) at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi,
bears the epigraph "Hē Ram", (Devanagari: हे ! राम or, He Rām), which
may be translated as "Oh God". These are widely believed to be
Gandhi's last words after he was shot, though the veracity of this
statement has been disputed.[52] Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation
through radio:[53]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathuram_Godse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Mahasabha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayan_Apte


"Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there
is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or
how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father
of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that;
nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these
many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him,
and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and
millions in this country." - Jawaharlal Nehru's address to Gandhi

Gandhi's ashes were poured into urns which were sent across India for
memorial services. Most were immersed at the Sangam at Allahabad on 12
February 1948 but some were secretly taken away.[54] In 1997, Tushar
Gandhi immersed the contents of one urn, found in a bank vault and
reclaimed through the courts, at the Sangam at Allahabad.[54][55] On
30 January 2008 the contents of another urn were immersed at Girgaum
Chowpatty by the family after a Dubai-based businessman had sent it to
a Mumbai museum.[54] Another urn has ended up in a palace of the Aga
Khan in Pune[54] (where he had been imprisoned from 1942 to 1944) and
another in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Los Angeles.
[56] The family is aware that these enshrined ashes could be misused
for political purposes but does not want to have them removed because
it would entail breaking the shrines.[54]

Gandhi's principles

See also: Gandhism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhism

Truth

Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering truth,
or Satya. He tried to achieve this by learning from his own mistakes
and conducting experiments on himself. He called his autobiography The
Story of My Experiments with Truth.

Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming
his own demons, fears, and insecurities. Gandhi summarized his beliefs
first when he said "God is Truth". He would later change this
statement to "Truth is God". Thus, Satya (Truth) in Gandhi's
philosophy is "God".

Nonviolence

Although Mahatama Gandhi was not the originator of the principle of
non-violence, he was the first to apply it in the political field on a
huge scale.[57] The concept of nonviolence (ahimsa) and nonresistance
has a long history in Indian religious thought and has had many
revivals in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Jewish and Christian contexts.
Gandhi explains his philosophy and way of life in his autobiography
The Story of My Experiments with Truth. He was quoted as saying:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth
and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for
a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think
of it, always."

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the
homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of
totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes
that I am prepared to kill for."

In applying these principles, Gandhi did not balk from taking them to
their most logical extremes in envisioning a world where even
government, police and armies were nonviolent. The quotations below
are from the book "For Pacifists."[58]

The science of war leads one to dictatorship, pure and simple. The
science of non-violence alone can lead one to pure democracy...Power
based on love is thousand times more effective and permanent than
power derived from fear of punishment....It is a blasphemy to say non-
violence can be practiced only by individuals and never by nations
which are composed of individuals...The nearest approach to purest
anarchy would be a democracy based on non-violence...A society
organized and run on the basis of complete non-violence would be the
purest anarchy

I have conceded that even in a non-violent state a police force may be
necessary...Police ranks will be composed of believers in non-
violence. The people will instinctively render them every help and
through mutual cooperation they will easily deal with the ever
decreasing disturbances...Violent quarrels between labor and capital
and strikes will be few and far between in a non-violent state because
the influence of the non-violent majority will be great as to respect
the principle elements in society. Similarly, there will be no room
for communal disturbances....

A non-violent army acts unlike armed men, as well in times of peace as
in times of disturbances. Theirs will be the duty of bringing warring
communities together, carrying peace propaganda, engaging in
activities that would bring and keep them in touch with every single
person in their parish or division. Such an army should be ready to
cope with any emergency, and in order to still the frenzy of mobs
should risk their lives in numbers sufficient for that
purpose. ...Satyagraha (truth-force) brigades can be organized in
every village and every block of buildings in the cities. [If the non-
violent society is attacked from without] there are two ways open to
non-violence. To yield possession, but non-cooperate with the
aggressor...prefer death to submission. The second way would be non-
violent resistance by the people who have been trained in the non-
violent way...The unexpected spectacle of endless rows upon rows of
men and women simply dying rather than surrender to the will of an
aggressor must ultimately melt him and his soldiery...A nation or
group which has made non-violence its final policy cannot be subjected
to slavery even by the atom bomb.... The level of non-violence in that
nation, if that even happily comes to pass, will naturally have risen
so high as to command universal respect.

In accordance with these views, in 1940, when invasion of the British
Isles by Nazi Germany looked imminent, Gandhi offered the following
advice to the British people (Non-Violence in Peace and War):[59]

"I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for
saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor
Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your
possessions...If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will
vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow
yourselves, man, woman, and child, to be slaughtered, but you will
refuse to owe allegiance to them."

In a post-war interview in 1946, he offered a view at an even further
extreme:

"Hitler," Gandhi said, "killed five million Jews. It is the greatest
crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the
butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from
cliffs… It would have aroused the world and the people of Germany… As
it is they succumbed anyway in their millions."[60]

However, Gandhi was aware that this level of nonviolence required
incredible faith and courage, which he realized not everyone
possessed. He therefore advised that everyone need not keep to
nonviolence, especially if it were used as a cover for cowardice:

"Gandhi guarded against attracting to his satyagraha movement those
who feared to take up arms or felt themselves incapable of resistance.
'I do believe,' he wrote, 'that where there is only a choice between
cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.'"[61]

"At every meeting I repeated the warning that unless they felt that in
non-violence they had come into possession of a force infinitely
superior to the one they had and in the use of which they were adept,
they should have nothing to do with non-violence and resume the arms
they possessed before. It must never be said of the Khudai Khidmatgars
that once so brave, they had become or been made cowards under Badshah
Khan's influence. Their bravery consisted not in being good marksmen
but in defying death and being ever ready to bare their breasts to the
bullets."[62]

Gandhi also came under some political fire for his criticism of those
who attempted to achieve independence through more violent means. His
refusal to protest against the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Udham
Singh and Rajguru were sources of condemnation among some parties.
[citation needed]

Of this criticism, Gandhi stated, "There was a time when people
listened to me because I showed them how to give fight to the British
without arms when they had no arms...but today I am told that my non-
violence can be of no avail against the [Hindu–Moslem riots] and,
therefore, people should arm themselves for self-defense."[63]

Winston Churchill said that it was "nauseating" to see Gandhi, "a
seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well-
known in the Middle East, striding half-naked up the steps of the Vice-
regal palace . . . to parley on equal terms with the representative of
the King-Emperor".[64]

He continued this argument in a number of articles reprinted in Homer
Jack's The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings. In
the first, "Zionism and Anti-Semitism," written in 1938, Gandhi
commented upon the 1930s persecution of the Jews in Germany within the
context of Satyagraha. He offered non-violence as a method of
combating the difficulties Jews faced in Germany, stating,

If I were a Jew and were born in Germany and earned my livelihood
there, I would claim Germany as my home even as the tallest Gentile
German might, and challenge him to shoot me or cast me in the dungeon;
I would refuse to be expelled or to submit to discriminating
treatment. And for doing this I should not wait for the fellow Jews to
join me in civil resistance, but would have confidence that in the end
the rest were bound to follow my example. If one Jew or all the Jews
were to accept the prescription here offered, he or they cannot be
worse off than now. And suffering voluntarily undergone will bring
them an inner strength and joy...the calculated violence of Hitler may
even result in a general massacre of the Jews by way of his first
answer to the declaration of such hostilities. But if the Jewish mind
could be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I have
imagined could be turned into a day of thanksgiving and joy that
Jehovah had wrought deliverance of the race even at the hands of the
tyrant. For to the God-fearing, death has no terror.[65]

Gandhi was highly criticized for these statements and responded in the
article "Questions on the Jews" with "Friends have sent me two
newspaper cuttings criticizing my appeal to the Jews. The two critics
suggest that in presenting non-violence to the Jews as a remedy
against the wrong done to them, I have suggested nothing new...what I
have pleaded for is renunciation of violence of the heart and
consequent active exercise of the force generated by the great
renunciation.[66]

Gandhi's statements regarding Jews facing the impending Holocaust have
attracted criticism from a number of commentators.[67] Martin Buber
wrote a sharply critical open letter to Gandhi on 24 February 1939.
Buber asserted that the comparison between British treatment of Indian
subjects and Nazi treatment of Jews was inappropriate; moreover, he
noted that when Indians were the victims of persecution, Gandhi had,
on occasion, supported the use of force.[68]

Gandhi commented upon the 1930s persecution of the Jews in Germany
within the context of Satyagraha. In the November 1938 article on the
Nazi persecution of the Jews quoted above, he offered non-violence as
a solution:

The German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in
history. The tyrants of old never went so mad as Hitler seems to have
gone. And he is doing it with religious zeal. For he is propounding a
new religion of exclusive and militant nationalism in the name of
which any inhumanity becomes an act of humanity to be rewarded here
and hereafter. The crime of an obviously mad but intrepid youth is
being visited upon his whole race with unbelievable ferocity. If there
ever could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war
against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race,
would be completely justified. But I do not believe in any war. A
discussion of the pros and cons of such a war is therefore outside my
horizon or province. But if there can be no war against Germany, even
for such a crime as is being committed against the Jews, surely there
can be no alliance with Germany. How can there be alliance between a
nation which claims to stand for justice and democracy and one which
is the declared enemy of both?"[69][70]

Vegetarianism

As a young child, Gandhi experimented with meat-eating. This was due
partially to his inherent curiosity as well as his rather persuasive
peer and friend Sheikh Mehtab. The idea of vegetarianism is deeply
ingrained in Hindu and Jain traditions in India, and, in his native
land of Gujarat, most Hindus are vegetarian and so are almost all
Jains.[71][72] The Gandhi family was no exception. Before leaving for
his studies in London, Gandhi made a promise to his mother, Putlibai
and his uncle, Becharji Swami that he would abstain from eating meat,
taking alcohol, and engaging in promiscuity. He held fast to his
promise and gained more than a diet: he gained a basis for his life-
long philosophies. As Gandhi grew into adulthood, he became a strict
vegetarian. He wrote the book The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism[73] and
several articles on the subject, some of which were published in the
London Vegetarian Society's publication, The Vegetarian.[74] During
this period, the young Gandhi became inspired by many great minds and
was befriended by the chairman of the London Vegetarian Society, Dr.
Josiah Oldfield.

Having also read and admired the work of Henry Stephens Salt, the
young Mohandas met and often corresponded with the vegetarian
campaigner. Gandhi spent much time advocating vegetarianism during and
after his time in London. To Gandhi, a vegetarian diet would not only
satisfy the requirements of the body, it would also serve an economic
purpose as meat was, and still is, generally more expensive than
grains, vegetables, and fruits. Also, many Indians of the time
struggled with low income, thus vegetarianism was seen not only as a
spiritual practice but also a practical one. He abstained from eating
for long periods, using fasting as a form of political protest. He
refused to eat until his death or his demands were met. It was noted
in his autobiography that vegetarianism was the beginning of his deep
commitment to Brahmacharya; without total control of the palate, his
success in Bramacharya would likely falter.

Gandhi also experimented with fruitarianism, stating in his
autobiography, "I decided to live on a pure fruit diet, and that too
composed of the cheapest fruit possible ... Raw groundnuts, bananas,
dates, lemons and olive oil composed our usual diet."[75] However,
late in life he broke his discipline and started taking goat's milk on
the advice of his doctor. This lapse of discipline bothered him to his
dying day, and he wrote, "The memory of this action even now rankles
my breast and fills me with remorse, and I am constantly thinking how
to give up goat's milk." He never took dairy products obtained from
cows because of his view initially that milk is not the natural diet
of man, disgust for cow blowing,[76] and, specifically, because of a
vow to his late mother.

Brahmacharya

When Gandhi was 16 his father became very ill. Being very devoted to
his parents, he attended to his father at all times during his
illness. However, one night, Gandhi's uncle came to relieve Gandhi for
a while. He retired to his bedroom where carnal desires overcame him
and he made love to his wife. Shortly afterward a servant came to
report that Gandhi's father had just died. Gandhi felt tremendous
guilt and never could forgive himself. He came to refer to this event
as "double shame." The incident had significant influence in Gandhi
becoming celibate at the age of 36, while still married.[77]

This decision was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Brahmacharya
— spiritual and practical purity — largely associated with celibacy
and asceticism. Gandhi saw Brahmacharya as a means of becoming close
with God and as a primary foundation for self realization. In his
autobiography he tells of his battle against lustful urges and fits of
jealousy with his childhood bride, Kasturba. He felt it his personal
obligation to remain celibate so that he could learn to love, rather
than lust. For Gandhi, Brahmacharya meant "control of the senses in
thought, word and deed."[78].

Towards the end of his life, it became public knowledge that Gandhi
had been sharing his bed for a number of years with young women.[79]
[80] He explained that he did this for bodily warmth at night and
termed his actions as "nature cure". Later in his life he started
experimenting with brahmacharya in order to test his self control. His
letter to Birla in April, 1945 referring to 'women or girls who have
been naked with me' indicates that several women were part of his
experiments.[81] He wrote five editorials in Harijan discussing the
practice of brahmacharya.[82]

As part of these experiments, he initially slept with his women
associates in the same room but at a distance. Afterwards he started
to lie in the same bed with his women disciples and later took to
sleeping naked alongside them .[83] According to Gandhi active-
celibacy meant perfect self control in the presence of opposite sex.
Gandhi conducted his experiments with a number of women such as Abha,
the sixteen year old wife of his grandnephew Kanu Gandhi. Gandhi
acknowledged "that this experiment is very dangerous indeed", but
thought "that it was capable of yielding great results".[84] His
nineteen year old grandniece, Manu Gandhi, too was part of his
experiments. Gandhi had earlier written to her father, Jaisukhlal
Gandhi, that Manu had started to share his bed so that he may "correct
her sleeping posture".[84] Gandhi saw himself as a mother to these
women and would refer to Abha and Manu as "my walking sticks".

Gandhi called Sarladevi, a married woman with children and a devout
follower, his "spiritual wife". He later said that he had come close
to having sexual relations with her.[85] He had told a correspondent
in March, 1945 that "sleeping together came with my taking up of
bramhacharya or even before that"; he said he had experimented with
his wife "but that was not enough".[84] Gandhi felt satisfied with his
experiments and wrote to Manu that "I have successfully practiced the
eleven vows taken by me. This is the culmination of my striving for
last thirty six years. In this yajna I got a glimpse of the ideal
truth and purity for which I have been striving".

Gandhi had to take criticism for his experiments by many of his
followers and opponents. His stenographer, R. P. Parasuram, resigned
when he saw Gandhi sleeping naked with Manu.[86] Gandhi insisted that
he never felt aroused while he slept beside her, or with Sushila or
Abha. "I am sorry" Gandhi said to Parasuram, "you are at liberty to
leave me today." Nirmal Kumar Bose, another close associate of Gandhi,
parted company with him in April, 1947 post Gandhi's tour of Noakhali,
where some sort of altercation had taken place between Gandhi and
Sushila Nayar in his bedroom at midnight that caused Gandhi to slap
his forehead. Bose had stated that the nature of his experiments in
bramhacharya still remained unknown and unstated.[86][87]

N. K. Bose, who stayed close to Gandhi during his Noakhali tour,
testified that "there was no immorality on part of Gandhi. Moreover
Gandhi tried to conquer the feeling of sex by consciously endeavouring
to convert himself into a mother of those who were under his case,
whether men or women". Dattatreya Balkrishna Kalelkar, a revolutionary
turned disciple of Gandhi, used to say that Gandhi's "relationships
with women were, from beginning to end, as pure as mother's milk".
[88].

Simplicity

Gandhi earnestly believed that a person involved in public service
should lead a simple life. He first displayed this principle when he
gave up wearing western-style clothing, which he associated with
wealth and success. When he returned to India he renounced the western
lifestyle he lead in South Africa, where he had enjoyed a successful
legal practice.

Gandhi dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India,
advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi). He and his followers
adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread they
themselves spun, and encouraged others to do so. While Indian workers
were often idle due to unemployment, they had often bought their
clothing from industrial manufacturers owned by British interests. It
was Gandhi's view that if Indians made their own clothes, it would
deal an economic blow to the British establishment in India.
Consequently, the spinning wheel was later incorporated into the flag
of the Indian National Congress. He subsequently wore a dhoti for the
rest of his life to express the simplicity of his life.

The practice of giving up unnecessary expenditure, embracing a simple
lifestyle and washing his own clothes, Gandhi called "reducing himself
to zero".[89] On one occasion he returned the gifts bestowed to him
from the Natals for his diligent service to the community.[90]

Gandhi spent one day of each week in silence. He believed that
abstaining from speaking brought him inner peace and made him a better
listener. This influence was drawn from the Hindu principles of mauna
(Sanskrit:मौनं — silence) and shanti (Sanskrit:शांति — peace). On such
days he communicated with others by writing on paper. For three and a
half years, from the age of 37, Gandhi refused to read newspapers,
claiming that the tumultuous state of world affairs caused him more
confusion than his own inner unrest.

After reading John Ruskin's Unto This Last, he decided to change his
lifestyle and create a commune called Phoenix Settlement.

Faith

Gandhi was born a Hindu and practised Hinduism all his life, deriving
most of his principles from Hinduism. As a common Hindu, he believed
all religions to be equal, and rejected all efforts to convert him to
a different faith. He was an avid theologian and read extensively
about all major religions. He had the following to say about Hinduism:

Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole
being...When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the
face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to
the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately
begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been
full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible
effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

Gandhi Smriti (The house Gandhi lodged in the last 4 months of his
life has now become a monument, New Delhi)Gandhi wrote a commentary on
the Bhagavad Gita in Gujarati. The Gujarati manuscript was translated
into English by Mahadev Desai, who provided an additional introduction
and commentary. It was published with a Foreword by Gandhi in 1946.[91]
[92]

Gandhi believed that at the core of every religion was truth and love
(compassion, nonviolence and the Golden Rule). He also questioned what
he saw as hypocrisy, malpractices, and dogma in all religions,
including his own, and he was a tireless advocate for social reform in
religion. Some of his comments on various religions are:

Thus if I could not accept Christianity either as a perfect, or the
greatest religion, neither was I then convinced of Hinduism being
such. Hindu defects were pressingly visible to me. If untouchability
could be a part of Hinduism, it could but be a rotten part or an
excrescence. I could not understand the raison d'être of a multitude
of sects and castes. What was the meaning of saying that the Vedas
were the inspired Word of God? If they were inspired, why not also the
Bible and the Koran? As Christian friends were endeavouring to convert
me, so were Muslim friends. Abdullah Seth had kept on inducing me to
study Islam, and of course he had always something to say regarding
its beauty.
—Gandhi's autobiography

As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is
no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance,
cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on
his side.
The sayings of Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom, not only for Muslims
but for all of mankind.
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Later in his life, when he was asked whether he was a Hindu, he
replied, "Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a
Jew."

In spite of their deep reverence to each other, Gandhi and
Rabindranath Tagore engaged in protracted debates more than once.
These debates exemplify the philosophical differences between the two
most famous Indians at the time. On 15 January 1934, an earthquake hit
Bihar and caused extensive damage and loss of life. Gandhi maintained
this was because of the sin committed by upper caste Hindus by not
letting untouchables in their temples (Gandhi was committed to the
cause of improving the fate of untouchables, referring to them as
Harijans, people of Krishna). Tagore vehemently opposed Gandhi's
stance, maintaining that an earthquake can only be caused by natural
forces, not moral reasons, however repugnant the practice of
untouchability may be.[93]

Gandhi took a keen interest in theosophy. He empathized with
theosophy's message of "universal brotherhood and consequent
toleration", as he put it in 1926.[94]

Swaraj

Main article: Swaraj

Gandhi was a self-described philosophical anarchist,[95][96] and his
vision of India meant India without an underlying government.[97] He
once said that "the ideally nonviolent state would be an ordered
anarchy."[98] While political systems are largely hierarchical, with
each layer of authority from the individual to the central government
have increasing levels of authority over the layer below, Gandhi
believed that society should be the exact opposite, where nothing is
done without the consent of anyone, down to the individual. His idea
was that true self-rule in a country means that every person rules his
or herself and that there is no state which enforces laws upon the
people.[99][100] This would be achieved over time with nonviolent
conflict mediation, as power is divested from layers of hierarchical
authorities, ultimately to the individual, which would come to embody
the ethic of nonviolence. Rather than a system where rights are
enforced by a higher authority, people are self-governed by mutual
responsibilities. On returning from South Africa, when Gandhi received
a letter asking for his participation in writing a world charter for
human rights, he responded saying, "in my experience, it is far more
important to have a charter for human duties." [101] A free India for
him meant the existence of thousands of self sufficient small
communities (an idea possibly from Tolstoy) who rule themselves
without hindering others. It did not mean merely transferring a
British established administrative structure into Indian hands which
he said was just making Hindustan into Englistan.[102] He wanted to
ultimately dissolve the Congress Party after independence and
establish a system of direct democracy in India,[103] having no faith
in the British styled parliamentary system.[102]

Literary works

Young India, a journal published by GandhiGandhi was a prolific
writer. For decades he edited several newspapers including Harijan in
Gujarati, Hindi and English; Indian Opinion while in South Africa and,
Young India, in English, and Navajivan, a Gujarati monthly, on his
return to India. Later Navajivan was also published in Hindi.[104] In
addition, he wrote letters almost every day to individuals and
newspapers.

Gandhi also wrote several books including his autobiography, An
Autobiography of My Experiments with Truth, Satyagraha in South Africa
about his struggle there, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, a political
pamphlet, and a paraphrase in Gujarati of John Ruskin's Unto This Last.
[105] This last essay can be considered his program on economics. He
also wrote extensively on vegetarianism, diet and health, religion,
social reforms, etc. Gandhi usually wrote in Gujarati, though he also
revised the Hindi and English translations of his books.

Gandhi's complete works were published by the Indian government under
the name The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi in the 1960s. The
writings comprise about 50,000 pages published in about a hundred
volumes. In 2000, a revised edition of the complete works sparked a
controversy, as Gandhian followers argue that the government
incorporated the changes for political purposes. The Indian government
later withdrew the revised edition.[106]

Legacy and depictions in popular culture
Main article: List of artistic depictions of Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi
The word Mahatma, while often mistaken for Gandhi's given name in the
West, is taken from the Sanskrit words maha meaning Great and atma
meaning Soul. Rabindranath Tagore is said to have accorded or
popularised the title for Gandhi.[107] In his autobiography, Gandhi
nevertheless explains that he never valued the title, and was often
pained by it.[108]

Followers and influence

Gandhi influenced important leaders and political movements. Leaders
of the civil rights movement in the United States, including Martin
Luther King and James Lawson, drew from the writings of Gandhi in the
development of their own theories about non-violence.[109][110][111]
Anti-apartheid activist and former President of South Africa, Nelson
Mandela, was inspired by Gandhi.[20] Others include Khan Abdul Ghaffar
Khan,[112] Steve Biko, Aung San Suu Kyi [113] and Philippine
opposition leader during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, Benigno
Aquino, Jr.

"Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics." - Martin
Luther King Jr, 1955 [114]

Gandhi's life and teachings inspired many who specifically referred to
Gandhi as their mentor or who dedicated their lives to spreading
Gandhi's ideas. In Europe, Romain Rolland was the first to discuss
Gandhi in his 1924 book Mahatma Gandhi, and Brazilian anarchist and
feminist Maria Lacerda de Moura wrote about Gandhi in her work on
pacifism. In 1931, notable European physicist Albert Einstein
exchanged written letters with Gandhi, and called him "a role model
for the generations to come" in a later writing about him.[115] Lanza
del Vasto went to India in 1936 intending to live with Gandhi; he
later returned to Europe to spread Gandhi's philosophy and founded the
Community of the Ark in 1948 (modeled after Gandhi's ashrams).
Madeleine Slade (known as "Mirabehn") was the daughter of a British
admiral who spent much of her adult life in India as a devotee of
Gandhi.

In addition, the British musician John Lennon referred to Gandhi when
discussing his views on non-violence.[116] At the Cannes Lions
International Advertising Festival in 2007, former U.S. Vice-President
and environmentalist Al Gore spoke of Gandhi's influence on him.[117]
Finally, prior to becoming President of the United States, then-
Senator Barack Obama noted that:

Throughout my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an
inspiration, because he embodies the kind of transformational change
that can be made when ordinary people come together to do
extraordinary things. That is why his portrait hangs in my Senate
office: to remind me that real results will come not just from
Washington – they will come from the people.[118]

Obama at the Wakefield High School speech in Sept 2009, said that his
biggest inspiration came from Mahatma Gandhi. It was when a question
posed on him as 'who was the one person, dead or live, that he would
choose to dine with?' and his quick reply was 'Gandhi!'. He continued
and said that - "He's somebody I find a lot of inspiration in. He
inspired Dr. King with his message of nonviolence. He ended up doing
so much and changed the world just by the power of his ethics".

National holidays

Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is a national holiday in India, Gandhi
Jayanti. On 15 June 2007, it was announced that the "United Nations
General Assembly" has "unanimously adopted" a resolution declaring 2
October as "the International Day of Non-Violence."[119] India
observes January 30, the day of his assassination, as Martyr's Day, to
commemorate those who gave up their lives in service of the Indian
nation.

On 30 January every year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma
Gandhi, in schools of many countries is observed the School Day of Non-
violence and Peace (DENIP), founded in Spain in 1964. In countries
with a Southern Hemisphere school calendar, it can be observed on 30
March or thereabouts.

Awards

Time magazine named Gandhi the Man of the Year in 1930. Gandhi was
also the runner-up to Albert Einstein as "Person of the Century"[120]
at the end of 1999. Time Magazine named The 14th Dalai Lama, Lech
Wałęsa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Aung San Suu Kyi,
Benigno Aquino, Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela as Children of
Gandhi and his spiritual heirs to non-violence.[121] The Government of
India awards the annual Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize to distinguished
social workers, world leaders and citizens. Nelson Mandela, the leader
of South Africa's struggle to eradicate racial discrimination and
segregation, is a prominent non-Indian recipient.

Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, although he was nominated
five times between 1937 and 1948, including the first-ever nomination
by the American Friends Service Committee,[122] though he made the
short list only twice, in 1937 and 1947.[123] Decades later, the Nobel
Committee publicly declared its regret for the omission, and admitted
to deeply divided nationalistic opinion denying the award.[citation
needed] Gandhi was nominated in 1948 but was assassinated before
nominations closed. That year, the committee chose not to award the
peace prize stating that "there was no suitable living candidate" and
later research shows that the possibility of awarding the prize
posthumously to Gandhi was discussed and that the reference to no
suitable living candidate was to Gandhi.[123] When the 14th Dalai Lama
was awarded the Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee said that
this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi."[123]

Film and literature

Mahatma Gandhi has been portrayed in film, literature, and in the
theater. Ben Kingsley portrayed Gandhi in the 1982 film Gandhi, which
was awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture. Gandhi is also a
central theme in the 2006 Bollywood film Lage Raho Munna Bhai. The
2007 film, Gandhi, My Father explores the relationship between Gandhi
and his son Harilal. The 1996 film, The Making of the Mahatma,
documents Gandhi's 21 years in South Africa.

Several biographers have undertaken the task of describing Gandhi's
life. Among them are: D. G. Tendulkar with his Mahatma. Life of
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in eight volumes, and Pyarelal and Sushila
Nayar with their Mahatma Gandhi in 10 volumes.

See also

Gandhi Memorial International Foundation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_Memorial_International_Foundation
Gandhi Peace Prize
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_Peace_Prize

Notes

^ Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi (1997), The Mahatma and the Poet, New
Delhi: National Book Trust, India, p. 1
^ Gandhi means "grocer" in Gujarati (L. R. Gala, Popular Combined
Dictionary, English-English-Gujarati & Gujarati-Gujarati-English,
Navneet), or "perfumer" in Hindi (Bhargava's Standard Illustrated
Dictionary Hindi-English).
^ Fischer, Louis (1954), Gandhi:His life and message for the world,
Mentor
^ a b c d e f g h Tendulkar, D. G. (1951), Mahatma volume 1, Delhi:
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India
^ Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin, The ways and power of love, 2002
^ Lloyd I. Rudolph , Gandhi, the traditional roots of charisma, 1983
^ Gandhi 1940, pp. 5–7
^ Gandhi 1940, p. 9
^ Gandhi 1940, pp. 20–22
^ a b c d e f Brown, Judith M (1989), Gandhi:Prisoner of Hope, New
Haven: Yale University Press, p. 22
^ a b Fischer, Louis (1962), Essential Gandhi, New York: Random
House
^ Gandhi 1940, p. 99
^ Gandhi 1940, p. 93
^ The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. 8. p. 199.
^ The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. 3. p. 255.
^ The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. 2. p. 270.
^ a b Rory Carroll, "Gandhi branded racist as Johannesburg honours
freedom fighter", The Guardian, 17 October 2003.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/17/southafrica.india
^ The Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South Africa, 1893–
1914. Surendra Bhana and Goolam Vahed, 2005: p.44
^ The Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South Africa, 1893–
1914. Surendra Bhana and Goolam Vahed, 2005: p.45
^ a b Nelson Mandela, The Sacred Warrior: The liberator of South
Africa looks at the seminal work of the liberator of India, Time
Magazine, 3 January 2000.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1894410,00.html
^ The Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South Africa, 1893–
1914. Surendra Bhana and Goolam Vahed, 2005: p.149
^ Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol 5 Document#393 from Gandhi:
Behind the Mask of Divinity p106
^ "Sergeant Major Gandhi". Gandhism.net.
http://www.gandhism.net/sergeantmajorgandhi.php. Retrieved
2009-03-03.
^ Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi VOL 5 p 410
^ Gandhi: An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth,
trans. Mahaved Desai, (Boston, Beacon Press, 1993) p313
^ http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mahatma_Gandhi%27s_life/India_1918
Chronology of Mahatma Gandhi
^ http://wikilivres.info/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth/Part_V/Recruiting_Campaign
Gandhi's Autobiography
^ a b http://www.wikilivres.info/wiki/Day_to_Day_with_Gandhi/Volume_1/Preface
Day to Day with Gandhi by Mahadev Desai
^ http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL017.PDF 67. APPEAL FOR
ENLISTMENT, NADIAD, June 22, 1918
^ http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL017.PDF 8. LETTER T0 J. L.
MAFFEY, NADIAD, April 30, 1918
^ Gandhi's Ideas Including Selections from His Writings Andrews, C.F.
(1930) Mahatma Gandhi's Ideas (Macmillan) P.133 Chapter VII The
Teaching of Ahimsa
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 82.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 89.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 105.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 131.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 172.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, pp. 230–32.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 246.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, pp. 277–81.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, pp. 283–86.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 309.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 318.
^ reprinted in The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on
His Life, Work, and Ideas., Louis Fischer, ed., 2002 (reprint edition)
pp. 106–108.
^ reprinted in The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on
His Life, Work, and Ideas.Louis Fischer, ed., 2002 (reprint edition)
pp. 308–9.
^ Jack, Homer. The Gandhi Reader, p. 418.
^ "The life and death of Mahatma Gandhi", on BBC News, see section
"Independence and partition."
^ reprinted in The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on
His Life, Work, and Ideas, Louis Fischer, ed., 2002 (reprint edition)
pp. 286-288.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 462.
^ Zamindar, Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali (2007). The long partition and the
making of modern South Asia: refugees, boundaries, histories. Columbia
University Press. pp. 37–38. ISBN 023113846.
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=EfhqQLr96VgC&pg=PA34&dq=Purana+Qila.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, pp. 464–66.
^ R. Gandhi, Patel: A Life, p. 472.
^ Vinay Lal. ‘Hey Ram’: The Politics of Gandhi’s Last Words.
Humanscape 8, no. 1 (January 2001): pp. 34–38.
^ Nehru's address on Gandhi's death. Retrieved on 15 March 2007.
^ a b c d e "Gandhi's ashes to rest at sea, not in a museum" The
Guardian, 16 January 2008
^ "GANDHI'S ASHES SCATTERED" The Cincinnati Post, 30 January 1997 "For
reasons no one knows, a portion of the ashes was placed in a safe
deposit box at a bank in Cuttack, 1,100 miles (1,800 km) southeast of
New Delhi. Tushar Gandhi went to court to gain custody of the ashes
after newspapers reported in 1995 that they were at the bank."
^ Ferrell, David (2001-09-27). "A Little Serenity in a City of
Madness". Los Angeles Times: pp. B 2.
^ Asirvatham, Eddy. Political Theory. S.chand. ISBN 8121903467.
^ Bharatan Kumarappa, Editor, "For Pacifists," by M.K. Gandhi,
Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, India, 1949.
^ Gandhi, Mahatma (1972). Non-violence in peace and war, 1942–[1949].
Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8240-0375-6.
^ Louis Fischer (1950), The life of Mahatma Gandhi, Harper, p. 348,
http://books.google.com/books?id=pHcGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA348&q=%22cliffs%22
^ Bondurant, p. 28.
^ Bondurant, p. 139.
^ reprinted in The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on
His Life, Work, and Ideas., Louis Fischer, ed., 2002 (reprint edition)
p. 311.
^ http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/armistice-day-poppycock-threatens-our-free-speech-1925850.html
^ Jack, Homer. The Gandhi Reader, pp. 319–20.
^ Jack, Homer. The Gandhi Reader, p. 322.
^ David Lewis Schaefer. What Did Gandhi Do?. National Review, 28 April
2003. Retrieved 21 March 2006; Richard Grenier. "The Gandhi Nobody
Knows". Commentary Magazine. March 1983. Retrieved 21 March 2006.
^ Hertzberg, Arthur. The Zionist Idea. PA: Jewish Publications
Society, 1997, pp. 463-464.; see also Gordon, Haim. "A Rejection of
Spiritual Imperialism: Reflections on Buber's Letter to Gandhi."
Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 22 June 1999.
^ Jack, Homer. The Gandhi Reader, Harijan, 26 November 1938, pp. 317–
318.
^ Mohandas K. Gandhi. A Non-Violent Look at Conflict & Violence
Published in Harijan on 26 November 1938
^ Laidlaw, James: Riches and Renunciation. Religion, economy, and
society among the Jains, Oxford 1995, p. 166-169.
^ Jain Society: Some Discrepancies Between Principles And Practice.
Retrieved on February 14, 2009.
^ Gandhi, Mahatma (1959). The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism. Online
Books Page.
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp17620.
Retrieved 2009-10-02.
^ "International Vegetarian Union — Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)".
http://www.ivu.org/history/gandhi/.
^ Gokhale's Charity, My Experiments with Truth, M.K. Gandhi.
^ The Rowlatt Bills and my Dilemma, My Experiments with Truth, M.K.
Gandhi.
^ "Time magazine people of the century". Time.com.
http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/mohandas_gandhi12b.html.
Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ The Story of My Experiments with Truth — An Autobiography, p. 176.
^ Birkett, Dea; Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Lloyd I Rudolph. Gandhi: The
Traditional Roots of Charisma. Orient Longman, 56. ISBN 0002160056
^ Caplan, Pat; Patricia Caplan (1987). The Cultural construction of
sexuality. Routledge, 278. ISBN 0415040132
^ a b Parekh, Bhikhu C. (1999). Colonialism, Tradition and Reform: An
Analysis of Gandhi's Political Discourse. Sage, 210. ISBN 0761993835.
^ Kumar, Girja (1997). The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and
Censorship in India. Har-Anand Publications, 98. ISBN 8124105251.
^ ^ a b Parekh, Bhikhu C. (1999). Colonialism, Tradition and Reform:
An Analysis of Gandhi's Political Discourse. Sage, 210. ISBN
0761993835.
^ a b c ^ a b c Tidrick, Kathryn (2007). Gandhi: A Political and
Spiritual Life. I.B.Tauris, 302–304. ISBN 1845111664.
^ ^ Tidrick, Kathryn (2007). Gandhi: A Political and Spiritual Life.
I.B.Tauris, 160. ISBN 1845111664.
^ a b ^ a b Wolpert, Stanley (2001). Gandhi's Passion: The Life and
Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. Oxford University Press, 226–227. ISBN
019515634X.
^ ^ Kumar, Girja (1997). The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and
Censorship in India. Har-Anand Publishers, 73-107. ISBN 8124105251.
^ ^ Ghose, Sankar (1991). Mahatma Gandhi. Allied Publishers, 356. ISBN
8170232058.
^ The Story of My Experiments with Truth — An Autobiography, p. 177.
^ The Story of My Experiments with Truth — An Autobiography, p. 183.
^ Desai, Mahadev. The Gospel of Selfless Action, or, The Gita
According To Gandhi. (Navajivan Publishing House: Ahmedabad: First
Edition 1946). Other editions: 1948, 1951, 1956.
^ A shorter edition, omitting the bulk of Desai's additional
commentary, has been published as: Anasaktiyoga: The Gospel of
Selfless Action. Jim Rankin, editor. The author is listed as M.K.
Gandhi; Mahadev Desai, translator. (Dry Bones Press, San Francisco,
1998) ISBN 1-883938-47-3.
^ "Overview of debates between Gandhi and Tagore". Indiatogether.org.
http://www.indiatogether.org/2003/may/rvw-gndhtgore.htm. Retrieved
2009-03-12.
^ http://www.gandhiserve.org/information/questions_and_answers/faq9/faq9.html
What about Gandhi and theosophy?
^ Snow, Edgar. The Message of Gandhi. SEP, March 27, 1948. "Like Marx,
Gandhi hated the state and wished to eliminate it, and he told me he
considered himself 'a philosophical anarchist.'"
^ Articles on and by Gandhi, Retrieved on 7 June 2008.
^ Jesudasan, Ignatius. A Gandhian theology of liberation. Gujarat
Sahitya Prakash: Ananda India, 1987, pp 236–237
^ From Discussion with BG Kher and others, August 15, 1940. Gandhi's
Wisdom Box (1942), edited by Dewan Ram Parkash, p. 67 also in
Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol. 79 (PDF), p. 122
^ Murthy, Srinivas.Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy Letters. Long Beach
Publications: Long Beach, 1987, pp 13
^ Murthy, Srinivas.Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy Letters. Long Beach
Publications: Long Beach, 1987, pp 189.
^ Easwaran, Eknath. Gandhi, The Man. Nilgiri Press, 1998. Pg. 33.
^ a b Chapter VI Hind Swaraj by M.K. Gandhi
^ Bhattacharyya, Buddhadeva. Evolution of the political philosophy of
Gandhi. Calcutta Book House: Calcutta, 1969, pp 479
^ Peerless Communicator by V.N. Narayanan. Life Positive Plus, October–
December 2002
^ Gandhi, M. K. (in English; trans. from Gujarati) (PDF). Unto this
Last: A paraphrase. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House. ISBN
81-7229-076-4.
http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Unto_This_Last_%E2%80%94_M._K._Gandhi.
^ Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) Controversy (gandhiserve)
^ Dutta, Krishna and Andrew Robinson, Rabindranath Tagore: An
Anthology, p. 2.
^ Desai, Mahadev H. (1983). Autobiography: the story of my experiments
with truth. Mineola, N.Y: Dover. pp.
[http://books.google.com/books?id=OXoRs7Kxs_YC&pg=PR1&. ISBN
0-486-24593-4.
^ King’s Trip to India
^ King moved, as father was, on trip to Gandhi's memorial
^ Placido P. D'Souza (2003-01-20). "COMMEMORATING MARTIN LUTHER KING
JR.: Gandhi's influence on King". Sfgate.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/01/20/ED163673.DTL.
Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ Abdul Ghaffar Khan (February 2002). "A pacifist uncovered".
Findarticles.com.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_2_66/ai_83246175/print.
Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ "An alternative Gandhi". Tribuneindia.com. 2004-02-22.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040222/spectrum/book1.htm.
Retrieved 2009-03-12.
^ Life Magazine: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. 40 Years Later.
Time Inc, 2008. Pg 12
^ "Einstein on Gandhi". Gandhiserve.org. 1931-10-18.
http://www.gandhiserve.org/streams/einstein.html. Retrieved
2009-03-12.
^ Lennon Lives Forever. Taken from rollingstone.com. Retrieved on 20
May 2007.
^ Of Gandhigiri and Green Lion, Al Gore wins hearts at Cannes. Taken
from exchange4media.com. Retrieved on 23 June 2007.
http://www.exchange4media.com/Cannes/2007/fullstory2007.asp?section_id=13&news_id=26524&tag=21387&pict=2
^ "Obama reluctant to seek changes in nuclear deal". The Hindu.
2008-12-07.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008071260521800.htm&date=2008/07/12/&prd=th&
^ Chaudhury, Nilova (15 June 2007). "2 October is global non-violence
day". hindustantimes.com (Hindustan Times).
http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=54580f5e-15a0-4aaf-baa3-8f403b5688fa&&Headline=October+2+is+Int'l+Non-Violence+Day.
Retrieved 2007-06-15.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/india/October-2-is-Int-l-Non-Violence-Day/Article1-230325.aspx
^ "The Time 100". Time Magazine Online.
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/gandhi.html.
Retrieved 2009-03-03.
^ The Children Of Gandhi. Time (magazine). Retrieved on 21 April
2007.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993026,00.html
^ AFSC's Past Nobel Nominations.
^ a b c Tønnesson, Øyvind (1 December 1999). "Mahatma Gandhi, the
Missing Laureate". nobelprize.org. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/gandhi/index.html.

Further reading

Bhana, Surendra and Goolam Vahed. The Making of a Political Reformer:
Gandhi in South Africa, 1893–1914. New Delhi: Manohar, 2005.
Bondurant, Joan V. Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of
Conflict. Princeton UP, 1988 ISBN 0-691-02281-X
Chernus, Ira. American Nonviolence: The History of an Idea, chapter 7.
ISBN 1-57075-547-7
Chadha, Yogesh. Gandhi: A Life. ISBN 0-471-35062-1
Dalton, Dennis (ed). Mahatma Gandhi: Selected Political Writings.
Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1996. ISBN
0-87220-330-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackett_Publishing_Company
Eswaran, Eknath. Gandhi The Man. ISBN 0-915132-96-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eknath_Easwaran
Fischer, Louis. The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on
His Life, Work, and Ideas. Vintage: New York, 2002. (reprint edition)
ISBN 1-4000-3050-1
Fischer, Louis. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. Harper & Row, New York,
1950. ISBB 0-06-091038-0 (1983 pbk.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Fischer
Gandhi, M.K. Satyagraha in South Africa
http://wikilivres.info/wiki/Satyagraha_in_South_Africa
Gandhi, M.K. The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings.
Homer Jack (ed.) Grove Press, New York, 1956.
Gandhi, M.K. (1940), An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments
With Truth, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House. 2nd edition. Pp.
xii, 404. (also available at wikisource), ISBN 0-8070-5909-9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth
Gandhi, Mahatma. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. New Delhi:
Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt.
of India, 1994.
Gandhi, Rajmohan. Patel: A Life. Navajivan Publishing House, 1990 ISBN
81-7229-138-8
Grenier, Richard. The Gandhi Nobody Knows. Commentary, March 1983
http://history.eserver.org/ghandi-nobody-knows.txt
Gordon, Haim. A Rejection of Spiritual Imperialism: Reflections on
Buber's Letter to Gandhi. Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 22 June
1999.
Hunt, James D. Gandhi in London. New Delhi: Promilla & Co.,
Publishers, 1978.
Mann, Bernhard, The Pedagogical and Political Concepts of Mahatma
Gandhi and Paulo Freire. In: Claußen, B. (Ed.) International Studies
in Political Socialization and Education. Bd. 8. Hamburg 1996. ISBN
3-926952-97-0
Rühe, Peter. Gandhi: A Photo biography. ISBN 0-7148-9279-3
Sharp, Gene. Gandhi as a Political Strategist, with Essays on Ethics
and Politics. Boston: Extending Horizon Books, 1979.
Singh, Col. G. B. Gandhi Behind the Mask of Divinity. Prometheus
Books, 2004. ISBN 978-1573929981
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_Behind_the_Mask_of_Divinity
Singh, Col. G. B. and Watson, Dr. Tim Gandhi Under Cross Examination,
Sovereign Star Publishing, 2008. ISBN 0981499201
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_Under_Cross_Examination
Sofri, Gianni. Gandhi and India: A Century in Focus. (1995) ISBN
1-900624-12-5


External links

Find more about Mohandas K. Gandhi on Wikipedia's sister projects:

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Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/gandhi/index.html
Works by Mahatma Gandhi at Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/g#a3490
Gandhi's biography from Stanford's King Encyclopedia
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/home/pages?page=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/about_king/encyclopedia/gandhi.htm
Gandhi- The Universal Guru
http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/10/02/fea03.html
Gandhi Smriti — Government of India website
http://www.gandhismriti.gov.in/indexb.asp
Mahatma Gandhi News Research and Media service
http://www.gandhiserve.org/
Mahatma Gandhi a votary of sustainable living
http://www.boloji.com/people/04004.htm
Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya Gandhi Museum & Library
http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/
Gandhi Book Centre
http://www.mkgandhi.org/
Works by Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi Hall and statue at Soka University of America
http://www.soka.edu/default.aspx
Works by or about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in libraries (WorldCat
catalog)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldCat
When Gandhi was an honoured guest in Sri Lanka
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/10/02/fea02.asp
The Biography Channel: Mahatma Gandhi - Pilgrim Of Peace at Google
Video (Adobe Flash video)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5680530360797443942#
Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate from the Nobel Prize official
website
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/gandhi/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

God

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the term "God" in the context of monotheism and
henotheism. For the general polytheistic concept, see Deity. For other
uses, see God (disambiguation).
Part of a series on God

God is the English name given to a singular omnipotent being in
theistic and deistic religions (and other belief systems) who is
either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in
polytheism.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheism

God is most often conceived of as the supernatural creator and
overseer of the universe. Theologians have ascribed a variety of
attributes to the many different conceptions of God. The most common
among these include omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence,
omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and
necessary existence. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal,
a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the
"greatest conceivable existent".[1] These attributes were all
supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim
theologian philosophers, including Maimonides,[2] Augustine of Hippo,
[2] and Al-Ghazali,[3] respectively. Many notable medieval
philosophers and modern philosophers developed arguments for the
existence of God.[3] Many notable philosophers and intellectuals have,
in contrast, developed arguments against the existence of God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creator_deity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptions_of_God
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniscience
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipresence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibenevolence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_and_evil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_simplicity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporeal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_god
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_obligation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ghazali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_philosophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arguments_for_the_existence_of_God#Arguments_for_the_existence_of_God
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arguments_against_the_existence_of_God

Etymology and usage

Main article: God (word)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_(word)

The earliest written form of the Germanic word god comes from the 6th
century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived
from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. Most linguists agree that the
reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was based on the
root * ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke".[4] The
Germanic words for god were originally neuter—applying to both genders—
but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples
from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the word became a masculine
syntactic form.[5]

The capitalized form God was first used in Ulfilas's Gothic
translation of the New Testament, to represent the Greek Theos. In the
English language, the capitalization continues to represent a
distinction between monotheistic "God" and "gods" in polytheism.[6][7]
In spite of significant differences between religions such as
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, the Bahá'í Faith, and Judaism, the term
"God" remains an English translation common to all. The name may
signify any related or similar monotheistic deities, such as the early
monotheism of Akhenaten and Zoroastrianism.

When used in English within a community with a common monotheistic
background, "God" always refers to the deity they share. Those with a
background in different Abrahamic religions will usually agree on the
deity they share, while still differing on details of belief and
doctrine—they will disagree about attributes of [the] God, rather than
thinking in terms of "my God" and "your (different) God".

Names of God

Main article: Names of God
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God

Conceptions of God can vary widely, but the word God in English—and
its counterparts in other languages, such as Latinate Deus, Greek
Θεός, Slavic Bog, Sanskrit Ishvara, or Arabic Allah—are normally used
for any and all conceptions. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in
Judaism, God is also given a proper name, the tetragrammaton (usually
reconstructed as Yahweh or YHWH), believed to be a mark of the
religion's henotheistic origins. In many translations of the Bible,
when the word "LORD" is in all capitals, it signifies that the word
represents the tetragrammaton.[8] God may also be given a proper name
in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal
nature of God, with early references to his name as Krishna-Vasudeva
in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari.[9] For aboriginal Guanches
(Tenerife, Spain) God is called Achamán.[10]

It is difficult to distinguish between proper names and epitheta of
God, such as the names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, the
names of God in the Qur'an, and the various lists of the thousand
names of Hindu gods and List of titles and names of Krishna in
Vaishnavism.

Throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bible there are many names for God
that portray his (God is always characterised as male) nature and
character. One of them is elohim,[11][12] which has been argued to
mean “strong one”[citation needed], among other things, although the
etymology is debated and obscure. Another one is El Shaddai, meaning
“God Almighty”.[13] A third notable name is El Elyon, which means “The
Most High God”.[14]

Conceptions of God

Main article: Conceptions of God
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptions_of_God

Detail of Sistine Chapel fresco Creation of the Sun and Moon by
Michelangelo (c. 1512), a well known example of the depiction of God
the Father in Western art.Conceptions of God vary widely. Theologians
and philosophers have studied countless conceptions of God since the
dawn of civilization. The Abrahamic conceptions of God include the
trinitarian view of Christians, the Kabbalistic definition of Jewish
mysticism, and the Islamic concept of God. The dharmic religions
differ in their view of the divine: views of God in Hinduism vary by
region, sect, and caste, ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic to
atheistic; the view of God in Buddhism is almost non-theist. In modern
times, some more abstract concepts have been developed, such as
process theology and open theism. Conceptions of God held by
individual believers vary so widely that there is no clear consensus
on the nature of God.[15] The contemporaneous French philosopher
Michel Henry has however proposed a phenomenological approach and
definition of God as phenomenological essence of Life.[16]

Existence of God

Main article: Existence of God
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existence_of_God

Many arguments which attempt to prove or disprove the existence of God
have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, and other thinkers
for many centuries. In philosophical terminology, such arguments
concern schools of thought on the epistemology of the ontology of God.

There are many philosophical issues concerning the existence of God.
Some definitions of God are sometimes nonspecific, while other
definitions can be self-contradictory. Arguments for the existence of
God typically include metaphysical, empirical, inductive, and
subjective types, while others revolve around holes in evolutionary
theory and order and complexity in the world. Arguments against the
existence of God typically include empirical, deductive, and inductive
types. Conclusions reached include: "God does not exist" (strong
atheism); "God almost certainly does not exist"[17] (de facto
atheism); "no one knows whether God exists" (agnosticism); "God
exists, but this cannot be proven or disproven" (weak theism); and
"God exists and this can be proven" (strong theism). There are
numerous variations on these positions.

Theological approaches

Main article: Theology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology

Theologians and philosophers have ascribed a number of attributes to
God, including omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, perfect
goodness, divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence. God
has been described as incorporeal, a personal being, the source of all
moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable being existent.[1]
These attributes were all claimed to varying degrees by the early
Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars, including St Augustine,[2] Al-
Ghazali,[3] and Maimonides.[2]

Many medieval philosophers developed arguments for the existence of
God,[3] while attempting to comprehend the precise implications of
God's attributes. Reconciling some of those attributes generated
important philosophical problems and debates. For example, God's
omniscience implies that God knows how free agents will choose to act.
If God does know this, their apparent free will might be illusory, or
foreknowledge does not imply predestination; and if God does not know
it, God is not omniscient.[18]

The last centuries of philosophy have seen vigorous questions
regarding the arguments for God's existence raised by such
philosophers as Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Antony Flew, although
Kant held that the argument from morality was valid. The theist
response has been either to contend, like Alvin Plantinga, that faith
is "properly basic"; or to take, like Richard Swinburne, the
evidentialist position.[19] Some theists agree that none of the
arguments for God's existence are compelling, but argue that faith is
not a product of reason, but requires risk. There would be no risk,
they say, if the arguments for God's existence were as solid as the
laws of logic, a position summed up by Pascal as: "The heart has
reasons which reason knows not of."[20]

Most major religions hold God not as a metaphor, but a being that
influences our day-to-day existences. Many believers allow for the
existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings, and give them
names such as angels, saints, djinni, demons, and devas.

Theism and Deism

Theism generally holds that God exists realistically, objectively, and
independently of human thought; that God created and sustains
everything; that God is omnipotent and eternal; personal and
interacting with the universe through for example religious experience
and the prayers of humans.[21] It holds that God is both transcendent
and immanent; thus, God is simultaneously infinite and in some way
present in the affairs of the world.[22] Not all theists subscribe to
all the above propositions, but usually a fair number of them, c.f.,
family resemblance.[21] Catholic theology holds that God is infinitely
simple and is not involuntarily subject to time. Most theists hold
that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, although this
belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and
suffering in the world. Some theists ascribe to God a self-conscious
or purposeful limiting of omnipotence, omniscience, or benevolence.
Open Theism, by contrast, asserts that, due to the nature of time,
God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future.
"Theism" is sometimes used to refer in general to any belief in a god
or gods, i.e., monotheism or polytheism.[23][24]

Deism holds that God is wholly transcendent: God exists, but does not
intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it.[22] In
this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and does not literally answer
prayers or cause miracles to occur. Common in Deism is a belief that
God has no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity.
Pandeism and Panendeism, respectively, combine Deism with the
Pantheistic or Panentheistic beliefs discussed below.

History of monotheism

Main article: Monotheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism

The Name of God written in Arabic calligraphy by 17th century Ottoman
artist Hâfız Osman. In Islam, it is considered a sin to
anthropomorphize God.Some writers such as Karen Armstrong believe that
the concept of monotheism sees a gradual development out of notions of
henotheism and monolatrism. In the Ancient Near East, each city had a
local patron deity, such as Shamash at Larsa or Sin at Ur. The
earliest known claims of global supremacy of a specific god date to
the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten, and,
depending on dating issues, Zoroaster's Gathas to Ahura Mazda.
Currents of monism or monotheism emerge in Vedic India in the same
period, with e.g. the Nasadiya Sukta. Philosophical monotheism and the
associated concept of absolute good and evil emerges in Classical
Antiquity, notably with Plato (c.f. Euthyphro dilemma), elaborated
into the idea of The One in Neoplatonism.

According to The Oxford Companion To World Mythology, "The lack of
cohesion among early Hebrews made monotheism – even monolatry, the
exclusive worship of one god among many – an impossibility...And even
then it can be argued that the firm establishment of monotheism in
Judaism required the rabbinical or Talmudic process of the first
century B.C.E. to the sixth century C.E.".[25] In Islamic theology, a
person who spontaneously "discovers" monotheism is called a ḥanīf, the
original ḥanīf being Abraham.

Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt in the 1910s postulated an
Urmonotheismus, "original" or "primitive monotheism", a thesis now
widely rejected in comparative religion but still occasionally
defended in creationist circles.

Monotheism and pantheism

Monotheists hold that there is only one god, and may claim that the
one true god is worshiped in different religions under different
names. The view that all theists actually worship the same god,
whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in Hinduism[26]
and Sikhism.[27] Adherents of different religions, however, generally
disagree as to how to best worship God and what is God's plan for
mankind, if there is one. There are different approaches to
reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions. One
view is taken by exclusivists, who believe they are the chosen people
or have exclusive access to absolute truth, generally through
revelation or encounter with the Divine, which adherents of other
religions do not. Another view is religious pluralism. A pluralist
typically believes that his religion is the right one, but does not
deny the partial truth of other religions. An example of a pluralist
view in Christianity is supersessionism, i.e., the belief that one's
religion is the fulfillment of previous religions. A third approach is
relativistic inclusivism, where everybody is seen as equally right; an
example in Christianity is universalism: the doctrine that salvation
is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is syncretism,
mixing different elements from different religions. An example of
syncretism is the New Age movement.

Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God,
whereas Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to,
the Universe; the distinctions between the two are subtle. It is also
the view of the Liberal Catholic Church, Theosophy, some views of
Hinduism except Vaishnavism which believes in panentheism, Sikhism,
some divisions of Buddhism, some divisions of Neopaganism and Taoism,
along with many varying denominations and individuals within
denominations. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/
panentheistic view of God — which has wide acceptance in Hasidic
Judaism, particularly from their founder The Baal Shem Tov — but only
as an addition to the Jewish view of a personal god, not in the
original pantheistic sense that denies or limits persona to God.

Dystheism and nontheism

Dystheism, related to theodicy is a form of theism which holds that
God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence
of the problem of evil. One such example would be Satanism or the
Devil.

Nontheism holds that the universe can be explained without any
reference to the supernatural, or to a supernatural being. Some non-
theists avoid the concept of God, whilst accepting that it is
significant to many; other non-theists understand God as a symbol of
human values and aspirations. Many schools of Buddhism may be
considered non-theistic.

Non-religious views regarding God

See also: Evolutionary origin of religions and Evolutionary psychology
of religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_origin_of_religions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology_of_religion

Stephen Jay Gould proposed an approach dividing the world of
philosophy into what he called "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA). In
this view, questions of the supernatural, such as those relating to
the existence and nature of God, are non-empirical and are the proper
domain of theology. The methods of science should then be used to
answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology
should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral
value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint
from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes
science the sole player in the natural world.[28]

Another view, advanced by Richard Dawkins, is that the existence of
God is an empirical question, on the grounds that "a universe with a
god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without,
and it would be a scientific difference."[17]

Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was
difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable
scientific discovery that could challenge it would be an infinitely
old universe.[29]

Anthropomorphism

See also: Anthropomorphism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism

Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural
concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend
to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like
persons is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples
from Greek Mythology, which is, in his opinion, more like a modern
soap opera than other religious systems.[30] Bertrand du Castel and
Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's
explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not
directly observable entities as intermediaries.[31] Anthropologist
Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-
human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more
familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are
projections of one's father.[32]

Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods
represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural
beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano
contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have
created gods as a means of enforcing morality. In small groups,
morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or
reputation. However it is much harder to enforce morality using social
forces in much larger groups. He indicates that by including ever
watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for
restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.[33]

Distribution of belief in God

Main article: List of religious populations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations

The percentage of population in European countries who responded in a
2005 census that they "believe there is a God". Countries with Roman
Catholic (e.g.: Poland, Portugal) Eastern Orthodox (Greece, Romania)
or Muslim (Turkey) majorities tend to poll highest.As of 2000,
approximately 53% of the world's population identifies with one of the
three Abrahamic religions (33% Christian, 20% Islam, <1% Judaism), 6%
with Buddhism, 13% with Hinduism, 6% with traditional Chinese
religion, 7% with various other religions, and less than 15% as non-
religious. Most of these religious beliefs involve a god or gods.[34]

See also

God the Father
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_the_Father
God in Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Christianity
God the Father in Western art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_the_Father_in_Western_art
God in Islam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Islam
God in Judaism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Judaism
God in the Baha'i Faith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_the_Baha%27i_Faith

References

BBC, Nigeria leads in religious belief
Beck, Guy L. (Ed.) (2005). Alternative Krishnas: Regional and
Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity. SUNY Press. ISBN 0791464156.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Beck
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=0SJ73GHSCF8C.
Pickover, Cliff, The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience,
Palgrave/St Martin's Press, 2001. ISBN 1-4039-6457-2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Pickover
Collins, Francis, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence
for Belief, Free Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7432-8639-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Collins_(geneticist)
Harris interactive, While Most Americans Believe in God, Only 36%
Attend a Religious Service Once a Month or More Often
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_interactive
Miles, Jack, God: A Biography, Knopf, 1995, ISBN 0-679-74368-5 Book
description.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Miles
http://www.jackmiles.com/default.asp?ID=15
Armstrong, Karen, A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam, Ballantine Books, 1994. ISBN 0-434-02456-2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Armstrong
National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World, National
Geographic Society, 2002.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic
Pew research center, The 2004 Political Landscape Evenly Divided and
Increasingly Polarized - Part 8: Religion in American Life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pew_research_center
Sharp, Michael, The Book of Light: The Nature of God, the Structure of
Consciousness, and the Universe Within You. Avatar Publications, 2005.
ISBN 0-9738555-2-5. free as eBook
http://www.michaelsharp.org/ebooks/thebookoflight_ebook.pdf?act=intro0973855525
Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1 (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1951). ISBN 0-226-80337-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich
Hastings, James Rodney (2nd edition 1925-1940, reprint 1955, 2003)
[1908-26]. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. John A Selbie (Volume
4 of 24 ( Behistun (continued) to Bunyan.) ed.). Edinburgh: Kessinger
Publishing, LLC. p. 476. ISBN 0-7661-3673-6.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Kaz58z--NtUC&pg=PA540&vq=Krishna&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1_1&sig=lo3NqA31k8hJZw7qNc9QDEAYyYA.
Retrieved 03-05-2008. "The encyclopedia will contain articles on all
the religions of the world and on all the great systems of ethics. It
will aim at containing articles on every religious belief or custom,
and on every ethical movement, every philosophical idea, every moral
practice."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hastings

Notes

^ a b c Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)The Oxford
Companion to Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Swinburne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Honderich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University_Press
^ a b c d Edwards, Paul. "God and the philosophers" in Honderich, Ted.
(ed)The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Oxford University Press,
1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Edwards_(philosopher)
^ a b c d Platinga, Alvin. "God, Arguments for the Existence of,"
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, 2000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Plantinga
^ The ulterior etymology is disputed. Apart from the unlikely
hypothesis of adoption from a foreign tongue, the OTeut. "ghuba"
implies as its preTeut-type either "*ghodho-m" or "*ghodto-m". The
former does not appear to admit of explanation; but the latter would
represent the neut. pple. of a root "gheu-". There are two Aryan roots
of the required form ("*g,heu-" with palatal aspirate) one with
meaning 'to invoke' (Skr. "hu") the other 'to pour, to offer
sacrifice' (Skr "hu", Gr. χεηi;ν, OE "geotàn" Yete v). OED Compact
Edition, G, p. 267
^ Barnhart, Robert K (1995). The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of
Etymology: the Origins of American English Words, page 323.
HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-270094-7
^ Webster's New World Dictionary; "god n. ME < OE, akin to Ger gott,
Goth guth, prob. < IE base * ĝhau-, to call out to, invoke > Sans
havaté, (he) calls upon; 1. any of various beings conceived of as
supernatural, immortal, and having special powers over the lives and
affairs of people and the course of nature; deity, esp. a male deity:
typically considered objects of worship; 2. an image that is
worshiped; idol 3. a person or thing deified or excessively honored
and admired; 4. [G-] in monotheistic religions, the creator and ruler
of the universe, regarded as eternal, infinite, all-powerful, and all-
knowing; Supreme Being; the Almighty
^ Dictionary.com; "God /gɒd/ noun: 1. the one Supreme Being, the
creator and ruler of the universe. 2. the Supreme Being considered
with reference to a particular attribute. 3. (lowercase) one of
several deities, esp. a male deity, presiding over some portion of
worldly affairs. 4. (often lowercase) a supreme being according to
some particular conception: the god of mercy. 5. Christian Science.
the Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul,
Spirit, Principle. 6. (lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol. 7.
(lowercase) any deified person or object. 8. (often lowercase) Gods,
Theater. 8a. the upper balcony in a theater. 8b. the spectators in
this part of the balcony.
^ Barton, G.A. (2006). A Sketch of Semitic Origins: Social and
Religious. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 142861575X.
^ Hastings 2003, p. 540
^ Guanche Religion
http://www.eldia.es/2009-08-23/CRITERIOS/3-Religion-guanche.htm
^ Isa. 45:18; 54:5; Jer. 32:27; Gen. 1:1; Deut. 5:23; 8:15; Ps. 68:7
^ Bible Gateway,
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isa.%2054:5&version=NIV
^ Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; Ex. 6:31; Ps. 91:1, 2
^ Gen. 14:19; Ps. 9:2; Dan. 7:18, 22, 25
^ "DOES GOD MATTER? A Social-Science Critique". by Paul Froese and
Christopher Bader.
http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/bulletin/articles/does_god_matter.html.
Retrieved 2007-05-28.
^ Michel Henry : I am the Truth. Toward a philosophy of Christianity
(Stanford University Press, 2002)
^ a b Dawkins, Richard. "Why There Almost Certainly Is No God". The
Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-dawkins/why-there-almost-certainl_b_32164.html.
Retrieved 2007-01-10.
^ Wierenga, Edward R. "Divine foreknowledge" in Audi, Robert. The
Cambridge Companion to Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
^ Beaty, Michael (1991). "God Among the Philosophers". The Christian
Century.
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=53. Retrieved
2007-02-20.
^ Pascal, Blaise. Pensées, 1669.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es
^ a b Smart, Jack; John Haldane (2003). Atheism and Theism. Blackwell
Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 0631232591.
^ a b Lemos, Ramon M. (2001). A Neomedieval Essay in Philosophical
Theology. Lexington Books. p. 34. ISBN 0739102508.
^ "Philosophy of Religion .info - Glossary - Theism, Atheism, and
Agonisticism". Philosophy of Religion .info.
http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/definitions.html. Retrieved
2008-07-16.
http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/definitions.html
^ "Theism - definition of thesim by the Free Online Dictionary,
Thesaurus and Encyclopedia". TheFreeDictionary. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/theism.
Retrieved 2008-07-16.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/theism
^ The Oxford Companion To World Mythology (David Leeming, Oxford
University Press, 2005, page 153)
^ See Swami Bhaskarananda, Essentials of Hinduism (Viveka Press 2002)
ISBN 1-884852-04-1
^ Sri Granth: Sri Guru Granth Sahib
http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=1350&english=t&id=57718
^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Great Britain: Bantam
Press. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
^ Sagan, Carl (1996). The Demon Haunted World p.278. New York:
Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-40946-9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan
^ Boyer, Pascal (2001). Religion Explained,. New York: Basic Books.
pp. 142–243. ISBN 0-465-00696-5.
http://books.google.com/books?id=wreF80OHTicC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=boyer+modern+soap+opera&source=web&ots=NxBK3w-s5u&sig=_zo19-nO6z8BS9XPTudCnjH8ybg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA142,M1.
^ du Castel, Bertrand; Jurgensen, Timothy M. (2008). Computer
Theology,. Austin, Texas: Midori Press. pp. 221–222. ISBN
0-9801821-1-5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_du_Castel
http://books.google.com/books?id=wreF80OHTicC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=boyer+modern+soap+opera&source=web&ots=NxBK3w-s5u&sig=_zo19-nO6z8BS9XPTudCnjH8ybg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#v=onepage&q=&f=false
^ Barrett, Justin (1996) (PDF). Conceptualizing a Nonnatural Entity:
Anthropomorphism in God Concepts.
http://www.yale.edu/cogdevlab/People/Lab_Members/Frank/Frank%27s%20papers%20pdfs%20/Frank%27s%20articles/conceptualizingnonnaturalentity.pdf.
http://www.yale.edu/cogdevlab/People/Lab_Members/Frank/Frank%27s%20papers%20pdfs%20/Frank%27s%20articles/conceptualizingnonnaturalentity.pdf
^ Rossano, Matt (2007) (PDF). Supernaturalizing Social Life: Religion
and the Evolution of Human Cooperation.
http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/mrossano/recentpubs/Supernaturalizing.pdf.
Retrieved 2009-06-25.
http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/mrossano/recentpubs/Supernaturalizing.pdf^
National Geographic Family Reference Atlas of the World p. 49

Concept of God in Islam
http://www.islam-info.ch/en/Who_is_Allah.htm
God Christian perspective
http://www.allaboutgod.com/
God in Judaism
http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/3001/jewish/G-d.htm
Hindu Concept of God
http://www.shaivam.org/hipgodco.htm
Jewish Literacy
http://www.aish.com/jl/kc/48942416.html
Mystical view of God
http://www.fatherspeaks.net/
Relation of God to the Universe
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06614a.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God

Atheism in Hinduism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of a series on
Hindu philosophy

Schools

Samkhya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya
· Yoga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Yoga
· Nyaya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyaya
· Vaisheshika
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaisheshika
· Purva Mimamsa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimamsa
· Vedanta (Advaita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta
· Vishishtadvaita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishishtadvaita
· Dvaita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvaita
· Achintya Bheda Abheda)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achintya_Bheda_Abheda

Persons

Ancient

Gautama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksapada_Gautama
· Jaimini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaimini
· Kanada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanada
· Kapila
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapila
· Markandeya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markandeya
· Patañjali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pata%C3%B1jali
· Valmiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valmiki
· Vyasa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyasa

Medieval

Adi Shankara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara
· Basava
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basavanna
· Dnyaneshwar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnyaneshwar
· Chaitanya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Mahaprabhu
· Gangesha Upadhyaya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangesha_Upadhyaya
· Gaudapada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudapada
· Jayanta Bhatta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayanta_Bhatta
· Kabir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabir
· Kumarila Bhatta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kum%C4%81rila_Bha%E1%B9%AD%E1%B9%ADa
· Madhusudana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhus%C5%ABdana_Sarasvat%C4%AB
· Madhva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhvacharya
· Namdeva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namdev
· Nimbarka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbarka
· Prabhakara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabh%C4%81kara
· Raghunatha Siromani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghunatha_Siromani
· Ramanuja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanuja
· Vedanta Desika
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta_Desika
· Tukaram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tukaram
· Tulsidas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsidas
· Vachaspati Mishra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C4%81caspati_Mi%C5%9Bra
· Vallabha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallabha_Acharya

Modern

Aurobindo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo
· Coomaraswamy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Coomaraswamy
· Dayananda Saraswati
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayananda_Saraswati
· Gandhi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi
· Krishnananda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishnananda
· Narayana Guru
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana_Guru
· Prabhupada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabhupada
· Ramakrishna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramakrishna
· Ramana Maharshi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi
· Radhakrishnan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhakrishnan
· Sivananda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivananda
· Vivekananda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivekananda
· Yogananda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogananda

Atheism (Sanskrit: nir-īśvara-vāda, lit. "statement of no Lord",
"doctrine of godlessness") or disbelief in God or gods has been a
historically propounded viewpoint in many of the ‘heterodox’ and
astika (or orthodox) streams of Hindu philosophies.[1][2]

Astika atheism

The Sanskrit term Āstika ("pious, orthodox") is sometimes translated
as "theist" and Nāstika as "atheist". Sanskrit asti means "there is",
and Āstika per Pāṇini 4.2.60 is derived from the verb, meaning "one
who says 'asti', one who believes in the existence [of God, of another
world, &c.]"[3] When used as a technical term in Hindu philosophy the
term Āstika refers to belief in the Vedas, not belief in the existence
of God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deity

There are six schools of thought within Hinduism addressed as the Shat
(Astik) Darshana (darshana meaning "viewpoint.") Within the Astika
schools of Hindu philosophy, the Samkhya and the early Mimamsa school
did not accept a God in their respective systems.

The atheistic viewpoint as present in the Samkhya and Mimamsa schools
of Hindu philosophy takes the form of rejecting a creator-God. The
Samkhya school believed in a dual existence of Prakriti ("nature") and
Purusha ("spirit") and had no place for an Ishvara ("God") in its
system. The early Mimamsakas believed in a adrishta ("unseen") that
was the result of performing karmas ("works") and saw no need for an
Ishvara in their system. Mimamsa, as a philosophy, deals exclusively
with karma and thus is sometimes called Karma-Mimamsa. The karmas
dealt with in Mimamsa concern the performance of Yajnas ("sacrifices
to gods") enjoined in the Vedas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_philosophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prakriti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purusha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_(Hinduism)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yajna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas

Nastika atheism

Further information: Nastika and Jainism and non-creationism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism_and_non-creationism

In Indian philosophy, three schools of thought are commonly referred
to as nastika: Jainism, Buddhism and Cārvāka for rejecting the
doctrine of Vedas. In this usage, nastika refers to the non-belief of
Vedas rather than non-belief of God. However, all these schools also
rejected a notion of a creationist god and so the word nastika became
strongly associated with them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_philosophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

Cārvāka, an atheistic school of Indian philosophy, traces its origins
to 600 BCE, while some claim earlier references to such positions.[4]
It was a hedonistic[citation needed] school of thought, advocating
that there is no afterlife. Cārvāka philosophy appears to have died
out some time after 1400 CE.

Dharmakirti, a 7th century buddhist philosopher deeply influenced by
cārvāka philosophy, wrote in Pramanvartik:[5]

वेद प्रामाण्यं कस्य चित् कर्तृवादः स्नाने धर्मेच्छा जातिवादाव लेपः|
संतापारंभः पापहानाय चेति ध्वस्तप्रज्ञानां पञ्च लिङगानि जाड्ये||

Believing that the Veda are standard (holy or divine), believing in a
Creator for the world,
Bathing in holy waters for gaining punya, having pride (vanity) about
one's caste,
Performing penance to absolve sins,Are the five symptoms of having
lost one's sanity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punya

Buddhism and Jainism have their origins in pre-historic sramana
tradition and are not hedonistic. Also worth mentioning are the
Ājīvikas (now an extinct religion), whose founder, Makkhali Gosala,
was a contemporary of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha (the central figures
of Jainism and Buddhism, respectively). Gosala and his followers also
denied the existence of a creator god.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sramana

Hindu atheists in recent times

The Indian Nobel Prize-winner Amartya Sen, in an interview with Pranab
Bardhan for the California Magazine published in the July-August 2006
edition by the University of California, Berkeley states:[7]

“ In some ways people had got used to the idea that India was
spiritual and religion-oriented. That gave a leg up to the religious
interpretation of India, despite the fact that Sanskrit had a larger
atheistic literature than what exists in any other classical language.
Even within the Hindu tradition, there are many people who were
atheist. Madhava Acharya, the remarkable 14th century philosopher,
wrote this rather great book called Sarvadarshansamgraha, which
discussed all the religious schools of thought within the Hindu
structure. The first chapter is "Atheism" - a very strong presentation
of the argument in favor of atheism and materialism. ”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidyaranya

Prominent atheists

Amartya Sen, Economist and 1998 Nobel laureate.[8][9][10][11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amartya_Sen
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the president of Hindu Mahasabha, described
himself as a Hindu atheist.[12][13] He is credited for developing a
Hindu nationalist political ideology he termed as Hindutva
("Hinduness").
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinayak_Damodar_Savarkar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Mahasabha
Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead, the first
Hindu woman in British politics. She described herself as a "Hindu
atheist". Broadly, she is an atheist with affinity to secular aspects
of Hindu culture such as dress and diet.[14]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shreela_Flather,_Baroness_Flather
Periyar - Founder of the Dravidian social activist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periyar_E._V._Ramasamy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_activist
Amol Palekar - a notable Hindi and Marathi Filmmaker, openly claims to
be agnostic and atheist, even though brought up in a Hindu
background.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amol_Palekar
Vijay Tendulkar - a famous Marathi writer and dramatist who was also
known to be an atheist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Tendulkar
G. A. Kulkarni - a Sahitya Akademi Award winner Marathi writer has
expressed his atheist views through his correspondence with other
famous literary figures like Sunitabai Deshpande, Jaywant Dalvi,
Shri.Na. Pendse, et al.[15] + *Periyar - Founder of the Dravidian
social activist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._A._Kulkarni
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahitya_Akademi_Award
Manabendra Nath Roy, Bengali Indian revolutionary, political theorist
and activist, founder of the Communist parties in Mexico and India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manabendra_Nath_Roy
Dr. Shriram Lagoo, notable Marathi actor and rationalist activist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriram_Lagoo
A. N. Murthy Rao - Prominent Kannada writer who wrote acclaimed book
Devaru (God) rejecting the concept of god.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._N._Murthy_Rao
K. Shivaram Karanth - Jnanapita award winner. He reflects his beliefs
in his novel Mookajjiya Kanasugalu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Shivaram_Karanth
Prabir Ghosh - The General Secretaty of The Science and Rationalists'
Association of India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabir_Ghosh
Narendra Nayak - Founder of Dakshina Kannada Rationalist Association.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narendra_Nayak
M.Karunanidhi - Tamil Nadu chief minister
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karunanidhi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Tamil_Nadu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_minister

References

^ The Speak Tree - The Atheistic Roots of Hindu Philosophy. The Times
of India.
^ Atheism in Hinduism[verification needed]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/690490.cms
^ Monier-Williams (1899) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monier-Williams
^ History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion
^ Athavale, Sadashiv. Charvak Itihas ani Tatvadynan (III ed ed.). p.
24.
^ Balsham, B.L. (2003). History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A
Vanished Indian Religion. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 8120812042.
http://www.google.com/books?id=BiGQzc5lRGYC&.
http://www.google.com/books?id=BiGQzc5lRGYC&
^ California Magazine http://alumni.berkeley.edu/calmag/200607/sen.asp
^ Reported lecture facinghistory.org
http://www2.facinghistory.org/Campus/reslib.nsf/Campus/reslib.nsf/themeandconceptpublic/872E6F4F8B5E996085256F8900771ED9?opendocument
^ Self-proclaimed chowk.com http://www.chowk.com/articles/9490
^ World Bank worldbank.org http://info.worldbank.org/etools/BSPAN/PresentationView.asp?EID=354&PID=688
^ Press meeting rediff.com http://www.rediff.com/business/1998/dec/28sen.htm
^ Kumar, Pramod (1992). Towards Understanding Communalism. Chandigarh:
Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. p. 348. ISBN
9788185835174. OCLC 27810012. "VD Savarkar was publicly an
atheist.Even when he was the Hindu Mahasabha leader he used to
publicly announce and advertise lectures on atheism, on why god is not
there and why all religions are false. That is why when defining
Hindutva, he said, Hindutva is not defined by religion and tried to
define it in a non-religious term: Punyabhoomi."
http://www.worldcat.org/title/towards-understanding-communalism/oclc/27810012
^ Nandy, Ashis (2003). Time Warps: The Insistent Politics of Silent
and Evasive Pasts. Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 71. ISBN 9788178240718.
OCLC 49616949.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/time-warps-the-insistent-politics-of-silent-and-evasive-pasts/oclc/49616949
^ BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/features/hindu_lives/script1.shtml

^ G.A.-chi Nivadak Patre: Khand 1 & 2 (Selected Letters of G.A. : Part
1 & 2), Mauj Prakashan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathi_Book_Publishers

External links

Modern Hinduism, Atheism, and their philosophical roots
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/04/02/atheism-in-hinduism/

See also

Adevism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adevism
Atheism in India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_India
Ajita Kesakambali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajita_Kesakambali
Charvaka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charvaka
Hinduism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
Nastika
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastika

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism_in_Hinduism

Atheism in Hinduism
2008 April 2
more by Navin Kumar

Podcast: Download

By Navin Kumar
Article ID: 1217

Hinduism is among the most curious of religions that exist on the
planet Earth. It’s over 3000 years old and still kicking. It’s never
waged a Holy War. Its followers are some of the most deeply religious
in existence and yet there are no widespread debates about its
teachings. There are supposedly thirty million gods and goddesses in
its pantheon, and though they themselves have rarely gotten along,
their followers seem to be doing just fine.

Hinduism is also the only religion in the world that considers atheism
legitimate.

The Philosophical Roots of Atheism in Hinduism

There are nine major Hindu schools of philosophy. These are broadly
divided into ‘Astika’ schools and ‘Nastika’ schools. While the terms
‘Astika’ and ‘Nastika’ are loosely translated to mean ‘theist’ and
‘atheist’, they technically refer to belief in the Vedas (four of the
‘holy books’ of Hinduism) rather than belief in God. The six schools
which fall under the title ‘Astika’ believe in the teachings of the
Vedas, even if they do not subscribe a Creator-God.

Of the ‘Astika’ schools, the Samkhya and Karma-Mimasa thinkers can be
described as atheists. Samkaya believed in the material world
(Prakriti) and the existence of the spirit (Purusha) but not in God.
The Karma-Mimasa school believes strongly in natural Karmic law (that
good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds punished) and has no need of an
omnipotent being to enforce it.

The three Nastika schools – Buddhism, Jainism and Carvaka – reject the
doctrine of the Vedas. However, they are not necessarily atheist.
Buddhism is, perhaps, the only agnostic religion in existence. Jainism
rejects the idea of an omnipotent manager, believing instead that the
universe has always existed, will always exist and is governed by
natural laws.

Carvaka is the most strongly atheist of the three schools. Also called
the Lokayata, it is named after its founder, Carvaka. It seems to have
originated somewhere around 300 BC and died out around the 1400s AD.
The original works of this school have been lost and our knowledge of
it is based upon criticism of Carvaka philosophy written by Hindu and
Buddhist opponents.

Carvaka strongly rejects the validity of the Vedas, calling them the
“incoherent rhapsodies of rascals“. He quotes (what was then) a
popular saying:

“The Sacrifices, the three Vedas, the ascetic’s three staves / and
smearing oneself with ashes / Brhaspati says these are but means of
livelihood / for those who have no manliness nor sense”

The writings of Carvaka also show a strong dislike of priests,
believing them to be swine who invent the various rituals of religion
(another bugbear) to create a livelihood for themselves. He quotes the
poet Madhava:

“If a beast slain in the Jyotishtoma rite will itself go to heaven /
Why then does not the sacrificer, forthwith offer his own father?”

Carvaka also rejects the caste system, a radical stand in its time:

“What is this senseless humbug about the castes and the high and low
among them when organs like the mouth, etc in the human are the same?”

Carvaka is a strongly materialistic and hedonistic philosophy which
believes that the only mode of perception is one’s senses and all
inferences derived from these senses (which explains the Nirvana /
Reincarnation-believing Buddhist hostility towards it). Carvaka
quotes:

“While life is yours, live joyously;

None can escape Death’s searching eye;

When once this frame of ours they burn,

How shall it ever again return?”

Modern Hinduism and Atheism

While the philosophical roots of atheism in Hinduism are sound, few
practicing Hindus are aware of their religion’s atheist tradition.
Indeed, many view Hinduism as a purely theist religion (with Jainism
and Buddhism as separate religions). There is also a strong bias
against irreligious people and a belief in their inherent immorality.

Just as an idea goes from the philosopher to the professor to the
intellectual to the masses while being forgotten in its original form,
the teachings of Carvaka et al create ripples of tolerance though the
rest of the religion. It is far easier for a Hindu to “escape” a
religious upbringing and declare himself an atheist than it is for a
person belonging to any other religion, even if they come from equally
religious communities.

Hinduism is an incredibly tolerant religion, not only to outsiders but
also within itself. It can be divided into many denominations: Hindus
may worship Vishnu, Shiva or Shakti (“power”, personified by the
Mother Goddess). Worship of the elephant-headed god, Ganesha, the
monkey god, Hanuman and the Sun (called Surya) are also quite
widespread. There are innumerable regional and local deities as well
as dozens of minor gods and goddesses like Laxmi (the goddess of
wealth) and Saraswati (the goddess of learning).

Despite the large number of deities, there has never been any major
violent conflict caused by internal religious divisions. Most Hindus
talk in a monotheist manner, although they may worship in multiple
temples. Cross-worship is commonplace. One’s denomination is not
hereditary and it is considered unremarkable for a Hindu to switch
denominations during his lifetime. Contrast this to the conflicts
between Shias and Sunnis or Protestants and Catholics to grasp just
how remarkable the internal peace within Hinduism is. The rich Hindu
mythology consists of stories that contain all of these “characters”
and their interactions, so all denominations are legitimate
alternatives: this makes heresy a non-issue, easing transition into
atheism.

Another reason for the ease of transition is Hunduism’s utter lack of
any central leadership, authority or even guidelines. It is a
decentralized system and a person’s morals and beliefs are far more
likely to be molded by culture, observation or upbringing than a
formal religious commandment. While the reading of religious texts
such as the Gita is commonplace, no uniform “List of Dos and Don’ts”
culled from the book is followed and interpretation is largely
personal (if existent). There currently exists no country which has
legal system based on Hindu philosophy. The only clear universal
refrain in Hindu culture is the idea of sacred cows. However, beef is
widely available and consumed, even in Hindu-majority countries, and
it is well known that companies like GAP source their leather from
India. While religious outfits denounce these practices, most Hindus
choose to look the other way.

Of course, this ease has not translated into reality: a mere 2% of
Indians are officially atheist, compared to 13% in a country like the
US. Furthermore, 90% of Indians claim that religion plays a vital role
in their private lives. Yet God plays a smaller role in a person’s
public life than it does in the US. Politicians are not asked whether
or not they fast every Tuesday. Mind you: this doesn’t mean that
religion plays a small role. Inter-religious riots are fairly common,
but this has more to do with power-play than difference in religious
outlooks. Religious politics – like caste politics – have more to do
with identity, pull-peddling and favor distribution over ideology.

India’s brand of Hindu fundamentalism, called ‘Hindutva’, is an
identity-based rather than religion-based movement, unlike the
religious right in the USA or the Taliban in Afghanistan, who derive
their notions of right and wrong from their scriptures. Hindu
fundamentalism grew early in the 1900s as a result of the “Divide and
Rule” policy of the British, waned mid-century due to its implication
in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and is again resurgent, largely
as a backlash against the pro-Muslim policies of the Indian Congress
Party. The fact that the word “Hinduism” refers to cultural practices
rather than religious beliefs is clearly seen in the fact that
Hindutva’s founder – Veer Savarkar – was an atheist.

Other articles related to this topic:

A primer on negative (weak) atheism
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/05/15/a-primer-on-negative-weak-atheism/

Religious deference taken to extremes
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/09/20/religious-deference-taken-to-extremes/

Religious censorship and free speech
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/03/11/religious-censorship-and-free-speech/

Intelligent Design in Michigan
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/11/intelligent-design-in-michigan/

In the name of Bob, Google and the Flying Spaghetti Monster: gods and
religions that matter
from → Religion
http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/05/22/in-the-name-of-bob-google-and-the-flying-spaghetti-monster-gods-and-religions-that-matter/

10 Comments

2008 April 20 Nick of CriticalCritique.Com
I was too lazy to read this myself the first time because it seemed
like it didn’t make any sense to me, but when I heard Andy of
DBSkeptic read the audio version of this, I understand it better now.

However, I think even many Hindus or the followers of Hinduism do not
know or realize about this fact. I’ve seen some Hindu’s also speak
somewhat bad about another Indian simply because he or she chose an
Atheistic path. Perhaps, people still do speak somewhat bad about you
at your back, but even if heard by other Indian Atheist, I don’t think
it will end up becoming a huge “Holy” war anyways because they’ll just
ignore the negative comments.

The other reason I see there’s not much of a problem is because the
Atheists in India is rather small in number and so it does not really
cause a threat to the religious existence.

Today, the Atheist and Skeptic movement of India lead by people like
Narendra Nayak, Prabir Ghosh, Basava Premanand (you can read more
about them online in Wikipedia) have receive threats, even death
threats to stop what they are doing. There are religious and some
hired Hindu groups and gangsters who want these Atheist and Skeptic
movements to stop exposing the Hindu religion and other superstitious
beliefs because this is one way the Hindu charlatans are making money
and controlling the masses with power.

Right now, the opposition is quite small as these Atheist and Skeptic
movements are quite small in number as well. But I wonder will it
remain the same if these Atheist and Skeptic movements become larger
and more influential in the near future and when it pose a bigger
threat to the religious movement?

. 2008 July 2 Joey Foreman
Good article. But in both the article and the comment above there is
that abominable usage of apostrophe s to indicate a plural.
The correct plural is Hindus, not Hindu’s.

These mistakes undermine the credibility of otherwise well written and
informative texts.
They may have just been typos, but these should be weeded out of
scholarly writing.

. 2008 July 2 DB Skeptic permalink

The correct plural is Hindus, not Hindu’s.

…Fixed.

Thanks for the correction!
. 2008 July 11 HP

It seems many have such a limited and more or less diluted
understanding of the Hindu dharm. The cow has earned it’s status as
sacred because of its many advantages to mankind. Even in death, a
cow’s body can be used for leather and etc. But alive, it provides
dairy and that is essential for a vegetarian diet.

Here is a quote from Swami Vivekananda from the Parliament of
Religions in 1893 in Chicago, IL:

“From the high spiritual flights of the Vedanta philosophy, of which
the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, to the low ideas
of idolatry with its multifarious mythology, the agnosticism of the
Buddhists, and the atheism of the Jains, each and all have a place in
the Hindu’s religion.”

You can find the complete speech here:

http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_1/addresses_at_the_parliament/v1_c1_paper_on_hinduism.htm

. 2008 July 11 HP
For those of you who prefer to hear the actual audio, you can find it
here.

http://odeo.com/episodes/88016

In my opinion, it is by far the best overview of the Hindu dharm in
existence in English.

. 2008 October 24 emmarcee
I have to be skeptic about this skeptic/atheist. If you are a real
skeptic and looking to find the “truth” why are you looking for a
label inside the “hindu” label fold? that is the whole excercise of
bringing in the Nastika philosophy, right?
What you need to do is define who is Hindu. If you are saying that you
are a “hindu” because you are an Indian, you could be of any religion
– Sikh, Budhist, Muslim or Christian or even Atheist. But if you are
using the term in the strict sense of the multi theistic multi
philosophic religion of majority India, no you are not a Hindu.
Hindutuwaadis have brought in the term sanatana Dharma to denote the
continued existance for a particular philosophy from Vedic times,
whenever this is.

. 2008 October 24 Science, Reason & Rationality permalink
I have to agree with emmarcee with this one…

. 2009 February 15 nalbyuites
@Nick

I think the Atheistic and Skeptic movements will remain small in India
largely because of the liberal nature of Hinduism. As the author
points out, there’s no right or wrong/ Dos or Don’ts guidelines that
are enforced by a centralised authority.

For most Hindus, religious customs and rituals in marriage and other
ceremonies are very important from a social perspective and not a
religious one. Since their religious beliefs do not come into play, a
large number of agnostics are happy to remain so; fulfilling their
social obligations and at the same time not being threatened by
religious pressures.

Again, in India, if you ask a Hindu, “Do you believe in God?”, the
answer will probably be “Yes” but it won’t mean that ‘they know there
is a God’. Because here, belief in God means belief in a journey of
enquiry of God and belief in the ways to do so (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha) and not an end-result of ‘knowing’ there
is a God. I feel most Hindus fall under the ‘I don’t know’ category
and thus don’t feel the need for labels.

. 2009 March 12 aravind
i think prakirthi mentioned is nature not material world.

. 2009 March 13 V.B.Venkataraman
The term “hinduism” is an invention of the West to refer to people
living in the Indian subcontinent following ,in their opinion, various
‘pagan’ beliefs. Actually ‘hinduism’ is not an exclusivist cult like
christianity or islam. It is a way of life withfreedom to believe or
disbelieve in a God/Gods. Even the Vedas have many verses which are
skeptical about the concept of God/Gods. Vedas can be
ritualistic,monotheistic,or polytheistic or even atheistic or
agnostic. All these varied thoughts coexisted in this land for
centuries until the advent of the monotheistic cults of islam and
christianity.

http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/04/02/atheism-in-hinduism/

Baba Amte
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Murlidhar Devidas Amte

Baba Amte
Born 26 December 1914
Hinganghat, Maharastra, British India
Died 9 February 2008 (aged 93)
Anandwan, Maharastra, India
Nationality Indian
Spouse(s) Sadhana Amte
Children Dr. Vikas Amte
Dr. Prakash Amte
Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte (Marathi: बाबा
आमटे) (December 26, 1914 – February 9, 2008) was an Indian social
worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the
rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people suffering from
leprosy[1].

Early life

Amte was born to Devidas and Laxmibai Amte in the town of Hinganghat
in Wardha District of Maharashtra. The family was a wealthy jagirdar
Brahmin family. His father was also a British official with
responsibilities for district administration and revenue
collection[2]. Amte had acquired his nickname Baba in his childhood[3]
[4][5].

Dedicated work

Trained in law, Amte developed a successful legal practice at Wardha.
He soon got involved in the Indian struggle for freedom from the
British Raj, and started acting as a defense lawyer for leaders of the
Indian freedom movement whom the British authorities had imprisoned in
the 1942 Quit India movement. He spent some time at Sevagram ashram of
Mahatma Gandhi, and became a follower of Gandhism for the rest of his
life. He practiced various aspects of Gandhism, including yarn
spinning using a charkha and wearing khadi.

Amte founded three ashrams for treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy
patients, disabled people, and people from marginalized sections of
the society in Maharashtra, India.

In 1973, Amte founded the Lok Biradari Prakalp to work among the Madia
Gond tribal people of Gadchiroli District.

Amte devoted his life to many other social causes, the most notable
among which were generating public awareness of importance of
ecological balance, wildlife preservation, and the Narmada Bachao
Andolan.

Dedicated work of family members

In 1946, Amte married Sadhana Guleshastri[3]. She actively
participated in her husband's social work with equal dedication. Their
two sons, Vikas and Prakash, and two daughters-in-law, Mandakini and
Bharati, are all doctors. All four have dedicated their lives to
social work and causes similar to those of the senior Amtes.

Son Prakash runs "Maharogi Sewa Samiti" (Leprosy Service Society). He
and his wife Mandakini also run a school and a hospital at Hemalkasa
village in the underprivileged district of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra
where people belonging to the "Madia Gond" tribe live. After marrying
Prakash, Mandakini left her governmental medical job and moved to
Hemalkasa to eventually start a hospital, a school, and an orphanage
for injured wild animals, including a lion and some leopards. Their
two sons, Digant, a doctor, and Aniket, an engineer, have also
dedicated their lives to the same causes as their parents.[6][7]. In
2008, Prakash and Mandakini were given the Magsaysay Award for
Community Leadership [8].

Baba Amte's elder son Vikas and his wife Bharati run a hospital at
Anandwan and coordinate operations between Anandwan and satellite
projects[9].

In those days, leprosy was associated with social stigma and the
society disowned people suffering from leprosy. There was also a
widespread misbelief that leprosy was contagious. Amte strove to
dispel the misbelief and once allowed bacilli from a leprosy patient
to be injected into him while participating in an experimental test
aimed at proving that leprosy was not contagious[10].

Today, Anandwan and Hemalkasa village have one hospital, each.
Anandwan has a university, an orphanage, and schools for the blind and
the deaf. Currently, the self-sufficient Anandwan ashram has over
5,000 residents[4]. The community development project at Anandwan in
Maharashtra is recognized around the world. Besides Anandwan, Amte
later founded "Somnath" and "Ashokwan" ashrams for treating leprosy
patients.

His philosophy:

I sought my soul, my soul I could not see;
I sought my God, my God eluded me;
I sought my brother and found all three.

Gandhism

Amte followed Gandhi's way of living, and led a spartan life. He wore
khadi clothes made from the looms at Anandwan. He believed in Gandhi's
concept of a self-sufficient village industry that empowers seemingly
helpless people, and successfully brought his ideas into practice at
Anandwan.

Amte also used Gandhian principles to fight against corruption,
mismanagement, and poor, shortsighted planning in the government.
Thus, he used non-violent means to fight the Indian government in the
fight of independence [11].

In spite of his emulation of social and political work, unlike Gandhi,
Amte was an atheist[12].

Narmada Bachao Andolan

In 1990, Amte left Anandwan for a while to live along the Narmada
River and join Medha Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan ("Save Narmada"
Movement), which fought against both unjust displacement of local
inhabitants and damage to the environment on account of the
construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river[13][14].

Death

Amte was not physically well during his later years. He was confined
to the bed due to a severe spondylosis condition. In 2007, he was
diagnosed with leukemia.

Amte died in Anandwan on February 9, 2008. Respecting his wishes, his
body was buried instead of being cremated, the traditional funeral of
Hindus.

Upon Amte's death, the 14th Dalai Lama, said, "Amte's demise is a
great loss to all of us. I am an admirer of Baba Amte. I vividly
remember my visit to his thriving community of handicapped people at
Anandvan in 1990"[15].

Awards from the Government of India

Padma Shree, 1971[16]
Padma Vibhushan, 1986
Welfare of the Disabled Award, 1986

Other awards

Dalit Mitra Award, 1974: Government of Maharashtra
Rashtriya Bhushan (Pride of the Nation), 1978: F.I.E. (India)
Foundation
Jamnalal Bajaj Award, 1979
N.D. Diwan Award, 1980: National Society for Equal Opportunities for
the 'Handicapped' (NASEOH), Bombay
Ramshastri Award, 1983: Ramshastri Prabhune Foundation, Maharashtra,
India
Indira Gandhi Memorial Award, 1985: Government of Madhya Pradesh for
outstanding social service
Raja Ram Mohan Roy Award, 1986: Delhi
Fr. Maschio Platinum Jubilee Award, 1987: Bombay
G.D. Birla International Award, 1988: For outstanding contribution to
humanism
Mahdeo Balwant Natu Puraskar, 1991, Pune, Maharashtra
Adivasi Sewak Award, 1991, Government of Maharashtra
Kusumagraj Puraskar, 1991
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Dalit Mitra Award, 1992, Government of
Maharashtra
Shri Nemichand Shrishrimal Award, 1994
Fr. Tong Memorial Award, 1995, Voluntary Health Association of India
Kushta Mitra Puraskar, 1995: Vidarbha Maharogi Sewa Mandal, Amravati,
Maharashtra
Bhai Kanhaiya Award, 1997: Sri Guru Harkrishan Education Trust,
Bhatinda, Punjab
Manav Sewa Award, 1997: Young Men's Gandhian Association, Rajkot,
Gujarat
Sarthi Award, 1997, Nagpur, Maharashtra
Mahatma Gandhi Charitable Trust Award, 1997, Nagpur, Maharashtra
Gruhini Sakhi Sachiv Puraskar, 1997, Gadima Pratishthan, Maharashtra
Kumar Gandharva Puraskar, 1998
Apang Mitra Puraskar, 1998, Helpers of the Handicapped, Kolhapur,
Maharashtra
Bhagwan Mahaveer Award, 1998, Chennai
Diwaliben Mohanlal Mehta Award, 1998, Mumbai
Justice K. S. Hegde Award, 1998, Karnataka
Baya Karve Award, 1998, Pune, Maharashtra
Savitribai Phule Award, 1998, Government of Maharashtra
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Award, 1988:
FICCI, for outstanding achievements in training and placement of
disabled persons
Satpaul Mittal Award, 1998, Nehru Sidhant Kendra Trust, Ludhiana,
Punjab
Adivasi Sevak Puraskar, 1998, Government of Maharashtra
Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999[17]
Dr. Ambedkar International Award for Social Change, 1999, "in
recognition of outstanding work done in pursuing the cause of the
exploited and the underprivileged, reconciling differences among
conflicting social groups and contributing significantly to social
change"
Maharashtra Bhushan Award, 2004, Government of Maharastra [18][19]
Bharathvasa award, 2008

Honorary titles

D.Litt., 1980: Nagpur University, Nagpur, India
Krishi Ratna, 1981: Hon. Doctorate, PKV Agricultural University,
Akola, Maharashtra, India
D.Litt., 1985-86: Pune University, Pune, India
Desikottama, 1988: Hon. Doctorate, Visva-Bharati University,
Santiniketan, West Bengal, India
Gandhi had conferred on Amte the title Abhayasadhak ("A Fearless
Aspirant") for his fight against leprosy.

Quotes

"I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a man who goes around
with a little oil can and when he sees a breakdown, offers his help.
To me, the man who does that is greater than any holy man in saffron-
colored robes. The mechanic with the oilcan: that is my ideal in
life."[2] (Self-description given to British journalist Graham Turner)

"I am leaving to live along the Narmada. Narmada will linger on the
lips of the nation as a symbol of all struggles against social
injustice." (About going to the Narmada valley to support Narmada
Bachao Andolan)

"One can live without fingers, but not self-respect."

"I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see, I sought my god, but
my god eluded me; And then I sought my sisters and my brothers, and in
them I found all three."

"The air is not thin yet, so keep climbing." AG

• d • e

Templeton Prize laureates

Mother Teresa (1973)
• Frère Roger (1974)
• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1975)
• Leo Joseph Suenens (1976)
• Chiara Lubich (1977)
• Thomas Torrance (1978)
• Nikkyo Niwano (1979)
• Ralph Wendell Burhoe (1980)
• Cicely Saunders (1981)
• Billy Graham (1982)
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1983)
• Michael Bourdeaux (1984)
• Alister Hardy (1985)
• James I. McCord (1986)
• Stanley Jaki (1987)
• Inamullah Khan (1988)
• Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker & George MacLeod (1989)
• Baba Amte & Charles Birch (1990)
• Immanuel Jakobovits (1991)
• Kyung-Chik Han (1992)
• Charles Colson (1993)
• Michael Novak (1994)
• Paul Davies (1995)
• Bill Bright (1996)
• Pandurang Shastri Athavale (1997)
• Sigmund Sternberg (1998)
• Ian Barbour (1999)
• Freeman Dyson (2000)
• Arthur Peacocke (2001)
• John Polkinghorne (2002)
• Holmes Rolston III (2003)
• George Ellis (2004)
• Charles Townes (2005)
• John D. Barrow (2006)
• Charles Taylor (2007)
• Michał Heller (2008)
• Bernard d'Espagnat (2009)

v • d • e

Gandhi Peace Prize laureates

Julius Nyerere (1995)
• A. T. Ariyaratne (1996)
• Gerhard Fischer (1997)
• Ramakrishna Mission (1998)
• Baba Amte (1999)
• Grameen Bank, Nelson Mandela (2000)
• John Hume (2001)
• Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (2002)
• Václav Havel (2003)
• Coretta Scott King (2004)
• Desmond Tutu (2005)

References

^ Students' Britannica India. p. 62. ISBN 0852297602.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Kpd9lLY_0-IC.
^ a b "BIOGRAPHY of Murlidhar Devidas Amte".
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyAmteMur.htm.
^ a b "Collector office chandrapur -Maharashtra Bhushan Baba Amte".
http://chanda.nic.in/htmldocs/anandwan.html.
^ a b "An interview with Baba Amte".
http://www.rediff.com/freedom/amte3.htm.
^ Wisdom song: My Mother's Madness,
http://baba.niya.org/index.php?page=mother_maddness
^ "Social workers Drs. Prakash and Manda Amte inspire listeners at
Asha NYC/NJ".
http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/?id=79.
^ "Dr Prakash and Dr Mandatai Amte - The Spirit of Mastek Award".
http://www.mastek.com/content/mastekpapers/23June2006.asp.
^ "Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation: Awardees".
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationAmtes.html.
^ "Maharogi Sewa Samiti".
http://mss.niya.org/people/amte.php.
^ "Amte: The last follower of Mahatma Gandhi".
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/09amte2.htm?zcc=rl.
^ "Baba Amte: The Gandhi after that Gandhi".
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/09amte4.htm.
^ "Baba Amte Obituary: The Economist". February 28, 2008.
http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10757984.
^ "Right Livelihood Award: 1991 - Medha Patkar &Baba Amte / Narmada
Bachao Andolan".
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/narmada.html.
^ President Pratibha Patil, Manmohan Singh condole Baba Amte's death -
Yahoo! India News
^ "His Holiness the Dalai Lama mourns the demise of Baba Amte".
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=19218&t=1&c=1.
^ Microsoft Word - year-wise 07.rtf
^ "The Miracle Worker".
http://www.rediff.com/freedom/amte3.htm.
^ "Award for Baba Amte, Mashelkar".
http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/01/stories/2005050102571000.htm.
^ "The various awards that Baba Amte won in his lifetime".
http://www.aol.in/news/story/2008020902039022000001/.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Amte

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

I Write, ThereforeI am: Sid Harth

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Open Library Redesign

We’re very excited to announce the “soft launch” of our brand new Open
Library site! This is version 1 of a reconstructed Open Library, and
we’re going to keep it “soft” at a special URL until we’re sure it’s
stable enough to make the final transition to openlibrary.org. We’re
hoping that will happen soon.
See the blog post for more details.

http://upstream.openlibrary.org/
http://blog.openlibrary.org/2010/03/17/announcing-the-open-library-redesign/

Find Books

Recent changes
http://openlibrary.org/recentchanges
Example search
http://openlibrary.org/search?q=tom+sawyer
Add a book
http://openlibrary.org/addbook
Index of books Build The Library
http://openlibrary.org/index/index.html
About the project
http://openlibrary.org/about
About the technology
http://openlibrary.org/about/tech
About the librarianship
http://openlibrary.org/about/lib
A guided tour Develop The Site
http://openlibrary.org/tour
Bug tracking
https://bugs.launchpad.net/openlibrary/
Source code repository (infogami)
http://github.com/openlibrary/openlibrary
http://github.com/infogami/infogami
Developer documentation
http://openlibrary.org/dev/docs
Translate the site
http://openlibrary.org/i18n

About the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to
build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent
access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with
disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that
exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in San Francisco,
the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and
others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more
well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts,
audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in
our collections, and is working to provide specialized services
relating to training, education, or adaptive reading or information
access needs of blind or other persons with disabilities.

Why the Archive is Building an 'Internet Library'

Libraries exist to preserve society's cultural artifacts and to
provide access to them. If libraries are to continue to foster
education and scholarship in this era of digital technology, it's
essential for them to extend those functions into the digital world.

Many early movies were recycled to recover the silver in the film. The
Library of Alexandria - an ancient center of learning containing a
copy of every book in the world - was eventually burned to the ground.
Even now, at the turn of the 21st century, no comprehensive archives
of television or radio programs exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

But without cultural artifacts, civilization has no memory and no
mechanism to learn from its successes and failures. And paradoxically,
with the explosion of the Internet, we live in what Danny Hillis has
referred to as our "digital dark age."
http://www.longnow.org/people/board/

The Internet Archive is working to prevent the Internet - a new medium
with major historical significance - and other "born-digital"
materials from disappearing into the past. Collaborating with
institutions including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, we
are working to preserve a record for generations to come.

Open and free access to literature and other writings has long been
considered essential to education and to the maintenance of an open
society. Public and philanthropic enterprises have supported it
through the ages.

The Internet Archive is opening its collections to researchers,
historians, and scholars. The Archive has no vested interest in the
discoveries of the users of its collections, nor is it a grant-making
organization.
http://www.archive.org/web/collaborations.php#LoC_sculpture
http://www.archive.org/web/collaborations.php#Smithsonian

At present, the size of our Web collection is such that using it
requires programming skills. However, we are hopeful about the
development of tools and methods that will give the general public
easy and meaningful access to our collective history. In addition to
developing our own collections, we are working to promote the
formation of other Internet libraries in the United States and
elsewhere.

http://www.alexa.com/
http://www.archive.org/about/contact.php
http://www.archive.org/details/texts
http://www.archive.org/details/audio
http://www.archive.org/details/movies
http://www.archive.org/details/software

Holy Hindu Cow! What Now?

All that garbage spewed by Hindutva crowd, would be forever preserved
for milenniums. nay, "Yugas," for Hindu Brahmin brats, rats, rascals,
ruffians, rogues, Rastafarians, RSS-asses, and their progeny?

May Allah be praised!

Afterall, it is the "Kaliyuga."

Just kidding, I love the western inventions like "Internet."
What would these Hindu idiots do if it were not for the western
scholars, Michael Witzel, Wendy Doniger, Steve Farmer, various and
sundry Indologists, Sanskritists,included
made Sanskrit famous and available to one and all?

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Find out

How to make a Monetary Donation to the Archvive http://www.archive.org/donate/

About our announcement and discussion lists on Internet libraries and
movie archives as well as our user forums
Future Libraries - How People Envision Using Internet Libraries
From ephemera to artifact: Internet libraries can change the content
of the Internet from ephemera to enduring artifacts of our political
and cultural lives.

"I believe historians need every possible piece of paper and archived
byte of digital data they can muster. The Smithsonian Institution sees
the value, and has affiliated with the Archive to preserve the 1996
campaign Web sites, official and unofficial."

Dan Gillmor, computing editor, San Jose Mercury News, 1 September 1996

Protecting our right to know: Most states have pre-Internet sunshine
laws that require public access to government documents. Yet while the
Internet has generally increased public access to information, states
have just begun to amend those laws to reflect today's Internet
environment. According to Bill Chamberlin, director of the Marion
Brechner Citizen Access Project at the University of Florida's College
of Journalism and Communications, such laws are being enacted
"piecemeal, one state at a time," and cover information that varies
widely in nature - everything from "all public records" to specialized
information such as education reports and the licensing status of
medical practitioners. In the meantime, while public officials are
posting more information on the Internet than their state legislatures
require, there's little regulatory control over exactly what is
posted, when it's taken off, or how often it's updated. This leaves a
gap that online libraries can help to fill.

Exercising our "right to remember": Without paper libraries, it would
be hard to exercise our "right to remember" our political history or
hold government accountable. With much of the public's business now
moving from paper to digital media, Internet libraries are certain to
become essential in maintaining that right. Imagine, for instance, how
news coverage of an election campaign might suffer if journalists had
only limited access to previous statements that candidates had made in
the media.

"The Internet Archive is a service so essential that its founding is
bound to be looked back on with the fondness and respect that people
now have for the public libraries seeded by Andrew Carnegie a century
ago.... Digitized information, especially on the Internet, has such
rapid turnover these days that total loss is the norm. Civilization is
developing severe amnesia as a result; indeed it may have become too
amnesiac already to notice the problem properly. The Internet Archive
is the beginning of a cure - the beginning of complete, detailed,
accessible, searchable memory for society, and not just scholars this
time, but everyone."

Stewart Brand, president, The Long Now Foundation

Establishing Internet centers internationally: What is a country
without a memory of its cultural heritage? Internet libraries are the
place to preserve the aspect of a country's heritage that exists on
the Internet.

Tracing the way our language changes: During the late 19th century,
James Murray, a professor at Oxford University, built the first
edition of the Oxford English Dictionary by sending copies of selected
books to "men of letters" who volunteered to search them for the first
occurrences of words and to trace the migration of their various
meanings. Internet libraries could allow linguists to automate much of
this extremely labor-intensive process.

Tracking the Web's evolution: Historians, sociologists, and
journalists could use Internet libraries to hold up a mirror to
society. For example, they might ask when different ethnic groups or
special interests or certain businesses became a presence on the
Internet.

"We don't know where this Internet is going, and once we get there it
will be very instructive to look back."

Donald Heath, president of the Internet Society in Reston, Virginia

Reviving dead links: A few services - such as UC Berkeley's Digital
Library Project, the Online Computer Library Center, and Alexa
Internet are starting to offer access to archived versions of Web
pages when those pages have been removed from the Web. This means that
if you get a "404 - Page Not Found" error, you'll still be able to
find a version of the page.

Understanding the economy: Economists could use Archive data such as
link structures - what and how many links a site contains - to
investigate how the Web affects commerce.

Finding out what the Web tells us about ourselves: Researchers could
use data on links and traffic to better understand human behavior and
communication.

"Researchers could use the Archive's Web snapshots in combination with
usage statistics to compare how people in different countries use the
Web over long periods of time.... Political scientists and
sociologists could use the data to study how public opinion gets
formed. For example, suppose a device for increasing privacy became
available: Would it change usage patterns?"

Bernardo Huberman, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center

"The Internet Archive has created a kind of test tube that allows a
broad range of researchers to analyze the Web in ways that have never
been possible before. What makes this type of research unique is that
it often requires the fusion of traditional tools and techniques with
new methods, and it results in the development of new theories,
techniques, and metrics."

James Pitkow, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center

Looking back: With a "way-back machine" - a device that displayed the
Web as it looked on a given date - historians and others would
literally have a window on the past.

How would you use an Internet library?

Related Projects and Research
Internet libraries raise many issues in a range of areas, including
archiving technology, copyright, privacy and free speech, trademark,
trade secrets, import/export issues, stolen property, pornography, the
question of who will have access to the libraries, and more.
Below are links to projects, resources, and institutions related to
Internet libraries.

Internet Libraries and Librarianship
Archiving Technology
Internet Mapping
Internet Statistics
Copyright
Privacy and Free Speech

Internet Libraries and Librarianship

Alexa Internet has catalogued Web sites and provides this information
in a free service.
www.alexa.com

The American Library Association is a major trade association of
American libraries.
www.ala.org

The Australian National Library collects material including
organizational Web sites.
pandora.nla.gov.au/documents.html

The Council on Library and Information Resources works to ensure the
well-being of the scholarly communication system.
www.clir.org
See its publication Why Digitize? at
www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80.html

The Digital Library Forum (D-Lib) publishes an online magazine and
other resources for building digital libraries.
www.dlib.org

Attorney I. Trotter Hardy explains copyright law and examines its
implications for digital materials in his paper Internet Archives and
Copyright.
copyright_TH.php

The Internet Public Library site has many links to online resources
for the general public.
www.ipl.org

Brewster Kahle is a founder of WAIS Inc. and Alexa Internet and
chairman of the board of the Internet Archive. See his paper The
Ethics of Digital Librarianship at
ethics_BK.php

Michael Lesk of the National Science Foundation has written
extensively on digital archiving and digital libraries.
www.purl.net/NET/lesk

The Library of Congress is the national library of the United States.
www.loc.gov

The Museum Digital Library plans to help digitize collections and
provide access to them.
www.digitalmuseums.org

The National Archives and Records Administration oversees the
management of all US federal records. It also archives federal Web
sites including the Clinton White House site.
www.nara.gov

The National Science Foundation Digital Library Program has funded
academic research on digital libraries.
www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/dli/start.htm

National Technical Information Service (NTIS), U.S. Department of
Commerce, Technology Administration. NTIS is an archive and
distributor of scientific, technical, engineering and business related
information developed by and for the federal government.
www.ntis.gov

Network Wizards has been tracking Internet growth for many years.
www.nw.com

Project Gutenberg is making ASCII versions of classic literature
openly available. www.gutenberg.org

The Radio and Television Archive has many links to related resources.
www.rtvf.unt.edu/links/histsites.htm

Revival of the Library of Alexandria is a project to revive the
ancient library in Egypt.
www.bibalex.org

The Society of American Archivists is a professional association
focused on ensuring the identification, preservation, and use of
records of historical value.
www.archivists.org

The Royal Institute of Technology Library in Sweden is creating a
system of quality-assessed information resources on the Internet for
academic use.
www.lib.kth.se/main/eng

The United States Government Printing Office produces and distributes
information published by the US government.
www.access.gpo.gov

The University of Virginia is building a catalog of digital library
activities.
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/digital/

Archiving Technology

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) computing and public
policy page includes papers and news on pending legislation on issues
including universal access, copyright and intellectual property, free
speech and the Internet, and privacy.
www.acm.org/serving

The Carnegie Mellon University Informedia Digital Video Library
Project is studying how multimedia digital libraries can be
established and used.
www.informedia.cs.cmu.edu

The Intermemory Project aims to develop highly survivable and
available storage systems.
www.intermemory.org

The National Film Preservation Board, established by the National Film
Preservation Act of 1988, works with the Library of Congress to study
and implement plans for film and television preservation. The site's
research page includes links to the board's 1993 film preservation
study, a 1994 film preservation plan, and a 1997 television and video
study. All the documents warn of the dire state of film and television
preservation in the United States.
lcweb.loc.gov/film/filmpres.html

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) posts IEC
International Standard names and symbols for prefixes for binary
multiples for use in data processing and data transmission.
www.physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html

The Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) encourages research in
information retrieval from large text collections.
trec.nist.gov

Internet Mapping

An Atlas of Cyberspaces has maps and dynamic tools for visualizing Web
browsing.
www.cybergeography.com/atlas/surf.html

The Internet Mapping Project is a long-term project by a scientist at
Bell Labs to collect routing data on the Internet.
www.cs.bell-labs.com/who/ches/map

The Matrix Information Directory Service has good maps and
visualizations of the networked world.
www.mids.org

Peacock Maps has maps of Internet connectivity.
www.peacockmaps.com

Internet Statistics

WebReference has an Internet statistics page (publisher:
Internet.com).
webreference.com/internet/statistics.html

Copyright

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) copyright information
page includes text of pertinent laws and pending legislation.
www.acm.org/usacm/copyright

Tom W. Bell teaches intellectual property and Internet law at Chapman
University School of Law.
www.tomwbell.com
His site includes a graph showing the trend of the maximum US
copyright term at www.tomwbell.com/writings/(C)_Term.html

Cornell University posts the text of copyright law at
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/unframed/17/107.html
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/unframed/17/108.html

The Digital Future Coalition is a nonprofit working on the issues of
copyright in the digital age.
www.dfc.org

The National Academy Press is the publishing arm of the national
academies.
"The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age"
http://www.nap.edu/html/digital_dilemma/
"LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress"
www.nap.edu/books/0309071445/html

Pamela Samuelson is a professor in the School of Information
Management and Systems at UC Berkeley.
info.berkeley.edu/~pam

Title 17 of US copyright code
www.loc.gov/copyright/title17/

US Government Copyright Office
www.loc.gov/copyright

Privacy and Free Speech

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) free-speech information
page includes the text of pertinent laws and pending legislation.
www.acm.org/usacm/speech

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) privacy information page
includes the text of congressional testimony and links to other
resources.
www.acm.org/usacm/privacy

The Benton Foundation Communications Policy and Practice Program has
the goal of infusing the emerging communications environment with
public-interest values.
www.benton.org/cpphome.html

The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic
values and constitutional liberties in the digital age.
www.cdt.org

The Computers Freedom and Privacy Conference has a site containing
information on each annual conference held since 1991.
www.cfp.org

The Electronic Frontier Foundation works to protect fundamental civil
liberties, including privacy and freedom of expression in the arena of
computers and the Internet.
www.eff.org

The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a project of the Fund for
Constitutional Government, is a public-interest research center whose
goal is to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues
and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional
values.
www.epic.org

The Free Expression Policy Project is a think tank on artistic and
intellectual freedom at NYU's Brennan Center for Justice. Through
policy research and advocacy, they explore freedom of expression
issues including censorship, copyright law, media localism, and
corporate media reform.
www.fepproject.org

The Internet Free Expression Alliance is an information and advocacy
organization focused on free speech as it relates to the Internet.
www.ifea.net

The Internet Privacy Coalition aims to protect privacy on the Internet
by promoting the widespread availability of strong encryption and the
relaxation of export controls on cryptography.
www.privacy.org/ipc

The Privacy Page includes news, alerts, and links to privacy-related
resources. Related organizations include the Electronic Privacy
Information Center, the Internet Privacy Coalition, and Privacy
International.
www.privacy.org

Privacy International is a London-based human rights group formed as a
watchdog on surveillance by governments and corporations.
www.privacy.org/pi

Please suggest other pages that may be appropriate here.

Storage and Preservation

The Archive has two practical considerations in dealing with digital
collections:
How to store massive amounts of data
How to preserve the data for posterity

Storage

Storing the Archive's collections involves parsing, indexing, and
physically encoding the data. With the Internet collections growing at
exponential rates, this task poses an ongoing challenge.

Our hardware consists of PCs with clusters of IDE hard drives. Data is
stored on DLT tape and hard drives in various appropriate formats,
depending on the collection. Web data is received and stored in
archive format of 100-megabyte ARC files made up of many individual
files. Alexa Internet (currently the source of all crawls in our
collections) is proposing ARC as a standard for archiving Internet
objects. See Alexa for the format specification.

Preservation

Preservation is the ongoing task of permanently protecting stored
resources from damage or destruction. The main issues are guarding
against the consequences of accidents and data degradation and
maintaining the accessibility of data as formats become obsolete.

Accidents: Any medium or site used to store data is potentially
vulnerable to accidents and natural disasters. Maintaining copies of
the Archive�s collections at multiple sites can help alleviate
this risk. Part of the collection is already handled this way, and we
are proceeding as quickly as possible to do the same with the rest.

Migration: Over time, storage media can degrade to a point where the
data becomes permanently irretrievable. Although DLT tape is rated to
last 30 years, the industry rule of thumb is to migrate data every 10
years. We no longer use tapes for storage, however. Please take a look
at our page on our Petabox system for more information on our storage
systems.

Data formats: As advances are made in software applications, many data
formats become obsolete. We will be collecting software and emulators
that will aid future researchers, historians, and scholars in their
research.

Find out

How to get free access to the Archive's Internet collections

About our announcement and discussion lists on Internet libraries and
movie archives

http://www.archive.org/about/about.php

Contacts at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive

directions

When contacting the Internet Archive, please note that we do not have
a technical support department. Please refer to the forums and the
FAQs.

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Web: www.archive.org
Email: info at archive dot org - (Please note to enable email from
@archive.org if you use any filtering devices!)

For best results, please first check the information at: forums and
the FAQs
You can use these to address any technical questions

Also available: Announcements and What's New at the Internet Archive

Address:
Internet Archive
300 Funston Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118

Web Team Contact Information:
116 Sheridan Avenue
The Presidio of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94129

Lists

Archivists Announcement List (news about Internet libraries)
read the web archive

Archivists Discussion List (discussion about Internet libraries)
read the web archive

Movie Archive Discussion List (news about online film archives)
read the web archive

Directions to the Internet Archive
Mass Transit Within San Francisco
By Car From the North Bay
By Car From the East Bay
By Car From the South Bay via 280
By Car From the South Bay via 101

Mass Transit Within San Francisco

Our area is served by San Francisco MUNI bus routes. The following
links listed below will take you to the different MUNI routes; please
select the most convenient route, click to see the schedule & map. 511
Trip Planner is also a useful resource

1 - California: Inbound toward Downtown. Outbound toward Richmond
district. Board at Davis St & Pine St. Ask the driver to let you off
at the corner of California St. & Park Presidio Blvd. Turn left on
Park Presidio Blvd. toward Geary Blvd. Turn left at Clement St., turn
right at Funston Ave. Destination will be on the left.

1AX - California 'A' Express: Inbound toward Financial district for
morning rush hour. Outbound toward Outer Richmond district for
afternoon rush hour. Get off at the corner of California St. & Park
Presidio Blvd. Turn left on Park Presidio Blvd. toward Geary Blvd.
Turn left at Clement St., turn right at Funston Ave. Destination will
be on the left.

1BX - California 'B' Express: Inbound toward Financial district for
morning rush hour. Outbound toward Outer Richmond district for
afternoon rush hour. Get off at the corner of California St. & Park
Presidio Blvd. Turn left on Park Presidio Blvd. toward Geary Blvd.
Turn left at Clement St., turn right at Funston Ave. Destination will
be on the left.

38L - Geary Limited: (same directions as a Route 38, but this route
has limited bus stops, and it is faster. Ask the driver to let you off
at the corner of Geary Blvd. & Park Presidio Blvd. Head east on Geary
(towards downtown) and turn left at Funston Ave. Destination will be
at the end of the block on the right.

38 - Geary: Ask the driver to let you off at the corner of Geary Blvd.
& Park Presidio Blvd. Head east on Geary (towards downtown) and turn
left at Funston Ave. Destination will be at the end of the block on
the right.

28 - 19th Ave: Ask the driver to let you off at the corner of Geary
Blvd. & Park Presidio Blvd. Head east on Geary (towards downtown) and
turn left at Funston Ave. Destination will be at the end of the block
on the right.

From the south bay on CalTrain: Board the bus route #30 on Townsend
St. & 4th St. Depart at 3rd St. & Market St. Then board bus route # 38
or #38L on Geary Blvd & Kearny St. Ask the driver to let you off at
the corner of Geary Blvd & Park Presidio Blvd. Head east on Geary
(towards downtown) and turn left at Funston Ave. Destination will be
at the end of the block on the right.

From BART, get off at Montgomery Street station and take the 38 Geary
(see above)

Driving From the North Bay

Take highway US-101 South across Golden Gate Bridge (Toll applies).

Continue on US-101 south, go 0.3 miles.

Take the 19th Ave. /Golden Gate Park exit onto CA-1 South, go 1.3
miles

Turn Right on Lake St.

Turn Left on 14TH Ave, go 0.3 miles

Turn Left on Clement St, go 0.1 miles

Turn Right on Funston Ave.

Arrive at 300 Funston Ave, San Francisco, on the Left

There is metered parking on Clement and 2-hour parking on Funston and
parallel avenues (please also note street cleaning times).

Driving From the East Bay

Take Interstate 80 west over the Bay Bridge.

Take the Golden Gate Bridge exit onto US-101 North, go 1.1 miles

Continue on Octavia Blvd, go 0.30 miles

Turn Left on Fell St, go 0.6 miles

Turn Right on Scott Ave, go 0.1 miles

Turn Left on Hayes St, go 0.1 miles

Turn Right on Divisadero Ave, go 0.6 miles

Turn Left on Geary Blvd, go 1.8 miles

Turn Right on Funston Ave, go 0.1 miles

Arrive at 300 Funston Ave. San Francisco, on the Right

There is metered parking on Clement and 2-hour parking on Funston and
parallel avenues (please also note street cleaning times).

From the South Bay via Highway 280

Take Interstate 280 north to San Francisco

When Interstate 280 splits into Route 1 and 280, veer left, onto
Highway 1 (19th Avenue).

Follow Highway 1 (19th Avenue) north across San Francisco and through
Golden Gate Park.

Turn Right on Clement St.

Turn Right on Funston Ave.

Arrive at 300 Funston Ave. San Francisco on the Left

There is metered parking on Clement and 2-hour parking on Funston and
parallel avenues (please also note street cleaning times).

From the South Bay via Highway 101

When Highway 101 splits into the Highway 80/Bay Bridge and Highway 101/
Golden Gate Bridge approaches, veer left, onto Highway 101.

Follow the 101 north/Golden Gate Bridge turnoff

Continue on Octavia Blvd, go 0.3 Miles.

Turn Left on Fell St, go 0.6 miles

Turn Right on Scott Ave, go 0.1 miles

Turn Left on Hayes St, go 0.1 miles

Turn Right on Divisadero Ave, go 0.6 miles

Turn Left on Geary Blvd, go 1.8 miles

Turn Right on Funston Ave, go 0.1 miles

Arrive at 300 Funston Ave. San Francisco, on the Right

There is metered parking on Clement and 2-hour parking on Funston and
parallel avenues (please also note street cleaning times).

http://www.archive.org/about/contact.php

Amarakocha; ou, Vocabulaire d'Amarasinha. Publié en Sanskrit avec une
traduction française des notes et un index par A. Loiseleur
Deslongchamps (Volume 1) - Amarasimha

Downloads: 452
Amarakocha; ou, Vocabulaire d'Amarasinha. Publié en Sanskrit avec une
traduction française des notes et un index par A. Loiseleur
Deslongchamps (Volume 2) - Amarasimha

Downloads: 385
Dictionnaire classique sanscrit-français où sont coordonnés, revisés
et complétés les travaux de Wilson, Bopp, Westergaard, Johnson, etc.
et contenant le devanagari, sa transcription européene,
l'interprétation, les racines et de nombreux rapprochements
philologiques - Burnouf, Emile, 1821-1907

Downloads: 2,286
Dictionnaire sanskrit-français - Stchoupak, Nadine

Downloads: 8,029
Average rating: (2 reviews)
The Practical Sanskrit-English dictionary containing appendices on
Sanskrit prosody and important literary and geogrpahical names of
ancient India - Apte, Vaman Shivaram, 1858-1892

Downloads: 3,109
Radices linguae Sanscritae ad decreta grammaticorum definivit atque
copia exemplorum exquisitiorum illustravit - Westergaard, N. L. (Niels
Ludvig), 1815-1878

Downloads: 747
Sabdakalpadrumah (Volume 1) - Deva, Radhakanta (Sir)

Downloads: 1,372
Sabdakalpadrumah (Volume 2) - Deva, Radhakanta (Sir)

Downloads: 822
Sabdakalpadrumah (Volume 3) - Deva, Radhakanta (Sir)

Downloads: 670
Sabdakalpadrumah (Volume 4) - Deva, Radhakanta (Sir)

Downloads: 651
Sabdakalpadrumah (Volume 5) - Deva, Radhakanta (Sir)

Downloads: 734
A Sanskrit-English dictionary, etymologically and philologically
arranged, with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages.
new ed., greatly enl. and improved, with the collaboration of E.
Leumann, C. Cappeller and other scholars - Monier-Williams, Monier,
Sir, 1819-1899

Downloads: 3,039
Sanskrit-Wörtenbuch, nach den Petersburger Wörterbüchern bearb -
Cappeller, Carl, 1840-1925

Downloads: 673

Supplement to the Glossary of Indian terms. A-J - Elliot, Sir Henry
Miers, 1808-1853
Reprinted by authority [of Sudder Board of Revenue, N.W. Provinces]

Downloads: 1,636
Vacaspatyam (Volume 1) - Tarkavachaspati, Taranatha, 1812-1885

Downloads: 743
Vacaspatyam (Volume 2) - Tarkavachaspati, Taranatha, 1812-1885

Downloads: 685
Vacaspatyam (Volume 3) - Tarkavachaspati, Taranatha, 1812-1885

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A Sanskrit-English dictionary, etymologically and philologically
arranged, with special reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German,
Anglo-Saxon, and other cognate Indo-European languages - Monier-
Williams, Monier, Sir, 1819-1899

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A Sanskrit-English dictionary, etymologically and philologically
arranged, with special reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German,
Anglo-Saxon, and other cognate Indo-European languages

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History of Classical Sanskrit Literature - M Krishnamachariar

Author: shankara_2000
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Description

History of Classical Sanskrit Literature by M Krishnamachariar
contains an elaborate account of all branches of Classical Sanskrit
Literature on the basis of literary, epigraphical and archaelogical
sources. It has 23 chapters, each chapter dealing with a particular
topic arranged chronologically. It embodies a general study of the
Vedic, Epic, Puranic, classical and philosophical literature. Beside
notes and references it has an illuminating introduction and index of
authors and works.

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Sarva-darsana-sangraha of Madhavacharya
Author: shankara_2000
Collection: opensource

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In this fourteenth century text 'A Compendium of all the Philosophical
Systems' (of India) the author successively passes in review the
sixteen philosophical systems current in India at the time, and gives
what appeared to him to be their most important tenets, and the
principal arguments by which their followers endeavoured to maintain
them. In the course of his sketches, he frequently explains at some
length obscure details in the different systems.

The systems are arranged from the Advaita-point of view. They form a
gradually ascending scale-the first, the Charvaka and Buddha, being
the lowest as the farthest removed from Advaita, and the last, Sankhya
and Yoga being the highest as approaching most nearly to it.

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Sabdakalpadrumah ([1967])

Author: Deva, Radhakanta (Sir); Vasu, Varadaprasada; Vasu, Haricarana

Volume: 1

Subject: Sanskrit language -- Dictionaries
Publisher: Varanasi Caukhamba Samskrita sirija aphisa
Language: Sanskrit
Call number: ABS-8373
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Sa for Sanskrit Pop: Sid Harth
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Sudharma, Sanskrit Newspaper: Sid Harth
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Hindu Worldview: Sid Harth
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I Write, Therefore I am: Sid Harth
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Hindus'Tantrum: Sid Harth
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Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
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Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/beee6405766fa364#

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

Volume 26 - Issue 02 :: Jan. 17-30, 2009
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU

ESSAY

Anti-politics machine

A.G. NOORANI

Neither politics nor the politician deserves sweeping censure. Such
censure is an abdication of public duty.

CARMEN TAYLOR/AP

One of the World Trade Centre towers on September 11, 2001, as a plane
crashed into it. Public opinion in the U.S. made a sharp plunge into
the irrational after 9/11.

“POLITICS is a preoccupation of free men, and its existence is a test
of freedom.” It is too much to expect people who went on television to
grab whatever publicity they could, in the wake of the terrorist
strikes in Mumbai, to read Professor Bernard Crick’s mini-classic In
Defence of Politics, or, for that matter, any serious work that bears
on the subject. The anchors who invited them were of the same class.
The people, exasperated at the lapses of the state, understandably
responded to the shrill, sweeping denunciation of politicians and
politics. They could not be expected to recall that the loudest among
the member panelists was an ardent supporter of Indira Gandhi and the
dictatorship she imposed on India.

The chatterati who decry politics are rank hypocrites. They themselves
practise politics all the time – in Bar associations, sports bodies,
women’s organisations, and wherever their own interests are at stake,
in their offices and outside. In this, they will freely take the help
of politicians, of course. Totally absent is the slightest effort to
understand what politics is about; how and why it is debased; its
relationship to the quality of politicians and to the temper of the
people; the claims that can legitimately be made on those who practise
the craft; and, not least, the limits of political action and the
constraints of morality in the political process. In short, a serious,
informed discourse.

Crick is no idealist. He knows that “the politician lives in a world
of publicity, calumny, distortion, and insult. He is often looked down
upon by police society as being a mere ‘fixer’ and an
‘opportunist’ (though it is puzzling why this last word always has a
bad meaning) and he is mocked by intellectuals for rarely having ideas
of his own: a politician is an arse upon/which everyone has sat except
a man, which is the whole of an easy poem by E.E. Cummings. And,
indeed, the politician, beneath his necessary flexibility, will rarely
be a man of less than normal pliability and ambitions. He will provoke
such cheap mockery from spectators. But he will not take these things
to heart. The successful politician will learn how to swallow
insults.”

A politician deserves scorn only when he is disloyal to his calling
and fails to perform his duties as a politician. A free society has
diverse interests with conflicting claims on power and the state’s
attention and finances. The politician is an advocate as well as a
mediator. He espouses an interest and meets with advocates of other
interests to reconcile them peaceably and in an orderly way, whether
in the legislature or outside. That is the only way a free society can
function: by compromise, conciliation and reconciliation. It is messy,
but it is unavoidable. That is life.

To be sure, the politician does not act purely from altruistic
motives. He does seek power for himself. But it is a pursuit that is
informed by a commitment to the public interest as well. That is what
is known as “honourable ambition”, as distinct from that of the man
who enters politics in order to line his pockets. The corruption of
politics and the disavowal of politics form a vicious circle. Implicit
in both is contempt for the political process.

These attitudes spring from a failure to understand the nature of
politics and its role in the body politic. The prime concern of
politics is the resolution of conflict between diverse interests.
Conflicts are the concern of politics, but they are not its creation.
They are inherent in any human society by reason of the diversity of
interests. It is this basic reality that makes politics so ubiquitous.
Be it a sports club or a women’s organisation, the ghost of politics
will stalk its floors because conflicting interests exist within its
domain. Only a regimented society can do away with politics. No wonder
that the most trenchant criticism of politics has come from dictators
or self-indulgent hypocrites.

Portugal’s dictator António de Oliveira Salazar said that he “detested
politics from the bottom of his heart; all those noisy and incoherent
promises, the impossible demands, the hotchpotch of unfounded ideas
and impractical plans… opportunism that cares neither for truth nor
justice, the inglorious chase after unmerited fame, the unleashing of
uncontrollable passions, the exploitation of the lowest instincts, the
distortion of facts… all that feverish and sterile fuss”.

Politics has other enemies besides the dictator. Both the
revolutionary and the ideologue disdain it. The technocrat finds it
exasperating. Judges loftily criticise it while practising their own
brand of politics. Professor Walter F. Murphy’s work Elements of
Judicial Strategy exposed its practice at the highest level in the
United States Supreme Court. How low the highest can sink is laid bare
by one of the finest judges who ever served in the Supreme Court of
India, Justice P. Jaganmohan Reddy, in his two books We Have a
Republic, Can We Keep It? and The Judiciary I Served.

The less said about lawyers who decry politics the better. Men like
Bhulabhai Desai and K.M. Munshi were not saints. But commitment to the
national weal informed their politics. The standards have declined,
and not only in India. Sir Hartley Shawcross, a brilliant lawyer, was
known as Sir Shortly Floorcross. On some lawyer-politicians of today,
comment and contempt are best withheld. Their shifting loyalties
suffice to expose them.

It is one thing for a person to enter politics because he feels about
the state of things and has something to say on the nation’s affairs
from his perspective. That applies to all – actor, industrialist,
lawyer, doctor – anyone, for that matter. It is another to enter
politics for personal aggrandisement. To the affluent socialite,
politics is a means of acquiring respectability and influence.
Politics becomes a way of advancement of the socially excluded from
the High Table of the great and mighty.

Ironically, democracy can be an enemy of politics and eventually of
democracy itself. The majority of the day, fired by zeal, silences the
minority. John Stuart Mill’s classic essay “On Liberty” warns against
this danger. Such a majority rejects compromise and speaks in absolute
terms. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of the “tyranny of public opinion”
in the U.S. “If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed,
that event may be attributed to the omnipotence of the majority.”

More recently, Tzvetan Todorov, philosopher and historian of ideas,
vividly and accurately described the U.S.’ steep descent into the
irrational after 9/11: “What does come as a surprise, however, is that
for nearly five years, it was possible to put a moratorium on truth in
a great democracy like the United States. There is good reason to
worry. Despite the pluralism of political parties and the freedom of
the press, the population of a liberal democracy can still be
persuaded that black is white, and white is black.

John Stuart Mill wrote of how the weaknesses of the people can hamper
government functioning.

“How can such a degree of susceptibility be explained? First, the
majority of the population in any country blindly obeys politicians
and the mainstream media (opinions from foreign countries are
generally treated with suspicion).

“From September 2002, clear-headed statements were heard from various
U.S. politicians and publications, but these messages were not
conveyed by prominent institutions like the Democratic Party, major
television stations and leading newspapers. America was consumed by a
patriotic fever, with truth relegated to the back seat.

“Opinion makers discarded their duty to truth not because of evil
intentions but because of the fear that gripped America after 9/11.
Customary precautions were disregarded. Monitoring and assessing
information, debating and reasoning were perceived as signs of
cowardice and a lack of a sense of responsibility.” That failing is
not peculiar to America. It grips us, too, every now and then. Witness
the comments of some after November 26, 2008, strikingly reminiscent
of their comments after the attack on Parliament House on December 13,
2001.

No discussion of politics can be complete – or honest – if it does not
cover the people’s weaknesses as well. Why do some love the corrupt
and elect dons and history sheeters? Why, indeed, did Harlem shut its
eyes to Adam Clayton Powell’s flagrant corruption and philandering at
public expense and elect him repeatedly to the U.S. House of
Representatives?

The people’s inclinations must be understood, not condemned. They
prefer the corrupt politician who is solicitous because they feel
neglected and marginalised by others. This can debase politics and
imperil democracy.

As Mill pointed out, “Of what avail is the most broadly popular
representative system if the electors do not care to choose the best
member of parliament, but choose him who will spend most money to be
elected? How can a representative assembly work for good if its
members can be bought, or if their excitability of temperament,
uncorrected by public discipline or private self-control, makes them
incapable of calm deliberation, and they resort to manual violence on
the floor of the House, or shoot at one another with rifles? How
again, can government, or any joint concern, be carried on in a
tolerable manner by people so envious that, if one among them seems
likely to succeed in anything, those who ought to cooperate with him
form a tacit combination to make him fail? Whenever the general
disposition of the people is such that each individual regards those
only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or
concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a
state of things good government is impossible. The influence of
defects of intelligence in obstructing all the elements of good
government requires no illustration. Government consists of acts done
by human beings, and if the agent, or those who choose the agents, or
those to whom the agents are responsible, or the lookers-on whose
opinion ought to influence and check all these, are mere masses of
ignorance, stupidity, and baleful prejudice, every operation of
government will go wrong; while, in proportion as the men rise above
this standard, so will the government improve in
quality” (Representative Government, Mill).

This has been quoted at inordinate length, but for a purpose. It
provides an unflattering mirror to our society – in politics and other
fields as well.

Leadership qualities

Edmund Burke said that a public person must be effective as well as
upright.

Democracy makes, not less, but far greater demand on qualities of
leadership, not only in politics but in other spheres as well, notably
in the media. It is dishonest to single out the demagogue in politics
while ignoring his counterpart in the media – the architect of
“dumbing down”. The media and politics have a symbiotic relationship.

Hans J. Morgenthau’s warning, delivered decades ago, is very
appropriate today and bears quotation in extenso: “The vital link
between the intellectual awareness of unresolved issues and the
resolution not to leave them unresolved is missing. The man in the
street is no longer convinced that public issues will, or even ought
to, yield to concerted popular action. They have become remote,
unintelligible, and intractable. If the experts cannot deal with them,
how can he?

“This abdication of political will on the part of the electorate is
duplicated by the abdication of political leadership on the part of
the representatives of the people. They justify that abdication by
citing the political apathy of the electorate…. Whatever the reason,
whether apathy from above is responsible for the apathy below, or vice
versa, or whether there is perhaps a common cause for both, the result
is clear: there is apathy all around, and the great issues that demand
solution are debated by the politicians, while the people mind their
private businesses as though the great public issues were no business
of theirs.

“This lack of interest in public issues leads of necessity to the
contraction of the public sphere. It results in the cessation of
genuine political activity by the citizen, the encroachment of private
interests upon the public sphere, and the relative shrinkage of
national resources, human and material, committed to public purposes.

“The citizen becomes so engrossed with cultivating his private garden
that he remains a citizen only in the formal sense of enjoying
political rights that he sporadically and lackadaisically makes use
of. In the full sense in which citizenship means making the public
business one’s own, he ceases to be a citizen. The public business is
transacted by technicians and administrators who render many and the
most important of their decisions without the participation and
frequently even without the knowledge of the citizens” (emphasis added
throughout).

Read this: “A society conceived so as to find the standards for its
thought and action only within itself becomes the sovereign arbiter of
all things human. The objective criteria of excellence through which
the civilised man has learned to distinguish a work of art from trash,
craftsmanship from shoddiness, scholarship from pretentious
sophistication, a good man from a scoundrel, a statesman from a
demagogue, greatness from mediocrity – those vital distinctions are
blurred if not obliterated by the self-sufficient preferences of the
crowd. Those distinctions tend to become altogether meaningless, and
what the crowd desires and tolerates becomes the ultimate standard of
what is good, true, beautiful, useful, and wise. What you can get away
with, then, is morally permitted, what you can get accepted in the
market place, to paraphrase the famous saying of Holmes, becomes the
test of truth. Art is what people like; what can be sold is useful;
and what people will vote for is sound. The honest man and the
scoundrel, the scholar and the charlatan, the artist and the hack, the
businessman and the racketeer, the statesman and the demagogue live
side by side, and it is not always easy to tell which is which….

“The objective standards which constitute, as it were, the moral
backbone of a civilised society are here dissolved into the ever
changing amorphousness of public opinion. What a man ought or ought
not to do is here determined not by objective laws immutable as the
stars, but by the results of the latest public opinion poll.” It is
suicidal to allow politics to be shaped by TV channels absorbed in the
race for TRP (television rating point).

Dilemma of politics

This brings us to the dilemma of politics which Bagehot resolved in a
telling phrase – a good Prime Minister must be a man of common beliefs
and uncommon abilities. He must lead, and yet be not so out of step
with public opinion as to render himself irrelevant. That he must be
both competent and moral goes without saying. Except that we have
wrong notions about both. What Edmund Burke wrote in his magisterial
work Thoughts on the Causes of the Present Discontents in 1770 is all
too true: “The temper of the people amongst whom he presides ought to
be the first study of a statesman. And the knowledge of this temper it
is by no means impossible for him to attain, if he has not an interest
in being ignorant of what it is his duty to learn.”
Leaders as narcissists Hans J. Morgenthau said the lack of interest in
public issues leads to a contraction of the public sphere.

Sadly, India did not produce a Nelson Mandela after Gopal Krishna
Gokhale’s death. Its leaders were narcissists who were remiss in what
it was their “duty to learn”. Gandhi ought to have known that civil
disobedience led inescapably to violence. K.M. Munshi wrote of the
Quit India movement: “Truth to tell, what they did was anybody’s
business. It was certainly not non-violent even at the
start” (Pilgrimage to Freedom; page 83). Gandhi’s support to the Ali
Brothers on the reactionary Khilafat movement was crassly
opportunistic. He needed their support to alter the Congress’ credo in
1920. In contrast, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was more realistic, as Sadashiv
Vaman Bapat recorded: “Tilak wanted the national movement of India to
keep entirely free from all contamination with any theological or
foreign political questions. He foresaw, as if by prophetic vision,
the frightful consequences resulting from accepting the Khilafat
dispute and he warned us all against it. To those Hindu nationalists
who said that they did not believe a word of this Khilafat but still
had agreed to agitate for it only to secure the friendship and active
cooperation of the Muslims in our national fight for freedom, Tilak
had only one reply that if the Hindus think that they will succeed in
deceiving the Muslims, they will soon be disillusioned…. Let us not,
therefore, confound issues. Let us seek Muslim cooperation on the
broad national question of Swaraj. In that, by all means, give them
special privileges if these will satisfy them and bring them into the
Congress fold, but never seek to introduce Theology into our
politics.”

Jinnah hardly knew the Muslim psyche or, indeed, the Indian psyche. It
was criminally irresponsible of him to propagate the two-nation theory
in 1939 only to discard it on August 11, 1947, after it had spread its
poison comprehensively. To establish a state on the basis of religion
is to facilitate its own destabilisation by sectarianism. He sowed the
seeds of secession in East Pakistan in 1948 by telling a mass audience
in Dhaka, arrogantly and insultingly, that Urdu alone would be the
national language of Pakistan.

Nehru prided himself on his Kashmiri ancestry, remote though it was.
But he knew Kashmiris little. Else he would not have written to Sheikh
Abdullah, in his note of August 25, 1952, that Kashmiris “are not what
are called a virile people. They are soft and addicted to easy
living.” Indira Gandhi knew no better. She wrote to Nehru as
scornfully on May 14, 1948, from Srinagar: “I feel that all this
political talk [that India would lose the plebiscite] will count for
nothing if the economic situation can be dealt with. Because after all
the people are concerned with only [one] thing – they want to sell
their goods and to have food and salt.” This outlook is shared by
commentators who complain of Kashmiris’ “ingratitude” – talking of
“azadi” to a New Delhi that gives them good money. It is no different
from the colonial Deputy Collector who ridiculed the Congress and said
the Raj would keep the people happy. To Nehru, the communal problem
was a preoccupation only of the upper classes. He ignored the
sentiments of the masses and aggravated the problem.

Contrast all this with the realism of Acharya Kripalani’s warning to
N.A. Palkhiwala in a letter on June 19, 1975, a week before the
Emergency was proclaimed: “She [Indira Gandhi] appears to be in a
desperate mood. If that mood continues she may decide to go the Mujib
way in Bangladesh. I would not like you to be held responsible for
that contingency. This may appear to you an imaginary fear, but these
days anything can happen. If she decides to go the Mujib way, poor and
ignorant as our people are, there may be no resistance.” A year after
the Emergency was imposed, the resistance was in a pathetic state. The
likes of Charan Singh and Biju Patnaik were making overtures to Indira
Gandhi. So were some others.

Rules of the game

Walter Lippmann had to be elected before he could effectively oppose
the Vietnam war.

The politician must not only have his hand on the pulse of the people
but also be skilled in statecraft. The “good man” who is ignorant of
the nature of the political process can be a menace to society.

As Burke said, “It is not enough in a situation of trust in the
commonwealth that a man means well to his country; it is not enough
that in his single person he never did an evil act, but always voted
according to his conscience, and even harangued against every design
which he apprehended to be prejudicial to the interests of his
country. This innoxious and ineffectual character, that seems formed
upon a plan of apology and disculpation, falls miserably short of the
mark of public duty. That duty demands, and requires, that what is
right should not only be made known but made prevalent, that what is
evil should not only be detected but defeated. When the public man
omits to put himself in a situation of doing his duty with effect, it
is an omission that frustrates the purposes of his trust almost as
much as if he had formally betrayed it. It is surely no very rational
account of a man’s life that he has always acted right but has taken
special care to act in such a manner that his endeavours could not
possibly be productive of any consequence.” He must not only be
upright but effective as well.

Morgenthau put it more sharply: “A good man who becomes an actor on
the political scene without knowing anything about the rules of
politics is like a good man who goes into business without knowing
anything about it or who drives a car although ignorant about how to
drive. Yet while society recognises the need to protect itself against
the latter, it feels no need for protection against the former. Indeed
the virtuous political dilettante has for it a well-nigh irresistible
fascination.

“It is as though society were anxious to atone for the sacrifices of
the private virtue which the political spheres demand and to take out
insurance against the moral risks of political action by identifying
itself with the political leader who sacrificed the public good on the
altar of their private virtues. Society has learnt to take bad men in
its stride and even to protect itself against those who know the rules
of the political game only too well and use them to the detriment of
society. Society will have to learn if it wants to survive that it
needs protection also against good men who are too good even to take
note of the rules of the political game.”

The politician performs a service if he appraises realistically the
needs of society, picks the issues that demand an answer, and
mobilises popular support behind him in the programme that he evolves.
He becomes popular and acquires power. But he also serves the people.
The great problem of democratic politics

There are, of course, cases when a politician has to reckon with the
tide of popular fervour not because he wants to swim ashore to power
with it but because there is a yet larger cause that he wishes
honestly to serve some day by swimming with the tide now. This is the
great problem of democratic politics and it accounts for the failures
of intellectual brilliance and manifest idealism. Walter Lippmann
condoned Fulbright for his stand on race. He had to be elected before
he could severely oppose the war in Vietnam.

Neither politics nor the politician deserves sweeping censure. That is
an abdication of public duty. That duty requires of all of us an
unremitting, earnest, and serious interest in the affairs of the
nation – whether by participating in the political process or by
informed interest and if possible public comment. Delivering sound
bites to ignorant anchors is sheer self-indulgence and a debasement of
public discourse. That, alas, is very much part of the widespread
phenomenon of dumbing down – itself a reflection of the decline of the
public realm.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2602/stories/20090130260207900.htm

Atheism in India Gora, Saraswati, and Lavanam
The Atheist Centre
Official, Authorized Web Page

All Atheist Centre material
is used with permission
from Lavanam and Dr Vajayam;
all rights reserved.

Vijayawada Spared
Tsunami Damage
http://www.positiveatheism.org/tocindia.htm#TSUNAMI

Atheist Centre, Benz Circle,
Vijayawada 520010, AP, India
Phone: [phone]
PO Fax: [phone]

***@rediffmail.com
***@rediffmail.com

(Info updated as of October, 2003)

Map of India Loading Image...
(shows Vijayawada)

# Home: Positive Atheism http://www.positiveatheism.org/index.shtml

* Introduction

o Editor's Note on the Atheism in India section (revised)
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/indianote.htm
o Atheist Centre: An Introduction (pamphlet)
o Birla Award Goes To Saraswathi Gora Vijayam Goparaju
http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9141.htm
* International Conference Souvenirs

o Souvenir Index: Atheist Centre Golden Jubilee (Front
Cover)
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990cd.htm
Vijayawada, February 3-5, 1990 (first of two sections
complete)
o Souvenir Index: Atheist Centre 50+ Golden Jubilee (Front
Cover)
Theme: "Future of Atheism -- Humanism"
Vijayawada, December 29-31, 1990 (first of two sections
complete)
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990ab.htm

* Gora (Shri Goparaju Ramachandra Rao)

o Atheism Questions and Answers a book by Gora [127k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora31.htm
o An Atheist Around the World book by Gora
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora61.htm
+ Part I -- 1970 (First file) [81k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora61.htm
+ Part I -- 1970 (Second file) [89k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora62.htm
+ Part II -- 1974 (One file) [128k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora63.htm

o An Atheist With Gandhi book by Gora
+ Introduction [39k + 55k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora11.htm#TOP
+ Chapters I to VI [36k + 43k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora12.htm#TOP
+ Chapters VII to X [42k + 43k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora13.htm#TOP

o I Learn book by Gora [126k + 9k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora51.htm
o The Need of Atheism book by Gora
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora41.htm
o New Man in New Civilization 1974 Radio Moscow broadcast
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora63.htm#NEWMAN
o A Note on Atheism article by Gora [14k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/goraanoa.htm

o Positive Atheism book by Gora

+ Chapters I and III [76k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora21.htm
+ Chapters IV to VIII [78k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora22.htm

o We Become Atheists autobiography of Gora and family

+ Chapters I through X [88k + 38k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora01.htm
+ Chapters XI through XIX [75k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora02.htm

o Gora And Class Struggle by Ariel Cruz and Cliff Walker
http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9577.htm

* Lavanam ("Salt" -- Lavanam was named for the Salt Satyagraha
Movement)

o An Autobiographical Account of Lavanam [23k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavbio.htm
o Lavanam's Speech to CRT introduction by Jerry Billings
[20k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavspch.htm
o A Letter from Lavanam [4k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavlettr.htm
o Lavanam's Truth Seeker Letter [5k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavseekr.htm
o The Emergence of The New Universal Human [13k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavhuman.htm
o Two Talks on Gandhi (pamphlet)

+ Gandhi's Last Words [13k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavgand0.htm
+ Gandhi's Revolutionary Personality [12k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavgand1.htm

o Lavanam on Abortion and Right to Life from interview by
John R. Edwards [3k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavedward.htm
o A Conversation With Lavanam by Jerry Billings [3k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavconvr.htm
o Phone Call to Lavanam by Cliff Walker
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/lavphon.htm

* Other Articles

o Successful 70 day Unity March in A. P. by A. Malathi [16k]
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/malathi.htm
o Development of Philosophical Thought and Scientific Method
in Ancient India
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/science.htm
o Birla Award Goes To Saraswathi Gora Goparaju Vijayam (R)
(3-01)
http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9141.htm

* Other Web Pages (Links fixed: January, 2009)

o Hindoeisme (new as of 2009) We think many of our readers
will find this site quite useful. -- The Editors
http://www.opzijnbest.nl/informatie-over-hindoeisme_653.htm
o Mani Bhavan Gandhi Museum highlights Gandhi's methods for
instigating social change without the use of violence
http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/
o Why Dr. Ambedkar Renounced Hinduism
http://www.ambedkar.org/Babasaheb/Why.htm
o Sai Baba's Miracles: An Overview edited by Dale Beyerstein
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp12064
o Jyoti Shankar's Home Page (deceased)

# Help us Re-Create Jyoti's Original Web Site from
Archival Files! (Note: This Thing is Huge!! Lotsa Work that Needs
Doing!)
# Click Here to Volunteer http://www.positiveatheism.org/mailpage.htm

* News and Other Items

o Atheism And Rationalism In India letter from James Mathew
http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml8763.htm
o Satirical Works Misleading; Here Are The Facts letter from
Jiziya
http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9031.htm
o Attempted Assassination of Satya Sai Baba
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#SATYA
o Satya Sai Baba "Miracle" Filmed By Reporter
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#CHAIN
o 10 quacks held in W Godavari raids
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india01.htm#QUACKS
o Indian Monk Claims Yearlong Fast Assocoated Press
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/ohiogod.htm#YEARFAST
o Muslim paints (Gasp!) nude Hindu deities by Conrad
Goeringer
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india01.htm#NUDEGODZ
o Hindu Radicals Storm Artist's Home Associated Press
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india01.htm#NUDENEWZ
o Elvis Presley Worshipped in India by Conrad Goeringer
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#ELVIS
o Caution Urged At Eunuch Celebration by Chuck Shepherd
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#EUNUCHS
o "Laughing Yoga" Becomes Popular by Chuck Shepherd
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/apocaloopy.htm#YOGAHAHA
o Lotan Baba: Holy Roller or Idiot? by Chuck Shepherd
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#ROLLER
o Barbaric Divorce Ritual Continues In India by Chuck
Shepherd
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#DIVORCE
o Rat-God Spreads Pneumonic Plague by Chuck Shepherd
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#RATS
o India's New Prime Minister Leads by Astrology by Chuck
Shepherd
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/apocalipso.htm#INDIAPM
o Spice Girls Too Hot For Erotic Hindu Temple by Woody
Johnson
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#SPICEG
o Hindu Party Broadens Its Appeal The Wall Street Journal
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/india00.htm#BJPBROAD
o Ten Million Hindus Bathe In River by Cliff Walker
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/allelooo.htm#HARIDWAR
o Ten Thousand Gods Cast Votes in India by Chuck Shepherd
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/alleloo.htm#GODSVOTE
o Forensic Report Says Human Blood Leaked From Jesus Statue
by Cliff Walker
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/handhack.htm#BLOODINDIA
o Humanist Organizations condemn changes to education by Dr.
Kawaljeet
http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/bobsoft01.htm
o Temple Ablaze by Yogi Kashinatha
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/yagasala.htm

* Note about Tsunami

o Vijawawada, very near the east coast of India (ESE of
Hyderabad), is too far inland
to have been affected by the tsunami. As is typical in
India, the city has mobilized
in support of the relief effort. For example, workers at
the Genting Lanco Kondapalli
Power Project agreed to include a day's salary in a
package sent by the company
itself, said a press release. Some indicate that charity
is a way of live in many parts
of this country where abject poverty wields its scepter.
Atheist Centre has long been
among the first to arrive on the scene of the floods and
other tragedies that frequently
cripple various parts of southern India, and Atheist
Centre's volunteers are never afraid
to "get their hands dirty" when addressing the truly ugly
aspects of natural disaster,
where human need transcends religious and political
loyalty. On many occasions, the
Atheist Centre has shown that human compassion can
likewise transcend the same
boundaries.


Write the WebMaster
Copyright ©1995-2008, Cliff Walker; Portland, Oregon

http://www.positiveatheism.org/tocindia.htm#SOUVENIR

Atheist Centre 50+ Golden Jubilee
"Future of Atheism -- Humanism"
Vijayawada, December 29-31, 1990
International Conference Souvenir

* Index: Atheism in India
* Home to Positive Atheism
* Front Cover [33k GIF]
* Gora -- An Atheist Gandhian Hugh Gray [36k]
* Science and Development Sir Hermann Bondi [8k]
* Gora -- A Man of Thought and Action Dr. Sunanda Shet, M.A.,
Ph.D. [8k]
* Rig Veda Riddles In Nomad Perspective Dr. Bjorn Merker Ph.D.
[18k]
* Humanism in Norway Steinar Nilsen [18k]
* The Quintessence of Gora Mahaboob Adam [20k]
* Atheism: Courageous Philosophy and Humanist Action Joseph Lewis
[6k]
* Philosophical Concepts Of Atheism Prof. Ernest Nagel [10k]
* The History of Freethought and Atheism Dr. Gordon Stein Ph.D.
[14k]
* A Letter to God S.R. Garg [6k]
* Man and Future Prof. Paul Kurtz [10k]
* Let Us Be Fearless Bertrand Russell [5k]
* Human Achievements Patrick Masterson [3k]
* Greetings from Atheists United, USA Alexander Prairie [7k]
* Bradlaugh and Secularism: 'The Province of the Real' Jim Herrick
[37k]
* [Breaking Fetters] Robert G. Ingersoll [2k]
* Atheism-Humanism -- the Beacon G. S. Rao [11k]
* Freedom -- Practical Need K. Jena [11k]
* Goraji -- As I See Him M.S. Rajalingam [7k]
* The Humanist Century from Humanist Manifesto II [4k]
* Democracy and Individual Liberty M. N. Roy [9k]
* Books by Gora [9k]
* Give Atheism a Chance Dr. Madalyn M. O'Hair [5k]
* Atheist Centre: Humane Living Gill Dammers [4k]
* [Imaginary Flowers] Karl Marx [3k]
* Growth of Atheism: Impressive Statistics Contributed by Arnold
Via, USA [4k]
* [A Wish] Jawaharlal Nehru [4k]
* [Dogma Cannot Repress] George Eliot [4k]

http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990cd.htm

Atheist Centre 50+ Golden Jubilee (1940-1990)
International Conference on
"Future of Atheism -- Humanism"
Vijayawada, December 29-31, 1990
[OCR, HTML, editing, Cliff Walker]

Gora -- An Atheist Gandhian
Hugh Gray

From the book

"Rule, Protest and Identity -- Aspects of Modern South Asia"
edited by Peter Robb and David Taylor

* Index: International Conference Souvenir
* Index: Atheism in India
* Index: Historical Writings (Biographies)
* Home to Positive Atheism

Mr Hugh Gray, lecturer in Politics, Centre of South Asian Studies, the
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, had
presented this paper on Gora in a Seminar at the Centre of South Asian
Studies. It was part of a book entitled, "Rule, Protest and Identity
-- Aspects of Modern South Asia" edited by Peter Robb and David Taylor
and published by Centre for South Asian Studies, School of Oriental
and African Studies, University of London and Curzon Press, and
Humanities Press in 1978.
Here we publish excerpts from it.

Goparaju Ramachandra Rao, known as 'Gora' was born on 15 November
1902, at Chatrapur, a small town in Orissa. [1] His father, a composer
of devotional songs and a government official, worked as a clerk in
the Forestry Department. Later he moved to Kakinada, Andhra, where he
worked in the Revenue Department. At 20 years of age Gora married
Saraswati, aged 10 years, the daughter of a close friend of his
father's. After his marriage Gora studied at Presidency College,
Madras, where he received an M.Sc.

His first job was as a lecturer in biology at the American College,
Madurai, where he was able to rent cheaply a large haunted house in
which nobody else would live. He was already critical of Hinduism and
was told by the college authorities that if he became a Christian he
would be sent to the United States to study for his doctorate. As he
knew nothing of Christianity at the time, he started a comparative
study of Hinduism and Christianity, but concluded that one religion
was no better than the other. He began to question the existence of
God, personal or impersonal, and to reject metaphysical explanations
of the human condition.

In Colombo

He resigned his lectureship to spend a year on cotton research at a
government agricultural station in Coimbatore, but left this job 'as I
could not fit into the dull routine of official duties'. Then he
became a lecturer in biology at the Ananda College, Colombo, a
Buddhist institution. Buddhist members of the Sangha there objected to
Gora dissecting frogs to demonstrate their heart beats to students.
(Yeats later at Sevagram some of Gandhi's followers objected to Gora's
dissection of a frog when he was teaching student nurses. Gandhi,
however, after listening to both sides decided that Gora could dissect
frogs for scientific demonstration and did not consider this contrary
to his doctrine of non-violence)

Unconventional

In 1928 Gora returned to Kakinada, where he was appointed as a
lecturer at P.R. College. Shortly afterwards Gora's father asked him
to leave the family home as Gora had ceased to wear the sacred thread.
After two and a half years they were reconciled and his father invited
Gora to dine again with the family.

Nationalist

It was at this time that Gora first came into contact with Gandhi's
ideas and he immediately decided that from then onwards he would be 'a
human being without a caste label'. He discarded western clothes and
wore khadi. Aided by student Volunteers he organized demonstrations
against untouchability and in support of the salt satyagraha. He also
started adult classes to teach the illiterate to read and write.

A Rebel

In 1932 he wrote an article on 'The Concept of God' for a student
magazine in which he attacked the irrationality of idol worship and
(as at university seminars) expressed his view that God was a concept,
not a scientific fact, and that the endeavour to remove poverty and
suffering was impeded by Hinduism and by such metaphysical ideas as
karma and dharma.

He was asked to resign his lectureship, although the Vice-Chancellor
(Dr S. Radhakrishnan) seemed sympathetic to his view when he argued
with him that freedom of thought was essential to university education
and without it higher education was useless. A year later he was
offered another lectureship at Hindu College, Machilipatnam. Meanwhile
he ran a tutorial institution, where he and other teachers charged low
fees and received equal salaries for their work.

Opposed Superstition, Promoted Scientific Outlook

Gora also encouraged his wife to defy the superstition that women
should not expose themselves to the light of an eclipse or cut
vegetables when pregnant. The resultant child was without the physical
deformity expected to result from the breach of these customs.

From 1936 he started to visit Andhra villages and tried to persuade
villagers to give up superstitions and adopt scientific attitudes. He
encouraged them to discard caste symbols and tried to foster
interdining between members of different castes.

Gora held that atheism implied honesty, keeping one's word, and
punctuality. He always made it a rule to start meetings punctually,
although only two or three people were present and hundreds came late.
The meetings went on for hours, and Gora always left as lengthy a
period as people wanted for questions. When he was asked why he
greeted an opponent with a 'Namaskar' (the joining and raising of the
hands in a traditional greeting of respect) he said he was exchanging
a reciprocal greeting with a fellow human being, not saluting the non-
existent divine in the other person.

By this time Gora had six children, but with his wife's support he
decided that the time had come to give up his employment as a
university teacher, so he resigned.

Work for Eradication of Caste and Untouchability

Some atheist followers from Mundunur, a village about thirty miles
from Machilipatnam, invited Gora and his family to settle there,
offering him a house and their support. He did so and, using the
village as a base, started to travel throughout Andhra, going from one
village to another to preach against caste. Gora said that the
organization of interdining was difficult. He found that members of
the lower castes were prepared to interdine with higher castes but not
with castes they considered lower ranking than themselves, or with
untouchables. He considered that it would help to remove Hindu-Muslim
difference if they ate together. He started by eating beef with
Muslims and asking them to eat pork with him. He thought it was useful
in breaking down caste barriers (particularly for those who were
vegetarians like himself) to demonstrate lack of caste prejudice by
interdining and publicly eating whatever was the food of others.

News of these dramatic protests against caste barriers spread and
Gora's name started to become widely known in Andhra, as a strange
saint-like character who preached atheism. He also gave demonstrations
of fire walking to show that there was noting mysterious about it, and
that it could easily be done 'because of the presence of water vapour
which provides a protective covering for the feet'. However, it was
said that many villagers were more impressed by the fire walking than
by the scientific explanation which Gora provided.

GANDHI AND GORA

In September 1941, Gora wrote to Gandhi asking for an interview. He
wrote
For one year I have tackled the problem of untouchability with the
atheistic outlook. I have a few co-workers who agree with me in the
atheistic approach. The atheistic approach mainly consists in the non-
recognition of sectarian labels like Hindu, Muslim, Christian. We take
man as man. Thus by discarding the lables (sic) and mixing up people
in the general stream of humanity, we hope to remove untouchability
also.

Our programme of work so far has been confined to systematic and
periodical cosmopolitan dinners in which the guests pay for their fare
which is always simple and cheap. The dinner is open to all and about
forty to fifty guests drawn from all castes, including 'untouchables',
take part in the dinner. The persons vary from time to time.

In the village atmosphere where caste restrictions continue to be
rigid, open cosmopolitan dinners are not easy to accomplish, Yet we
succeed, because we find that the atheistic attitude brings a definite
cosmopolitan outlook and pushes out all sectarianism including
untouchability.

The result of one year's work encouraged us to proceed along the same
lines. Before we do so, we desire to seek your advice. All of us have
great regard for your wisdom and experience. We want to be told and
warned of the possible pitfalls, if any, that lie in the way of our
atheistic approach. In the light of your advice we are prepared to
revise our outlook and programmes. If you like, I will go to Sevagram
for a personal talk with you. [2]

Gandhi replied 'Atheism is a denial of self. No one has succeeded in
its propagation. Such success as you have attained is due to your
sincere work among the people around you. I am sorry I cannot invite
you to come here. I have no time to spare for talks'. [3]

Two years later Gandhi was persuaded by mutual friends to meet Gora at
Sevagram. Gora said to him
God is a falsehood conceived by man. Like many falsehoods it was, in
the past, useful to some extent, but like all falsehoods, it polluted
human life in the long run. So belief in god can go, and it must go to
wash off corruption and to increase morality in mankind.

I want atheism to make man self-confident and to establish social and
economic equality, non-violently. Tell me, Bapu, where I am wrong. [4]

Gandhi replied
Yes, I see an ideal in your talk. I can neither say my theism is right
nor your atheism wrong. We are seekers after truth. We change whenever
we find ourselves in the wrong. I changed like that many times in my
life. I see you are a worker. You are not a fanatic. You will change
whenever you find yourself in the wrong. Whether you are in the right
or I am in the right, results will prove. Then I may go your way or
you may come my way; or both of us may go a third way. So go ahead
with your work. I will help you though your method is against mine.
[5]

On another occasion Gandhi said to Gora
Truth means existence: the existence of that we know and of that we do
not know. The sum total of all existence is absolute truth or the
truth.... the concepts of truth may differ. But we all admit and
respect truth. That truth I call God. This notion of truth as an
objective, impersonal reality is historically prior to the atomistic,
epistemological and scientific view of truth.

If Gandhi had lived longer he would have presided at the marriage of
Gora's eldest daughter to a Harijan at Gandhi's ashram. They had a
long discussion as to the form of words to be used at the marriage
ceremony, as Gora would not allow the word God to be used. Gandhi
agreed to substitute the word 'Satya', where he would have used God,
saying 'For me God is truth although for you truth is not God. I am
willing to substitute "Satya" where I would have used God at the
ceremony'.

True Gandhian

Dr. Prakash Gupta said that when Gora stayed in Gandhi's ashram he was
'completely in its spirit'. [6] Dr Gupta was in charge of scavenging
(the cleaning of lavatories) and he said that Gora always volunteered
for these unpleasant tasks, which some members tried to avoid. On the
occasion Gandhi had prepared a declaration that he wanted all ashram
members to sign. Only Gora said he could not as it began 'in the name
of God'. Gandhi immediately crossed out the word God and substituted
the word 'truth', then Gora signed.

Gandhi expressed a wish to meet Gora's followers and it was agreed
that a group of them, including Gora's son Lavanam, should come and
live at Sevagram for training.

Prabhakarji said 'Gora was a soft man, not a hard man. Something in
him spoke to something in me. We had our strong differences but we
understood each other. He was a true Gandhian'. [7]

Gora said 'Gandhi was bored by those who always agreed with him. He
always enjoyed discussion and argument when there was a basis of
agreement which made the exchange of differing ideas meaningful'.

Truth

Gora agreed that he and Gandhi shared the view that social
institutions are the expression of values that mould the minds of
individuals and that by changing the values one changes the
institutions. They both saw truth as an objective, impersonal reality.
For Gandhi truth was ultimately God -- the divine reality identified
with all that is. [8] Because every man embodies divine truth, he
carries within himself a portion of that truth and engages in selfless
search for it. Gandhi also sought to augment it in individuals, groups
and institutions. For Gora there was no identifiable divine absolute;
he denied it. He saw the total of all existence as a set of relative
truths constantly changing as scientifically verifiable knowledge
increased. Truth for both of them was an objective, impersonal
reality, but for Gandhi it had an ultimate explanation and for Gora it
did not. For Gora man was his own legislator, giving a meaning to his
own life by committing himself to principles that had no significance
(other than aesthetic) apart from such committal.

Gora admired Gandhi for his open conduct and active living. Gandhi's
openness fostered non-violence and in active living Gandhi
experimentally tested his truth. For Gora individuals were only
responsible to themselves and their fellow men for their deeds, and
were free to choose and to act not act. Men were self-made, moulded by
environment and to a much lesser degree by their genes. Men had no
Karmic inheritance and were responsible for their lives and actions.
God, government, property, mores and conventions were man-made and
could be changed by men.

GORA AND POLITICS

In the 1940s Gora worked for the Congress party and the Independence
movement. From 1945 until Independence he was a full-time organizer
for the All-India Congress Committee in Delhi. After Independence he
resigned from the congress sharing Gandhi's view on the future shape
that the movement should take. For the rest of his life he was
associated with the Sarvodaya movement.

Gora stood as an independent candidate in two Andhra Pradesh
elections: first in 1952 from Vijayawada for the Lok Sabha, and then
in 1967 for the Legislative Assembly. He stood not to win 'because
elections present educative opportunities'. He tried to show how a
political candidate should behave, spending no money and making no
attacks on other candidates. He invited all the other candidates to
share common platforms with him and explain their views and policies
to the voters, but few accepted. At his meetings he would provide
people with the names and symbols of all the candidates and explain
election procedure. He would never ask for votes. He advised all
voters to attend all the political meetings held during the election
campaign and to question the candidates closely. He would not end a
meeting until there were no more questions.

Pomplessness

Gora believed that it was a government responsibility to feed and
clothe everybody and to provide all citizens with work. A socialist
government should promote social and economic equality. Ministers,
M.P.s, M.L.A.s should set an example in simple and unpretentious
living. People's representatives should live in cheap houses, have
cheap cars, travel third class on the railway, and use buses, never
planes. From 1952 he started his campaign for 'pomplessness' and
Congress politicians in Vijayawada were constantly harassed by
peaceful demonstrations and exhortations to the simple life by Gora's
followers.

In 1947 Gora had established his ashram at Patamata, just outside the
town of Vijayawada. He started a weekly magazine in Telugu to
propagate his views, called Sangam, and subsequently published a
number of books in English and Telugu on his views, activities and the
need for party-less, decentralized democracy. [9]

Many of Gora's Sarvodaya colleagues, although they agreed with his
general approach to politics, found it difficult to go as far as he
did in war against the caste system. Chundi Jagannatham said
The only argument of Gora's I could not digest was over food. In
working with Harijans he urged that one must eat with them. He said,
only if you are accustomed to having beef between your teeth, can you
conquer all prejudices. You must eat what they eat if you are to
remove caste and religious barriers. If only, Gora said, you friends
would accept my strategy, real progress could be made. To achieve
results one must fully participate in the lives of Herijans; social
work among them done by vegetarian outsiders is not the same thing at
all. [10]

Bhoodan

Gora supported the Bhoodan movement because it promoted mutual help in
villages, but he wanted direct action programmes to bring pressure to
bear on state governments. He thought that Vinoba Bhave concentrated
too much on the metaphysical aspects of Gandhi's thought and not on
the dynamic aspects of non-violent revolution. He complained of the
lack of effective follow-up on Bhoodan and Gramdan. For Vinoba Bhave
Gora had respect, but none of the sympathy, liking and admiration that
he had for Gandhi.

'Why Gramraj' -- Democratic Decentralization

In 1958 Gora published Why Gram Raj in which he advocated devolution
of political power and complete decentralization of the economy in
accordance with Gandhian ideals. He saw anarchy as the main feature of
a non-violent society in which self-restraint and voluntary action
would replace state power and coercion. Political parties were seen as
groupings of divisive middle-men between people and governments. As
little power as possible should be delegated upwards from the new
village republics, and delegates to higher levels should always be
subject to control and recall by those they represented. People should
understand, use, and not serve machines. Gandhi had objected to
industrial society because it maimed and alienated men. Like Gandhi
Gora had no objection to electricity and small-scale mechanical aids.
Small was beautiful because it enhanced the quality of life.

Liberation of Women

In this period his views on morals started to shock some of his
Sarvodaya colleagues. He considered that just as open rebellion could
end private property so an open rebellion against the sanctity of
marriage could end adultery. He said that there was no blame in
unmarried motherhood for the woman. He considered that marriage was a
public and joint declaration by two human beings of caring and
responsibility towards each other and their offspring, nothing more.
For responsible people marriage was only a social convention which
might one day disappear.

THE GREAT MARCH [11]

In 1960 Gora became known throughout India. He started by staging a
satyagraha in front of the Legislative Assembly building in Hyderabad.
A letter from him asking that blocs and whips should be abolished was
read to the Legislative Assembly by the Speaker, who commented that
although he could not collaborate with him, Gora had noble ideas.
Meanwhile outside the Assembly Gora had been arrested. The Speaker
announced that Gora would be released and talks between the state
government and Gora would take place, to see if any of his ideas could
be implemented.

Subsequently it was pointed out to Gora by Congress Ministers that the
questions he raised should be taken up with the central government, as
the changes he suggested were important, implying that conventions and
rules and perhaps even the Constitution, would have to be changed.

in March 1960. it was decided that there should be a March to Delhi.
Gora had always been close to Jayaprakash Narayan, who agreed to
preside over a preparatory conference, which was held in Hyderabad in
August 1960. This was followed by smaller meetings throughout the
state, propagating the ideas of pomplessness in current politics, and
partylessness to come.

Sevagram to Delhi on foot

On 8 October 1960, the great march to Delhi started from Gandhi's
Sevagram ashram. At the outset the party numbered sixteen, which
increased to forty-two by the time they reached Delhi. Along various
stretches of the march they were joined by large numbers of local
supporters. They passed through districts of Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and reached Delhi in ninety-nine days after
walking eleven hundred miles. At the head of the march a large
flagless pole was carried, to symbolize people without party.

The Sarvodaya movement did not at first support the march, but
district branches co-operated without being officially associated with
it. Everywhere Sarvodaya members, acting individually, made
arrangements for meetings and to provide the marchers with vegetarian
food and a place to bathe and sleep.

They covered eight to fourteen miles a day, starting at five a.m. and
trying to reach their destination by midday. They would have a meal on
arrival. Everywhere they held meetings. In the towns they would speak
to Bar Associations, Student Unions and other groups. Their programme
was planned ten days in advance and Gora's son Lavanam would go ahead
to see that posters were displayed and introductory leaflets
distributed.

Only in one village in U.P. was there initial opposition to their
presence. The landlord who controlled the village was a Congressman.
He told Lavanam that he would not allow Gora and his friends to sleep
in the village because they had supported the case for a separate
Vidarbha state. (Gora similarly supported the movements for separate
Andhra and Telengana states in Andhra Pradesh, because he considered
that smaller political units were intrinsically better.)

The landlord sent all the villagers to the fields and when Gora and
his friends arrived the village was empty. A meeting for five p.m. was
announced through hand megaphones. Nobody from the village attended
and on returning from the fields the villagers stayed in their huts,
From nearby villages ten people came to the meeting including a school-
master who asked a number of hostile questions. Gora spoke for three
hours. Afterwards the teacher asked what arrangements had been made to
feed them and, hearing none, sent them food from his village.

In another U.P. village there was an argument with a bidi leaf
merchant. The marchers were carrying a banner reading 'Ministers are
Our Servants'. The merchant said Our M.L.A. is a minister and we
cannot accept anyone carrying such a banner., But after discussion he
allowed them into the village under protest. Later the minister
concerned sent Gora a personal note of apology.

Only in a few places did Jan Sangh, Congress, and Communist supporters
attend meetings to put their cases, heckle and ask questions.
Everywhere the marchers were fed by the villagers and given tea.

Letter to Nehru

Before reaching New Delhi Gora sent a letter to Nehru saying that the
office of Prime Minister should be above party politics and asking him
to contest the next Lok Sabha election as an individual people's
representative, not as a Congressman. He told Nehru that he should
move to a modest, small house, and stop living in isolation from
ordinary people in Teen Murthi. He also asked Nehru to strongly
advocate inter-caste marriages -- the prelude to a casteless society
-- to preach pomplessness, to abolish political parties, and to
introduce decentralization.

Satyagraha and Discussion with Prime-minister Nehru

In January 1961 satyagraha was offered in front of Teen Murthi; Gora's
march filled the headlines of newspapers and he received massive all-
India publicity for his views.

Nehru's private secretary came to see Gora and offered him a choice.
Nehru offered either to address the whole group for a few minutes, or
meet Gora and a few friends for a full discussion of the issue raised.
Gora accepted the second alternative after the offers had been fully
discussed.

According to Gora, Nehru received him with great kindness and charm.
Nehru said he had great sympathy with Gora's demands. They were all in
the true Gandhian spirit, which he had always so admired, but they
were difficult to implement in present circumstances, when he was
trying to increase all India national unity. He was not in agreement
with Gora on partylessness and argued that Gandhians could make a
special contribution within Congress, particularly in educating people
to choose worthy and unselfish representatives. As to pomplessness, he
would personally prefer a more simple life style, but accepted the
symbols of office which his colleagues thought suitable. Education was
the most important task for them all and must come first; and then the
secular ideals he shared with Gora could be achieved. He praised
Gora's efforts in promoting intercaste marriages and castelessness.
His differences with Gora were mainly on methods not ends. All sincere
followers of Gandhi had his deep respect and Gora's thinking was. in
many ways, except on parties and political democracy, remarkably
similar to his own.

International Recognisation

After New Delhi Gora toured U.P. and M.P., held meetings and collected
some thousands of rupees for his work in Andhra. He returned by train
travelling third class to Vijayawada. An unexpected consequence of the
march was that Gora became much better known in the world outside
India and started to receive invitations to visit foreign countries
from many humanist groups. From then onwards he visited many European
countries and became internationally known as a very unusual Gandhian.

THE LAST YEARS

Gora rejected historical determinism and considered Marxism to be a
'Fatalistic Philosophy'. Dialectical theory was, metaphysical. There
was no simple economic or social model to explain change and he did
not think that the caste system would change fundamentally (although
it might be modified) by a change in the mode of production or the
economic relations into which men entered to produce goods and
services. He considered that the Indian Communist parties had made a
fatal error in not frontally attacking the caste system: 'Look at them
how they marry within caste and exploit the caste factor in electoral
politics. Many of them do not understand that their living styles
should be like those of villagers or the urban poor, if they are to
successfully promote revolution.'

Jayaprakash Narayan and Gora

After the split between Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan, Gora
sided with J.P., but continued to insist that any political movement
must be partyless. (For Gora, Vinoba Bhave 'preached too much and
acted too little'.) In 1975 Gora. and J.P. agreed on the need for
total revolution and a complete social transformation but Gora urged
on J.P. that he should not accept the collaboration of the parties in
Bihar, but insist on their dissolution, and form a partyless bloc.
J.P. argued that when parties offered their help in achieving stated
political goals it was foolish to refuse their colaboration.

According to Sarvodaya leaders J.P. wanted Gora to lead the movement
in Andhra Pradesh, and spent hours trying to persuade him saying 'He
is a clean man, we must have him.' [12]

Gora discussed with his friends the organization of a partyless
conference in Warangal to disown J.P.'s movement, but was dissuaded
from doing so by his Sarvodaya friends. He went to Bihar and spoke in
support of Jayaprakash Narayan, but continued to express his
opposition to political parties and J.P.'s association with them.

Truth Seeker

Gora continued to reject Gandhi's view that the universe emanates from
sat or absolute truth. For Gandhi morality and dharma could not be
ultimately divorced from rta or cosmic order. For Gora both were man-
made. At the level of relative truth they were in agreement that what
at one time might be true might cease to be so as new insights were
discovered. For Gora there was no God or absolute, personal or
impersonal. Such ideas were false, or hypotheses. This last concession
made it possible for Gandhi and Gandhians to work with him and accept
him as a fellow seeker after truth. Gora, like Gandhi, was never
dogmatic and always admitted the possibility of being wrong.

Gora was Unique

Gora died from a heart attack in 1975. Chundi Jaganathan said of him
Very few members of Sarvodaya are atheists although there are some
nastikas. Many religious people worked with Gora for improvement in
the lives of villagers, He had a particularly strong appeal for young
people. Although he rejected God, religion and even reincarnation, he
brought about a total consciousness of humanity wherever he went., In
villages people are judged by their deeds, not their words, and that
is why Gora was seen as a saint. Gora was unique. [13]

But Gora was only unique as an atheist saint. In India, like all
saints and sanyasis, he expressed himself through symbols, and
behaviour which was instantly recognizable. He transcended local
languages and local religions. His political identity was national not
regional, although Andhra Pradesh was his main arena for action.

* Index: International Conference Souvenir
* Index: Atheism in India
* Index: Historical Writings (Biographies)
* Home to Positive Atheism

NOTES

Gray, '"Gora", Gandhi's Atheist Follower'

* 1. I first met Gora at the Sarvodaya offices in Hyderabad,
Andhra Pradesh, during the autumn of 1961, and I was instantly
attracted by his lively conversation. and strong personality. He
suggested we should meet and we talked for some hours. I was new to
India at the time and he gave me much good advice on field work and
how to question people. I saw him several times through the years and
last interviewed him at his ashram in 1973. I made notes, after our
many conversations, and quotations, unless otherwise stated, are from
them.
* 2. G.S. Rao, "Gora -- an Atheist" Vijayawada 1970, pp. 17-18.
* 3. Ibid, p. 18.
* 4. Gora, "An Atheist with Gandhi", quoted by G.S. Rao, op. cit.,
p. 34.
* 5. Ibid.
* 6. Interview, Hyderabad, 1976.
* 7. Ibid.
* 8. On Gandhi's thought see R.N. Iyer, "The Moral and Political
Thought of Mahatma Gandhi" London 1973.
* 9. Gora was the author of many publications in English and
Telugu, including Atheism (Telugu) 1941; Why Gram Raj (English) 1958;
Party-less Democracy (English) 1961. He also edited a monthly in
English, "The Atheist" first published in 1969. Gora's son Lavanam is
preparing a complete bibliography.
* 10. Interview, Hyderabad, 1976.
* 11. Interview, Hyderabad, 1976 with Gora's son Lavanam, who gave
me a detailed account of the Great March and much other information. I
am extremely grateful to him.
* 12. Interviews, Hyderabad, 1976, with Prabhakarji, Chundi
Jaganatham, Dr Prakash Gupta.
* 13. Interview, Hyderabad, 1976.

(Courtesy: Publishers of the Book.)
[The Jubilee Souvenir was posted with permission from Lavanam, and a
copy was supplied by him for this purpose.
-- Cliff Walker, Webmaster]

http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990c01.htm

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

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Epic Age In India

Epic Age in India is that period when the famous epics of Mahabharata
and Ramayana were composed

Epic Age in India is called so because it was during this age that the
epics were composed in the subcontinent. It is estimated that the Epic
period ranges from 1000 to 600 B.C. In the epics of Ramayana,
Mahabharata and Upanishads, the ancient Indian society is explained in
a very pictorial manner. These three Epics are not only a part of the
mythological and religious scriptures, but also form an important
ingredient of India`s historical roots.

Among the two epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Mahabharata and
the Ramayana are the two most famous epics. According to certain
scholars, both the Indian epics can be counter pointed with `Iliad`
and `Odyssey`, the Greek epics which are composed by Homer. Rishi
Valmiki wrote Ramayana and is considered to be the oldest and the most-
admired epic. Ved Vyas wrote Mahabharata. There is a great difference
in the opinions of the scholars with regard to the exact date of
composition of these two epics. As per religious tradition, the two
epics were composed approximately in the 3000 B.C. As per Macdonell,
they were composed around 500 to 200 B.C and according to Dr. Radha
Kumud Mookherjee the epics were written some where around 1500 to 600
B.C. at the time of the rise of Buddhism and Jainism. Some of the
modern scholars are of the view that the grand epic of Mahabharata is
not the work of a single writer (Ved Vyas), but probably an end
product of a number of writers.

The prominent political set up of the epic age was the expansion of
kingdoms, which happened in substitution of a number of small kingdoms
which existed at the time of the Vedic period. The sacred religious
activities of the epic age outlined the religious condition of that
era. Apart from the Vedic gods and goddesses the worship of Lord
Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Shakti were introduced.

The social condition of the epic age include the caste system which
became very severe and society was divided into four castes; Brahman,
Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. The works of all the four castes
were fixed. At that time, people lived in fortified camps. No big
cities were there, and kingship became hereditary. Taxes were levied
by the royalty on his subjects. Sacrifices alongwith a list of rituals
formed the central attraction of religious ceremonies and the Brahman
gained in power. A number of symbolic objects came to be worshipped
and signs of idol worship were observed later. Agriculture became the
prominent source of living for the people of the epic age and
remarkable development in agriculture is seen in this period.

(Last Updated on : 29/10/2009)

http://www.indianetzone.com/24/the_epic_age_india.htm

Indian Fables

Folklore with its bounty creates an aura , thereby adding
diversity,yet exuberance and splendor to Indian tradition.

Indian Folktales and Indian fables are exorbitant and rich keeping in
pace with the huge diversities and variation. Although India is a
multi- lingual and multi -religious nation, a unity is easily
identified; and it is through the metaphorical cord of Indian fables
the unity is recognized. Since time immemorial the myths, arduous
beliefs on magical qualities and supernatural practices, social norms
have become an inevitable part of the Indian fables.

What is even more interesting is that through generations Indian
fables are transmitted and gestated verbally. There is hardly any
documentation. It was during the British rule only efforts were taken
to preserve Indian Folktales and Indian fables in its original
silhouette and format. Study unveils that the forms of Indian
Folktales and Indian fables are wide and self -encompassing and the
brilliance of the Indian Folk Art, the anecdote of the Indian Folk
tales, the heroic deeds of the Indian Folk Heroes and even the
mysticism of the Indian folk deities all are classically unified to
delineate the outlines of Indian Folktales and fables.

With its wide range of stories, from historical to mythological
legends, which emerge from all walks of life, from the remarkable
`Panchatantra` to `Hitopadesha`, from `Jataka` to `Akbar-Birbal` ,
Indian fables have weaved that magic thread to captivate, mesmerise
and at the same time to teach moral, spiritual and social values. Even
the great Indian epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata teamed
with the religiosity of the Bhagavad Gita marks Indian Folktales as
the perfect stories for children whilst instilling great virtues.

The grand assortment of the Indian fables has extraordinary legends
and tales that are liked, perhaps loved by people of all strata of the
society.

(Last Updated on : 8/09/2009)

http://www.indianetzone.com/5/indian_folklore.htm

Indian Folktales

Indian Folktales are an important part of the country`s culture.

UttarPradesh FolktalesIndian folktales primarily spell out morals to
their listeners. An interesting aspect of the Indian folktales is that
these are an important part of the oral literature in India. Almost in
every household children grow up listening to native folklores and
folktales. While most of the Indian folktales revolve around rural set
ups, some of these tales are based on religion. Although the Indian
folktales are more a part of the country`s culture but their literary
significance cannot be denied.

The diversity in India is reflected in the folktales as well. The
numerous states of India take pride in their own set of tales and
legends. For instance the Punjabi folktales deal with friendship,
sharing and about being good human beings. The Bihari Folktales,
Bengali Folktales and others follow similar patterns. One important
aspect of the Indian folktales is that these deal with common people.
In fact the names used in the tales are quite widespread. During
ancient ages such Indian tales followed the oral tradition. However,
with time the writing traditions developed and then these were
compiled into several books. The late compilations of the Indian
folktales are one of the reasons why the author`s names are not
mentioned.

While some of the Indian folktales dealt with the common folks,
Gujarati folktales, Rajasthani folktales, etc narrate tales of courage
shown by ordinary women and even women. Tales of justice, common
sense, wit, greed and matters pertaining to the social structure form
the subject matter of Meghalaya Folktales, Andhra Pradesh folktales,
Tamil Nadu folktales, Sikkimese folktales, Himachal Pradesh folktales,
Delhi folktales, Uttar Pradesh folktales, Kerala folktales, Madhya
Pradesh folktales, Oriya folktales, Haryana folktales and others. In
fact in ancient India telling tales was one of the most popular ways
of spreading awareness amongst the commoners. Time and again, even the
Indian religious gurus, such as, Gautama Buddha, Mahavira, Sai Baba
and others have adopted this method to bring enlightenment.

Rajasthani Folktales India has been always been subjected to
invasions. An amalgamation of different cultures has also led to a
myriad of Indian folktales. While discussing about such tales one
cannot possible forget the witty tales revolving around Akbar and
Birbal. Some of the Indian folktales are also borrowed from Hindu
myths. But the beauty and charm of the Indian folktales lie in their
variety. The gargantuan treasure house of Indian folktales consists of
tales pertaining to all religions and regions.

(Last Updated on : 9/09/2009)

http://www.indianetzone.com/38/indian_folktales.htm

Indian Puranas

These old scriptures have been a part of the Indian Hindu culture,
from many generations.

VyasaPuranas are texts that have their magnitude as ancient Hindu
literature. They are the richest collection of mythology in the world.
Puranas are religious texts of the both Buddhist and Jains. According
to tradition, the Puranas were composed by Vyasa at the end of Dvapara
Yuga, though the exact Origin of Indian Puranas is not known, however
modern scholars state that Indian Puranas existed from the 4th century
BC to the 1st millennium AD. The Puranas narrate various stories about
the Gods and the Goddesses, rights and rituals and hymns. These
scriptures have been passed from one generation to the other, either
by word of mouth or stored scriptures. There are about 18 major
Puranas along with some minor ones, which have been merged in various
ideas from different faiths.

The Puranas are texts that represent the Indian culture and
civilization as well as the history and the geography of the world
since its creation. Geography in the Puranas is the chief topic of
discussion from early times in connection with recreation; and many of
the existing Puranas contain chapters on these topics. According to
Puranic tradition, the earth consisted of seven dvipa or continents,
such as Jambu dvipa, Plaksa dvipa, Saimali dvipa, Kusa dvipa, Kraunca
dvipa, Saka dvipa, Puskara dvipa. The description regarding geography
in the Purana, each of these seven dvipa or continents was divided
into a number of varsas or subcontinents. These dvipas were surrounded
by seven oceans containing water which salt, sugarcane-juice, wine,
clarified butter, curd, milk and good drinking water mixed in the
water of the ocean.

Indian Puranas have an ancient history. According to researches, the
Puranas represent the earliest traditional history. Furthermore,
history depicts that Puranas existed even before the advent of the
Vedic texts. Age of the Puranas lies in the antiquity and in those
past days, puranas were given enough significance for the developed
civilisation. However, in the last decades of the 18th and the
beginning of the 19th centuries, the Puranas were not provided enough
importance for depicting history.

The Puranas serve as the encyclopedias of religion and culture .The
popularity of the Puranas lies in the fact that they are narrated in
simple, lucid language unlike the four Vedas. Classification of
Puranas depend on the importance of each of these Indian Puranas.The
Indian Puranas are classified into the Mahapuranas (great) and the
Upapuranas (lower,additional) and they narrate the five themes called
the pancalaksana ("Five distinguishing marks") that consists of Sarga
(The creation of the universe) Pratisarga (Secondary creations, mostly
re-creations after dissolution) Vamsa (Genealogy of gods and sages)
Manvantara (The creation of the human race and the first human beings)
Vamsanucaritam (Dynastic histories)

Shiv PuranaPuranic Texts are classified as major Puranas and minor
Puranas. The Puranas are works that represent the deep mystic
structuring of Indian civilization. They are viewed as expanding,
modifying, and transforming the orthodox Brahmanism of the Vedas,
through bhakti or devotion. The Indian Puranas speak about the battle
between the Gods and the Demons. The Puranas give detailed account of
Hindu lore, religious practices - yoga, prayers, sacrifices and
everyday customs and they complement the metaphysical seriousness of
the Upanishads, the magical and sacrificial lore of the Atharva Veda,
and the orthodoxy of the Rig Veda. Other major Puranas include Shiv
Purana, The Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana and Markandeva Purana. The
length of the puranas varies such as the Skanda Purana has 80,000
couplets while the Brahma and the Vamana Purana has 10,000 couplets
each.

Indian Puranas narrate about various gods and goddesses. Puranic
Deities of India includes the Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. According to
the Puranas, Vishnu and Siva were visualized as forming a harmony with
Brahma. These Puranic deities were introduced to the religions during
the 4th and 5th century A.D. These gods were witnessed as almighty.
Moreover, the gods were given particular identity depending on their
power. The Puranas also narrate the incidents of various influential
kings, their supremacy as well as various rife between princely clans.

MahabharataAmong the Indian Puranas, Indian Epics find much
importance. The three main and commonly known epics are the
Mahabharata written by Vyasa and the Ramayana written by Valmiki. Veda
Vyasa, is regarded as an avatar of Vishnu in Vaishanav tradition. He
composed the great Indian epic Mahabharata that describe the family
saga of the Pandavas and Kauravas and the about the battle of
Kurukshetra. Mahabharata reflects the philosophy and historical aspect
of ancient India. On the other hand Ramayana was composed by Valmiki
also known as Ratnakara. The epic Ramayana refers to "the travels of
Rama". Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses and is the story of prince
Rama whose wife was forcefully taken away by the demon king of Lanka-
Ravana.

http://www.indianetzone.com/2/indian_puranas.htm

Garuda Purana

This is one of the Vishnu Puranas, which is in the form of a dialog
between Vishnu and Garuda, the King of Birds.

Garuda PuranaGaruda Purana is a part of the "Smriti", which is a part
of the Hindu body of texts. It is in the form of instructions by
Vishnu to his carrier, Garuda (The King of Birds - a Vimana of Lord
Vishnu). The Garuda Purana is a sattvika purana. The others in this
group are Vishnu Purana, Narada Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Padma Purana
and Varaha Purana. This Purana deals with astronomy, medicine, grammar
and gemstone structure and qualities. In addition, the Garuda Purana
is considered the authoritative Vedic reference volume describing the
Nine Pearls, which includes not only the well known Oyster Pearl, but
also the Conch Pearl, Cobra Pearl, Boar Pearl, Elephant Pearl, Bamboo
Pearl, Whale Pearl, Fish Pearl, and Cloud Pearl.

The Garuda Purana has nineteen thousand shlokas. It is a medium-sized
Purana. The thousand shlokas of the Garuda Purana are divided into two
parts, a purva khanda (first part) and an uttara khanda (subsequent
part). Each khanda has several chapters (adhyaya). The purva khanda is
much longer; it has two hundred and thirty-four chapters. The Uttara
khanda has only forty-five. The latter half of this Purana deals with
life after death. Following this is an account of funeral procedures,
including rituals, the astrological timing of the post-death
observances, reincarnation and ritual gifts.

The Hindus of north-India generally read this Purana while cremating
the bodies of the dead. Thus, it also describes around 24 types of
death punishments given to a person after death for the sins committed
in life. These deaths include Khumbipakam (burned in oil) and
Kirimibhojanam (given as prey to leeches). The final part of this text
is an appeal to self-knowledge as the key to liberation, going beyond
austerities and study of the texts. This has given great importance to
the origin of Garuda. There are nineteen thousand verses describing
the ways to the Lord.

Vedavyasa taught the Puranas to one of his disciples name Romaharshana
or Lomaharshana. And it was Romaharshana who related the stories of
the Puranas to everyone else. The Bhagavata Purana says the
Romaharashana had a son named Suta and it was this son who related the
story of that particular Purana to the other sages. Thus, Suta was a
very learned sage. He was very well versed in the Puranas and in the
shastras. He was also devoted to Vishnu.

Romaharshana came to a forest known as Naimisharanya. He sat there and
contemplated the mysteries of the Lord Vishnu. Several other rishis
(sages) led by Shounaka also came to the forest. And they started
asking Romaharshana, all the questions about God and its existence.
Thus, he started reciting the Garuda Purana, which gave all the
answers about the questions the sages had asked. However, he first
started introducing the 22 avatars of Lord Vishnu. There have been
several other incarnations of Vishnu. But the ones mentioned are the
major ones. These are as follows:

# The first incarnation was in the form of a young boy (Kumara). In
this form, Vishnu adopted celibacy and performed difficult meditation.

# The second incarnation was as a boar (Varaha). In this form, Vishnu
rescued the earth from the underworld.

# The third incarnation was as a great sage (Devarshi). In this form,
Vishnu spread the knowledge of several texts (tantras).

# The fourth incarnation was as two sages named Nara and Narayana.

# The fifth incarnation was as the great sage Kapila, who taught his
disciple Asuri the wonderful philosophy known as samkhya yoga.

# The sixth incarantion was as the sage Dattatreya, the son of Atri
and Anasuya.

# The seventh incarnation took place in the manyantra known as
svayambhuva. Vishnu was born as the son of Ruchi and Akuti and
performed many Yajna (sacrifices).

# In the eighth incarnation, Vishnu was born as the son of Nabhi and
Meru. His name was Urukrama. He taught everyone the righteous way of
life.

# In the ninth incarnation, Vishnu became the king Prithu and restored
food grains and herbs to the earth.

# The tenth of Vishnu`s incarnations was as Matsya and saved
Vaivasvata Manu from the flood that enveloped the world.

# In the eleventh incarnation, Vishnu adopted the form of a turtle
(Kurma). This was to help out the gods (Devas) and demons (Asuras) in
the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthana).

# The twelfth incarnation was as Dhanvantari, physician of the gods
and the originator of medicine.

# The thirteenth was Mohini Avatar and in this form, Vishnu adopted
the body of a beautiful woman so as to charm and rob the asuras of the
amrita.

# In the fourteenth incarnation, Vishnu became Narasimha, a being who
was half-man and half-lion and killed the evil asura Hiranyakashyapu.

# The fifteenth incarnation witnessed Vishnu`s adoption of the form of
dwarf (Vamana). This was to deceive the asura Vali and restore the
gods to heaven.

# In the sixteenth incarnation, Vishnu became Parashurama, killed all
the kshatriyas in the world twenty-one times.

# The seventeenth incarnation was as Vedavyasa, the son of Parashara
and Satyavati, who later divided the Vedas.

# Vishnu`s eighteenth incarnation was as the sage Narada.

# The nineteenth incarnation was Rama and the twentieth was as
Krishna.

# In the twenty-first incarnation, Vishnu became a Buddha.

# The twenty-second incarnation is yet to come Vishnu will be come.
Vishnu will be born as Kalki so as to destroy evil in the world and
restore righteousness.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/2/garuda_purana.htm

Harivamsa Parva, Mahabharata

Harivamsa Parva is not included in the list of the eighteen Parvas of
Mahabharata. This Parva is however regarded as an appendix or a khila
to the great Hindu epic.

Harivamsa Parva describes the life of Lord Krishna after the end of
the great battle at Kurukshetra. Even if this Parva is not included in
the eighteen Parvas of Mahabharata, the Harivamsa Parva contains the
final two of the one hundred sub-parvas of the great epic. This Parva
is also regarded as an appendix or a khila to the great Hindu epic.
This Parva of Mahabharata mainly describes the pastimes of the Supreme
Lord or Lord Vishnu which took place after the great battle and also
including his pastimes of disappearance. It is considered to be a
supplement to the great epic of Mahabharata.

Harivamsa or the lineage of Hari is a vital work of Sanskrit
literature. It is also known as the Harivamsa Purana. This episode is
regarded as a supplement or a khila to the Hindu epic of Mahabharata.
This episode is considered to be of a much later date than the epic of
Mahabharata. It discusses about the adventures of Krishna`s family.
After the great battle at Kurukshetra, Gandhari became childless since
all her one hundred sons were killed by the Pandavas. However, she
held Krishna solely responsible for the ruin of her family before her
and thus cursed Krishna that after thirty six years his entire family
including him would be destroyed.

Days passed, and the descendants of Lord Krishna forgot the curse of
Gandhari. However, when thirty six years after the war was over, the
entire family and those who were loyal to Krishna perished in a war
among themselves. Krishna then went out with his elder brother
Balarama in order to leave the mortal world. Balarama left the world
before Krishna and then the feet of Krishna was misunderstood by a
hunter as the face of a deer and he shot an arrow towards it. Hit by
the arrow, Krishna left the mortal world as the soul moved out of the
earthly body and reached its place in the heaven. All these form a
part of the Harviamsa Parva.

The Harivamsa Parva contains 16,374 verses and this Parva or episode
was first recited by the renowned sage, Vaisampayana, to King
Janamejaya. In that assembly, Ugrasrava or Sauti was also present.
Later on, by the request of the sages at Naimisaranya, headed by
Saunaka, Sauti again narrated the Harivamsa Parva.

(Last Updated on : 27/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/6/harivamsa_purana.htm

Vishnu Purana

The Vishnu Purana narrates the story of the creation of the universe
to its destruction at the end.

• Sansapayana • Krishna Kaliyadamana • Yashoda
• Shree Shaligram • Gopis • Vithoba
• Kubera • Narada • Amrita , Nectar of Immortality
• Airavata • Brahma Bodhya • Sunanda
• Stoma And Stuti • Syeni • Swayambhoja
• Swarupas • Suyasas • Suvrata
• Sutara • Sutapas, Son Sage Vasishtha • Subhumi
• Patala • Rakshasas • Sasada
• Prachinaverhis • Savana, Son Of Muni Vasishtha • Savala
• Satrajit • Sasavinda • Santideva
• Sanku • Sankriti • Sankhakuta
• Sankara • Sanhlada • Sangata
• Shanaischara • Mandhatri • Antacharas
• Aptoryama • Arishta • Ayutayus
• Bahula • Bala Chakravarti • Bharadwaji
• Mahamoha • Brammedhya • Chakra
• Chakshu • Chandrasri • Chariot
• Mandara • Charumati • Marriage
• Maru • Marubhaumas • Chitraratha
• Chronology • Clepsydra • Mehga
• Maunas • Mauneyas • Medha
• Merubhutas • Nimi • Mitravrinda
• Mitraya • Mohini • Mrityu
• Muhurta • Daradas • Daruka
• Dasarha • Nara • Devabhaga
• Devarakshita • Devasravas • Devavriddha
• Narak-Asura • Naya • Nedishta
• Dhruva • Meru • Dharani
• Dharmaketu • Prithvi • Hema
• Rukmakavacha • Dhataki • Dhatri
• Kuvalayaswa • Diptimat • Prativyoman
• Patumitra • Paulomas • Dragons
• Drauni • Dutas • Dyumat
• Prasusraka • Pratibimba • Pravilasena
• Prachinvat • Prajapatis • Ikshwaku
• Indra Kila • Purukutsa • Isana
• Purvaphalguni • Pushkalas • Pushkaravarttakas
• Pushkarin • Pushpagiri • Bhima and Hanuman
• Bhasmasura • Ramagiri • Jayasena
• Ratnagarbha • Revanta • Lokapala
• Rukmisha • Ripu And Ripunjaya • Rishabha
• Jara • Jimuta • Jrimbhika
• Jyotishmat • Sagara • Matanga
• Pipal • Karttavirya • Karundhaka
• Kasa • Kansavati • Kausikas
• Kesin • Khasrima • Kirttimat, Son Of Angiras
• Kritirata • Krodha, Son Of Mritha • Kushidi
• Kushmandas • Lasika • Sadwati
• Sahadeva, Son Of King Harshavardhan • Salaka • Saisikatas
• Yajnyawalcya • Salin • Sambhu, Wife Of Dhruva
• Samparayana • Samrat • Samudra Manthan
• Samya • Karma • Dwipas
• Karusha • Tale of Yugas • Order of Arvváksrotas
• Sri • Legend of Dhruva • Tale of Prithu
• Legend of Prahlada • Progeny of Pryavrata • Worship of
Lord Vishnu
• Descendants of Yadu • Bharat Varsha • Concept of Naraka
in Vishnu Purana
• Concept of Earth • Concept of Sun • Manwantaras
• Tale of Prachetas • Concept of Continents • Lokas in
Vishnu Purana
• Position of Sun • Origin of Vedas • Mukti from Yama
• Chariots of Celestial Bodies • Future Manus • Duties of a
Householder
• Lunar Dynasty • Ekoddistha • Path to True Wisdom
• Balarama • Devaki • Aniruddha

The most important of all the eighteen Puranas, the Vishnu Purana is
known as the Puranratna, which means the gems of Puranas. Primarily it
is the sacred text of the Vaishnava branch of Hinduism. Similar to the
other Puranas the Vishnu Purana also narrates the story of the
creation of Cosmos to its destruction at the end. The text of Vishnu
Purana opens with the introduction of the four Yugas at the beginning
of the text. In addition to these, there are widespread sections on
lineage of the celebrated kings, heroes and demigods of ancient India,
including those from the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata

Vishnu Purana Vishnu Purana, the most important part of the Puranas
contains the five technical divisions. It is also divided into six
adisas or khandas or chapters. It deals with the events of Varahakalpa
and contains 23,000 shlokas. The theme is the ten incarnations of Maha
Vishnu. Vishnu Purana is the most ancient of all the Puranas.

The main text of Vishnu Purana opens with the conversation between a
sage and a disciple. The method of narration is in the form a
conversation, where the sage Parasar teaches his disciple Maitereya.
In the Vishnu Purana the reference of the Mauryas dynasty is found.
Hence the scholars have surmised it to be composed in the first or
second century AD.

The narrator himself states the very essence of Vishnu Purana. Vyasa
adept in the composition of Puranas composed this Puranasarirhita with
akhyanas, upikhyanas, githas and kalpanirnayas. A Suta named
Romaharsana was Vyasa`s chief disciple. Vyasa in order to propagate
his teachings among his disciples gave that Samhita to that Suta.
Romaharsana had six disciples named Sumati, Agnivarcas, Mitrayus,
Sarhsapiyana, Akrtavrana and Savarni. Of these, Akrtavrana, Savarni
and Sarhsapiyana born in the Kasyapagotra have composed
Puranasamhitas, which are based on the teachings of Vyasa described in
Samhita. There is yet another sarirhita composed by Romaharsana which
became the basis of the sarirhitas of his three disciples. As
Romaharsana himself says, he composed Vishnu Purana based on the above
four samhita.

It has been enumerated in the text of Vishnu Purana, if a man gives as
a gift a book of Vishnu Purana on the full-moon day in the month of
asadha (July) with Jaladhenu he will attain the sacred Vishnupada.

The test of Vishnu Purana is compiled into six parts. The first part
narrates the creation of the universe, pralay and the churning of the
sea. The second part contains a geographical description of the earth
when it divided into seven islands, after the churning of sea. The
third part describes the origin of Buddhism. The fourth part contains
a description about the inhabitants of the earth from the beginning of
its creation. The fifth part is entirely devoted to the life and plays
of Lord Krishna. The sixth part contains the description of religion
in Kali Yuga. Thus the Vishnu Purana in its three parts demonstrates
the Universe, from its creation till its destruction.

The first part with which the Vishnu Purana deals with is the
description of the creation of the universe, birth of the gods and the
demons, pralaya, churning of the sea, tales of the devotee Dhruva,
killing of Hiranyakashipu, etc.

The second part contains the description of mythological description
of Priyavrata`s sons and the Bharata dynasty. It also has a
geographical description of Jambu dvipa, Bharata varsa, Shatdweep,
Patal (the Hades), the sun and the planets, chariot of the sun, origin
of the Ganges, etc.

The third part of Vishnu Purana is an important segment since it deals
with the human existence in the God create world. This contains a
detailed description of Manvantara, Kalpa, Veda Vyasa, religion, the
caste system, etc. It also has a description of the origin of
Buddhism. The origin of the class and caste according to the
profession was first described with the detailed description in the
third part of Vishnu Purana.

The fourth part describes the genealogies of kings and dynasties in
the earth. This describes the origin of Brahman and Daksha, birth of
Pururava, marriage of Balarama with Revati, birth of Iksvaku, the
Kukutstha dynasty, tale of Yuvanashva and Saubhari, Sarpvinasha
mantra, Narayana dynasty, birth of Sagar, Ashwamedha by Sagar, and
flowing of the Ganges through the penance of Bhagiratha. Also the
birth of Lord Rama, yagya of Vishwamitra, birth of Sita, tales of the
Chandra dynasty, the abduction of Tara, origin of Agnitrayo, birth of
Dhanvantri and his clan, wars with the demons, clan of Nahush, tale of
Yayati, Yadu dynasty and birth of Kartveerya Arjun.

The fifth year deals with the life and birth of Lord Krishna. Along
with it the fifth part describes the genealogies of Kings. The fifth
part also has a detailed description with a thorough introduction of
the Kali Yug. There are tales of Krishna`s birth, marriage of Krishna
with Jambvanti and Satyabhama, salvation of Shishupaal, overpopulation
of Yaduvanshis, birth of Kama and his discovery by Adhirath,
Janamejaya dynasty and origin of Bharat, clans of the Jahnu and Pandu,
clan of Parikshit and royal dynasties of the future, future
generations of the Iksvaku dynasty, Brihad dynasty, Pradyot dynasty,
kingdom of Nand, advent of Kali yuga and description of the royal
dynasties of Kali yuga.

In the fifth part there is also found descriptions of the marriage of
Vasudev and Devaki, incarnation of Lord Vishnu to kill Kansa, arrival
of Yagmaya in Yashoda`s womb and of the Lord Krishna in Devaki`s womb,
birth of Lord Krishna, carrying of Krishna to Gokul, dialogue of
Mahamaya with Kansa, acquiring of defensive stance by Kansa, releasing
of Vasudev and Devaki, killing of Putana, killing of Shakat, naming of
Krishna and Balarama, humiliation of Kaliya, killing of Dhenukasura,
killing of Pralamb, description of festival devoted to Indra,
worshipping of Govardhana, arrival of Indra, killing of Arishtakasura,
arrival of Narad in Kansa`s court, killing of Keshi, arrival of Akrur
in Vrindavana, arrival of Lord Krishna in Mathura, Lord Krishna`s
mercy on Kubja, arrival of Lord Krishna in coliseum and killing of
Kansa.

Later in the concluding section of the fifth part of Vishnu Purana
includes the coronation of Ugrasena, bringing of Sudhama in Mathura,
defeat of Jarasandha, birth of Kalayavan, killing of Kaiayavan,
Vrindavana tour by Balarama, attainment of Varuni by Balarama,
abduction of Rukmani, abduction of Pradyumna, getting of Pradyumna by
Mayavati, killing of Shambar by Pradyumna, killing of Rukmini by
Balarama, attainment of 16,000 queens by Lord Krishna, abduction of
Parijat, fight with Indra, begging for pardon by Indra, migration to
Dwarka, bow battle, telling of dream by Usha, abduction of Aniruddha,
fight with Lord Shiva, amputation of Bana by Lord Krishna, killing of
Kashiraj Paundraka, putting of Varanasi on flames, abduction of
Lakshmana, presentation of Samb before the sages as an expecting
mother, origin of pestle, destruction of Yaduvansha, ascendance of
Lord Krishna to heaven, beginning of Kali yuga, preaching of Arjun by
Vyasa, coronation of Parikshit.

The sixth part deals entirely with the kali Yuga. A deviation from the
path of Divinity, which lead the human beings to the way of
destruction This contains description of religion in Kali yuga,
description of the importance of Kali yuga, Shudra and womenfolk by
Vyasa, description of Kalpa, description of a day of Brahma, position
of Brahma in Pralaya, natural disasters, different kinds of sorrow,
torturing in hell, awakening of Brahma, preaching of yoga, tale of
Keshidhwaja, killing of the religion and the cow, holding of counsel
by Khandikya, self-knowledge, ridicule of body-spiritualism, queries
of yoga, Brahmagyana (Vedas), concepts of tangible-intangible
appearances of God, salvation of Khandikya and Keshidhwaja, excellence
of Vishnu Purana, virtues of Lord Vishnu`s names and results of
hearing Lord`s name. The ultimate note of the Vishnu Purana is that
the forfeiture in the feet of Lord Vishnu will lead a man to get rid
of all mortal bondages and sufferings. As a result the man will attain
salvation. The Vishnu Purana thereby touches the keynote of the entire
Puranas.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/vishnu_purana.htm

Padma Purana

One of the major of the eighteen Purana, the first part of the Padma
Purana deals with sage Pulastya

• Sanakadi Sampradaya • Bhutas • Hiranyaksha
• Bhutasantapana • Chandrasukta • Matali
• Danda • Khandas

A Hindu religious text in itself, the Padma Purana is one of the most
interesting and major eighteen Puranas. There are five parts in this
Purana. The first part of this Purana deals with sage Pulastya`s (one
of the seven `prajapati`s or mind born son of Brahma) explanation
about religion and the essence of religion to Bhishma. `Prithvi` or
the earth is described vividly in the second part of the Padma Purana.
The third part, on the other hand, describes the `cosmos` and India
(Bharat Mata). The life and deeds of Rama are described in the fourth
part of the Purana. The fifth part is written in the style of a
conversation between Shiva and his spouse, Parvati, and deals with the
indispensable knowledge about religion.

In addition to these, the Padma Purana houses the major sections named
as the Srishti Khanda (Book of the Universe), Bhumi Khanda (Book of
the Earth), Svarga Khanda (Book of Heaven), Patala Khanda (Book of the
Underworld), and Uttara Khanda.

The Srishti Khanda or Book of the Universe is written in a style of
conversation between Bhishma and the sage Pulastya. It also encloses a
detailed description of Pushkara, a renowned place of pilgrimage.

Padma Purana Bhumi Khanda or the Book of Earth, on the other hand,
gives a vivid description of Prithvi (earth) and tales of kings like
Prithu and Yayati and several other sages. According to some scholars,
the stories of Kings like Prithu, Yayati and sages in this Purana
describes elements of geography and history of the Period.

Svarga Khanda or the Book of Heaven illustrates details of the
progression of creation of the cosmos. The implication and
descriptions of holy places are also described in this part. Moreover,
it gives deals with the geographical expansion and features of
Jambudvipa, including its mountains and rivers. It also narrates about
the ancient people of India.

The Patala Khanda or the Book of the Underworld accords the life story
of Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, is narrated by Ugrasrava Sauti to an
assembly of sages. Few other sections of the book deal with the life
and deeds of Lord Krishna.

The metaphysical aspect of religion is presented in a style of
conversation between Shiva and Parvati in the Uttara Khanda of the
Padma Purana. This part also contains the sections with Vishnu
sahasranama (1000 names of Vishnu) and Rama sahasranama (1000 names of
Rama). As the name suggests, it is also related with the Uttarkhand
region of the Indian Himalayas. Here Lord Shiva and his consort
Parvati are believed to preside over as the source of Ganga and
Yamuna, residences of Vishnu at Badrinath and Shiva at Kedarnath, and
the river Ganga`s access into the plains of India at Haridwar.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/padma_purana.htm

Varaha Purana

In Varaha Purana it is stated that the Goddess of Earth prayed to
Mahavishnu and the prayer took the form of goddess.

• Salagrama

Varaha PuranaVaraha Purana is a Hindu religious text and is considered
as one of the major eighteen Puranas. The Varaha Purana narrates the
tale of rescuing of the earth from Rasatal by Varaha incarnation of
Lord Vishnu. The mode of narration, which has been followed in the
Varaha Purana, is the form of narrating the story by Varaha, the third
incarnation of Vishnu on the earth. The theme with which the Varaha
Purana deals with is about holy places and mantras. The mystical
stories about the Mother earth is also the subject of Varaha Purana.
It states that the Mother earth prayed to Mahavishnu and that prayer
took the form of a goddess. The book of Varaha Purana is compiled with
24000 verses in it. As it has been said, if one copies down this
Purana and gives it as gift along with a golden image of Garuda on the
full-moon day in the month of Chaitra (April) one will attain
Vishnuloka.

The Varaha Purana deals with the different vratas to be performed in
order to glorify or eulogize Lord Vishnu. It is also said that the
performance of these sacred rites or vratas will lead an individual to
attain Vishnuloka.

The chief subject of the Varaha Purana is the rescue of world from
Rasatal. In its mode of discussion the Varaha Purana also discusses
some other topics with detailed illustration. Mangala Charan, the
significant part of the Varaha Purana mainly concerned with the
subjects like praying of Narayana by prithvi (earth), tale of the
creation, origin of Rudra, Sanatkumar, Marich, etc., tale of
Priyavrata, tale of Dashavatar (ten incarnations), tale of Dharma-
Vyadha, tale of Suprateek and sighting of Viratroop {colossal
appearance), tale of Gaurmukha, Karma related to Shraddha, tale of
Prajagana, origin of agni (fire), tale relating greatness of the days,
Gauri, destruction of Daksha Yagya, wedding of Har Parvati (popularly
known as Shiv Parvati), Ganesha, Naga, Kartikeya, Aditya, killing of
Andhakasura, Matrigana, Katyayani, Kumer, Dharma, Rudra, etc. and
their origin, tale of Aruni, tales of the days falling in different
months, Agastya Geeta, tale of Shubhvrata, tale of Dhanyavrat,
dialogue between Narad and Vishnu, methods for expiation, tale of
Agastya, geographical description of Jambu dvipa, Kusha dvipa, Kraunch
dvipa, etc., tale of Andhakasura`s vrata, etc., origin of Vaishnava,
killing of Mahishasura, ritual of Kapalik vrata, dialogue between
Prithvi and Sanatkumar, dialogue between Narayana and Prithvi etc.

The Varaha Purana primarily depicts the earthly matters and gives
illustration of the miseries and happiness in the earth. Several tales
in this Purana are composed in a way, which differentiates between
sorrow and happiness in the mortal world. Moreover the Varaha Purana
describe 12 kinds of crime, penance to destroy the sins, methods and
ritualistic sacrifices of Vishnu worship in the evening, description
of Sanatan dharma, description of illusion, description of the karma
for salvation, history of Gridhra and Shringali, dialogue between
Chandal and Brahmarakshasas, greatness of Kokamukh, greatness of
Badrikashrama, greatness of Mathurakshetra, greatness of Shalgram,
tale of Shalankayank, greatness of Lohargalam, Panchar kslutra,
Vishran tirth and Devavana, worship of Lord Vishnu at the confluence
of Yamuna-Saraswati, greatness of Krishna-Ganga, tale related to
Samba, significance and implication of Dwadashi vrata in Rama Tirth,
rituals and sacrament ceremony of installing different kinds of idols,
description of the origin of Shraddha, methods of removing impurities,
Medhatithi Pitrasambad, kinds of Pindasankalpa, ritual of Madhupark,
kinds of Madhupark donations. The significance of these Vratas and
sacrifices are all described in the Varaha Purana. It is said in this
Purana that the miserable mortal existence will be relieved only after
the strong penance and performance of Vratas relating to the worship
of Lord Vishnu.

The Varaha Purana deals with the Kali Yug in earth in general. Hence
it has the thorough description of mortal existence, its destruction
and ultimately its journey to the Yamalok. In this Purana there is
found the detailed description of the appearance of Yama as the
authority of the Yamalok, description of the court of Yama,
description of the fate met by sinners, description of hell,
description of the appearance of Yamadoot, description of Chitragupt`s
effect, directions by Chitragupt for expiation, indications by
Chitragupt of the fruits of auspicious-inauspicious karmas,
description of Pativrat, dialogue between Yama and Narad, greatness of
Prabodhini, description of the greatness of Gokarneshwar, granting of
boon by Nandikeshwar, description of greatness of Jaleshwar and
description of the greatness of Shringeshwar.

The Varaha Purana in essential depicts the sinful mortal existence in
the Kali Yug, which led the god created earth to Rasatal. The human
beings due to the sins have to suffer the inevitable and inescable
atonement. The verses of the Varaha Purana, depicting the significance
of vratas lead the mortals to perform hard penitence, to get rid of
their agonized existence in the Kali Yug.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/varaha_purana.htm

Markandeya Purana

The beginning of the Markandeya Purana is from the mouth of Jaimini
asking four questions to Markandeya.

• Demon Mahisha • Dama • King Khaninetra
• Khanitra

The Markandeya Purana, one of the major eighteen Puranas is written on
a style of conversation between sage Jaimini and sage Markandeya.
Different from the other Puranas, this Purana is neutral to Vishnu and
Shiva i.e. it has no sectarian content. The beginning of the
Markandeya Purana is from the mouth of Jaimini asking four questions
to Markandeya.

There are one hundred thirty four chapters included in this Purana. Of
all these, the chapters starting from fifty and ending to ninety-seven
contain the accounts of the fourteen Manvantaras (the periods of the
Manus). Among these, chapters 78-90 are together known as Devi
Mahatmya or Glorification of the great goddess. The chapters 108-133
deal with the genealogies of the Puranic dynasties.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/markandeya_purana.htm

Vamana Purana

It is believed that it is uttama to gift Vamana Purana in the autumn
season or at the time of Visuva to a Brahmin.

Vamana PuranaVamana Purana is venerated as the holy texts of the
Hindus and is placed fourteenth among the eighteenth Puranas. Although
the book is smaller in size it is no less important than the other
Puranas. Rather it contains all the constituents of other Puranas.
There is a great similarity between the contents of this Purana and
that of Varaha Purana. All the incarnations of Vishnu from Vamana
downwards are described in this Purana. The scene of Shiva marrying
Parvati is illustrated with detail description in this book. This
Purana contains 10,000 verses depicting the teachings of Vishnu`s
incarnation on earth. It also contains the story of Lord Trivikrama.
As it is said in the Vamana Purana, it is considered uttama (best) to
give this book as a gift in the autumn season or at the time of Visuva
to a Brahmin.

As the very name suggests, the narrative tale of the Vamana Purana is
ascribed solely to the Vamana avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. The
book opens with the conversation between the Sage Pulastya and Narad.
The significant subject with which the vamana Purana deals with are
the tale of Pralaya, origin of man, dialogue of Lord Vishnu and Lord
Mahadev, fight of Vishnu with Veerbhadra, narration about kaal by
Shiva, immolation of kama, battle of Prahlada, boon to Prahlada,
battle between the gods and the demons, victory of Andhakasura,
description of Pushkaradweep, description of different worlds, tale of
Sukeshi, birth of Lolark, birth of Mahishasura, greatness of goddess,
killing of Mahishasura, birth of Parvati, description of King Bali`s
dynasty and his kingdom, defeating of the gods by Bali and their
taking refuge at Sage Kashyapa`s hermitage, taking of Brahma`s refuge
by the gods, visiting of Ksheersagar by Sage Kashyapa`s and the gods,
boon to Aditi, criticism of Bali by Prahlada and curse, worship of
Vamana, tale of Vamana and Bali and Saraswati Stotra.

Apart from these Vamana Purana also have illustrations with detailed
description of holy places of pilgrimage, description of creation,
Shiva Stuti, description of the greatness of Sthanu linga, tale of
Vena, granting of boon to Vena by Lord Shiva, description of the glory
of Kurukshetra, dialogue between Lord Shiva (in beggar appearance) and
Parvati, requesting of Himalaya by the gods to marry Parvati to Shiva,
Shiva-Parvati wedding, birth of Ganesha, killing of Chanda-Munda,
killing of Shumbha Nishumbha.

The vamana Purana though ascribed to the Vamana Avatar it also
contains a narration of the birth of Kartikeya, tale of Mahishasura
and Tarkasura, piercing of Kraunch, defeat of Andhakasura, tale of
Mura, the demon, killing of Mura, sighting of Shiva by the gods in the
heart of Lord Vishnu, tale of the King Danda in the dialogue between
Prahlada and Andhaka, releasing of Jabali, wedding of Chitrangada,
immolation of King Danda, sighting of eternal Shiva, defeat of
Andhaka`s army, killing of Jambu and Kujambh, defeat of Andhaka and
granting of boon to him, origin of Marut, killing of Kaalnemi,
preaching of Bali by Prahlada, greatness of Bali, defeat of the demon
Dhundh, tale of Pururava, description of the cosmic man, killing of
Jalodbhava, tale of Shridama, pilgrimage of Prahlada, salvation of
Gajendra, Saraswati Stotra, tale of Vaman`s birth, dialogue between
Shukracharya and Bali, bounding of Bali, arrival of Vamana, begging by
Vamana for three steps of land, assumption of colossal appearance by
Vamana, pressing of Bali into Paataal.

Apart from this the Vamana Purana also deals with its ten
characteristic features. A detailed description of these
characteristics will lead one to understand the key note of the Vamana
Purana. The characteristics of the Vamana Purana are Sarg, Visarg,
Sthan, Poshan, Uti, Vritti, Raksha, Manvantara, Vansh, and Upaashraya.

The origin of the Universe is described in Sarg. Visarg informs about
the transformation of a living thing from one species to another.
Various means which a man employs for his survival is recorded in
Sthan, Poshan, Uti and Vritti. Raksha on the other hand tells about
the various incarnation of Lord Vishnu, which he uses for the
protection of mankind. Manvantara contains history of the whole
Manvantara period. Vansh enlightens us about the pedigree of all kings
including Lord Brahma. Upaashraya teaches the real meaning of the word
"Brahma".

Thus the Vamana Purana describes the origin of Cosmos, inhabitants of
the universe, with the eulogy of both Shiva and Vishnu and a detailed
description of the Vamana, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/vamana_purana.htm

Brahma Purana

Brahma Purana is a treatise by Lord Brahma whereby the lord focuses
that the ultimate of human life is to achieve emancipation from the
painful existence of the world.

• Kashyapa • Yaksas • Asura
• Marichi • Maudgalyas • Jambudwipa
• Vrishni • Wedding of Shiva-Parvati • Destruction of
Daksha Yajna
• Holy Centre of Utkal • Names of Sun God • Worship of
Konaditya

Brahma Purana is one of the major eighteen Puranas. It is a Hindu
religious text. Brahma Purana is in the form of teachings by Brahma to
Daksha and contains a number of verses. This is also called the Adi
Purana. There is a special treatise in this book on Orissa, an ancient
holy region of Bharata. There is in this a special annexure explaining
the intimacy between Shiva and Surya, which is a deviation from other
Indian Puranas. According to Brahma Purana it was Brahma who narrated
the story of Brahma Purana to the sages on mount Meru. The Narada
Purana says that Brahma Purana contains 10,000 verses. The Purana also
as a class of literature represents different phases and aspects of
life lived by the people in diverse ages.

Lord Brahma as the Narrator

The Padma Purana classifies Brahma Purana as Rajasa and assigns it to
Lord Brahma, the god of rajas quality. The Puranas are classifiable as
sattvika, rajasa and tamasa on the strength of quality which they
possess predominantly. But a number of studies on the Brahma Purana
have revealed that it is more sattvika than rajasa because a
considerable portion of this Purana is devoted to the glorification of
Purusottama Vasudeva, Sri Krishna, Sun-god and Lord Shiva. The Purana
speaks of Ekamra-kshetra and Purusottama-kshetra as being sacred to
Shiva and Vishnu respectively. Lord Vishnu and Shiva are the paramount
lords in the Brahma Purana while Brahma occupies the third position.
Brahma himself has spoken highly of Vishnu and Shiva in the Purana.
The Purana takes its name after Brahma. It is because Brahma is the
main speaker here. Rather it can be said that the Purana derives its
name merely because it has appeared through the mouth of Brahma.
Regarding the date of composition of Brahma Purana no particular date
can be assigned.

Division in Brahma Purana

Brahma Purana contains two parts-Purva Bhaag and Uttar Bhaag. Purva
Bhaag depicts the entire narrative of the creation of cosmos and at
the same time the tales of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. Uttar Bhaag
contains a detailed description of Purshottam Tirtha prominent among
all the holy places.

A large portion of Brahma Purana deals with the topics of religious
nature. The Brahma Purana is predominantly Vishnuite. The Purana
glorifies Lord Vishnu predominantly. The legends of Shiva including
the immolation of Sati, destruction of Daksha`s sacrifice, Shiva`s
marriage with Parvati, his sports on the Himalayas and ultimately his
departure for mount Meru are also important parts of Brahma Purana.
The Purana also records one hundred and eight names of the solar
deity, and also illustrates his glory and origin. In spite of the
presence of multitude of gods, the trend of Brahma Purana is inwards
monotheism. The Purana advocates that all gods stand on equal footing.

Concepts in Brahma Purana

In the ultimate review of this Purana, there is no difference among
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva or any other god. A unit of fourteen chapters in
the Brahma Purana deals with some important aspects of philosophical
nature. Though the ultimate end is the attainment of liberation, the
means employed to that end consist in the knowledge of principles
(tattva-gyanam) relating to Prakriti and Purusha. The philosophy of
this Purana, as of other Puranas is generally derived from the
concepts evolved and developed in the systems of Samkhya Philosophy
and Yoga.

According to the Brahma Purana, if anyone realizes the truth that
Divinity is eternal and exists unceasingly regardless of Creation or
Dissolution, then that individual can be said that he has attained the
self knowledge.

From the stories narrated in the Brahma Purana it is known that Brahma
endeavoured to propagate his knowledge of divinity and the mystery of
creation among the gods and the sages. Brahma initiated his task by
imparting knowledge to Sage Narada by describing all the 24
incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Narada in turn imparted this knowledge to
Sage Vyasa. Ultimately, Ved Vyas, after compiling that divine
knowledge in 18,000 shlokas, made Shukadev read it. In this manner,
Srimad Bhagwat was popularized in the whole world. Hence Srimad
Bhagwat deals with the subject of creation of cosmos and the true
spirit of Divinity and Mysticism.

Brahma Purana also depicts the utterance of Brahma after his self
revelation and the true knowledge of Divinity. He articulated that his
speech does not incline towards non-virtuousness, his mind never
follows the path of non-virtuousness, and his senses are not
influenced by the non-virtuous desires because he always possess Lord
Vishnu in heart with great dedication. Through his teachings he made
the world to explore the essence of divinity, which lies latent in the
individual`s heart. This self revelation would lead them to deviate
from the path of vice.

This is the very essence of the `Bhagwat` religion, the subject with
which the Brahma Purana deals with. The very idea, which the Brahma
Purana articulates is that as long as man does not take refuge at the
feet of Lord Vishnu, he suffers from the petty worldly matters. The
shelter in the feet of Lord Vishnu purges out the fear, sorrow, greed
and earthly attachments, which are the root cause of the miseries.

Therefore, surrendering oneself in the feet of Lord Vishnu is the only
means to achieve liberation from the burden of the painful existence
of the world. This is the keynote of the Brahma Purana.

(Last Updated on : 19/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/brahma_purana.htm

Matsya Purana

The Matsya Purana narrates the story of the first Avatar of Lord
Vishnu in the form of a fish.

• Senani • Anugraha • Medatithi
• Dahana • Danusha • Mrigavyadha
• Divijata • Dridhayas • Pushpamitra

The Matsya Purana is the sixteenth among the eighteen Puranas. The
subject of this Purana is the teachings of Manu by Matsya, the divine
incarnation of Vishnu. The Matsya Purana deals with Matsya, the first
incarnation of Lord Vishnu on earth. The chief characters of this
Purana are the Lord Matsya, the incarnation of Vishnu and the Emperor
of Dravida Satyavrata, who is known as Manu. Manu is also venerated as
the father of the Aryans. Several subjects like Jainamata (religion of
Jainism), Buddha Mata (Buddhism), Natyasastra (histrionics) and
Andhraraja vamsa (kingdom and kings of Andhra) are discussed in this
book. It contains 14,000 verses, which are all in the form of
conversation, while Matsya was teaching Manu about the significance of
divinity, greatness of Lord Vishnu and the path of virtue. As it has
been said, if the Matsya Purana is to be given as a gift along with a
golden image of a fish at the time of Visuva, it is considered
auspicious. The Matsya Purana is named so because it was first recited
by Vishnu in his Matsya incarnation to Manu.

The Matsya Puranas themselves describes the five characteristics
(pancha Lakshana) that a text must satisfy before being classified as
a Maha Purana. The Matsya Purana are also concerned with the original
creation of the universe (Sarga), the periodical process of
destruction and re-creation (Pratisarga), the various eras
(Manvantara), the histories of the solar dynasty (Surya Vamsha), and
lunar dynasty (Chandra Vamsha) and royal genealogies
(Vamshanucharita).

The Matsya Purana deals with the stories related to the wisdom of
Matsya. As the verses depicts during the period of Mahapralaya, Lord
Vishnu had taken Matsya avatar (fish incarnation) to save the seeds of
all lives and Manu.

The general contents of the Matsya Purana are description of the
greatness of Narsimh incarnation, description of all the ten
incarnations of Lord Vishnu, greatness of fasting like Anant Tritiya
and the places of pilgrimage like Prayag, tales of Chandra Vansh,
Surya Vansh and Kuru Vansh and kings like Yayati and Kartveerya,
description of the Kalpa and yugas, appearance of idols, appearance
and construction of Deva-mandapa (canopy for the deities), tale of
Savitri and Satyavan, results of auspicious and inauspicious motion of
the planets, birth of Parvati, immolation of Madan (Kamadeva), wedding
of Lord Shiva with Parvati, birth of Kartikeya, duties of a king,
description of future kings.

The story of the Matsya Purana begins with the king Manu, passing his
days in observing "dhyana" in his hermitage. A Surya Vamshi Manu
handed over the kingdom to his son Iksvaku and went to the foothills
of Malaya and performed tapasya in order to please Brahma. Pleased
with his prayers Brahma appeared and gave him the holy blessing. King
Manu was blessed with the power that he will be the savior of the
world when the Mahapralaya will come to destroy it. After the passing
of several days, Manu was performing rituals in the pond near his
hermitage. While he immersed his hands in the water he found a minnow
(shafari) swimming around in the water. Manu did not kill it but kept
it in his water pot or kamandalu. But the minnow started to grow and
within a day the water pot seemed so small. The fish started growing
and everywhere Manu kept it (vat, pond, river and finally the ocean)
seemed too small for the fish. Surprisingly overwhelmed Manu
understands that it was not a mere fish. Unsure of the fact that
whether it`s a demon deluding him, Manu came to know that it was the
incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself on the earth. Then the Matsya
incarnation of Lord Vishnu revealed the truth and told that the earth
would soon be flooded with the water. Vishnu gifted Manu with a boat.
When the earth was flooded, Manu placed all living beings on the boat
and thus save them from immediate destruction. Vishnu himself arrived
in his form of the fish and Manu tied the boat to the fish`s horn.
Thus the living beings were saved. And when the waters of the flood
receded, Manu populated the world afresh.

Saving the mortals from immediate destruction, Lord Vishnu disappeared
and after that there was a terrible drought for hundred years on
earth. Consequently there was famine and people died out of
starvation. Sun also blazed in fury. At a time everything appeared to
burn into ashes. The clouds of destruction named samvarta, bhimananda,
drona, chanda, valahaka, vidyutapataka and kona appeared on the sky.
Again the rain began to pour from the water engulfed the entire earth.
Then Manu again save the living beings gathering them into the boat as
instructed by Lord Vishnu. When the fish appeared, Manu tied the boat
to the fish`s horn with a gigantic snake. While the boat was thus
dragged around by the fish, Manu asked Vishnu several questions. The
answer provided by the Matsya, formed the text of the Matsya Purana.

During this session of conversation Vishnu imparted Manu, the Surya
Vamshi king, the knowledge of the mystery of creation, destruction and
recreation, the various eras in universe, knowledge about the solar
and the lunar dynasties and the royal genealogies. Thus Manu achieved
the wisdom that Divinity is eternal.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/matsya_purana.htm

Linga Purana

The description of the seven islands, Mount Meru and other prominent
mountains and many others are described here.

The Linga Purana is divided into two parts. The first part of the
Purana describes the origin of the Linga and gives the detail
description of its worship. There are also other sections dealing with
the creation of the cosmos, immolation of Kama, marriage of Shiva,
description of Surya and Soma and the descriptions of Varaha and
Narshimha avatars of Vishnu.

In the next part is described the prominence of Lord Vishnu, and the
emergence of Brahma as the creator of cosmos.

The description of the seven islands, Mount Meru and other prominent
mountains is described in the third section of this Purana. There is
also the reference of the radiance of Surya.

Linga Purana The next part deals with the account of Dhruva, origin of
different deities, details of dynasties of Aaditya and Yadu,
annihilation of the demon Jalandhar and the origin of Ganesh.

The last part describes the story of Upamanyu, significance of certain
mantras, importance of gurus, different types of yoga and the
procedure for the installation of linga. The Linga Purana describes
Shiva in the quoted words, "Shiva is signless (sexless), without
color, taste or smell, beyond word and touch, without quality,
changeless, motionless."

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/linga_purana.htm

Shiva Purana

The Venkateshvara Press Edition of the Vayaviya Samhita states the
fact that the original text was known as Saiva Purana

• Andhaka • Pidari, Consort of Shiva • Khandoba,
Incarnation of Lord Shiva
• Bhairava, Incarnation of Shiva • Virabhadra, Form of Shiva
• Saiva Origins of God Vitthala
• Skanda, Son of Shiva • Chandrashekhara • Nataraja
• Nandi, Attendant of Lord Shiva • Mercury Shivalinga •
Kartikeya
• Ardhanarishvara • Jalamdhara • Hymns for Lord Shiva
• Shree Shiv Tandav Stotram • Tandu • Pushpadanta

Shiva PuranaThe Shiva Purana, one of the major texts of the eighteen
Puranas is considered to be the holy scriptures of the Hindus. The
Shiva Purana was completely ascribed to the Hindu God Shiva or
Maheshwar. The Shiva Purana is the compilation of the instructions
provided by Lord Shiva on Dharma sitting in the posture of linga
(phallus). This Purana concerns about the twenty-eight forms of lord
Shiva and contains 11,000 verses depicting the deeds of the Hindu god
Shiva. The common belief runs that if the book is given as a gift to a
Brahmin with tiladhenu on the full-moon day in the month of Phalguna
(March), the donor will attain Shivasayujya.

The chief subjects with which the Shiva Purana deals with are the
glory of Lord Nrismhadeva, Janardhana, the story of Ambarisha; the
glories of Gayatri etc.

The Shiva Purana essentially depicts the appearance of Lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva is reckoned as one among the Tridevas (trinity). The Shiva
Purana depicts the eternal truth that Brahma is the creator, Lord
Vishnu is the preserver and Lord Shiva is the destroyer. According to
the Shiva Purana, the Lord Shiva is also considered as the lord of
Shakti or power.

The omnipresence of Lord Shiva is illustrated by a shlok in the Shiva
Purana. The Shlok runs like this:

# Vamange chavibhati bhudharasutadevayagamastake
# Bhale bala vidhurgale cha garalam yasyorasivyalamta
# Soayamam bhuti vibhushanah sura
# Varamsarvadhiyah sarvada,
# Sharvah savagaiah shivam shashinimah
# Shri shankarh shatumam

The meaning of the above shlok is also enumerated, while the original
text was translated by the eminent scholars. It means that Lord Shiva
who has on his left side mother Parvati, who has the Ganges and the
moon on his forehead, who has poison in the throat and cobras on the
chest, such an omnipresence greater than the gods, Lord Shiva may
protect the entire mortal world.

However this scriptural form of the Shiva Purana can be considered
with a scientific view. A thorough scientific outlook to the
scriptural form of the Shiva Purana would led the common individual to
understand what god wants to preach for the well being of the mortal
worlds.

At the first step of the scientific consideration, the scholars have
tried to endeavor the mystery that why Jagdamba Parvati is on the Left
of Shiva. The lord of Shakti. After a methodical contemplation of the
contemporary religious scriptures, the scholars have provided a
satisfactory illustration of this mystery. According to Shiva Purana,
Jagdamba Parvati is the form of power. Lord Shiva always keeps her on
his left side because he himself remains in a state of tapasya
(meditation). The left part of a male is always assumed inauspicious
and the source of all trouble, on the other hand Parvati being the
form of power is considered always auspicious. Hence, in order to
destroy all inauspiciousness and obstacles, Lord Shiva keeps Parvati
on his left side. Besides, Lord Shiva is himself a form of
inauspiciousness as is illustrated by the shlok in the Shiva Purana.
The Shlok runs like this:

Amangalyam sheelam tavabhavatu
Namaivamakhilam
Tathapi Smartrinama varada paramam mangamas

The meaning of the shlok as is defined by the scholars is that it is
famous in the whole world that Lord Shiva is inauspicious, but a giver
of all kinds of auspiciousness for those who remember him. This virtue
is because of Parvati`s presence with him.

The implication of the presence of Goddess Parvati with Shiva is again
defined in a shloka: "Naryastu yatra pujyante ramante Tatra Devatah".
This means that is where the womenfolk are worshipped the gods stay
there. Lord Shiva preaches the same to his devotees, that if they
respect women, all the inauspiciousness, all hurdles would be removed
automatically. The scientific perspective to the presence of Parvati
illustrates that the womenfolk are the sole authority of power. To
show them the proper respect is considered as offering worship to the
God.

The second aspect is the presence of Mother Ganga on the head of lord
Shiva. A scientific outlook is also approached to this aspect. The
Ganges, the most sacred river in India, represents coolness, holiness
and serenity. Lord Shiva holds her on his head, thus preaching to
devotees that if they bear coolness, holiness and serenity in their
head that would balance the mental equilibrium of the individual,
thereby bringing peace. To achieve a complete state of equilibrium an
individual should give up anger, envy and disturbances that haunt
their minds, they will achieve all kinds of perfection and successes.

The New Moon on the forehead of Lord Shiva can be considered with a
scientific perspective. The moon represents a shining but cool,
celestial body. Lord Shiva wears it on his forehead, thus preaching a
peaceful mind and far-sightedness. The moon on forehead indicates that
if a decision is taken with a cool, peaceful mind and with far-
sightedness; all the tasks will be completed successfully, resulting
in the increase of one`s honour and prosperity.

The poison carrying in the throat also has an important scientific
implication. When the gods and demons united churned the sea, it was
the poison that came out first. Seeing the lethal poison, both the
gods and the demons got nervous, they approached Lord Shiva and prayed
him to hold it. Lord Shiva (Ashutosh) agreed to their prayers and
swallowed the deadly poison. That poison, however, did not reach his
stomach; instead it stuck in the throat, turning it blue.

Thus, holding the poison in the neck, Lord Shiva preaches that one
should not contain poison in his belly. This can also be implied in
other way that one should not even wish ill for the others, leave
apart doing ill. Speaking harsh words is, however, another thing, but
one should not cultivate feelings of-envy and enmity for others.

The snake on the chest implied grave significance, according to the
Shiva Purana. Snakes being poisonous creatures, people always scared
of snakes. In scriptures and in practical life, the snake is termed as
Kaala, which represents death. But Lord Shiva bears snakes on his
chest. Bearing snake on the chest implies that Lord Shiva preaches to
people that if they do not engage their mind and intellect in the
worship of god, death is always facing them. If you keep your mind and
intellect busy in prayers and worship, even death can do no harm to
you. Instead, it would become a means to adorn you. The reason of
having a snake around his chest is implied in the Shiva Purana is
vishasyaa vishamaushdhama. The Sanskrit phrase articulates that the
best antidote for poison is poison itself. Hence, to terminate the
effect of poison, Lord Shiva has worn poisonous snakes around his
shoulders.

The Ox as the Vehicle of Lord Shiva implied religious significance.
Scriptures assume the ox as an incarnation of Dharmraj. As is
mentioned in Parikshita Kaliyugaprasanga, in kali Yuga, dharma will be
killed, which will increase the sin in the mortal world. The dharma or
the religion is represented by the form of Ox. The sacred scripture
written by Sage Manu runs like this: "Vrisho hibhagawana
dharmastasyayahkurut alum Vrishanam tarn vidurde vastasmaddhama na
lopayeta". It implies that an ox is a different incarnation of the
Dharma god; the killing of an ox would be considered as a sin and the
individual performing this would be considered as a sinner. Hence, one
must not cause the assassination or elimination of Dharma from the God
created universe. Riding the ox, Lord Shiva preaches to the people
that "Dharmo rakshati rakshitah". The illustration of the phrase is
defined in the Shiva Purana. It signifies that the protected religion
protects the follower. Hence everyone should follow the path of
religion which will lead the individual to have the eternal knowledge
or wisdom.

The Shiva Purana contains a detailed description of the Shiva
Parivara. Shiva Parivara is a conglomerate of strange things, which is
opposite to each other. The conflicting things exist side by side in
the Shiva Parivara Lord in spite of their inevitable enmity in the
mortal world. Hence the Shiva Parivara constitutes a special
significance, which is enumerated in the Shiva Purana. Shiva has the
ox as his vehicle and the snake as a garland. On the contrary Parvati,
who is the form of Shakti (power), has the lion as her vehicle. Lion
is a natural enemy of the ox. Kartikeya`s vehicle is a peacock, which
is an enemy of the snake that adorns Lord Shiva`s chest. Ganesh has
the mouse as his vehicle. The mouse is a natural prey of the snake

But amidst these strange diversities, Lord Shiva remains submerged in
his sadhana with full concentration. The significance of these strange
diversities is that the creatures dwelling in the cosmos created by
Brahma are different from each other. Hence, it is natural that their
intellect and thoughts would be different as well. Thus, the sole idea
is that if unity is maintained in a combined family despite multitude
of diversities and controversies, the family would never face any
wrath on the purpose of {sadhana) and the means (sadhana) to achieve
it. The Shiva Parivara according to the Shiva Purana maintained unity
in the diversity. The unity is marked in the purpose of sadhana.

Moreover, the Shiva Purana also implies that even the ferocious animal
can give up their violence in an environment where sadhana and penance
are preformed. Thus the violence and jealousy for the fellow beings
can be eliminated with the performance of strong penance. The peaceful
existence in the diversity of the mortal world can be achieved only by
the observation of the strong reparation and sadhana.

Apart from Shiva Purana many sages also give beautiful examples of the
above mentioned unity in diversity. Those sages and hermits used to
live and penance in huts made in the jungles. The existence of the
human beings with the fierce wild animals implies that with the effect
of their penance, it was said that even violent animals abandoned
their natural instinct of violence and all of them roamed freely
without fear.

The appearance of Kala Bhairava is a significant aspect with which the
Shiva Purana deals. The words bhai means formidable and Rava means
sound, which appropriately depict Kala Bhairava. Thus, Kala Bhairava
literally connotes the individual, one who produces sound as
formidable and frightening as Kala or death. Kala Bhairava is a gana
or agent of Lord Shiva and the guard on his gates. One of the
befitting virtues of a guard is that he is a very light sleeper and an
ideal example of faithfulness for his lord. The form of Kala Bhairava
is introduced in the Shiva Purana in order to teach people that they
must learn to faithfully discharge their duty for their lord i.e. the
God himself and do the allotted task sincerely, so that no task of the
lord is marred.

The Shiva Purana is venerated as the religious texts with enough
scientific implications. The description of lord Shiva along with his
surroundings is intended to provide a teaching to the agonized mortal
existence in the Kali Yug. The Shiva Purana through its verses directs
the ways of hard penance to be performed, which would lead the
individual to get rid of his inescapable sufferings.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/shiva_purana.htm

Skanda Purana

There are descriptions of the Shaiva tradition in Hemakuta region
(near Vijayanagar) of Karnataka in this Purana.

The Skanda Purana is the largest of the eighteen Puranas of the
Hindus. The Skanda Purana is named so because it was narrated by
Skanda. This Purana mainly deals with the life and deeds of the
Kartikeya also known as Skanda, the son of Shiva Parvati. Being the
thematic discussion about the life of Kartikeya, the son of Siva,
there is also found the descriptions of the Shaiva tradition of the
Hemkuta region near Vijaynagar of Karnataka. The reason and the
effects of the birth of Kartikeya constitute another important subject
of discussion of the Skanda Purana. Kartikeya became the commander in
chief of the God`s army and killed the demon Tarkasura. There is a
great similarity between this Purana and the Kumarasambhava of
Kalidasa. There are 81,000 verses in this Purana. It is considered to
be auspicious if this book is given as a gift.

The largest of all the Puranas, the Skanda Puranas has seven parts-
Maheshwar, Vaishnava, Brahma, Kashi, Avanti, Nagar and Prabhasa.

Maheshwar Khand contains a description of Daksh`s animosity towards
lord Shiva, the significance of Sati rites, virtues of worshipping
Lord shiva, Churning of Ocean, the emergence of Ambrosia, Lord
Brahma`s boon to Tarkasura, Lord Shiva`s test of Parvati`s devotion,
the arrival of saptarshis, birth of Kartikeya, Tarkasura killed by
Kartikeya, virtues of performing fast on shivaratri, Kartikeya`s
sorrow, killing of Pralamb, Kaalbhiti`s great penance, karandham`s
Queries, significance of the Arunachal Shiva Linga and ultimately
established Lord Shiva as the Sovereign creator.

Vaishnava Khand deals with the tales related to Lord Vishnu`s life and
plays, his virtues, description of holy places of pilgrimage like
Purshottam Tirth (Jagannath Puri), Badrikashrama, Heratkeshwar,
Avantika Prabhasa, Dwarika, etc., significance of fasting, glorious
effects of ritual bathing in Kartik, Margasheersh and Vaisakha months,
description of subjects like knowledge, asceticism, devotion, moral
conduct, cleanliness, Varnashram (four phases of life), Pativrat
(abidance to the spouse), Yagya, donation, expiation, and Shraddha
(offering to dead ancestors).

Apart from these two main parts the remaining khandas likewise deal
with the glorious exploits of Lord Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/skanda_purana.htm

Agni Purana

Agni Purana has detailed account of Rama, Krishna, Prithvi and the
stars.

• Adhyayas in Agni Purana

Agni Purana is one of the eighteen Hindu Puranas which provides a
vivid description of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The Purana which
describes the occurrences of the Isana Kalpa and was related by Lord
Agni to sage Vasistha is called Agneya. It consists of sixteen
thousand stanzas distributed in three hundred and eighty three
chapters. The Puranas have obtained the name of Panchalakshana because
their contents generally embrace five topics namely (1) Primary
creation, or cosmogony, (2) secondary creation, (3) genealogy of gods
and patriarchs, (4) reigns of the Manus, (5) history of the solar and
lunar dynasties. There are also detailed account of Lord Rama, Lord
Krishna, Prithvi and the stars. There are a number of verses dealing
with cosmology, history, warfare, law, medicine, martial art, and a
lot more. Other references include Shivalinga and Durgadevi. This
Purana imparts knowledge on all arts and sciences.

The subject matter of this Purana, is two-fold-namely Paravidya,
sacred knowledge or theology and Apara Vidya, profane knowledge or the
arts and sciences known to the people. The contents of this Purana
clearly show that it has no sectarial leaning. It impartially treats
of Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Sakta forms of worship. It is more a
compendium of Sanskrit learning than the advocacy of any particular
form of religion. It is classed among the Tamasa or the delusive
division of the Puranas.

The cyclopaedical character of the Agni Purana, as it is described,
excludes it from any legitimate claims to be regarded as a Purana, and
proves that its origin cannot be very remote. It is subsequent to the
Itihasas, to the chief Work on grammar, rhetoric, and medicine, and to
the introduction of the Tantrik worship of Devi.

The materials of the Agni Purana are, however, no doubt, of some
antiquity. The medicine of Susruta is considerably older than the
ninth century; and the grammar of Panini probably precedes
Christianity. The chapters on archery and arms, and on regal
administration, are also distinguished an entirely Hindu character,
and must have been written long anterior to the Muslim invasion. So
far the Agni Purana is valuable, as embodying and preserving relics of
antiquity, although compiled at a more recent date.

The early chapters of this Purana describe the Avataras, and in those
of Rama and Krishna, avowedly follow the Ramayana and Mahabharata. A
considerable portion is appropriated to instructions for the
performance of religious ceremonies; many of which belong to the
Tantrik rituals and are apparently transcribed from the principal
authorities of that system. Interspersed with these are chapters
descriptive of the earth and of the universe, which are same as those
of the Vishnu Purana; and Mahatmyas or legends of the holy places,
particularly of Gaya. Chapters on the duties of kings and on the art
of war then occur, which have the appearance of being extracted from
some older work, as is, undoubtedly, the chapter on judicature, which
follows them, and which is the same as the text of the Mitakshara.
Subsequent to these there is an account of the distribution and
arrangement of the Vedas and Puranas and, in a chapter on gifts, we
have a description of the Puranas, which is precisely the same and in
the same situation, as the similar subject in the Matsya Purana.

Paravidya and the science of Brahma occur in this Purana. It is a very
interesting account and will prove, without doubt, highly useful to
the readers. The chapters on Law-Courts, Judicial Officers, evidences,
inheritance, boundary and other disputes, &c, may not be very useful
to those who are .familiar with the law literature of the Hindus
codified by Manu, Mitakarshara, but they will afford a very profitable
and interesting study to the general readers who have not the time and
patience to go through those voluminous treatises. The subject of
training in the use of arms and armour is treated in four chapters; of
this archery is principally dealt with. These chapters are highly
interesting.

Finally it can be concluded saying that Agni Purana is detailed
discourse given by Agni to sage Vasistha regarding various aspects of
human life.

(Last Updated on : 18/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/agni_purana.htm

Kurma Purana

It also contains the conversation between Krishna and the Sun God,
Danvantari and other interesting notes.

Kurma Purana is a compilation of the teachings imparted by Kurma
(incarnation of Vishnu as Kurma or tortoise) while narrating the story
of Indradyumna at Patala. The Kurma mainly deals with the description
of the seven islands and seven oceans and the churning of Amrita.
Bharata is situated in the centre of all these islands and ocean and
is popularly known as Jambu dvipa. There were originally four samhitas
of the Kurma Purana namely, Brahma Samhita, Bhagavad Samhita, Souri
Samhita and Vaishnavi Samhita, which provide knowledge about the Kurma
Purana but presently, only the Brahma samhita is available now. The
Brahmana Samhita of the Kurma Purana includes two parts- Vyagratita
and Vyagastitho. It is believed that if the book is to be given as
gift along with a golden image of the tortoise it is auspicious.

The mode of narration of this Purana is the conversation between
Krishna and the Sun God (mentioned in Bhagavad Gita) and Danvantari.
It also describes the Lakshmi Kalpa. This Purana consists of 18,000
verses.

Lord Vishnu, in Kurma avatar (tortoise incarnation), had first
preached this Purana to Narad. In his turn, Narad narrated it to Sutji
who later narrated this Purana to an assembly of the great sages.
Initially, this Purana had four parts, namely, Brahma Samhita,
Bhagavad Samhita, Gauri Samhita and Vaishnavi Samhita. Presently,
however, none of these Samhitas is available except Brahma Samhita.

The teachings of the Kurma Purana were propagated by the recitation.
Lomharshana recited the Kurma Purana to the assembled sages in the
forest of Naimisharanya. The Devas were defeated by the Asuras and
needed to churn out the "amrita" from the ocean in order to attain
immortality. As a result they tricked the Asuras into helping them in
this task promising to give the share of Amrita. Mount Mandara was
used to stir the ocean while churning the amrita. As the ocean was
churned the mountain was making a hole in the earth. Witnessing the
upcoming destruction, Lord Vishnu himself assumed the form of a Giant
Tortoise and bore the Mountain on his back so that the churning can be
continued. At that very time the he recited the Kurma Purana, which
became the form of text of this Purana. Later that Kurma or tortoise
assumed the form of a beautiful maiden named Mohini to prevent the
demons or Asuras from imbibing Amrita.

The existing Brahma Samhita depicts this story of Kurma Purana in two
parts- the Purva part and the Uttar part.

The Purva part of the Brahma samhita comprises the tale of
Indradyumna, description of Kurma Purana, description of Varnashram,
description of the sequence of these ashrams, origin of the geosphere,
description of various incarnations of Lord Vishnu, preaching of the
gods, description of the self-begotten Manu, destruction of Daksh`s
yagya, killing of Hiranyakashipu, Vamana avatar (dwarf incarnation),
description of Iksvaku clan, description of Pururava clan, description
of Rama and Krishna incarnations, description of Satya, Treta, Dwapar
and Kali yugas, greatness of Varanasi, greatness of lingas, greatness
of Prayag, Yamuna and other pilgrimages.

The Uttara part khandas deals with the performance of sacrificial
duties in the mortal existence. On the essential level Uttara khand of
Purana describes the worldly matters and duties to be performed as a
mortal being and also denotes the right yoga of unexpressed knowledge,
appearance of Devadidev (Rudra) during Tandava, description of
metaphysical knowledge, preaching of metaphysical knowledge by God,
description of Ash tang Yoga, duties of a celibate, description of
edible and non-edible things, rituals to be performed regularly,
rituals of dining, description of the duties of a Vanaprasthi, duties
of an ascetic, description of expiation, expiation for drinking of
wine and greatness of different places of pilgrimage.

Thus like the other Puranas Kurma Puranas also provide information to
the eternity of God even in all ages and it provide introduction to
the different yogas , which the individuals should perform as a mortal
being.

(Last Updated on : 19/03/2010)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/kurma_purana.htm

Agneya Purana

Agneya is the name of one of the eighteen Puranas.

Agneya is the name of one of the eighteen Puranas. It is sometimes
confused with the Agni Purana, which was written in different parts of
India in the nineteenth century. It is said to be composed by the
Tantriks with a sectarian motive. As the Tantricism became famous,
this Purana became popular. For this reason, the original Agneya
Purana had to change its name to Vahni Purana. The Agneya Purana can
be found in the Asiatic Society in Calcutta.

This article is a stub. You can enrich by adding more information to
it. Send your Write Up to ***@indianetzone.com

(Last Updated on : 19/03/2010)

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Puranic Deities of India

Puranic Deities in India are worshipped by the Hindus, they are of
immense supremacy and are considered to be almighty.

The Hindu religion is famous example of worshipping over 330 million
deities. Each deity or god has his own identity and the names are
associated with their power. Since ancient days, the sages and seers
sensed god everywhere, he is considered to be omnipresent as well as
omnipotent. Gods enjoy a chief position in the Hinduism. Indian
Puranas describe the significance of Gods. Puranic Deities in India
include both male and female goddess. In the Puranic texts, the
immense supremacy of these gods and goddess are described profoundly.

The Indian Puranas narrate the stories and myths of Vishnu and Siva
who were visualized as forming a triad with Lord Brahma. These Puranic
Deities in India evolved during the period of 4th or 5th century A.D.
Various legends are associated with the deities of the Puranic Period.
Lord Vishnu, the minor Vedic deity was identified with Vasudeva. He is
believed to have ten incarnations (avataras) and Krishna emerged as an
incarnation too. Lord Shiva, another Puranic deity is the ancient
fertility god. He is worshipped in various forms.

The female ensemble of Siva, Shakti or Goddess Durga in association
with her male deity is also regarded to be among the Puranic Deities
in India. She is regarded as the source of power. In addition to that
Shaktism and development of Tantrism stresses on the power of Goddess
Durga. Other gods and goddess are also worshipped as the Puranic
deities. There are gods for vegetation, gods for weather, gods for
nature, gods for geographical areas, gods for villages as well as gods
for the house. Furthermore, the Gods infuse art and creativity and
provoke destruction too. Thus lots of deities found their place in the
Puranas and in other Hindu mythologies.

Puranic Deities in India embrace a widespread devotion for Lord
Krishna. There is a cultural acceptance of an aspect that Krishna is
the incarnation of Vishnu and came down to earth to liberate all
sufferings from the human world. Vedanta also allows the perfect
existence of Gods. Every religious text narrates certain glories of
the gods and goddess. Lord Soma is one such God referred in the Veda.
Soma is an intoxicating drink, which was used in sacrifices. Many
hymns in the Rig Veda are dedicated to Soma. Lord Ganesha is another
deity of importance found since the Puranic days.

Goddess Manasa, Goddess Gayatri , Goddess Ganga, Lord Hanuman , Lord
Indra , Lord Yama, Lord Kamadeva, Lord Kubera , Lord Narada , Lord
Varuna and Lord Viswakarma are among the Puranic Deities in India. All
of them are the almighty and according to mythological beliefs the
soul of a human being finally mingles with the absolute.

(Last Updated on : 19/03/2010)

Indian Mythological Places

Indian Mythological Places play a significant role in the religion,
culture and history of the subcontinent.

Indian mythological places along with their divine spirituality and
rich history have further enriched the history of India to a great
extent. From the remote past of the ancient times, myth has definitely
played a major role in almost every sphere of Indian religion, culture
and in the Indian spiritual beliefs. There are several mythological
places in India which are described in some of the famous epics like
the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Upanishad.

Atharva Veda compares the opulence of Ayodhya to that of the glory and
splendour of the Swarga or Paradise. Indraprastha has been elaborately
described in the great epic Mahabharata. The conflict between the
Pandavas and Kauravas of Mahabharata generated with regard to the
inheritance of the kingdom of Indraprastha. Indraprastha was one of
the ancient India cities and also the capital of the Pandavas of
Mahabharata. The city was situated by the side of the Yamuna River and
also in close proximity to the modern national capital of Delhi.

The difference between the Pandavas and the Kauravas generating from
the game of dice, led to the battle of Kurukshetra. The Kurukshetra
war was fought between the Pandavas and Kauravas, a vital part of the
epic Mahabharata. As per this epic, a dynastic fight involving the
Pandavas and the Kauravas for Hastinapura resulted in fierce battle in
which a large number of ancient kingdoms took part as allies of the
rival clans. The battle field was situated in Haryana, one of the
modern states of India. Another myth is the Lakshagriha where
Duryodhana wanted to set fire and kill the Pandavas.

In the epic of Ramayana, Manu established the primitive city of
Ayodhya. For centuries, Ayodhya stayed as the capital of the Surya
Dynasty. Lord Rama was born to this dynasty as the 7th avatar or
incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It has been mentioned in the Atharvaveda
that Ayodhya is a city which was constructed by gods. There is another
set of folklores which links the landscape of Hampi with Ramayana. The
monkey kingdom of Kishkinda is exhibited as the place around Hampi.
Anjayaneya Hill, situated across the Tungabhadra River, is considered
to be the place where Lord Hanuman was born. As per myth, the Hemakuta
Hill in Hampi is believed to be the place where Lord Shiva did his
penance before his marriage to Pampa.

Lanka was the name of the capital of the demon king Ravana in the epic
Ramayana.

Lord Vishwakarma, the divine carpenter and master craftsman, is
believed to have designed the weapons of the gods and constructed
their chariots and cities. He is also considered to have created the
mythical city of Lanka and also the image of Lord Jagannath in the
district of Puri in Orissa. He is believed to have revealed the
sciences of mechanics and architecture to men and is also the
workman`s patron deity.

(Last Updated on : 29/10/2009)

http://www.indianetzone.com/13/index_mythological_places.htm

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

INDIAN RHETORIC IN THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS, 1893
Speeches of Vivekananda and Others
M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

INDIAN AWARENESS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Ram Mohun Roy (1772-1833), a man of unorthodox ideas, full of zeal for
western ideas and eastern resurgence, was actively involved in the re-
interpretation of Hindu thought and precepts in western parlance. In
1835, the Minute of Macaulay became the cornerstone of future Indian
education with English as the primary tool. In 1885, the Indian
National Congress was founded, a great symbolic event that led to the
resurgence of Indian political thought and aspirations. In 1893, the
time was ripe for an Indian to present to the western audience and to
the world the Vedantic ideas of Hinduism, and claim leadership among
the nations for spirituality. In the process, India as a single and
united nation got a wider notice, helping the growth of national
consciousness in India.

VIVEKANANDA'S ARRIVAL IN AMERICA

Vivekananda was a product of his time; he arrived in America at a time
when the Unitarian ideas have already seized the imagination of
leading writers and thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). He
arrived in America for the Parliament of Religions, an alternate name
for the World's Congress of Religions, and stayed there for six years
(?), establishing several centers of discussion groups.

THE WORLD'S CONGRESS OF RELIGIONS OR PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS

The World's Congress of Religions was held in Chicago from Monday,
September 11, 1893 for 18 days, at the Art Institute under the
auspices of the World's Columbian Exposition. The proceedings of the
Congress, giving "the addresses and papers delivered before the
Parliament" were published in a volume edited by J. W. Hanson through
the International Publishing Company in Chicago in 1894. This volume
has an interesting introductory chapter with the title "Opening of the
Parliament." This statement claims that the volume contains "the cream
of the great religious parliament and congresses."

On the opening day, there were 43 delegates seated on the dais of the
hall. Two of these were Japanese translators for the Japanese
speakers. Of these 41 delegates, it appears from the list that there
were 10 with Indian names seated on the dais. Indeed, 25% of the
participants came from far off India! If we include the westerners who
presented papers on Indian religions and thought, then, a significant
part of the membership of the delegates who were seated on the dais
came from India.

INDIAN DELEGATES ON THE DAIS

The names of persons from India who were seated on the dais were as
follows:

1.Rajah Ram, of the Punjab.
2.Birchand Raghavji Gandhi, Honorary Secretary of the Jain Asociation,
of India, Bombay.
3.Rev. P.C. Mazoomdar, India.
4.H. Dharmapala, India. (Actually he was from Ceylon, which was part
of British India at that time.)
5.Miss Jeanne Serabji, Bombay.
6.Swami Vivekanda, Bombay.
7.Professor Chakravarti, Bombay.
8.B. B.Nagarkar, Bombay, "representative of the religion of the Bromo,
Samaj."
9.Jinda Ram, India.
10.The Rev. Morris Phillips, of Madras.

THE ELOQUENT MR. P. C. MAZOOMDAR

The first Indian delegate to speak in the inaugural function in
response to the welcome speeches was "the eloquent P. C. Mazoomdar, of
the Brahmo-Somaj." Mazoomdar recognized the fact that there was a good
representation from India, and so he began as follows:

Leaders of the Parliament of Religions, Men, and Women of America: The
recognition, sympathy, and welcome you have given to India today are
gratifying to thousands of liberal Hindu religious thinkers, whose
representatives I see around me, and on behalf of my countrymen, I
cordially thank you. India claims her place in the brotherhood of
mankind, not only because of her great antiquity, but equally for what
has taken place there in recent times. Modern India has sprung from
ancient India by a law of evolution, a process of continuity which
explains some of the most difficult problems of our national life. In
prehistoric times our forefathers worshipped the great living Spirit,
God, and after many strange vicissitudes we, Indian theists, led by
the light of ages, worship the same living Spirit, God, and none
other. No individual, no denomination, can more fully sympathize or
more heartily join your conference than we men of the Brahmo-Somaj,
whose religion is the harmony of all religions, and whose congregation
is the brotherhood of all nations.
Note that even as Mazoomdar emphasized his Brahmo-Somaj theology, he
was very conscious of his Indian background. We notice a yearning for
the recognition of India, and for India joining the brotherhood of
nations, in his address. He actually set the tone for all other Indian
delegates who vie with one another to establish and demonstrate their
Indian identity. We see this urge to be part of the comity of nations
stated time and again in the speeches of Gandhi and Nehru. Nehru's
Tryst with Destiny speech clearly shows this urge. To be part of the
world and winning it for India appears to be a theme that continues to
propel Indian leaders and thinkers all the time. As we shall see,
there were different styles adopted by different Indian delegates, but
every one was keen to be seen as an India. Mazoomdar referred to his
countrymen on the dais as representing the liberal Hindu thinkers of
India. His idea of liberalism is, it appears to me, is the avoidance
of elements that hamper progress such as the so-called superstitious
practices of the day.

DHARMAPALA

Dharmapala from Ceylon saw in the Parliament of Religions a semblance
to the congress called by the Emperor Asoka. He was full of enthusiasm
for the possibility of carrying out Buddhist missionary goals.
Dharmapala brought

the good wishes of four hundred and seventy-five millions of
Buddhists, the blessings and peace of the religious founder of that
system which has prevailed so many centuries in Asia, which has made
Asia mild, and which is today, in its twenty-fourth century of
existence, the prevailing religion of the country. I have sacrificed
the greatest of all work to attend this parliament. I have left the
work of consolidation - an important work which we have begun after
seven hundred years-the work of consolidating the different Buddhist
countries, which is the most important work in the history of modern
Buddhism. When I read the programme of this parliament of religions I
saw it was simply the re-echo of a great consummation which the Indian
Buddhists accomplished twenty-four centuries ago.
At that time Asoka, the great emperor, held a council in the city of
Patma of one thousand scholars, which was in session for seven months.
The proceedings were epitomized and carved on rock and scattered all
over the Indian peninsula and the then known globe. After the
consummation of that programme the great emperor sent the gentle
teachers, the mild disciples of Buddha, in the garb that you see on
this platform, to instruct the world. In that plain garb they went
across the deep rivers, the Himalayas, to the plains of Mongolia and
the Chinese plains, and to the far-off beautiful isles, the empire of
the rising sun; and the influence of that congress held twenty-one
centuries ago is today a living power, because you everywhere see
mildness in Asia.
Go to any Buddhist country and where do you find such healthy
compassion and tolerance as you find there? Go to Japan, and what do
you see? The noblest lessons of tolerance. Go to any of the Buddhist
countries and you will see the carrying out of the programme adopted
at the congress called by the Emperor Asoka.
Why do I come here today? Because I find in this new city, in this
land of freedom, the very place where that programme can also be
carried out. For one year I meditated whether this parliament would be
a success. Then I wrote to Dr. Barrows that this would be the proudest
occasion of modern history, and the crowning work of nineteen
centuries. Yes, friends, if you are serious, if you are unselfish, if
you are altruistic, this programme can be carried out, and the twenty-
fifth century will see the teachings of the meek and lowly Jesus
accomplished.
Speaking from the perspective of Buddhism, Dharmapala had the
compulsion of focusing on the international characteristics of
Buddhism, not necessarily on Ceylon or India. His agenda was to show
case Buddhism, not any one particular country. His goal was to bring
Buddhism to America, to bring the civilizational effects of Buddhism
just as it happened throughout Asia because of the initiative of
Emperor Asoka. India came to be mentioned, but it is Asia, a continent
of Buddhist nations, that gets the major share.
There is a separate article published in the volume by Dharmapala,
whereIN he presents an able interpretation and relevance of Buddhism
for the world. Nationalism is under check there also. On the other
hand, the delegates from India would display their Indian identity
more prominently in all their speeches in the Parliament.

THE JAIN REPRESENTATIVE, VIRCHAND A. GANDHI

Virchand A. Gandhi made a brief speech in the inaugural function. The
volume reports as follows:

Virchand A. Gandhi, of Bombay, represented Jainism, a faith, he said,
older than Buddhism, similar to it in its ethics, but different from
it in its psychology, and professed by one million five hundred
thousand of India's most peaceful and law-abiding citizens. You have
heard so many speeches from eloquent members, and as I shall speak
later on at some length, I will, therefore, at present, only offer, on
behalf of my community and their high priest, Mony Atma Ranji, who I
especially represent here, our sincere thanks for the kind welcome you
have given us. This spectacle of the learned leaders of thought and
religion meeting together on a common plat form, and throwing light on
religious problems, has been the dream of Atma Ranji's life. He has
commissioned me to say to you that he offers his most cordial
congratulations on his own behalf, and on behalf of the Jain
community, for your having achieved the consummation of that grand
idea of convening of a parliament religions.
Virchand Gandhi's speech is typical of Indian speech on such
occasions. He considered himself a humble servant of his high priest,
carrying out the command of the high priest. This form of rhetoric is
often the mode that the disciples, students, and servants of superiors
adopt in the public domain. We consider it our duty to mention our
superiors even though they are not present. Truly Indian in many
respects, words from English, but delivered in characteristic Indian
style. Tradition demands it, and we simply follow it.

PROFESSOR C. N. CHAKRAVARTI ON THEOSOPHY

The opening chapter reports that,

Prof. C. N. Chakravarti represented Indian theosophy. He said: I came
here to represent a religion, the dawn of which appeared in a misty
antiquity of which the powerful microscope of modern research has not
yet been able to discover; the depth of whose beginnings the plummet
of history has not been able to sound. From time immemorial spirit has
been represented by white, and matter has been represented by black,
and the two sister streams which join at the town from which I came,
Allahabad, represent two sources of spirit and matter, according to
the philosophy of my people. And when I think that here, in this city
of Chicago, this vortex of physicality, this center of material
civilization, you hold a parliament of religions; when I think that,
in the heart of the world's fair, where abound all the excellencies of
the physical world, you have provided also a hall for the feast of
reason and the flow of soul, I am once more reminded of my native
land.
'Why?' Because here, even here, I find the same two sister streams of
spirit and matter, of the intellect and physicality, joining hand in
hand, representing the symbolical evolution of the universe. I need
hardly tell you that, in holding this parliament of religions, where
all the religions of the world are to be represented, you have acted
worthily of the race that is in the vanguard of civilization, a
civilization the chief characteristic of which, to my mind, is the
widening toleration, breadth of heart, and liberality toward all the
different religions of the world. In allowing men of different shades
of religious opinion, and holding different views as to philosophical
and metaphysical problems, to speak from the same platform aye, even
allowing me, who, I confess, am a heathen as you call me to speak from
the same platform with them, you have acted in a manner of worthy of
the motherland of the society which I have come to represent today.
The fundamental principle of that society is universal tolerance; its
cardinal belief that, underneath the superficial strata, runs the
living water of truth."
Professor Chakravarti drew a picture of India that would continue to
be referred to in all speeches, and in the India political platforms.
This is a picture of India that the elitist and non-elitist classes
believed in as truly prevalent. The respect that he received was
because his mother land deserved this respect. Regional attitudes were
not exhibited. India remained in his and others' speeches as a single
colossal nation with a past that every one could be proud of.

THUNDER FROM BENGAL - SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S RESPONSE TO WELCOME

Next was the address of Vivekananda, in the opening ceremony. Swami
Vivekananda was listed as a delegate from Bombay, India, a monk. The
opening chapter says,
he responded: It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in
response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I
thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world;
I thank you in the name of the mother of religion, and I thank you in
the name of the millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes
and sects.
Note the three elements or basic assumptions of Vivekananda: most
ancient order of monks in the world, mother of religion, and millions
and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects. He presents
himself as representing these three important elements. The matter did
not end there. In the following paragraph he would go one step further
to characterize Hinduism as not only a religion of tolerance but also
of universal acceptance. With this statement, he would claim a much
wider scope for Hinduism and India:

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who have
told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor
of bearing to the different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud
to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and
universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but
we accept all religions to be true.
Vivekananda distinguished Hinduism not only from the major religion of
Christianity of his audience by this sentence, but also from Buddhism.
And then he would ascribe this characteristic to India. While
toleration is a characteristic of Buddhism, Vivekananda would like to
emphasize the ready and willing acceptance of all religions as true in
comparison to Buddhism.

Here below is an interesting linguistic argument of Vivekananda:

I am proud to tell you that I belong to a religion into whose sacred
language, Sanskrit, the word seclusion is untranslatable.
He relates this inability to seclude people or theology to the
magnificent Indian tradition of welcoming all with open arms into
India.

Then he strikes a sympathetic cord in the hearts of his listeners by
referring to the hoary past of the generosity of Indian people to all
the nations that visited them and lived among them. His religion and
nation become one in this statement.

I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted
and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am
proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest
remnant of Israelites, a remnant which came to southern India and took
refuge with us in the very year their holy temple was shattered to
pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which
has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand
Zoroastrian nation. I will to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn
which remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is
every day repeated by millions of human beings: 'As the different
streams, having their sources in different places, all mingle their
water in the sea, oh, Lord, soothe different paths which men take
through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or
straight, all lead to Thee.'
Note that the illustrations are not taken merely from only one region.
These were taken deliberately from the different regions of India: the
south and the west, and the people groups chosen, especially the case
of the Israelites, are quite well known. India, from times immemorial,
gave asylum to people of various religions in their dire need. What
else best illustrates the magnanimity of the nation? Fortunately, we
saw this enduring quality demonstrated several times in the twentieth-
century. I am not sure of the future. In any case, Vivekananda was
ready with linguistic and sociological examples, and he could present
these examples with telling effect to an audience which was eager to
hear such things. In addition, how smartly Vivekananda inserted an
autobiographical note, when he mentioned that he would recite a few
lines from a hymn that he knew from his earliest boyhood. It revealed
his religious preparation and discipline right from his early
childhood.

The specifics of his project were presented immediately after drawing
an impressive picture of India, its people, and their religion.
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies
ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of
the wonderful doctrine preached in Gita. 'Whoever comes to Me, through
whatsoever form I reach him, they are all struggling through paths
that in the end always lead to Me.'
A Universalist message was presented with a verse from Gita, which
certainly supported vividly his earlier thesis about tolerance and
universal acceptance apologetics of elitist Hinduism. Vivekananda was
never away or distracted from his main purpose.

Then Vivekananda declares:

Sectarianism, bigotry and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have
possessed long this beautiful earth. It has filled the earth with
violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed
civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for
this horrible demon, human society would be far more advanced than it
is now.
Vivekananda views humanity as engaged in a process of social
evolution. Charles Darwin, the British Naturalist (1809-1882) had just
died ten years before the inauguration of the Parliament of World's
Religions, leaving behind his widely acclaimed works, experiments,
reports and observations proposing a focused theory of evolution.
Vivekananda found a powerful ally in the elucidation of his own
thoughts and interpretation of the core elements of elitist Hinduism.
For an audience that was already well acquainted with Darwin's theory,
Vivekananda's speech was most welcome. In addition, the terms such as
possessed and demon have their own significance to a Christian
audience. Vivekananda achieves a fine blend of Naturalism and
Christian metaphor to present his own understanding and interpretation
of humanity's ills. And his prescription to cure the humanity of this
continuing ill is the acceptance of the basic approach of elitist
Hinduism as adumbrated in Gita. Many gurus after him, small and big,
would follow this very same path, and achieve great names or disrepute
for them in the western nations.

Vivekananda presented rhetoric full of hope:

But its time has come, and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled
this morning in honor of this convention will be the death-knell to
all fanaticism, to all persecutions with the sword or the pen, and to
all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the
same goal.
Vivekananda's choice of words and phrases and the sequencing of
sentences had carried powerful suggestive metaphors. He was not simply
presenting some one else's ideas or representing some one else. He was
not associating himself with any established organizations or groups.
He was representing himself, presenting his way of thinking in a
language and idiom that was well understood by his audience. We have
no direct evidence to show how his Indian accent helped or hampered
the delivery of his speech. He must have delivered his speech in such
a manner that most of them understood it, despite his Indian accent.
In writing, his speech in response to the welcome accorded to the
delegates certainly stands in contrast to the speeches of his
compatriots.

AN INDIAN CHRISTIAN'S PLEA - THE SPEECH OF MISS JEANNE SERABJI

The volume reports also the speeches of two other Indian delegates:
Miss Jeanne Serabji, a Parsee Christian, and B. B. Nagarkar, a
representative of the Brahmo-Samaj.

Miss Jeanne Serabji, a converted Parsee woman, of Bombay, spoke: When
I was leaving the shores of Bombay the women of my country wanted to
know where I was going, and I told them I was going to America on a
visit. They asked me whether I would be at this congress. I thought
then I would only come in as one of the audience, but I have the great
privilege and honor given to me to stand here and speak to you, and I
give you the message as it was given to me. The Christian women of my
land said: 'Give the women of America our love and tell them that we
love Jesus, and that we shall always pray that our countrywomen may do
the same. Tell the women of America that we are fast being educated.
We shall one day be able to stand by them and converse with them and
be able to delight in all they delight in.'
And so I have a message from each one of my countrywomen, and once
more I will just say that I haven't words enough in which to thank you
for the welcome you have given all those who have come from the East.
When I came here this morning and saw my countrymen my heart was
warmed, and I thought I would never feel homesick again, and I feel
today as if I were at home. Seeing your kindly faces have turned away
the heartache.
We are all under that one banner, love. In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ I thank you. You will hear, possibly, the words in His own
voice, saying to you, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of
these, My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.'
In Miss Serabji's speech, we see anguish for the welfare and equality
of Indian women, a project that would not find a focused place or
attention in other speeches. This was an earthly speech in a
conference of spiritual leaders, and it drew the attention of the
audience subtly to the condition of Indian women, and their hopes and
aspirations.

The aspiration of Indian women is well portrayed when Serabji quotes
Indian women as declaring that 'we are fast being educated. We shall
one day be able to stand by them and converse with them and be able to
delight in all they delight in.' Unfortunately, this is still a dream
for the vast majority of Indian women, and yet there has been
tremendous achievement in this area since Indian independence.

Critics have identified that the portrayal of the heroine of the first
Tamil novel, Pirataapa Mudaliar Charitram (The Biography of Pratapa
Mudaliar) published in 1878, is radically different from the portrayal
of women in novels that followed it. Gunasundari, a character
developed by Mayuram Munsif Vedanayagam, an eminent Christian writer,
is full of confidence and skills, unlike other women characters, which
played a diffident and subservient role in such novels. The Indian
Christian writer's focus was on the emergence of women as equal
partners in the community. Christian programs included the women's
emancipation as a necessary element. And we see this reflected in the
speech of Serabji. The integration of spirituality and social life is
also emphasized in Serabji's speech when she quoted Matthew 25:45 as
given above. From her theological perspective, two things are
important: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Ministering to and helping humans becomes an integral part of her
Christian life. So, her project is the focus on people surrounding her
in her land. Note that she easily and deliberately identified herself
as an Indian with her Indian brothers.

B. B. NAGARKAR OF BRAHMA SAMAJ

The last from among the Indians who spoke from the platform of the
inaugural ceremony was B. B. Nagarkar. The introductory chapter
reports that he

"spoke for the Brahmo-Somaj. He said: The Brahmo-Samaj is the result,
as you know, of the influence of various religions, and the
fundamental principles of the theistic church, in India, are universal
love, harmony of faiths, unity of prophets, or rather unity of
prophets and harmony of faiths. The reverence that we pay the other
prophets and faiths is not mere lip loyalty, but it is the universal
for all the prophets and for all the forms and shades of truth by
their own inherent merit. We try not only to learn in an intellectual
way what those prophets have to teach, but to assimilate and imbibe
these truths that are very near our spiritual being. It was the
grandest and noblest aspiration of the late Mr. Senn to establish such
a religion in the land of India, which has been well known as the
birthplace of a number of religious faiths. This is a marked
characteristic of the East, especially India, so that India and its
outskirts have been glorified by the touch and teachings of the
prophets of the world. It is in this way that we live in a spiritual
atmosphere."
TO CONCLUDE

Not all Indian faiths were represented. For example, no Sikh
representative was mentioned. While there was no Indian Muslim seated
on the platform of the inaugural ceremony, the Rev. John Henry
Barrows, D.D., chairman of the general committee who welcomed the
delegates, said in his welcome speech: "Justice Ameer Ali, of
Calcutta, whose absence we lament today, has expressed the opinion
that only in this western republic would such a congress as this have
been undertaken and achieved." The day certainly belonged to Swami
Vivekananda and Indian Vedanta discipline (the cover of the volume
displays BRAHMANISM, not HINDUISM). India's spiritual past and its
potential for the development of all humanity, rather than the sad
plight of the millions in poverty or untouchability, or other social
evils that continue to plague the Indian society would be mentioned.
The theme was about the past and the emerging awakening of India.
Hopes were raised and a demand was made for the recognition of the
great contribution of India and for the due place of India among the
nations and other religions. Indians of different faiths found a
common ground to display their Indian identity and to feel proud about
it. A remarkable event in Indian history that took place over 10,000
miles away from the Indian subcontinent, but its pulse would
reverberate for more than a century!
I intend to present an analysis of the rhetoric of the article by
Swami Vivekananda published in the volume in a subsequent issue of
LANGUAGE IN INDIA.

http://www.languageinindia.com/march2005/parliamentofreligions1.html

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

Thine Is the Kingdom

From “Christianity”; Bridgeman Art Library
Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus” (1601).

By JON MEACHAM

Published: April 1, 2010

It is only a brief moment, a seemingly inconclusive ­exchange in the
midst of one of the most significant interviews in human history. In
the Gospel of John, Jesus of Nazareth has been arrested and brought
before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Improbably polite,
reflective and reluctant to sentence Jesus to death (the historical
Pilate was in fact brutal and quick-tempered), Pilate is portrayed as
a patient questioner of this charismatic itinerant preacher. “So you
are a king?” Pilate asks, and Jesus says: “You say that I am a king. I
was born for this, and I came into the world for this: to testify to
the truth. Everyone who is committed to the truth listens to my
voice.” Then, in what I imagine to be a cynical, world-weary tone,
Pilate replies, “What is truth?”

CHRISTIANITY

The First Three Thousand Years

By Diarmaid MacCulloch

Illustrated. 1,161 pp. Viking. $45

Jesus says nothing in response, and Pilate’s question is left hanging
— an open query in the middle of John’s rendering of the Passion. I
have always thought of Pilate’s question as a kind of wink from God, a
sly aside to the audience that says, in effect, “Be careful of anyone
who thinks he has all the answers; only I do.” The search for truth —
about the visible and the invisible — is perhaps the most fundamental
of human undertakings, ranking close behind the quests for warmth,
food and a mate.

With apologies and due respect and affection to my friends Christopher
Hitchens and Sam Harris, that perennial search for an answer to
Pilate’s question usually takes religious form. “All men need the
gods,” as Homer has it, and nothing since then — not Galileo, not
Darwin, not the Enlightenment, nothing — has changed the intrinsic
impulse to organize stories and create belief systems that give shape
to life and offer a vision of what may lie beyond the grave.

For Christians, the answer to Pilate’s question about truth is the
death and Resurrection of Jesus and what those events came to
represent for believers. “Came to” is a key point, for the truth as
Peter and the apostles saw it on that dark Friday was not the truth as
21st-­century Christians see it. The work of discerning — or,
depending on your point of view, assigning — meaning to the Passion
and the story of the empty tomb was a historical as well as a
theological process, as was the construction of the faith.

Christianity’s foundational belief is that Jesus was the Son of God,
who died and rose again as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of a
fallen world. It seems banal even to note this. But guess who did not
know it on that epic morning of Resurrection long ago? Those closest
to Jesus, the disciples, who, when told of the empty tomb by the women
who followed Jesus, were perplexed: what could this mean? Jesus had
not adequately prepared them for the central dramatic action of the
new salvation history that was to take shape in the wake of his
Passion. Read carefully, the Gospels tell the story of the disciples’
working out what a resurrected Messiah might mean, and the conclusions
they drew formed the core of the belief system that became
Christianity.

Why the initial uncertainty? Because it is vastly more likely that
Jesus’ contemporaries expected his imminent return to earth and the
inauguration of the kingdom of God — a time, in first-century Jewish
thought, that would be marked, among other things, by a final triumph
of Israel over its foes and a general resurrection of the dead. How
else to understand, for instance, Jesus’ words in Mark: “I tell you
with certainty, some people standing here will not experience death
until they see the kingdom of God arrive with power”? Or why else were
the Gospels written decades after the Passion? Could it be because
Jesus’ followers believed that they were the last generation and did
not expect to need documents to pass on to ensuing generations? If
Jesus were returning to rule in a new kind of reality, there would be
no need for biographies, for he would be here, as he also said in
Mark, “with great power and glory.” As the years passed, however, and
the kingdom did not come — despite the prayers of the faithful — the
early Christians realized they should record what they could in order
to capture the stories and traditions in anticipation of a much longer
wait. The Gospels that have survived, then, are apologetic documents,
composed to inspire and to convince. John is explicit about this,
saying he was writing “so that you may believe that Jesus is the
Messiah, the Son of God, and so that through believing you may have
life in his name.”

A word of disclosure: I am an Episcopalian who takes the faith of my
fathers seriously (if unemotionally), and I would, I think, be
disheartened if my own young children were to turn away from the
church when they grow up. I am also a critic of Christianity, if by
critic one means an observer who brings historical and literary
judgment to bear on the texts and traditions of the church.

I mention this because I sense a kind of kinship with Diarmaid
MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at Oxford
University, who has written a sprawling, sensible and illuminating new
book, “Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years.” A biographer of
Thomas Cranmer and the author of an acclaimed history of the
Reformation, MacCulloch comes from three generations of Anglican
clergymen and himself grew up in a country rectory of which he says,
“I have the happiest memories.” He thus treats his subject with
respect. “I was brought up in the presence of the Bible, and I
remember with affection what it was like to hold a dogmatic position
on the statements of Christian belief,” he writes. “I would now
describe myself as a candid friend of Christianity. I still appreciate
the seriousness which a religious mentality brings to the mystery and
misery of human existence, and I appreciate the solemnity of religious
liturgy as a way of confronting these problems.” Then, significantly,
MacCulloch adds, “I live with the puzzle of wondering how something so
apparently crazy can be so captivating to millions of other members of
my species.” That puzzle confronts anyone who approaches Christianity
with a measure of detachment. The faith, MacCulloch notes, is “a
perpetual argument about meaning and ­reality.”

This is not a widely popular view, for it transforms the “Jesus loves
me! This I know / For the Bible tells me so” ethos of Sunday schools
and vacation Bible camps into something more complicated and
challenging: what was magical is now mysterious. Magic means there is
a spell, a formula, to work wonders. Mystery means there is no spell,
no formula — only shadow and impenetrability and hope that one day, to
borrow a phrase T. S. Eliot borrowed from Julian of Norwich, all shall
be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

Magic, however, has powerful charms. Not long ago I was with a group
of ministers on the East Coast. The conversation turned to critical
interpretations of the New Testament. I remarked that I did not see
how people could make sense of the Bible if they were taught to think
of it as a collection of ancient Associated Press reports. (Cana,
Galilee — In a surprise development yesterday at a local wedding,
Jesus of Nazareth transformed water into wine. . . .) “That’s your
critical reading of the Gospels,” one minister replied, “but in the
pulpit I can’t do that.” “Why?” I asked. “Because,” he said, “you
can’t mess with Jesus.”

Well. If the power of Jesus — “the Christ, the Son of the living God,”
as Peter called him — cannot survive a bit of biblical criticism, then
the whole enterprise is rather more rickety than one might have
supposed. Still, the objecting cleric’s remark illuminates one of the
issues facing not only Christians but the broader world: To what
extent should holy books be read and interpreted critically and with a
sense of the context in which they were written, rather than taken
literally? To later generations of the faithful, what was written in
fluctuating circumstances has assumed the status of immutable truth.
Otherwise perfectly rational people think of Jesus’ Ascension into
heaven on the 40th day after Easter to be as historical an event as
the sounding of the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. To
suggest that such supernatural stories are allegorical can be
considered a radical position in even the most liberal precincts of
the Christian world. But the Bible was not FedExed from heaven, nor
did the Lord God of Hosts send a PDF or a link to Scripture. Properly
understood — and MacCulloch’s book is a landmark contribution to that
understanding — Christianity cannot be seen as a force beyond history,
for it was conceived and is practiced according to historical bounds
and within human limitations. Yes, faith requires, in Coleridge’s
formulation, a willing suspension of disbelief; I do it myself, all
the time. But that is a different thing from the suspension of reason
and critical intelligence — faculties that tell us that something is
not necessarily the case simply because it is written down somewhere
or repeated over and over.

Which brings us to the significance of the history of Christianity,
and to the relevance of MacCulloch’s book. The story of how the faith
came to be is a vast and complex tale of classical philosophy and
Jewish tradition, of fantastical visions and cold calculations, of
loving sacrifices and imperial ambitions. It was, as Wellington said
of Waterloo, a close-run thing: a world religion founded on the brief
public ministry, trial and execution of a single Jew in a remote
corner of the Roman Empire. In my view, an unexamined faith is not
worth having, for fundamentalism and uncritical certitude entail the
rejection of one of the great human gifts: that of free will, of the
liberty to make up our own minds based on evidence and tradition and
reason. John’s Gospel says that “ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.” Perhaps; I do not know. (No one does; as
Paul said, we can only see through a glass, darkly.) But I do know
this: Short of the end of all things, it is the knowledge of the
history of the faith that can make us free from literalism and ­
fundamentalism.

It is difficult to imagine a more comprehensive and surprisingly
accessible volume on the subject than MacCulloch’s. This is not a book
to be taken lightly; it is more than 1,100 pages, and its bulk makes
it hard to take anyplace at all. Want a refresher on the rise of the
papacy? It is here. On Charlemagne and Carolingians? That is here,
too. On the Fourth Crusade and its aftermath? Look no farther.
To me the appeal of the book lies in its illuminating explications of
things so apparently obvious that they would seem to require no
explanation. How many common readers could immediately discuss the
etymology and significance of the word “Israel”? It comes from a
stranger who wrestled Jacob and found him to be admirably resilient.
Hence Jacob was given the name Israel, or “He Who Strives With God.”
Or would know that Emmaus, the scene of the risen Jesus’ revelation of
himself to two disciples over bread and wine, may not have been an
actual village in first-century Judea but rather an allusion to
another Emmaus, two centuries before, the site of the first victory of
the Maccabees over the enemies of Israel, a place where, in the words
of the author of I Maccabees, “all the gentiles will know that there
is one who redeems and saves Israel”? Or, in a wonderfully revealing
insight of MacCulloch’s, that the “daily bread” for which countless
Christians ask in the Lord’s Prayer is not what most people think it
is, a humble plea for sustenance. “Daily” is the common translation of
the Greek word epiousios, which in fact means “of extra substance” or
“for the morrow.” As MacCulloch explains, epiousios “may point to the
new time of the coming kingdom: there must be a new provision when
God’s people are hungry in this new time — yet the provision for the
morrow must come now, because the kingdom is about to arrive.” We are
a long way from bedtime prayers here.

So how did Christianity happen? In fulfillment of the book’s
provocative subtitle, MacCulloch begins his tale in remote antiquity,
with the Greek search for meaning and order, the Jewish experience of
a fickle but singular Yahweh and the very practical impact of Rome’s
early globalism. The predominant peace forged by the empire made the
spread of ideas, including Christian ones, all the easier. Politics
mattered enormously, and the faith’s temporal good fortune began even
before the early fourth century, when Constantine decided that the
Christian God was the patron of his military victories. As a tiny
minority in the Roman world, Christians knew they could not choose
their friends: an early supporter of Christians at court was Marcia,
the emperor Commodus’ mistress and the woman who instigated his
assassination. Accommodations with the princes of the world drove the
rise of the faith, and the will to both religious and political power
corrupted it, too. “For most of its existence, Christianity has been
the most intolerant of world faiths,” MacCulloch says, “doing its best
to eliminate all competitors, with Judaism a qualified exception.”

Powerful allies were crucial, but so was the Apostle Paul, whose
writings make up the oldest sections of the New Testament. Partly
because of the expectation of the imminent coming of the kingdom,
Christianity, MacCulloch writes, “was not usually going to make a
radical challenge to existing social distinctions.” Hence Paul’s
explicit support for slavery. “Everyone should remain in the state in
which he was called,” Paul wrote, and his Epistle to Philemon was,
MacCulloch says, “a Christian foundation document in the justification
of slavery.”

The example of Christianity and abolition, though, is ultimately a
cheering one. An evolving moral sensibility led to critical
interpretations of Scripture that demolished the biblical arguments
for slavery. “It took original minds to kick against the authority of
sacred Scripture,” MacCulloch writes, but thankfully such original
minds were in evidence, and their legacy “was an early form of the
modern critical reconsideration of biblical intention and meaning.”
The sheer complexity of the story of Christianity is a welcome and
needed reminder that religion is fluid, not static.

Questions of meaning — who are we, how shall we live, where are we
going? — tend to be framed in theological and philosophical terms. But
history matters, too, and historians, MacCulloch says, have a moral
task: “They should seek to promote sanity and to curb the rhetoric
which breeds fanaticism.” That truth provides at least one answer to
Pilate’s eternal query.

Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, is the author of the Pulitzer
Prize-winning “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/books/review/Meacham-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Do Popes Quit?
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: April 9, 2010

VATICAN CITY — He is elected for life, by a group of elderly men
infused with the will of God. People address him as Holy Father, not
Mr. President. After bishop of Rome, his second title is vicar of
Jesus Christ.

Enlarge This Image
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

THE HERMIT POPE Celestine V was pope for five months before resigning
in 1294.

Related

From Embattled Pope, Praise for a Predecessor (April 11, 2010)

Vatican Defends Handling of a Case in California (April 11, 2010)

Times Topics: Pope Benedict XVI | Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse
CasesCan a man like this quit his job?

A smattering of voices suggest that Pope Benedict XVI can, and should,
as outrage has built in recent weeks over clerical abuses in the
Catholic Church. The calls — from some lay Catholics, bloggers,
secular publications like the German magazine Der Spiegel and street
protesters — have been fueled by reports that laid blame at his
doorstep, citing his response both as a bishop long ago in Germany and
as a cardinal heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
which handles these cases. In the most recent disclosure, on Friday,
the news emerged that in 1985, when Benedict was Cardinal Ratzinger,
he signed a letter putting off efforts to defrock a convicted child-
molesting priest. He cited the priest’s relative youth but also the
good of the church.

Vatican officials and experts who follow the papacy closely dismiss
the idea of stepping down. “There is no objective motive to think in
terms of resignation, absolutely no motive,” said the Rev. Federico
Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, in an interview before Friday’s
disclosure. “It’s a completely unfounded idea.”

Friday’s disclosure is not likely to change that position. The princes
of the church — the cardinals who elected Benedict five years ago —
have been virulent in their rejection of criticism of the pontiff.
Last week, the dean of the cardinals, Angelo Sodano, told the official
Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano that it was not Jesus’ fault that
Judas betrayed him and not a bishop’s fault if a priest shamed
himself. “And certainly the pontiff is not responsible,” said Cardinal
Sodano, who referred to church criticism as “petty gossip” before the
pope’s Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square — although on Friday, the
Vatican spokesman adopted a softer tone in a Vatican Radio address.

There is a more practical reason why Benedict will most likely remain
on the throne of Peter, said Alberto Melloni, a professor of church
history and the director of the liberal Catholic John XXIII Foundation
for Religious Science in Bologna. Who in the hierarchy would want an
ex-pope sitting around, possibly passing judgment on his successor,
possibly attracting a rival faction?

Mr. Melloni offered another, subtler explanation for why the pope
would not be leaving. To resign, paradoxically, the pope has to feel
in a strong enough position to say, “Of course, God does not need me;
he can drive the church with any other type of driver,” Mr. Melloni
said. A pope with that kind of confidence probably wouldn’t need his
cardinals to defend him so vigorously, which suggests that Benedict
may feel insecure, in Mr. Melloni’s interpretation.

If serious evidence of the pope’s involvement in bad decisions
emerges, the cardinals might be inclined to soften in their support.
In any case, it is possible that the cardinal electors will take a
closer look at the record of candidates on abuse issues for the next
election.

Most analysts reject the possibility of resignation. “A lot of foreign
newspapers are saying it, but the answer is absolutely no,” said Emma
Fattorini, a professor of history at the University of Rome. “The
church is not a party, a movement, a newspaper, a government.”

Of course, popes have resigned before — the last a mere 595 years ago,
when Gregory XII stepped down to heal a schism. Before that, Celestine
V, a fiercely ascetic former hermit who wore his temporal power
heavily, resigned in 1294 (Dante consigned him to hell for cowardice,
some interpreters of the “Inferno” believe).

While it does not apply to Benedict, another reason for papal
resignation was widely discussed in the Vatican in the years before
John Paul II’s death in 2005. Several cardinals openly raised the
possibility in the event John Paul became too ill to govern.

One of those cardinals was Joseph Ratzinger. If John Paul “sees that
he absolutely cannot do it anymore, then certainly he will resign,”
the cardinal was quoted as saying in the weekly publication of his old
archdiocese, back in 2002. Two years later, he gave some insight into
his conception of the papacy in an interview with the Italian Catholic
weekly Famiglia Cristiana. “The pope is chosen for life because he is
a father, and his paternity goes beyond his function,” he said,
paraphrasing Pope Paul VI.

John Paul himself entertained thoughts about resigning. In his last
will and testament, he wrote, “Providence has seen fit for me to live
in the difficult century that is departing into the past, and now in
the year in which I reach my 80s, one needs to ask oneself if it is
not the time to repeat with the biblical Simeon, ‘Nunc dimittis.’ ”
The Latin was a reference to a Gospel passage in which Simeon says,
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.”

John Paul was responsible for two recent but fleeting references to
papal resignation in official church policy. A revision of the code of
canon law issued under him, in 1983, says, “If it happens that the
Roman pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the
resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is
accepted by anyone.”

In John Paul’s 1996 constitution on papal succession, “Universi
Dominici Gregis,” he made a reference to “the death or valid
resignation of the pope” as he set limits on the College of Cardinals’
actions after either event. In any case, it might be no surprise that
the leader of a worldwide church of one billion people would at least
think about throwing in the towel. Pius XII reportedly planned to
resign if the Nazis invaded the Vatican, and some believed that Paul
VI, weighed down by the office, contemplated the idea, according to
“101 Questions and Answers on Popes and the Papacy,” by Christopher M.
Bellitto, a church historian at Kean University in Union, N.J.

“I think it’s highly unlikely that this pope will resign,” Mr.
Bellitto said. “There’s in his mind and the curia’s mind not enough
evidence that he did anything wrong. I imagine he thinks, ‘Probably
God put me in this position, and it will be up to God to take me out
of this position.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/weekinreview/11wakin.html?scp=1&sq=Papacy%20Books&st=cse

Vatican Official Defends Pope’s Handling of Case

Yana Paskova for The New York Times
Cardinal William J. Levada, who heads the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, in New York in 2008.

By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: March 31, 2010

VATICAN CITY — A top Vatican official issued a detailed defense of
Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of sexual abuse cases and extensively
criticized The New York Times’s coverage, both in its news and
editorial pages, as unfair to the pope and the church.

Multimedia

Interactive Feature

Timeline: The Predator Priest Who Got Away
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/25/world/europe/20100325-priestabuse-timeline.html?ref=europe

The Document Trail: Lawrence C. Murphy
http://documents.nytimes.com/reverend-lawrence-c-murphy-abuse-case#document/p1

Related

Events in the Case of an Accused Priest (April 1, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01chrono.html?ref=europe

In a rare interview and a 2,400-word statement posted Wednesday on the
Vatican Web site, the official, Cardinal William J. Levada, an
American who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
praised Pope Benedict for vigorously investigating and prosecuting
sexual abuse cases. He said The Times’s coverage had been “deficient
by any reasonable standards of fairness.”

Cardinal Levada singled out several Times reporters and columnists for
criticism, focusing particularly on an article describing failed
efforts by Wisconsin church officials to persuade the Vatican to
defrock a priest who had abused as many as 200 deaf boys from 1950 to
1974. The pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was head of the
Vatican’s doctrinal office when the case was referred there, in 1996.

He said the article wrongly “attributed the failure to accomplish this
dismissal to Pope Benedict, instead of diocesan decisions at the
time.” On Wednesday, the archbishop of Milwaukee said the pope should
not be held responsible for mistakes that were made in Wisconsin,
according to The Associated Press.

The Times article drew on documents obtained from lawyers suing the
church that showed that Vatican officials had at first ordered a
secret canonical trial, then asked the archdiocese to suspend it after
the priest pleaded for leniency to Cardinal Ratzinger. Wisconsin
church officials protested the suspension, but followed it. The
priest, the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, died a few months later.

News coverage of the abuse has clearly touched a nerve in the Vatican.
As the church grapples with abuse cases that have come to light in
several European countries, Benedict has come under scrutiny for how
he and his subordinates handled sexual abuse allegations against
priests while he served as an archbishop in Germany as well as when he
was the Vatican’s top doctrinal enforcer.

In 1980, when the pope was archbishop of Munich and Freising, he
approved the transfer of a priest who had abused boys to therapy and
was copied in on a memo saying that the priest had been allowed to
resume pastoral duties shortly after his therapy began. The priest was
later convicted of molesting other boys.

“This is different, because it’s the pope and because it’s a pope who
is most self evidently beyond accusation, particularly in this area,”
said a senior Vatican official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

Cardinal Levada said he believed that “the evidence is clear” that
Father Murphy represented an “egregious case” and deserved to be
defrocked.

But he also said he was not second-guessing the decision to suspend
the trial. He said a canonical trial would be “useless if the priest
were dying.” “Have you ever been to a trial? Do you know how long they
take?” he said. “If the man had had a miraculous recovery and doctors
said he’d live another 10 years, I’m sure a letter would say fine,
‘Start the trial.’ ”

Sitting in a receiving room at the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith with a view of Saint Peter’s out the window and an oil
portrait of Cardinal Ratzinger on the wall, Cardinal Levada expressed
pain at the case of Father Murphy.

“I think the evidence is clear from the documents that he was a serial
abuser of children, helpless children often times, he had no respect
for the sacrament of confession, even using that to accomplish his
abuse,” he said. “It’s one of the saddest and the most egregious cases
I’ve seen.”

At that point a canon lawyer who sat in on the interview but declined
to speak on the record intervened about the nuances of the unfinished
trial, effectively deflecting questions about why it had been
suspended.

Cardinal Levada said that although Father Murphy never faced judgment
in a criminal or canonical court, the priest had not evaded it
altogether.

“As a believer,” he wrote in his statement, “I have no doubt that
Murphy will face the One who judges both the living and the dead.”

Cardinal Levada said Benedict had played a “very significant role” as
the “architect” of the Vatican’s 2001 norms that sent sexual abuse
cases directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and
streamlined procedures for bishops to report sexual abuse cases. Those
norms ushered in a flood of abuse trials, many of which are still
unresolved.

In a related letter in 2001, the future pope reminded bishops to
adhere to secrecy in ecclesiastical trials, which caused some
confusion about whether clerics should report abuse to the civil
authorities. In recent weeks, Benedict and the Vatican have emphasized
that the clergy should report evidence of crimes to the civil
authorities.

“He was prefect when the church put into place a very important
standard and practice for helping bishops deal with these cases,” said
Cardinal Levada.

In light of media reports that have questioned what Benedict knew
about abuse cases, Cardinal Levada said, “Anyone can say, ‘Why didn’t
you do this?’ ‘You could have done this better.’ That’s part of life,
but certainly it’s not the case to say that he is deficient,” Cardinal
Levada said. “If anything, he was the architect of this step forward
in the church and I think he deserves his credit.”

Benedict named Cardinal Levada, a theologian, a former archbishop of
Portland and San Francisco, and a former member of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, to succeed him as prefect after he
became pope in 2005.

A full 80 percent of the abuse cases to come through the congregation
in the past decade are from the United States, according to the head
of the internal tribunal that handles abuse cases, Msgr. Charles
Scicluna.

Cardinal Levada said that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith had a staff of about 45 and devoted about a third of its time to
disciplinary issues.

“I would say it’s an increasing amount of the work of the
congregation,” he said, adding that he anticipated having to expand
its staff.

He said it should not be seen as leniency that some 60 percent of the
abuse cases that the congregation had considered since 2001 did not
result in trials. In cases of “moral certitude” trials aren’t
necessary, he said, and other disciplinary measures can be taken,
while murkier cases requiring more evidence might require trials.

“A canonical trial is an instrument appropriately used, but it would
not be the normal procedure,” he said.

The senior Vatican official said that the pope himself was “serene” in
the face of news reports but probably upset on behalf of Catholics. “I
can’t imagine he wouldn’t be troubled that the faithful are troubled,”
he said.

Daniel J. Wakin contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 2, 2010

An article on Thursday about a detailed defense of Pope Benedict XVI’s
handling of sexual abuse cases given by a Vatican official, Cardinal
William J. Levada, in which he criticized The Times’s coverage as
unfair, misstated the cardinal’s former role with the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was a member and served on panels,
but never served as the head of the group or in another leadership
post. The article also misstated the top position in the organization.
It is president; there is no chairman.

Past Coverage

How a Molesting Case Emerged Decades Later (April 1, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/world/europe/02church.html?fta=y
Top European Clerics Defend Benedict (April 1, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/world/europe/02pope.html?fta=y
Scandal Tests Catholics' Trust in Leadership (March 28, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/world/europe/29catholics.html?fta=y
Pope, in Sermon, Says He Won't Be Intimidated (March 28, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/world/europe/29pope.html?fta=y

Nicholas Kulish Articles:
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/k/nicholas_kulish/index.html?inline=nyt-per
Pope Benedict XVI http://www.nytimes.com/info/pope-benedict-xvi/?inline=nyt-per
Complete New York Times Coverage
View all news articles, commentary and multimedia about Pope Benedict
XVI.
http://www.nytimes.com/info/pope-benedict-xvi/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/world/europe/01vatican.html

Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys


The Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, with hands together, at St. John’s School
for the Deaf in Wisconsin in 1960.

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: March 24, 2010
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officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a
priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several
American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the
matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly
unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Timeline: The Predator Priest Who Got Away
The Document Trail: Lawrence C. Murphy
The Takeaway With Laurie Goodstein

Related
Abuse Scandal’s Ripples Spread Across Europe (March 25, 2010)
Room for Debate: Changing the Vatican's Response to Abuse (March 17,
2010)
Enlarge This Image

Jeffrey Phelps for The New York Times
Arthur Budzinski, at a cemetery behind St. John's School for the Deaf,
says he was first molested in 1960 when he went to Father Murphy for
confession.
The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church
officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their
highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.

The documents emerge as Pope Benedict is facing other accusations that
he and direct subordinates often did not alert civilian authorities or
discipline priests involved in sexual abuse when he served as an
archbishop in Germany and as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.

The Wisconsin case involved an American priest, the Rev. Lawrence C.
Murphy, who worked at a renowned school for deaf children from 1950 to
1974. But it is only one of thousands of cases forwarded over decades
by bishops to the Vatican office called the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, led from 1981 to 2005 by Cardinal Ratzinger. It
is still the office that decides whether accused priests should be
given full canonical trials and defrocked.

In 1996, Cardinal Ratzinger failed to respond to two letters about the
case from Rembert G. Weakland, Milwaukee’s archbishop at the time.
After eight months, the second in command at the doctrinal office,
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, now the Vatican’s secretary of state,
instructed the Wisconsin bishops to begin a secret canonical trial
that could lead to Father Murphy’s dismissal.

But Cardinal Bertone halted the process after Father Murphy personally
wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger protesting that he should not be put on
trial because he had already repented and was in poor health and that
the case was beyond the church’s own statute of limitations.

“I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of
my priesthood,” Father Murphy wrote near the end of his life to
Cardinal Ratzinger. “I ask your kind assistance in this matter.” The
files contain no response from Cardinal Ratzinger.

The New York Times obtained the documents, which the church fought to
keep secret, from Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, the lawyers for
five men who have brought four lawsuits against the Archdiocese of
Milwaukee. The documents include letters between bishops and the
Vatican, victims’ affidavits, the handwritten notes of an expert on
sexual disorders who interviewed Father Murphy and minutes of a final
meeting on the case at the Vatican.

Father Murphy not only was never tried or disciplined by the church’s
own justice system, but also got a pass from the police and
prosecutors who ignored reports from his victims, according to the
documents and interviews with victims. Three successive archbishops in
Wisconsin were told that Father Murphy was sexually abusing children,
the documents show, but never reported it to criminal or civil
authorities.

Instead of being disciplined, Father Murphy was quietly moved by
Archbishop William E. Cousins of Milwaukee to the Diocese of Superior
in northern Wisconsin in 1974, where he spent his last 24 years
working freely with children in parishes, schools and, as one lawsuit
charges, a juvenile detention center. He died in 1998, still a
priest.

Even as the pope himself in a recent letter to Irish Catholics has
emphasized the need to cooperate with civil justice in abuse cases,
the correspondence seems to indicate that the Vatican’s insistence on
secrecy has often impeded such cooperation. At the same time, the
officials’ reluctance to defrock a sex abuser shows that on a
doctrinal level, the Vatican has tended to view the matter in terms of
sin and repentance more than crime and punishment.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, was shown the
documents and was asked to respond to questions about the case. He
provided a statement saying that Father Murphy had certainly violated
“particularly vulnerable” children and the law, and that it was a
“tragic case.” But he pointed out that the Vatican was not forwarded
the case until 1996, years after civil authorities had investigated
the case and dropped it.

Father Lombardi emphasized that neither the Code of Canon Law nor the
Vatican norms issued in 1962, which instruct bishops to conduct
canonical investigations and trials in secret, prohibited church
officials from reporting child abuse to civil authorities. He did not
address why that had never happened in this case.

As to why Father Murphy was never defrocked, he said that “the Code of
Canon Law does not envision automatic penalties.” He said that Father
Murphy’s poor health and the lack of more recent accusations against
him were factors in the decision.

The Vatican’s inaction is not unusual. Only 20 percent of the 3,000
accused priests whose cases went to the church’s doctrinal office
between 2001 and 2010 were given full church trials, and only some of
those were defrocked, according to a recent interview in an Italian
newspaper with Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, the chief internal
prosecutor at that office. An additional 10 percent were defrocked
immediately. Ten percent left voluntarily. But a majority — 60 percent
— faced other “administrative and disciplinary provisions,” Monsignor
Scicluna said, like being prohibited from celebrating Mass.

To many, Father Murphy appeared to be a saint: a hearing man gifted at
communicating in American Sign Language and an effective fund-raiser
for deaf causes. A priest of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, he started as
a teacher at St. John’s School for the Deaf, in St. Francis, in 1950.
He was promoted to run the school in 1963 even though students had
disclosed to church officials in the 1950s that he was a predator.

Victims give similar accounts of Father Murphy’s pulling down their
pants and touching them in his office, his car, his mother’s country
house, on class excursions and fund-raising trips and in their
dormitory beds at night. Arthur Budzinski said he was first molested
when he went to Father Murphy for confession when he was about 12, in
1960.

“If he was a real mean guy, I would have stayed away,” said Mr.
Budzinski, now 61, who worked for years as a journeyman printer. “But
he was so friendly, and so nice and understanding. I knew he was
wrong, but I couldn’t really believe it.”

Mr. Budzinski and a group of other deaf former students spent more
than 30 years trying to raise the alarm, including passing out
leaflets outside the Milwaukee cathedral. Mr. Budzinski’s friend Gary
Smith said in an interview that Father Murphy molested him 50 or 60
times, starting at age 12. By the time he graduated from high school
at St. John’s, Mr. Smith said, “I was a very, very angry man.”

In 1993, with complaints about Father Murphy landing on his desk,
Archbishop Weakland hired a social worker specializing in treating
sexual offenders to evaluate him. After four days of interviews, the
social worker said that Father Murphy had admitted his acts, had
probably molested about 200 boys and felt no remorse.

However, it was not until 1996 that Archbishop Weakland tried to have
Father Murphy defrocked. The reason, he wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger,
was to defuse the anger among the deaf and restore their trust in the
church. He wrote that since he had become aware that “solicitation in
the confessional might be part of the situation,” the case belonged at
the doctrinal office.

With no response from Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop Weakland wrote a
different Vatican office in March 1997 saying the matter was urgent
because a lawyer was preparing to sue, the case could become public
and “true scandal in the future seems very possible.”

Recently some bishops have argued that the 1962 norms dictating secret
disciplinary procedures have long fallen out of use. But it is clear
from these documents that in 1997, they were still in force.

But the effort to dismiss Father Murphy came to a sudden halt after
the priest appealed to Cardinal Ratzinger for leniency.

In an interview, Archbishop Weakland said that he recalled a final
meeting at the Vatican in May 1998 in which he failed to persuade
Cardinal Bertone and other doctrinal officials to grant a canonical
trial to defrock Father Murphy. (In 2002, Archbishop Weakland resigned
after it became public that he had an affair with a man and used
church money to pay him a settlement.)

Archbishop Weakland said this week in an interview, “The evidence was
so complete, and so extensive that I thought he should be reduced to
the lay state, and also that that would bring a certain amount of
peace in the deaf community.”

Father Murphy died four months later at age 72 and was buried in his
priestly vestments. Archbishop Weakland wrote a last letter to
Cardinal Bertone explaining his regret that Father Murphy’s family had
disobeyed the archbishop’s instructions that the funeral be small and
private, and the coffin kept closed.

“In spite of these difficulties,” Archbishop Weakland wrote, “we are
still hoping we can avoid undue publicity that would be negative
toward the church.”

Rachel Donadio contributed reporting from Rome.

Related

Abuse Scandal’s Ripples Spread Across Europe (March 25, 2010)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/world/europe/25church.html?ref=europe
Room for Debate: Changing the Vatican's Response to Abuse (March 17,
2010)
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/changing-the-vaticans-response-to-abuse/?ref=europe

Enlarge This Image

Jeffrey Phelps for The New York Times
Arthur Budzinski, at a cemetery behind St. John's School for the Deaf,
says he was first molested in 1960 when he went to Father Murphy for
confession.

Katrin Bennhold Articles:
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/b/katrin_bennhold/index.html?inline=nyt-per

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/world/europe/25vatican.html?pagewanted=all

http://navanavonmilita.wordpress.com/of-god-godmen-and-good-men-sid-harth-4/

...and I am Sid Harth

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Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

Francis of Assisi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its
contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please
consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the
article's key points. (February 2010)

This article is about the friar and patron saint.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Painting by Jusepe de Ribera
Confessor
Born 1181/1182, Italy
Died October 4, 1226, Assisi, Italy
Venerated in Catholic Church, Anglican Church
Canonized July 16, 1228, Assisi by Pope Gregory IX
Major shrine Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi
Feast October 4
Attributes Cross, Dove, Pax et Bonum, Poor Franciscan habit, Stigmata
Patronage animals, Catholic Action, environment, merchants,
Meycauayan, Italy, Brgy. San Francisco, San Pablo City, Philippines,
stowaways[1]
Saint Francis of Assisi (Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1181/1182 –
October 3, 1226)[2] was a Catholic deacon and preacher. He also was
the founder of the Order of Friars Minor, more commonly known as the
Franciscans.

He is known as the patron saint of animals, the environment and one of
the two patrons of Italy (with Catherine of Siena), and it is
customary for Catholic churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on
his feast day of 4 October.[3]

Childhood and early adulthood

Francis was one of seven children born to Pietro di Bernardone, a rich
cloth merchant, and his wife Pica, about whom little is known except
that she was originally from France[4]. Pietro was in France on
business when Francis was born, and Pica had him baptised as Giovanni
di Bernardone[3] in honor of Saint John the Baptist, in the hope he
would grow to be a great religious leader. When his father returned to
Assisi, he took to calling him Francesco, possibly in honor of his
commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French.[5]

As a youth, Francesco—or Francis in English—became a devotee of
troubadours and was fascinated with all things French.[2][5] Although
many hagiographers remark about his bright clothing, rich friends,
street brawls, and love of pleasure,[4] his displays of
disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him came fairly early
in his life, as is shown in the "story of the beggar." In this
account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf
of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms. At the
conclusion of his business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran
after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything
he had in his pockets. His friends quickly chided and mocked him for
his act of charity. When he got home, his father scolded him in rage.
[6]

In 1201, he joined a military expedition against Perugia and was taken
as a prisoner at Collestrada, spending a year as a captive.[7] It is
possible that his spiritual conversion was a gradual process rooted in
this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned
to his carefree life and in 1204, a serious illness led to a spiritual
crisis. In 1205 Francis left for Puglia to enlist in the army of the
Count of Brienne. A strange vision made him return to Assisi,
deepening his ecclesiastical awakening [2].

Francis of Assisi by Francisco de ZurbaránAccording to the
hagiographic legend, thereafter he began to avoid the sports and the
feasts of his former companions; in response, they asked him
laughingly whether he was thinking of marrying, to which he answered
"yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen", meaning his
"lady poverty". He spent much time in lonely places, asking God for
enlightenment. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, the most
repulsive victims in the lazar houses near Assisi. After a pilgrimage
to Rome, where he begged at the church doors for the poor, he said he
had had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the Church of San Damiano
just outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to
him, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see,
is falling into ruins". He thought this to mean the ruined church in
which he was presently praying, and so sold some cloth from his
father's store to assist the priest there for this purpose.[2][8]

His father Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to change his mind,
first with threats and then with beatings. After legal proceedings
before the bishop, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony,
laying aside even the garments he had received from him. For the next
couple of months he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi.
Returning to the countryside around the town for two years this time,
he restored several ruined churches, among them the Porziuncola--
little chapel of St Mary of the Angels--just outside the town, which
later became his favorite abode.[8]

Founding of the Order of Friars Minor

At the end of this period (on February 24, 1209, according to Jordan
of Giano), Francis heard a sermon that changed his life. The sermon
was about Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers they
should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven was upon them,
that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or
shoes for the road.[2] Francis was inspired to devote himself to a
life of poverty.[2]

Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept,
without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance.[2] He was soon
joined by his first follower, a prominent fellow townsman, the jurist
Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work.
Within a year Francis had eleven followers. Francis chose never to be
ordained a priest and the community lived as "lesser brothers,"
fratres minores in Latin.[2]

The brothers lived a simple life in the deserted lazar house of Rivo
Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through
the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of
songs, yet making a deep impression upon their hearers by their
earnest exhortations.[2]

In 1209, Francis led his first eleven followers to Rome to seek
permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order.[9]
Upon entry to Rome, the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi,
who had in his company Giovanni di San Paolo, the Cardinal Bishop of
Sabina. The Cardinal, who was the confessor of Pope Innocent III, was
immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to
the pope. Reluctantly, Pope Innocent agreed to meet with Francis and
the brothers the next day. After several days, the pope agreed to
admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group
in grace and number, they could return for an official admittance. The
group was tonsured.[10]

Later life

Pope Innocent III has a dream of St. Francis of Assisi supporting the
tilting church (attributed to Giotto)From then on, his new order grew
quickly with new vocations.[11] When hearing Francis preaching in the
church of San Rufino in Assisi in 1209, Clare of Assisi became deeply
touched by his message and she realized her calling.[11] Her brother
Rufino also joined the new order.

On Palm Sunday, March 28, 1211 Francis received Clare at the
Porziuncola and hereby established the Order of Poor Ladies, later
called Poor Clares.[11] In the same year, Francis left for Jerusalem,
but he was shipwrecked by a storm on the Dalmatian coast, forcing him
to return to Italy.

On May 8, 1213 he was given the use of the mountain of La Verna
(Alverna) as a gift from the count Orlando di Chiusi who described it
as “eminently suitable for whoever wishes to do penance in a place
remote from mankind.”[12][13] The mountain would become one of his
favorite retreats for prayer.[13] In the same year, Francis sailed for
Morocco, but this time an illness forced him to break off his journey
in Spain. Back in Assisi, several noblemen (among them Tommaso da
Celano, who would later write the biography of St. Francis) and some
well-educated men joined his order.

In 1215 Francis went again to Rome for the Fourth Lateran Council.
During this time, he probably met Dominic de Guzman[1] (later to be
Saint Dominic, the founder of the Friars Preachers, another Catholic
religious order).

In 1217 the growing congregation of friars was divided into provinces
and groups were sent to France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and to the
East.

St. Francis before the Sultan — the trial by fire (fresco attributed
to Giotto)In 1219 Francis left, together with a few companions, on a
pilgrimage to Egypt. Crossing the lines between the sultan and the
Crusaders in Damietta, he was received by the sultan Melek-el-Kamel.[1]
[14] Francis challenged the Muslim scholars to a test of true religion
by fire; but they retreated.[1] When Francis proposed to enter the
fire first, under the condition that if he left the fire unharmed, the
sultan would have to recognize Christ as the true God, the sultan was
so impressed that he allowed Francis to preach to his subjects.[1][15]
Though Francis did not succeed in converting the sultan, the last
words of the sultan to Francis of Assisi were, according to Jacques de
Vitry, bishop of Acre, in his book "Historia occidentalis, De Ordine
et praedicatione Fratrum Minorum (1221)" : “Pray for me that God may
deign to reveal to me that law and faith which is most pleasing to
him.”.[16]

Francis's visit to Egypt and attempted rapprochement with the Muslim
world had far-reaching consequences, long past his own death, since
after the fall of the Crusader Kingdom it would be the Franciscans, of
all Catholics, who would be allowed to stay on in the Holy Land and be
recognised as "Custodians of the Holy Land" on behalf of Christianity.

Saint Francis of Assisi with the Sultan al-Kamil (15th century)At
Acre, the capital of what remained of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,
Francis rejoined the Order's brothers Elia and Pietro Cattini, and
then most probably visited the holy places in Palestine in 1220.

Although nativity drawings and paintings existed earlier, St Francis
of Assisi celebrated Christmas by setting up the first known three-
dimensional presepio or crèche (Nativity scene) in the town of Greccio
near Assisi, around 1220.[17] He used real animals to create a living
scene so that the worshipers could contemplate the birth of the child
Jesus in a direct way, making use of the senses, especially sight.[17]
Thomas of Celano, a biographer of Francis and Saint Bonaventure both,
tell how he only used a straw-filled manger (feeding trough) set
between a real ox and donkey.[17] According to Thomas, it was
beautiful in its simplicity with the manger acting as the altar for
the Christmas Mass.

When receiving a report of the martyrdom of five brothers in Morocco,
Francis returned to Italy via Venice.[18] Cardinal Ugolino di Conti
was then nominated by the Pope as the protector of the Order. On
September 29, 1220, Francis handed over the governance of the Order to
brother Pietro Catani at the Porziuncola. However, Brother Pietro died
only five months later, on March 10, 1221, and was buried in the
Porziuncola. When numerous miracles were attributed to the late Pietro
Catani, people started to flock to the Porziuncola, disturbing the
daily life of the Franciscans. Francis then prayed, asking Pietro to
stop the miracles and obey in death as he had obeyed during his life.
The report of miracles ceased. Brother Pietro was succeeded by Brother
Elias as Vicar of Francis.

During 1221 and 1222 Francis crossed Italy, first as far south as
Catania in Sicily and afterwards as far north as Bologna.

On November 29, 1223 the final Rule of the Order (in twelve chapters)
was approved by Pope Honorius III.

St. Francis receives the Stigmata (fresco attributed to Giotto)While
he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty-day fast in
preparation for Michaelmas (September 29), Francis is said to have had
a vision on or about September 14, 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation
of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata.[19]
Brother Leo, who had been with Francis at the time, left a clear and
simple account of the event, the first definite account of the
phenomenon of stigmata.[2][19] "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph,
a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the
five wounds of Christ."[19]

Suffering from these stigmata and from an eye disease, Francis
received care in several cities (Siena, Cortona, Nocera) to no avail.
In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola.
Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he
spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual testament. He
died on the evening of October 3, 1226, singing Psalm 141.

On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX (the
former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, friend of St Francis and Cardinal
Protector of the Order). The next day, the Pope laid the foundation
stone for the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.

He was buried on May 25, 1230, under the Lower Basilica. His burial
place remained inaccessible until it was reopened in 1818. Pasquale
Belli then constructed for his remains a crypt in neo-classical style
in the Lower Basilica. It was refashioned between 1927 and 1930 into
its present form by Ugo Tarchi, stripping the wall of its marble
decorations. In 1978 the remains of St. Francis were identified by a
commission of scholars appointed by Pope Paul VI, and put in a glass
urn in the ancient stone tomb.

Saint Francis is considered the first Italian poet by literary
critics. He believed commoners should be able to pray to God in their
own language, and he wrote often in the dialect of Umbria instead of
Latin. His writings are considered to have great literary value, as
well as religious.[20]

Feast day

Saint Francis's feast day is observed on October 4. In addition to
this feast, a secondary feast is still observed amongst Traditional
Roman Catholics and Franciscans worldwide in honor of the stigmata
received by St Francis celebrated on September 17 called "The
Impression of the Stigmata of St Francis, Confessor" (see the General
Roman Calendar as in 1954, the General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius
XII, and the General Roman Calendar of 1962). On June 18, 1939, Pope
Pius XII named him a joint Patron Saint of Italy along with Saint
Catherine of Siena with the apostolic letter "Licet Commissa", AAS
XXXI (1939), 256-257. Pius XII also remembered the two saints in the
laudative discourse he pronounced on May 5, 1949 in the Santa Maria
sopra Minerva Church.

Nature and the environment

A garden statue of Francis of Assisi with birdsMany of the stories
that surround the life of St. Francis deal with his love for animals.
[21] Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the Saint's
humility towards nature is recounted in the "Fioretti" ("Little
Flowers"), a collection of legends and folklore that sprang up after
the Saint's death. It is said that, one day, while Francis was
traveling with some companions, they happened upon a place in the road
where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his
companions to "wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the
birds".[21] The birds surrounded him, drawn by the power of his voice,
and not one of them flew away. Francis spoke to them:

My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in
everyplace give praise to Him; for He has given you freedom to wing
through the sky and He has clothed you... you neither sow nor reap,
and God feeds you and gives you rivers and fountains for your thirst,
and mountains and valleys for shelter, and tall trees for your nests.
And although you neither know how to spin or weave, God dresses you
and your children, for the Creator loves you greatly and He blesses
you abundantly. Therefore... always seek to praise God.

Main article: Wolf of Gubbio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_of_Gubbio

Another legend from the Fioretti tells that in the city of Gubbio,
where Francis lived for some time, was a wolf "terrifying and
ferocious, who devoured men as well as animals". Francis had
compassion upon the townsfolk, and went up into the hills to find the
wolf. Soon, fear of the animal had caused all his companions to flee,
though the saint pressed on. When he found the wolf, he made the sign
of the cross and commanded the wolf to come to him and hurt no one.
Miraculously the wolf closed his jaws and lay down at the feet of St.
Francis. "Brother Wolf, you do much harm in these parts and you have
done great evil...", said Francis. "All these people accuse you and
curse you... But brother wolf, I would like to make peace between you
and the people". Then Francis led the wolf into the town, and
surrounded by startled citizens made a pact between them and the wolf.
Because the wolf had “done evil out of hunger”, the townsfolk were to
feed the wolf regularly, and in return, the wolf would no longer prey
upon them or their flocks. In this manner Gubbio was freed from the
menace of the predator. Francis, ever the lover of animals, even made
a pact on behalf of the town dogs, that they would not bother the wolf
again. It is also said that Francis, to show the townspeople that they
would not be harmed, blessed the wolf.

These legends exemplify the Franciscan mode of charity and poverty as
well as the saint's love of the natural world.[22] Part of his
appreciation of the environment is expressed in his Canticle of the
Sun, a poem written in Umbrian Italian in perhaps 1224 which expresses
a love and appreciation of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Mother Earth,
Brother Fire, etc. and all of God's creations personified in their
fundamental forms. In "Canticle of the Creatures," he wrote: "All
praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister
creatures."[3]

Francis's attitude towards the natural world, while poetically
expressed, was conventionally Christian.[4] He believed that the world
was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for
redemption because of the primordial sin of man. He preached to man
and beast the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise
God (a common theme in the Psalms) and the duty of men to protect and
enjoy nature as both the stewards of God's creation and as creatures
ourselves.[21]

Legend has it that St. Francis on his deathbed thanked his donkey for
carrying and helping him throughout his life, and his donkey wept.

Media

St. Francis by Johann Baptist Moroder-Lusenberg[edit] Films
The Flowers of St. Francis, a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini
and co-written by Federico Fellini
Francis of Assisi, a 1961 film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on
the novel The Joyful Beggar by Louis de Wohl
Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a 1972 film by Franco Zeffirelli
Francesco, a 1989 film by Liliana Cavani, contemplatively paced,
follows Francis of Assisi's evolution from rich man's son to religious
humanitarian and eventually to full-fledged self-tortured saint. This
movie was inspired by Hermann Hesse's novel Peter Camenzind[citation
needed] and Scripta Leonis, Rufini et Angeli, Sociorum S. Francisci:
The Writings of Leo, Rufino and Angelo, Companions of St. Francis from
which much of the dialogue is taken directly. St. Francis is played by
Mickey Rourke, and the woman who later became Saint Clare, is played
by Helena Bonham Carter
St Francis, a 2002 film directed by Michele Soavi, starring Raoul Bova
and Amélie Daure.
Clare and Francis, a 2007 film directed by Fabrizio Costa, starring
Mary Petruolo and Ettore Bassi.
[edit] Classical music
Franz Liszt:
Cantico del sol di Francesco d'Assisi, S.4 (sacred choral work, 1862,
1880–81; versions of the Prelude for piano, S. 498c, 499, 499a;
version of the Prelude for organ, S. 665, 760; version of the Hosannah
for organ and bass trombone, S.677)
St. François d'Assise: La Prédication aux oiseaux, No. 1 of Deux
Légendes, S.175 (piano, 1862–63)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco:
Fioretti (voice and orchestra, 1920)
Gian Francesco Malipiero:
San Francesco d'Assisi (soloists, chorus and orchestra, 1920–1921)
Amy Beach:
Canticle of the Sun (soloists, chorus and orchestra, 1928)
Leo Sowerby:
Canticle of the Sun (cantata for mixed voices with accompaniment for
piano or orchestra, 1944)
Seth Bingham
The Canticle of the Sun (cantata for chorus of mixed voices with soli
ad lib. and accompaniment for organ or orchestra, 1949)
Olivier Messiaen:
opera Saint François d'Assise (1975–83)
William Walton:
Cantico del sol (chorus, 1973–74)

Books

Sant Francesco (Saint Francis, 1895), a book of forty-three Saint
Francis poems by Catalan poet-priest Jacint Verdaguer, three of which
are included in English translation in Selected Poems of Jacint
Verdaguer: A Bilingual Edition, edited and translated by Ronald Puppo,
with an introduction by Ramon Pinyol i Torrents (University of
Chicago, 2007). The three poems are "The Turtledoves", "Preaching to
Birds" and "The Pilgrim".
Saint Francis of Assisi (1923), a book by G. K. Chesterton
"Blessed Are The Meek(1944 ). a book by [Zofia Kossak]
Saint Francis (1962), a book by Nikos Kazantzakis
Scripta Leonis, Rufini Et Angeli Sociorum S. Francisci: The Writings
of Leo, Rufino and Angelo Companions of St. Francis (1970), edited by
Rosalind B. Brooke, in Latin and English, containing testimony
recorded by intimate, long-time companions of St. Francis
Saint Francis and His Four Ladies (1970), a book by Joan Mowat
Erikson
The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi (1996), a book by Patricia
Stewart
Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi (2002), a book by
Donald Spoto
Flowers for St Francis (2005), a book by Raj Arumugam
Chasing Francis, 2006, a book by Ian Cron

Other

In Rubén Darío's poetry "Los Motivos Del Lobo" (The Reasons Of The
Wolf) St. Francis tames a terrible wolf only to discover that the
human heart harbors darker desires than those of the beast.
In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan Karamazov invokes
the name of 'Pater Seraphicus,' an epithet applied to St. Francis, to
describe Alyshosha's spiritual guide Zosima. The reference is also
found in Goethe's "Faust," Part 2, Act 5, lines 11918–25.
Frank McCourt's autobiography Angela’s Ashes contains some references
to St. Francis.
St. Francis preaches to the birds (2005), chamber concerto for violin
by composer Lewis Nielson
Brother, Sister (2006), third full-length album by indie rock band
MewithoutYou, featuring the song "The Sun and Moon"
The song "Fifty Gallon Drum" from the album Talkin Honky Blues by Buck
65 contains the lyric "I've got a Francis of Assisi keychain, and a
wallet made of Corinthian leather."
St. Francis' Folly is a fictional building in both the original Tomb
Raider video game, and the remake, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which
somewhat resembles the Pantheon, Rome. Although St. Francis is an
Italian saint, the fictional folly in the video game honors Greek
gods, and consists of a mixture of ancient Greek and Roman
architecture.
The song Boy From the Country, by Michael Martin Murphey from the
album Geronimo's Cadillac.
Sarah Slean's 2002 album, Night Bugs, contains a song entitled St.
Francis.
David Mazzucchelli's graphic novel "Asterios Polyp" makes several
references to Francis of Assisi, including the ironic question "Would
St. Francis swat a mosquito?"
In The Simpsons episode, Sweet and Sour Marge, He was referred to as
"The World's Most Overrated Saint".

Main writings

Canticum Fratris Solis or Laudes Creaturarum, Canticle of the Sun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canticle_of_the_Sun
Prayer before the Crucifix, 1205 (extant in the original Umbrian
dialect as well as in a contemporary Latin translation).
Regula non bullata, the Earlier Rule, 1221.
Regula bullata, the Later Rule, 1223.
Testament, 1226.
Admonitions.
For a complete list, see [1]. http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/fra/FRAwr02.html

See also

Prayer of Saint Francis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_Saint_Francis
Fraticelli http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraticelli
Saint Benedict, who founded the Benedictine Monastery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_of_Nursia
Saint Juniper, one of Francis' original followers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper_(saint)
Saint Margaret of Cortona http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Margaret_of_Cortona
Saint-François d'Assise, an opera by Olivier Messiaen
Society of Saint Francis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Fran%C3%A7ois_d%27Assise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Messiaen
The Flowers of St. Francis (1950), a film by Roberto Rossellini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flowers_of_St._Francis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Rossellini
Saint-François (places called for Francis of Assisi in French-speaking
countries) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Fran%C3%A7ois

References

^ a b c d e Chesterton(1924), p.126
^ a b c d e f g h i j Paschal Robinson (1913). "St. Francis of
Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/St._Francis_of_Assisi.
^ a b c "Blessing All Creatures, Great and Small". Duke Magazine.
2006-11. http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/111206/depobs.html.
Retrieved 2007-07-30.
^ a b c Englebert, Omer (1951). The Lives of the Saints. New York:
Barnes & Noble. pp. 529. ISBN 978-1566195164.
^ a b Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (1924), St. Francis of Assisi (14
ed.), Garden City, New York: Image Books, pp. 158
^ Chesterton (1924), pp. 40–41
^ Bonaventure; Cardinal Manning (1867), The Life of St. Francis of
Assisi (from the Legenda Sancti Francisci) (1988 ed.), Rockford,
Illinois: TAN Books & Publishers, pp. 190, ISBN 978-0895553430
^ a b Chesterton(1924), pp. 54–56
^ Chesterton(1924), pp. 107–108
^ Galli(2002), pp. 74–80
^ a b c Chesterton(1924), pp. 110–111
^ Fioretti quoted in: St. Francis, The Little Flowers, Legends, and
Lauds, trans. N. Wydenbruck, ed. Otto Karrer (London: Sheed and Ward,
1979) 244.
^ a b Chesterton(1924), p.130
^ "Francis of Assisi in the Holy land". http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/escurs/wwc/f.html.
^ "Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Paul Sabatier".
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18787/18787-8.txt.
^ "St. Francis lecture". http://www.london.anglican.org/SermonShow_5071.
^ a b c Bonaventure (1867), p. 178
^ Bonaventure (1867), p. 162
^ a b c Chesterton(1924), p.131
^ Chesterton, G.K. (1987). St. Francis. Image. pp. 160 p.. ISBN
0385029004. http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/stf01010.htm.
^ a b c Bonaventure (1867), pp. 78–85
^ Bonaventure (1867), pp. 67–68

Further reading

Basilica of St. Francis, AssisiFriar Elias, Epistola Encyclica de
Transitu Sancti Francisci, 1226.
Pope Gregory IX, Bulla "Mira circa nos" for the canonization of St.
Francis, 19 July 1228.
Friar Tommaso da Celano: Vita Prima Sancti Francisci, 1228; Vita
Secunda Sancti Francisci, 1246–1247; Tractatus de Miraculis Sancti
Francisci, 1252–1253.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_of_Celano

Friar Julian of Speyer, Vita Sancti Francisci, 1232–1239.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Speyer

St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Legenda Maior Sancti Francisci, 1260–
1263.
Ugolino da Montegiorgio, Actus Beati Francisci et sociorum eius, 1327–
1342.
Fioretti di San Francesco, the "Little Flowers of St. Francis", end of
the 14th century: an anonymous Italian version of the Actus; the most
popular of the sources, but very late and therefore not the best
authority by any means.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Flowers_of_St._Francis

The Little Flowers of Saint Francis (Translated by Raphael Brown),
Doubleday, 1998. ISBN 978-0-385-07544-2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubleday_(publisher)

External links

Find more about Francis of Assisi on Wikipedia's sister projects:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/wosf/index.htm
http://franciscan-archive.org/
http://www.catholicrevelations.com/category/saints/the-life-of-st-francis-of-assisi-patron-saint-of-the-catholic-church-who-received-the-stigmata-of-jesus-christ.html

Textbooks from Wikibooks http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Special:Search/Francis_of_Assisi
Quotations from Wikiquote http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi
Source texts from Wikisource http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Special:Search/Francis_of_Assisi
Images and media from Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi
News stories from Wikinews http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Special:Search/Francis_of_Assisi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi

http://navanavonmilita.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/of-god-godmen-and-good-men-sid-harth-6/

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

Dogma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion,
ideology or any kind of organization: it is authoritative and not to
be disputed, doubted or diverged from. The term derives from Greek
δόγμα "that which seems to one, opinion or belief"[1] and that from
δοκέω (dokeo), "to think, to suppose, to imagine".[2] The plural is
either dogmas or dogmata , from Greek δόγματα.

Dogma in religion

Dogmata are found in many religions such as Christianity, Islam, and
Judaism, where they are considered core principles that must be upheld
by all followers of that religion. As a fundamental element of
religion, the term "dogma" is assigned to those theological tenets
which are considered to be well demonstrated, such that their proposed
disputation or revision effectively means that a person no longer
accepts the given religion as his or her own, or has entered into a
period of personal doubt. Dogma is distinguished from theological
opinion regarding those things considered less well-known. Dogmata may
be clarified and elaborated but not contradicted in novel teachings
(e.g., Galatians 1:8-9). Rejection of dogma may lead to expulsion from
a religious group.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gal%201.8-9;&version=NIV;

For most of Eastern Christianity, the dogmata are contained in the
Nicene Creed and the canons of two, three, or seven ecumenical
councils (depending on whether one is Nestorian, Oriental Orthodox, or
Eastern Orthodox). These tenets are summarized by St. John of Damascus
in his Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, which is the third book
of his main work, titled The Fount of Knowledge. In this book he takes
a dual approach in explaining each article of the Eastern Orthodox
faith: one for Christians, where he uses quotes from the Bible and,
occasionally, from works of other Fathers of the Church, and the
second, directed both at non-Christians (but who, nevertheless, hold
some sort of religious belief) and at atheists, for whom he employs
Aristotelian logic and dialectics, especially reductio ad absurdum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenical_council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Orthodoxy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodoxy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Fathers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_logic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

Catholics also hold as dogma the decisions of fourteen later councils
and two decrees promulgated by popes' exercising papal infallibility
(see Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary). Protestants to
differing degrees affirm portions of these dogmata, and often rely on
denomination-specific 'Statements of Faith' which summarize their
chosen dogmata (see, e.g., Eucharist).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assumption_of_Mary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharist

In Islam, the dogmatic principles are contained in the aqidah. Within
many Christian denominations, dogma is referred to as "doctrine". In
debates among Marxists the terms "dogma" and "dogmatic" are often used
with a negative connotation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqidah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist

Other usage

The term "dogmatic" is often used disparagingly to refer to any belief
that is held stubbornly. It is sometimes applied to political beliefs
[3] or even anti-religious beliefs [4]

A notable use of the term can be found in the Central Dogma of
Molecular Biology. In his autobiography, What Mad Pursuit, Crick wrote
about his choice of the word dogma and some of the problems it caused
him:

I called this idea the central dogma, for two reasons, I suspect. I
had already used the obvious word hypothesis in the sequence
hypothesis, and in addition I wanted to suggest that this new
assumption was more central and more powerful. ... As it turned out,
the use of the word dogma caused almost more trouble than it was
worth.... Many years later Jacques Monod pointed out to me that I did
not appear to understand the correct use of the word dogma, which is a
belief that cannot be doubted. I did apprehend this in a vague sort of
way but since I thought that all religious beliefs were without
foundation, I used the word the way I myself thought about it, not as
most of the world does, and simply applied it to a grand hypothesis
that, however plausible, had little direct experimental support.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Monod

References

^ Dogma, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon,
at Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2327819&redirect=true
^ Dokeo, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon,
at Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2327848&redirect=true
^ http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-gabler2-2009oct02,0,7817347.story
^ http://www.deism.com/dogmaticatheism.htm

External links

Look up dogma in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
"Dogma" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dogma

Dogma - Strong's N.T. Greek Lexicon
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma"

http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/dogma.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Strong_(theologian)

http://www.myspace.com/sidhinduharth

http://navanavonmilita.wordpress.com/of-god-godmen-and-good-men-sid-harth-7/

...and I am Sid Harth

[navanavonmilita]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth

Mahavira
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Tirthankara of Jainism. For the Jain
mathematician Mahavira Acharya, see Mahavira (mathematician).

Mahāvīra

24th Jain Tirthankara

Miniature painting of Mahāvīra
Details

Alternate name: Vardhamana

Historical date: 599 – 527 BCE

Family

Father: Siddharatha
Mother: Trishala (Priyakarni)

Dynasty: Ikshvaku http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikshvaku

Places

Birth: Kundalagrama near Vaishali

Nirvana: Pavapuri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavapuri

Attributes

Colour: Yellow
Symbol: Lion
Height: 6 Feet
Age At Death: 72 years old

Attendant Gods

Yaksha: Matang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaksha
Yaksini: Siddhayika http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaksini

Jainism

This article is part of a series on Jainism

Prayers and Vows

Navakar Mantra · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namokar_Mantra
Ahimsa · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa
Brahmacharya · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmacharya
Satya · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya
Nirvana · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana
Asteya · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteya
Aparigraha · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aparigraha
Anekantavada · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anekantavada
Parasparopagraho Jīvānām http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasparopagraho_Jivanam

Key concepts

Kevala Jñāna · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevala_Jnana
Cosmology · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_cosmology
Samsara · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsara_(Jainism)
Karma · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Jainism
Dharma · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma_(Jainism)
Mokṣa · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksa_(Jainism)
Gunasthana · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunasthana
Navatattva http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattva_(Jainism)

Major figures

The 24 Tirthankaras · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirthankar
Rishabha · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishabha_(Jain_tirthankar)
Mahavira ·
Acharya · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharya
Ganadhar · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganadhar
Siddhasen Divakar · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhasen_Divakar
Haribhadra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haribhadra

Jainism by region

India · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Jainism
Western http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism_in_the_West

Sects

Svetambara · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetambara
Digambara · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digambara
Svetambar Terapanth · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetambar_Terapanth
Sthanakvasi · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sthanakvasi
Bisapantha · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bispanth
Murtipujaka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murtipujaka

Texts

Kalpasutra · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpasutra_(Jain)
Agama · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80gama_(Jainism)
Tattvartha Sutra · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattvartha_Sutra
Sanmatti Prakaran

Other

Timeline · http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jainism

Topics list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jainist_topics

Jainism Portal
v • d • e

Mahavira (Sanskrit महावीर and Tamil அருகன்("Arugan") lit. "Great
Hero", traditionally 599 – 527 BCE[1]) is the name most commonly used
to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamana (Sanskrit: वर्धमान
"increasing") who established what are today considered to be the
central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the
24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arugan
or Arugadevan. He is also known in texts as Vira or Viraprabhu,
Sanmati, Ativira,and Gnatputra. In the Buddhist Pali Canon, he is
referred to as Nigantha Nātaputta.

Life

Birth of Prince Vardhaman

Queen Trishala and her fourteen dreamsIn a place called Kshatriyakunda
in the ancient kingdom of Lachuar in Jamui District in modern day
Bihar, India, Mahavira was born to King Siddartha and Queen Trishala
on the 13th day under the rising moon of Chaitra (12 April according
to the Gregorian calendar). While still in his mother's womb it is
believed he brought wealth and prosperity to the entire kingdom, which
is why he was also known as Vardhaman. An increase of all good things,
like the abundant bloom of beautiful flowers, was noticed in the
kingdom after his conception. Queen Trishala had 14 (14 in Swetambar
Sect, 16 in Digambar Sect) auspicious dreams before giving birth to
Vardhaman, signs foretelling the advent of a great soul.

Jain tradition states that after his birth, Indra bathed him in
celestial milk with rituals befitting a future Tirthankar and he was
returned to his mother, Trishala.

Vardhaman's birthday is celebrated as Mahavir Jayanti, the most
important religious holiday of Jains around the world.

Early years

As King Siddartha's son, he lived as a prince. However, even at that
tender age he exhibited a virtuous nature. He started engaging in
meditation and immersed himself in self-contemplation. He was
interested in the core beliefs of Jainism and began to distance
himself from worldly matters.

Spiritual pursuit

India at the time of MahaviraAt the age of thirty Mahavira renounced
his kingdom and family, gave up his worldly possessions, and spent
twelve years as an ascetic. During these twelve years he spent most of
his time meditating. He gave utmost regard to other living beings,
including humans, animals and plants, and avoided harming them. He had
given up all worldly possessions including his clothes, and lived an
extremely austere life. He exhibited exemplary control over his senses
while enduring the penance during these years. His courage and bravery
earned him the name Mahavira. These were the golden years of his
spiritual journey, at the end of which he achieved Kaivalya Gyan. He
was now a person of infinite harmony, knowledge and self-control.

Later years

Mahavira devoted the rest of his life to preaching the eternal truth
of spiritual freedom to people around India. He traveled barefoot and
without clothes, in the hardest of climates, and people from all walks
of life came to listen to his message. At one point Mahavira had over
400,000 followers. Mahavira's preaching and efforts to spread Jain
philosophy is considered the real catalyst to the spread of this
ancient religion throughout India and into the mainstream.

At the age of 72 years and 4.5 months, he attained Nirvana in the area
known as Pawapuri on the last day of the Indian and Jain calendars,
Dipavali. Jains celebrate this as the day he attained liberation or
Moksha. Jains believe Mahavira lived from 599-527 BCE, though some
scholars prefer 549-477 BCE.[2]

Philosophy

Mahavira

The Jina, or Mahavir, as Guru folio from a manuscript, Gujarat, India,
c. 1411Mahavira's philosophy has eight cardinal principals – three
metaphysical and five ethical. The objective is to elevate the quality
of life.

Mahavira preached that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in
bondage to karmic atoms accumulated by good or bad deeds. In a state
of karmic delusion, the individual seeks temporary and illusory
pleasure in material possessions, which are the root causes of self-
centered violent thoughts and deeds as well as anger, hatred, greed,
and other vices. These result in further accumulation of karma.

To liberate one's self, Mahavira taught the necessity of right faith
(samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-gyana), and right conduct
(samyak-charitra'). At the heart of right conduct for Jains lie the
five great vows:

Nonviolence (Ahimsa) - to cause no harm to any living being;
Truthfulness (Satya) - to speak the harmless truth only;
Non-stealing (Asteya) - to take nothing not properly given;
Chastity (Brahmacharya) - to indulge in no sensual pleasure;
Non-possession/Non-attachment (Aparigraha) - to detach completely from
people, places, and material things.
These vows cannot be fully implemented without accepting the
philosophy of non-absolutism (Anekantvada) and the theory of
relativity (Syādvāda, also translated "qualified prediction"). Monks
and nuns adhere strictly to these vows, while the laypeople observe
them as best they can.

Mahavira taught that men and women are spiritual equals and that both
may renounce the world in search of moksh or ultimate happiness.

Mahavira attracted people from all walks of life, rich and poor, men
and women, touchable and untouchable. He organized his followers into
a fourfold order; monk (Sadhu), nun (Sadhvi), layman (Shravak), and
laywoman (Shravika). This order is known as Chaturvidh Jain Sangh.

Mahavira's sermons were preserved orally by his immediate disciples in
the Agam Sutras. Through time many Agam Sutras have been lost,
destroyed, or modified. About one thousand years after Mahavira's time
the Agam Sutras were recorded on Tadpatris (palm leaf paper used then
to form books). Swetambar Jains accept these sutras as authentic
teachings while Digambar Jains use them as a reference.

Jainism existed before Mahavir, and his teachings were based on those
of his predecessors. Thus Mahavira was a reformer and propagator of an
existing religion, rather than the founder of a new faith. He followed
the well established creed of his predecessor Tirthankar Parshvanath.
However, Mahavira did reorganize the philosophical tenets of Jainism
to correspond to his times.

A few centuries after Mahavira's Nirvana, the Jain religious order
(Sangh) grew more and more complex. There were schisms on minor
points, although they did not affect Mahavira's original doctrines.
Later generations saw the introduction of rituals and complexities
that some criticize as placing Mahavira and other Tirthankars on the
throne similar to those of Hindu deities.

Replica of Pavapuri temple at Pansara. Mahavira attained Nirvana at
Pava.
Plate showing Mahavira accepting Alms

Mahavira

Folio from a Kalpasutra (Book of Sacred Precepts) by Acharya
Bhadrabahu, c. 1400 CEThere are various Jain text describing life of
Lord Mahavira. Most notable of them is Kalpasutra by Acharya
Bhadrabahu I. First Sanskrit biography of Mahavira was
Vardhamacharitra by Asaga in 853 CE [3]

See also: "Sraman Mahavira" by Acharya Mahapragya

"Lord Mahavira and his times" by Kailash Chand Jain (1991) Motilal
Banarsidass Publishers PVT LTD Delhi (India)
"Lord Mahavira (A study in historical perspective)" by Bool Chand
( 1987 ) P.V. Research Institute I.T.I Road Varanasi 5 (India)
"Lord Mahavira in the eyes of foreigners" by Akshaya Kumar Jain
( 1975 ) Meena Bharati New Delhi 110003 (India)

Quotes

"Once when he sat [in meditation]... they cut his flesh... tore his
hair... picked him up and... dropped him... the Venerable One bore the
pain." (from the Acaranga Sutra)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acaranga_Sutra

See also

Tirthankara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirthankara
Jain philosophy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_philosophy
Jainism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism
History of Jainism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jainism
Trishala http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trishala

Notes

^ "Mahavira." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc., 2006. Answers.com 28 Nov. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/mahavira
^ The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. Keith Crim, editor.
Harper & Row Publishers: New York, 1989. 451.
^ Jain, Kailash Chand (1991). Lord Mahāvīra and his times, Lala S. L.
Jain Research Series. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 59. ISBN 8120808053.
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=0UCh7r2TjQIC&pg=PA341&lpg=PA341&dq=asaga+9th+century+poet&source=bl&ots=9hmuD0MAsf&sig=2qxwBO1G_4alg8v9KXbzJuFZZ9M&hl=en&ei=1_SKSojFDYPe7AOJyrGgDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false.

[edit]

This article uses bare URLs in its references. Please use proper
citations containing each referenced work's title, author, date, and
source, so that the article remains verifiable in the future. Help may
be available. Several templates are available for formatting.
(February 2010)

http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/mahavira.html
http://www.jainguru.com/mahabir.html
Shri Mahavir Swami Jain temple in Osiya http://www.shriosiyamataji.org/mahavirswamitemplehistory.html
Mahavir Swami http://jainreligion.in/Jain-Tirth/Bhagwan-Mahavir-Swami-Message-Urjayant-sagar.asp

24 Tirthankars of Jainism

Rishabha or Adinath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishabha_(Jain_tirthankar)
Ajitnath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajitnath
Sambhavanath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambhavanath
Abhinandannath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhinandannath
Sumatinath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatinath
Padmaprabha • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmaprabha
Suparshvanath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suparshvanath
Chandraprabha • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandraprabha
Pushpadanta • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpadanta
Sheetalnath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheetalnath
Shreyansanath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shreyansanath
Vasupujya • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasupujya
Vimalnath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimalnath
Anantnath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anantnath
Dharmanath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmanath
Shantinath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantinath
Kunthunath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunthunath
Aranath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranath
Mallinath • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallinath
Munisuvrata • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munisuvrata
Naminatha • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nami_Natha
Neminatha • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neminath
Parshva • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parshva

Mahavira http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira

http://navanavonmilita.wordpress.com/of-god-godmen-and-good-men-sid-harth-8/

...and I am Sid Harth

[cogitoergosum]

Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth
http://navanavonmilita.wordpress.com/of-god-godmen-and-good-men-sid-harth-11/?preview=true&preview_id=525&preview_nonce=a282ebbab4

'Sex Swami' Nithyananda arrested in Himachal
NDTV Correspondent, Wednesday April 21, 2010, Solan, Himachal Pradesh

Bangalore's "Sex Swami" Nityanand has been arrested a long way from
home - in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district.

Nityanand was arrested in Arki by the Bangalore Police, who had sought
the help of the Himachal Police. Police said at the time of arrest,
the swami had Rs 3 lakh in Indian currency and 2000 dollars in
travellers' cheques. (Read: Swamis in scandals - What keeps the
faith?)

The self-styled swami would be produced before a local magistrate in
Himachal Pradesh and then would be taken to Bangalore.

The controversial swami has been at large ever since television
channels aired video clippings purportedly of him and a Tamil actress
in a compromising situation. (Read: Swami's alleged sex CD sells for
Rs 1,000)

Cases of rape, criminal intimidation and cheating among others have
since been filed against the Godman based on various complaints. His
ashram had been searched and hard disks seized were being examined,
the police said. On allegations of rape against the swami, they
appealed to victims to come out and give evidence.

The swami's ashram has maintained that there is a "conspiracy" to
malign Nityananda's reputation and have said that the video footage
telecast by TV channels was morphed.

After the sex tape surfaced, Nityananda's supporters issued this
statement: "At this moment we feel that a mix of conspiracy, graphics
and rumour are at play in these recent events that have unfolded. We
are working on a legal course of action...In these trying times, we
wish to reassure the lakhs of devotees and well-wishers whose
sentiments have been deeply hurt by this conspiracy. We thank all the
devotees and disciples for standing with us during these trying
times."

Nityananda had recently announced that he was quitting as the head of
his ashram in Karnataka and associated trusts to lead a life of
'spiritual seclusion'. Nithyananda's Ashram is about 19 kilometres
outside Bangalore, where he was based and was attacked by an angry
crowd.

He allegedly has 11 different ashrams in India, and close to 2 million
followers all over the world. (Read: Sex Swami has property worth
crores?)

Tags: Nithyananda

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/sex-swami-nithyananda-arrested-in-himachal-20548.php

Swamis in scandals: What keeps the faith?
Indo-Asian News Service, Thursday March 25, 2010, New Delhi

Twenty-seven-year-old Priya, a devotee of Paramahamsa Nityananda
Swami, can't believe a video footage where the Karnataka-based
spiritual guru is allegedly shown in a compromising position with a
Tamil actress.

"I still doubt whether it is swamiji or it is a graphic gimmick," a
shocked Priya told IANS.

Nityananda Swami's is not the first reported case of a person in
religious garb being caught in a scandal. Of late, a number of swamis
have been in the news for the wrong reasons.(Read: Another Tamil
actress in Sex Swami saga)

Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj was arrested for running a
multi-crore-rupee sex racket in Delhi involving former airhostesses.
Kumar Sahai alias Swami Ji was arrested from Ghaziabad, on the
outskirts of Delhi, for kidnapping a girl.

Guru Asaram Bapu is still under the police scanner for the deaths of
two minor boys in his ashram-run gurukul in Ahmedabad, while several
years ago Kancheepuram mutt head Jayendra Saraswathi was charged with
the murder of a former employee.

Although many blame followers for not being discerning enough, more
interestingly what has emerged is the unshakable faith that devotees,
particularly women who seek solutions to personal problems, have in
them.

Swami Shantatmananda, secretary of the Ramkrishna Mission, told IANS:
"One should seek god through prayer and scriptures and not through
fake godmen."

"They thrive due to thoughtless followers who have not understood the
true meaning of spirituality. Ignorant, miracle-and-fortune-seeking
followers are the ones who help such fake swamis prosper in our
society," he said.

According to Swami H.H. Sukhabodhananda, founder of the Prasanna
Trusta, "Like fake doctors and engineers, there are also fake godmen
in society."

Kamini Jaiswal, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, who has fought a case
against Sathya Sai Baba, blames blind followers for such incidents.
"It is shocking to see that well educated people are followers of such
godmen," she said.

Police say they can't act against fake swamis until they get a
complaint. "It's a social issue, with proper evidence, police will do
its duty and arrest fake godman. As for the public, it's high time
they recognised such fraudsters," Rajan Bhagat, Delhi Police
spokesman, told IANS.

Sudha Sundaram, general secretary of the All India Democratic Women's
Association (AIDWA), says there should checks and balances.

"The government should come up with a state-level monitoring system to
check the registration of an ashram and its source of income before
providing monetary support," he said.

But there are those who are angry with the names of gurus being
dragged into scandals. One of them is yoga guru Ramdev, who said the
recent arrests, were "a very big conspiracy".

"Some politicians and communal forces are conspiring to malign the
name of Indian saints by trapping them in cases related to fake
currency, rape, murder, sex scandals and drugs," he said.

Agreed Anitha Swaminathan, a member of the Theosophical Society in
Chennai. "Our country has veteran sadhus and swamijis. Such fake
godmen are just a bubble in the water," she said.

The arrests have not altogether made much of a dent in the mindset of
people or deterred them from following a guru who would show them the
light in their day-to-day problems. But it has helped them understand
the need for the right one.

Naunidhi Kaur, a follower of Radhaswami Satsung, said: "There are
numerous ashrams and satsangs that stand out for their spiritual
teachings and true selfless service to mankind. A follower just needs
to be more knowledgeable about the faith and not just be a blind
one."

Summed up Balakrishnan, who follows the preachings of Jiddu
Krishnamurti: "I am not a follower of any particular swamiji. But I
have come across many sadhus who are true. With just one or two
involved in such cheap incidents, we cannot condemn the whole
community," he added.

Related

No bail yet for Bangalore Sex Swami
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/no-bail-yet-for-bangalore-sex-swami-19615.php

Bangalore Swami embroiled in sex scam resigns
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/bangalore-swami-embroiled-in-sex-scam-resigns-18693.php

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/swamis-in-scandals-what-keeps-the-faith-18387.php

Bangalore swami in sex scandal
NDTV Correspondent, Wednesday March 3, 2010, Bangalore

A controversy has erupted over an alleged sex scandal involving Swami
Nithyananda who has an Ashram outside Bangalore. The Swami was
allegedly filmed in a room with a woman in Tamil Nadu. People attacked
the ashram - even as his followers say the video was a defamatory
conspiracy.

"For us it is a very, very astonishing matter that the Swami has been
indulging in these sex and crime activities. He should be punished and
this ashram should be shut down permanently," said a protester.

About 40 kilometres outside Bangalore is Swami Nithyananda's Ashram.
It is said he has a following of about 2 million around the world.

Sachidanandaswamy said, "At this moment we feel that a mix of
conspiracy, graphics and rumour are at play in these recent events
that have unfolded. We are working on a legal course of action...In
these trying times, we wish to reassure the lakhs of devotees and well-
wishers whose sentiments have been deeply hurt by this conspiracy. We
thank all the devotees and disciples for standing with us during these
trying times."

Watch Video

Related

Tiwari to respond to plea for DNA test: High Court
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/tiwari-to-respond-to-plea-for-dna-test-high-court-19378.php

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/bangalore-swami-in-sex-scandal-17142.php

Bangalore swami's resignation letter
NDTV Correspondent, Tuesday March 30, 2010, Bangalore

In view of the developments in the last three weeks following the
media reports on me as the head of Dhyanapeetam, I had met some of the
leading Acharyas of Hindu Dharma at Hardwar.

Briefing them about what is fact and what is fiction and candidly
disclosing what had happened, I had sought their spiritual and moral
guidance for me, and their views on the future course of Dhyanapeetam.
I had also undertaken that I would act entirely in accordance with
their counsel.

I have decided to live a life of Spiritual seclusion, for some
indefinite time, to which the acharyas have agreed in principle.

In view of this, and to enable Dhyanapeetam to function with such
amended agenda as may be necessary, I am resigning as the head of
Dhyanapeetam and from all the trusts associated with it. A board of
trustees consisting from sadhakas of Dhyanapeetam who are non-
controversial, will henceforth manage Dhyanapeetam. I have also
requested the Acharyas to help the newly constituted trust reorient
the activities of Dhyanapeetam increasingly to undertake spiritually
oriented service activities and to guide the trustees. I have also
directed the new trustees of Dhyanapeetam to seek the counsel and go
by the advice of the Acharyas.

I sincerely thank all those who I had the good fortune of being
associated with and guiding in the last decade and more. I request
them to pursue the Sadhana they had been initiated into, for, the
Sadhana is more important than the Initiator. The recent media reports
do not in any way affect the validity or the success of one's Sadhana.
If required I will return and talk about all that had happened as an
independent witness to my conduct with a clean heart and pure soul and
also in a less prejudiced atmosphere.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/bangalore-swamis-resignation-letter-18692.php

Another Tamil actress in Sex Swami saga
Mid-Day.com, Wednesday March 24, 2010, Bangalore

After Ranjitha, it's Tamil actress Yuvarani who's now purportedly
involved in a romp with self-proclaimed godman Swami Nityananda. A
video which surfaced on the Internet allegedly shows Yuvarani and
Nityananda engaging in sexual activities in the nude.

Although the video is posted on Youtube, access is currently disabled
with a pop-up which says that the site cannot be displayed due to its
extreme pornographic content. TV channels couldn't air the video
either owing to a Karnataka High Court stay order on airing any sleazy
video of the swami.

Meanwhile, Yuvarani has filed a petition with the Chennai police
commissioner, requesting him to ensure that the video is taken off the
Internet. In the petition, the actress said, "I'm not in a sexual
relationship with Swami Nityananda and I'm hurt by the ongoing
propaganda." When contacted, Police Commissioner T Rajendran refused
to divulge any details of the request.

Though Yuvarani wasn't available for comment, sources close to her
confirmed that she and Ranjitha were friends and they used to visit
the swami regularly. The two actresses have also done Tamil films
together.

According to sources, Nityananda has an ashram in Los Angeles where he
used to go regularly with Ranjitha and Yuvarani. "The two actresses
used to accompany him to striptease parties in the US," said the
source, adding that Nityananda used to wear denim jeans and T-shirts
when he was in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court took up the petition filed by
Nityananda asking for a stay on proceedings for hearing yesterday. It
has adjourned the case until Thursday and has issued notices to the
state government and the police asking them to submit documentary
evidence in the next hearing.

Comments:

CommentsPosted by prince on Mar 24, 2010

I thing lot of intersting message hidden in the asaram. but police
people are still in silent all politician behind in the god man so
pleaseeeeeeeeee arrest that guy.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/another-tamil-actress-in-sex-swami-saga-18327.php

Sex Swami has property worth crores?

Mid-Day.com, Wednesday March 31, 2010, Bangalore
Image Courtesy: Mid-Day.com

Even as reports suggest that Swami Nityananda might consider giving up
his saffron robes, sources say he is in no hurry to renounce his
wealth.

The godman, who has been in the news after a video that allegedly
shows him in bed with a Tamil actress became public, had on Tuesday
announced his decision to renounce his position as the head of his
trust, Dhyanapeetam.

"I have decided to live a life of spiritual seclusion for an
indefinite period, to which my acharyas, and my spiritual mentors,
have agreed in principle," Nityananda had said.

However, a source in the ashram said it was unlikely that the swami
would renounce his wealth. "He has nothing to lose by resigning
because all of Dhyanapeetam assets are in his name," he said.

The High Court has adjourned the hearing in cases against Nityananda
till April 6 following the public prosecutor's request for more time.
A district court will hear the swami's petition seeking anticipatory
bail today.

H S Chandramouli, the swami's lawyer, said, "There is no complaint
against him and there is no aggrieved party. These factors make the
case fit to be quashed by the court."

Related

Ashram inmates await return of Bangalore Sex Swami
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/ashram-inmates-await-return-of-bangalore-sex-swami-19381.php
Swami's alleged sex CD sells for Rs 1,000
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/bangalore-swami-sex-cd-sells-for-rs-1000-19380.php
Help us find the Sex Swami, say Bangalore cops
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/cops-desperately-seek-information-on-swami-1-18763.php
Sex swami speaks to man who filmed him
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/sex-swami-wants-to-cut-a-deal-with-lenin-karuppan-18388.php
Fernandes in row following feud between family, Jaya
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/fernandes-in-row-following-feud-between-family-jaya-14523.php

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/sex-swami-holds-on-to-his-crores-18836.php

Source: Agency
Published: Monday, April 05, 2010 11:09 [IST]

You cannot win over sex: RGV

Even as his take on media ‘Rann’ didn’t strike it well enough Ram
Gopal Varma is now set to take on the ashrams and God men.

The recent expose of Swami Nithyanand has fascinated the director
enough to make a movie on it. talking about his idea he says, “We have
seen so many babas being exposed. And yet there thousands and lakhs of
people following them. The question is what is the need of a God man?
God does not speak and the next best thing we can have is the god man.
And he has to maintain a certain image to make the devotee believe
him. But since he is a man at the core he will fall to sex one way or
the other, which is what happened with Swami Nityanand. I thought this
is an interesting concept. You see all the big powers right from ND
Tiwary to Nityanand to DIG Rathore fell to sex.”

In fact the director adds that sex is something that even the bravest
and biggest fall for. “Even if you win over god, you cannot win over
sex! That says a lot of about sex. My whole idea is to take a look at
what happens between the closed doors of an ashram. It does not
necessarily mean sexual activities. It is also about power politics
and an industry that is there!” he adds.

Now this one should be interesting.

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http://movies.indiainfo.com/article/you-cannot-win-over-sex-rgv-842208/1023629.html

...and I am Sid Harth