"HI STORY" OF INEQUALITY

STORY OF INDIA IS STORY OF INEQUALITY

Hi Story of India was told and retold to us very many times. Now a valid reconfirmation comes from  a Distinguished Professor of History of religions who has received double doctorate in Sanskrit at Harvard.. Her name is Dr.Wendy Doniger an Indologist at University of Chicago.

There is a history behind our inherited socio- economic inequality. We all have a duty to understand the hidden truths in the mixture of texts and myths offered to us in the platter of" HI Story"

INBUILT FOUNDATIONS OF INEQUALITY

What Great Periyar  told us, these people reconfirm to the whole world now  I had occasion to read A.K.Ramaujan"s "300 Ramayanas" withdrawn from Delhi University's history syllabus and "The Hindu: Alternative History'(2009) by Wendy Doniger copies of the same have been destroyed by the publisher recently.This blog brings to the world the facts that are suppressed!

These  are not private views but authentic translations of Rig Veda, Laws of Manu and documentary evidences. All along our views are painted as anti upper caste and personally I was not able to refute them because of ignorance of Sanskrit language. Not the whole book of Wendy Doniger! Just look at a few of the meanings of Sanskrit words, you will realise how prophetic Periyar was!! 

Sanskrit means perfect.(language spoken by Aryas) Prakrit means  (language other than Sanskrit : evidence shows that at that point of time it means Tamil: primordial spoken by dasas which means milechas or barbarians.Linga means Shiva's erect phallus. Ithikasa  means what people said it happened (not  history). Shruti means what is heard. moksha means set free. ahimsa has nothing to do with Gandhi's concept but it simply means not doing harm to animals.

WE DID NOT HAVE A NAME

Was there anything called Hinduism? Actually identities of people were segmented  on the basis of locality, language, caste, occupation and sect. Hinduism has no single founder. Hinduism has no canon. Hinduism has no holy Book until Euro Americans arrived  and started praising Bhagvad Gita. The very word Hindu is not native. This was a brand given by Herodotus  Persians,arabs, and Moghuls for people who lived  beyond the great river of north west of sub continent "SINDHU"

LAND OF ARYAS

Manu says that from eastern sea to the western sea (Indian Ocean and bay of Bengal) the area between Himalayas and vindhyas is what wise men call us land Of Aryas.Sanskrit is one of the oldest recorded form of language family that included Greek, latin,germanic,french,Italian, Spanish, English etc.,.All these languages alleged to have run away from the home of single parent  sometime in the 4th Millennium BCE. This parent language is called  Indo European or Indo Aryan. But this is not an observable fact according to Wendy Doniger.

But linguists regard this as an "Inescapable hypothesis".Majority of Indians speak Indo Aryan (76%) and Dravidian (22%). Tamil as a language appears to have developed from traditions separate from sanskrit. Inscriptions in cavesa are of Tamil Brahmi script.

LET US NOT GET OFFENDED

A whole community of people have been cheated by a particular sect without disclosing what really is in  vedas , Upanishads and Manu and  there was a crying need for some authentic scholar to to undo the lies about our past. Wendy Doniger has done it.

Why some one can feel offended ? British imperialists have invented Hinduism. People in this part of world did not develop a strong sense of themselves as members of distinct religion for many thousand years.A great degree of plurality, flexibility, free thinking, hybridity., tolerance and multiplicity were part of our culture .Even today it is relevant. Different forms of worship within what we call as Hinduism testifies our tolerance of diversity and distinct identity . The worship of one god does not automatically predispose a Hindu to be hostile towards people worshipping another god. This was culture of this soil.

NO DEFINITION IS OUR DEFINITION

Dr.Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan defined Hinduism as " a belief that truth is multisided which no one could fully fathom". B.G.Tilak  remarked that salvation through hinduism is diverse and number of gods worshiped are large. Supreme court of India has endorsed these definitions while deciding cases.

LET US NOT LOSE HEART

****Facts are facts in whatever degree they embarrass us . Let us face it:

****Evils of war are justified.

****Inequality was institutionalized  through Varna and jati.

****Justifying inequality by karma theory which says  that souls are reborn richer or poorer, sick or healthy according to conduct in previous life. (Upanishads but it has roots in Vedas)

****Intoxication is central theme of rig Veda.Gods get intoxicated. Indra eats 20 bulls and drinks soma.

****Adultery is made even in heaven.(Indra"s adultery with mortal woman, Moon runs away with wife of Priest of Gods(Brahaspati)

****Temple is literally and really a dwelling place of God.

****Cowards of the food of the brave (Manu and Mahabharata)

****killing in sacrifice is not killing. (Manu).Veda people sacrifice cattle to gods and eat themselves.

****hunting is a matter of justified pastime .

****gambling is justified. Losing kingdom through gambling and going in exile is an approved practice.

****Women are slaves and Sati is a age long practice. Women are in chains according to Manu:In childhood women should be in father"s control, in youth under husband and when husband is dead under her sons. She should not have independence.

****Unbelievers , infidels,Pariahs (those who do dirty duties and hence untouchables) and women are

forbidden to learn Vedas.

****There are Gods and anti gods in the system.There was also a second alliance of ascetics who even challenge gods.

****Gods often lie and cheat.

****There was jealousy and animosity between gods. 

****Many frauds have been added in different versions of Ithikasas. I may quote one. Many men who committed no offence were killed in the battle between Pandavas and Kauravas. Yuddhistra conducts a horse sacrifice  to restore himself and his kingdom from the sin.In Puranas he makes pilgrimage to Prayaga. (Wendy Doniger calls it as new puranic wine added into old Brahmnic bottles.

INSPIRING NEW INFORMATION HITHERTO HIDDEN FROM US

1.Upanishads attribute their new documents to an important group of non brahmins: Kshatriyas.

For example, king Jaivali Pravahana taught doctrine of two paths to young brahmin Shvetaketu.

2.Upanishad was influenced by Jainism and Buddhism. When Jains took vegetarianism to extreme lengths , this heavily influenced Hindu thought.

3.Like Buddhists authors of Upanishads argued that conduct rather than birth determines true brahmin.

4.Mahabharatha says it is charioteers who told the story during interval of a great sacrifice. Brahmins committed the texts into writing.

5.Sanskrit traditions states unequivocally and surprisingly that non brahmins , the people of low caste were originally in charge of care and feeding of two great sanskrit poems .Brahmins took over sometime later.The texts of the two poems were originally composed orallyt and preserved both orally and also in manuscript for more than 2000 years,Oral origin found its way to folklore.

6.Origin of colors are found in Mahabharata.In Mahabharata , there were no differences between classes. The Universe is made of Brahman. actions (karmas) divide into classes. those Brahmins who were fond of enjoying pleasures, quick to anger and impetuous in their affection abandoned their own dharma and became kshatriyas with red bodies. those brahmins who took up herding failed to follow their own dharma became Vaishyas. Those brahmins who became greedy and fond of violence(himsa) and lies fell from  purity became black shudras.

7.After culture and mode of life attributed to Hinduism passed one stage after another such as Indus, Vedic period, Upanishads , what sustained this religion was the cult called "Bhakti" (supreme devotion to God) which  really rescued the religion from competing faiths, Bhakti originated from south and main proponents of Bhakti were women and low caste people.But fraudulent efforts were taken to hide this.Nammalvar was a shudra coming from farming family. He was leader of Vaishnava Brahmins. They started making stories that he refused his shudra mother's milk. Wendy Doniger says "this is one step forward and two steps backward"

8.Brahmins who resettled in South after Kingdoms were established,learnt Tamil and introduced sanskrit. This two way process moved Tamil to north and Sanskrit to south. Bhakti which was a religious sentiment moved to north and into sanskrit.Tamil  local Puranas (Sthala Puranams) were sanskritised into Bhagwad Purana.

9. Sanskrithas many tamil loan words  already from Rig Veda time.

GREAT QUALITIES OF THE HINDU CULTURE: PLURALISM

Multiple ideas coexist in a healthy manner in hinduism. sometimes in a open mind : and sometimes 

in a group of people whose mind is closed.

Hinduism interacted creatively first with Buddhism and Jainism  then with Jews, Christians, Islam  Sikhism, and with all tribal religions  and Zoroastrianism  Such an open mind is a matter of rarity and a rarest exception among religions of the world. Some are appreciative borrowings such as Vishnu"s incarnation as Buddha.

Hybridity and multiplicity of Hindu religion is unparalleled in history of mankind.

IN short, broad Catholicism, great generosity, tolerance , commitment to truth, sacrifice and love for all life characterizes average Hindu.

CONCLUSION 

Conclusion is confusion , as Wendy Doniger herself admits. But my eyes opened to truth when she translated a poem from Rig Veda (9:112) as follows which brought the magnitude of mischief to my attention:

" I am a poet:my dad a physician, and mom a miller. With diverse thoughts we all strive for wealth going after it like a cattle"

Kathleen Gough in 1960

"One day, sitting in the Adi Dravida Street, I tackled a group of older Pallars on the subject of death, duty,destiny and rebirth.in my inadequate Tamil I asked them what they thought where the soul went after death. The group collapsed in merriment- perhaps as much at my speech as at the question.Wiping his eyes the old man replied :'Mother, we don"t know! Do you know? Have you been there?

I said " No, but the Brahmins say that if people do their duty well in this life, their soul will be born next time in a higher caste!"

"Brahmins say so! " scoffed another elder. "Brahmins say anything! Their heads go roud and round!

I am too saying the same thing.i am as ignorant as the old Pallar!

HEART OF DARKNESS

America , a mighty nation has become a biting nation. In its madness of superiority it is biting almost every one.

This is to be stopped in the interest of humanity and in the interest of human dignity which is  in stake for every self respecting citizen throughout the world.

We , Indians are shameless  silent spectators until we become the victim of this violent oppressor and self proclaimed world policeman.

We are all selfish citizens of the world , I am included. We do not realize  the pain until it happens to us.

We have to get rid of this cowardice in the guise of neutrality and non interference.

Hitler, Mussolini Stalin and Rajabakshe became tools of mass destruction because of this passive attitude adopted by world countries. Non alignment is utter foolish concept if we are silent when atrocities are perpetrated. Not taking a side at such occasion is the most barbaric and uncivilized act of inaction.

INTERFERE WHEN THERE IS INJUSTICE WHEREVER HAPPENS America goes on destabilizing many governments in many countries if they refuse to fall in line with their whims and fancies.They spy over the private lives of every citizen of the world. Despite Assange and Snowden"s exposures we are silent may be because we are too stooping to spy lives of private citizens by CMS.. Periyar valued self respect much more than anything such as political freedom. Russia has self respect and it is a mighty nation. But what about all of those Latin American countries which are small and powerless. We are humbled by the courage and sense of dignity shown by Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Cuba etc.,

Finally it has also happened to us. We, all of us Indians felt like having been stripped and arrested and got criminal charges slapped upon us when our representative in that Nation was stripped and arrested. 

What is the lesson/ Do away with this non alignment and silence which is an outmoded concept. If we lack the guts to call a spade spade we have no right to be called a dignified human being . If we refuse to take sides in a critical juncture in any part of the world when human dignity is in jeopardy we deserve not to be called dignified human beings . 

Wake up India, wake up!





.

Confused !!

Every time we  read news about somebody taking escape route of "approver'' we  get confused and troubled too!It could be Delhi gang rape offenders or David  Coleman Headley or Rana , we are really confused and troubled. This write up is direct offshoot of this troubled mind.

If you could forgive somebody on some pretext my question is this; Why don"t you forgive everybody?

"Measure for measure" or "Eye for an Eye" has long been replaced by Jesus Christ as "Turn the other cheek".

2012 years have passed! Forgiveness , genuine unconditional forgiveness remains one"s personal morals and ethics only.

But the world operates in the same old way . May be a little diluted or modified version of "eye for an eye'!

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

This Blog writer has studied the criminal law of India and have fairly good knowledge of the one at U.K.and USA.
Ruling theme of retributive system of justice is that every crime is to be followed by appropriate punishment.

When some one slaps some one slaps back. Both are violent activities.Violence is appropriately responded by violence. Crime . of course, is initial coercion (Immanuel Kant)

Crime is the negation of right
Punishment is the negation of the crime.
Therefore, punishment is the negation of the negation.
The unavoidable conclusions that our administration of justice brings forth is as follows;
Two wrongs make the right
Two wrongs restore the right.
We like it or not . what we  must know is that this is the system of administration of justice followed throughout the world.

What I am confused about?

According to this retributive system of justice (John Rawls) our moral right to punish the offender is based and exclsively grounded on the nature of offence committed and the punishment ought to be proportionate to the offence.Nothing but this is the rule of law governing justice based on retribution.

TURNING AS  APPROVER

John Rawls"Theory of "JUST PUNISHMENT" is breached and violated in approver system of delivery of justice.

Now on news are the New Delhi rape suspects who have taken an escape route to dodge punishment.
David Coleman headley who masterminded, planned, conducted reconnaissance and executed Mumbai attacl which killed 166 people who says he did all these with the connivance of ISI Directorate, Lashka, and one ex Major of Pakistan Army escapes death punishment by turning as approver. Rana an accomplice is declared as non accomplice by Jury gets mere 14 years!
Let us analyse why this happens:

We follow a system called Bargain Justice. As per Bargain Justice Prosecutor enters into an agreement with the offender and each party exchanges something of value with the other.

Because offender gives something of value to Prosecutor ,(it could be guilty plea or information on another person"s criminal act") he gets lesser punishment than if he went to trial and got convicted.

We are worried abpout the potential danger in such a bargain justice that offender has a story to tell- the general outline may be true but he puts inside the story many things which are not true.

Here just think of Headley and according to him who are all his collaborators!!

The offender knows that he is "fixed', his guilt is detected and therefore he purchases immunity with every possibility of falsely accusing others!!

My grievances against this inherently defective method of bargain justice are expressed in this Blog.

We are not able to find a way out from this .If you have a suggestion, please! A day should come that the abettor who is an associate in the perpetration of the crime who voluntarily participates in the crime should get the same proportion of the punishment which is "just punishment" as per principles of justice we say that we follow.

GOD"S OWN COUNTRY!!

                         Bhagvad Gita is a simple but a most important part of epic Mahabharata for this country owned by God.


It contains the conversation between God and Man.


Without any doubt God has the final say.


Is He right?




The man is Arjuna the great warrior deprived of his kingdom.


God is none other than Krishna in human form, his charioteer.


Please visit the battlefield:


Two confronting armies.


Whole of the royal kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent and their armies have committed to one side or the other of this epic battle.


Arjuna and his Pandavas on one side; Kauravas , their cousins, who have wrongfully usurped the kingdom are on the other side.


Arjuna foresees what is going to happen. With genuine and sincere feelings at heart he is tormented by those profound doubts  about fighting maiming and killing people of his side , other side, his relatives and close friends - all human beings.


The cause , of course , is right. But is that enough?


Will that justify enormity of death and destruction?


Should I take personal responsibility for this mass killing and massive destruction?


What mistake these thousands of people have committed who are going to be killed except being loyal to one group or the other?


Krishna brushes aside all these consequences.


He in fact takes an extreme position by urging Arjuna to obey him and fight the violent war IRRESPECTIVE OF CONSEQUENCES>


Krishna ignores significance of human conscience, and value of human lives.He also disowns  a person"s personal responsibilities for the consequences of his action. For Krishna basic human emphathies have no role.


Krishna disowns consequence of action.


Mahabharatha is ultimately a tragedy: We witness weeping, lamentations and cries, grief and destruction accompanying victory and the end establishes that God is wrong and Man is right.

Easy Way Out!

You and I  and each one of us are self opinionated. Some one said , we are dogma prone right from our mothers" womb. You know, that is an  easy way out.to live our life.

All that one should not forget is this: irrespective of our convenient fixed beliefs, human culture is changing and evolving.Human knowledge too is all the time evolving.Each generation is building upon the accomplishments of previous generation.

Raw facts are always difficult for us to comprehend. Not many of you are enjoying these thoughts.
 Convincing and cunning stories are  hot sales always because it is easy for human mind to buy it.
Things that fit narrative are easily remembered by us. That is why rather than true events reconstructed events make history more explainable.
  Mind always try to establish linearity.Whereas non linearity rules our lives. What is the linearity between pleasure and drinking water.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains in his mind blowing masterpiece many such mental blocks. For example we never examine the silent evidence. In faith healing the silent evidence is this: "Who prayed but not healed" In this world there are innumerable unsung heroes. What are their stories?  silent evidence. How many manuscripts epics and account of history are  destroyed and lost for ever. What silent evidence they carry?

Psychological Black Plague

Criticisms and failures are components of conditioning.criticisms compound criticisms and failures compound failures.

A distorted thinking process thus sets in.which we call as inferiority feeling.In later  stages it assumes the form of neurotic character.
It is rooted in the young adult"s experience of helplessness, weakness and dependency and intensified  by comparison.

The inability to reach a fictional subjective goal of success nurtures this inferiority feeling.Such perceived  negative feeling will recall the original inferiority feeling which was embedded in early stages of life and the composite effect is overwhelming.

The causes are traced to parental attitude , physical defects, mental limitations, social disadvantages and discrimination shown to people.
A temporary patch to solve the inferior feeling is to make oneself feel superior. Such superiority complex is also a disguised form of inferiority complex only.
In inferiority complex which is psychological disorder creative imagination is wrongly employed. That is an image one makes evoking unworthiness , shame and failure.

They say great military leader and emperor such as Napoleon was driven from the insecurities of being short. This' they say , one exposes by aggressive behaviour. A smaller structure is not necessarily a true handicap but by employing wrongly creative imagination one perceives it as handicap.A woman with such complex is threatened by an attractive woman. She overcompensates this feeling by teasing , criticising, and displaying various insecure behaviour.

Test

What is my attitude towards people who are better off than me in certain areas of life?

How do I feel towards people who are more attractive than me?

How do I feel about my superiors  at work?
Do I feel inferior to them?

Do I feel better than them?

Do I feel the urge to pull them down by criticising them?

Or do I feel excited or thrilled to see their success?

Realisation

All people have flaws. Most people in this world have major flaws.

Goals and yardstick of success and failure are purely subjective.

We don"t  need to reach the perceived goal to enjoy ourselves.

We can enjoy the journey with the kind of progress we make . In that process we are very confident.

We are unique. You are unique. No matter you do. You are unique.
About 90% of the people feel they are inferior (without realising  the concept of uniqueness)- so our perceived standard is a joke, One should be able to realise finally how silly it is to compare- compare ourselves against false measurements.

Fruit Gathering

ALL WRONG

In their Book "IN Search of Excellence" Mr.Thomas J.Peters and Robert H.Waterman has brought to attention the fact that what we think responsible as basic rules for running a company efficiently are all wrong.

The lessons are drawn by them by intensive study of America"s best run companies.

Belief  number one; Big is better. We get economies of scale. WRONG

                          two:To win, make it low cost.                            WRONG

                         three:Analyse everything. Set targets always.Forecast everything. WRONG

                          four:Get rid of fanatical champions                                                    Wrong

                            five:Decision making is the crucial high level job.Implementation follows . Terribly
                                                                                                                                                   WRONG

                            six:Control everything...WRONG

                        seven:Give incentives.productivity will follow; WRONG

                           eight; Control quality ;WRONG

                           nine:Be business minded and professional oriented.People, Product and Services are all  resources to achieve profits: WRONG

                           ten:Top Executives are the ones very important. They are more important than markets. Terribly wrong.

                        eleven:Growth is everything. If you stop growing everything is over. WRONG.


           

Fruit Gathering

CANNIBALS WITH FORKS

It seems now the world pays attention to no more ideologies such as socialism, communism - the only ruling ideology appears to be money making.

This is title of the Book written by John Elkingston who sought the attention of the corporate world to seven revolutions. He warned in his visionary book in 1999 that the world will turn into Cannibals with forks if TRIPLE BOTTOMLINE of PROFIT PEOPLE and PLANET are not equally pursued by the corporate world.

The SEVEN REVOLUTIONS he proposed are:

1.transparency

2.Corporate Governance

3.Lifecycle technology

4.Value driven

5.Market driven

6.Private  - Public Partnership

7.Market responsiveness.


Euthanasia- better to die than live

When people begin to feel that they depend upon their family members for their passing of this earthly life on day to day basis- without love they begin to feel themselves that it is better to die than live.

Person like Aruna need not take that course.  These wonderful people who are no way related to her
are lovingly supporting the cause of her life. Aruna should not die.

Stealing credit

Stealing the recognition that rightfully belongs to other is most painful thing in life! Many of us have undergone this pain. We feel the same pain when we hear that this happens to someone. Dancer Lane claims Natalie Portman (this year Oscar Winner) did only 5% dancing in "Black Swan" and 95% is hers.Most incredible dance movements in the Oscar Winning film were performed not by Portman but they were Lane"s  but were digitally placed on Lane"s body!!!

Healer Bhaskar

My sister gave me a CD containing Healer Baskar"s philosopphy. His ideas have coincidence with sathguru"s teachings. Our human intelligence is not confined to brain. Our body has intelligence. A highest degree of intellect whcich converts an idly into a body. Like soil is converted into food.Like a child is created out of foetus; like cell renews itself 6000 crore times; like repiratory system ;like  reproductiove biology;like hunger; like thirst.If we try and hear what body thinks and expresses we may cure all our diseases in a natural way, says Healer Bhaskar from  Coimbatore.

" Jesus Interrupted" and "Misquoting Jesus"

Historical analysis archaeological findings Hebrew and Greek historical inquiries have brought stunning new facts but nothing is going to change the fact that Bible is the single most significanr Book for our civilization. Bart D Ehraman a born again christian who studied in Moody Bible Institute was studying in Princeton University where his Professor admitted one inaccuracy in Bible and  floodgates opened.He claims that Second Epistle of Peter is forged.And six of 13 letters allegedly written by Paul are false. BookI of Timothy , he, tries to prove , claimed to have been written by Paul was in fact written after Paul died.

Bible makes more sense when contradictions are accepted. Those days books were copied in hand. Even carbon paper was not discovered 2000 years back. And oral traditions became texts with an interval of time. So there are chances in plenty for alterations and additions and inaccuracies.

COCOCOLA CONSPIRACY

The ingredients of Cococola are deadly poisonous says Dr.Robert Lustig.;sodium ,salt coffeeine, and sugar.

In his talk on "Sugar; The Bitter truth" he reveals an insight hitherto unknown to many of us.
Fructose is nothing but deadliest villain and has bad effects in body metabolism which is equal to ethanol found in alcoholic drinks.
Though Frutose is a toxin , he says' God has packaged the poison with antidote. The antidote is fibre.
This is how vegetables and fruits are made as harmless combination. BUT the sweetened beverages  and soft drinks do not have the antidote are directly related to obesity and hypertension, says Dr.Lustig.

Fruit Gatherer

Ratan Tata and Work ethics
 I asked my daughter who belongs to quality domain in IT and working for a British firm to comment on Ratan Tata"s criticism of work ethics of British managers who "do not go the extra mile"
unlike Indians.When emergency meeting is scheduled at 5.00 pm "sorry I have my train to catch" is the usual excuse.

Pat came the reply from her:

"I don"t agree with Tata.Indians can slog day and night but that is not proof of their smartness.It is true that  they don"t mind giving up hobbies and recreation because in our environment these are optionals. Plus we,Indians , cut corners in quality,with every chance we get. Doing quality work in limited hours
is need of the hour than slave labour which is difficult to be trusted.

Save A life Please!

An Appeal

Rajalakshmi is at the verge of dying. She is 27 years old, married to a Driver employed in a small firm with monthly salary of rs.5000/-. The couple have a child of one year old.

Rajalakshmi is suffering from a highly critical heart ailment which doctors say if not attended shall eventually cause death.

A Stent is to be implanted urgently through keyhole surgery and if done immediately there is scope of life for this woman but the cost of stent alone is between Rs.2.50 lakhs to 3.00 lakhs according to the cardiologists.

Vinesh the Driver (who approached my son ) being total stranger to us we personally verified the medical records consulted the Cardiologists who has already examined the patient and confirmed the facts.We also consulted number of good hospitals in the city Apollo at Chennai and CMC Vellore.

On behalf of my family  I have  paid Rs one lakh towards the cause and now look forward for donors whom I request to please remit even Rs.500 or Rs.1000 since drops make ocean. I request you to contribute the amount directly to the hospital or alternatively to Karen Nivedita Foundation if you need 18 G exemption and the Trust will in turn remit the amount to hospital on your behalf.


For all clarifications please contact this blog author at akshek@gmail.com.

"I see God in every human being, When I wash the leper"s wounds I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself"

Mother Teresa

Million Dollar Question!

Osama Bin Laden is dead. What next?

CHANGE OF HEART! That is the theme of this article.

Let us halt witch hunting. Remove our shoes for a while and wear the other person"s shoes and think.
BECAUSE, for peaceful coexistence sweeping the issues under the carpet is not the solution. The critical need today is to keenly realise  the fact that your upholding other person"s right to his opinions principles and faith is first and foremost step towards reconciliation.

What we are fighting for? What kind of a world we are going to leave for our posterity?

In the bathtub today I read Sujatha quoting Shakespeare:

"Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing"

In 1992 a centuries old place of worship was struck down by hooligans quoting mythology passed on for generations hundred thousand years back. Which faction here can be branded as fanatics or fundamentalists?

By quoting a connection three thousand years back or  mystical evidences of hundred thousand years back and armed by a UN.Resolution Zionists invaded a territory  and conquered it in total blindness to the fact that the Palestine Arabs who were made homeless were rightfully owning it for centuries! Who is fanatic or fundamentalist here.

Let us look at the reality for a while.When i escorted my wife very recently for a Good Friday Mass
I was stunned to see the church compound inundated by seamless crowd which is only a fraction of believers from that single church- that is., Tamil Catholics in the particular area of the city!
Religions will stay. They will continue to decide the life and destiny of the large number of the people of  world.
What a modern mind fails to recognise is that  along with the package of cults rituals prayers mystic practices liturgy and superstitions religion deep inside has message to mankind applicable to all ages.

On the other hand modernity has empowered human lives, opened up new worlds, broadened up our horizons and changed the way we think and act.
But then why it created wars and destruction? Why it stopped being humane mutually beneficial and empathetic?
Because it has its limitations. It has to depend upon the opposite camp for a healthy value system.
Human reasoning on which modernity is entirely based on is not designed to pursue the truth.This is what neuroscientists and psychologists have discovered recently.By evolution human nature is engineered to encourage and protect self interest and self interest only.Reasoning , therefore , need not necessarily lead to common good. The horrors perpetrated by modernity stands testimony to this. I find no need to elaborate.Kant had indicated this weakness of modernity long back,It is really impossible for human beings to escape from their own psychology. And hence modernity can never pursue absolute truth because it is not the agenda for modernity.Freud too showed that human beings are slaves to powerful uncontrollable irrational forces of the unconscious.

What is the point I am trying to make? Religion and its accomplices (shall we call them fundamentalists) and its peace loving followers and also terrorists live in one world.
Their involvement shall not confine to one area. It has its implications in politics, Governments(Arab Spring?) spiritual, social, personal,military, and economic spheres of human life.Osama"s world has not faded and gone. It is there to stay.

There is certainly another world where all modern minded are willing to live. A world with a natural tendency to see facts as facts and empirical. A scientific rational principled and honesty seeking world.

Though opposed to each other human history has showed us both has contributed and borrowed from each other.After all,  fundamentalists and fanatics right from Ayatollahs are benefiting themselves from cutting edge technology. For universal message of Love ., compassion, empathy , brotherhood. repentance., and forgiveness modern world is always benefited from religions of the world.
The line is drawn. The options are not many. Either it is understanding magnanimity benevolence and tolerance for peaceful going or perpetual conflict. What sort of legacy we propose to hand over to the next generations is million dollar question!

Life Without take off

Speaking from personal experience let me put it this way: People who are deprived of a quality education right in time have their lives never started.It applies even for the fortunate ones endowed with inborn wisdom.
It is a vicious cycle - ignorance leading to all manifestations of deprivation.
A human being suffers on both counts- intrinsically as well as extrinsically for lack of proper early education.
I attach special meaning to our right towards proper and quality basic education which is being denied.to majority of the population. Victims are children who lack power to enforce this right. Their so called spokesmen are the real villains.
No education is far better than bogus or fraudulent or evil education.
A  school which has teachers who do everything except educating. A teacher who utters something  not even remotely connected to text book or knowledge and pretends to teach only on hearing the approaching footsteps of Head Master with a long stick.A teacher who spends entire time in self praise.A teacher who only educates for students enrolled for private tuition. A teacher who supplies answer sheets to tuition students or leaks question paper.
A teacher who teaches good moral values by taking you to a nearby village Meela vittan from Tuticorin and instructs you to tell parents and HM that you were taken to Vaigai Dam for picnic.THUS and in this process
The student gets kicked up to tenth standard where he finally faces the Government Exams.Now prophecies are made one after the other by so called elders on the impending disasters and traumatic failure awaiting the youngster.
It is these elders who are suckers who fail to see talents for the children are not imparted uniformly.
That is the vicious cycle. Ignorance breeds ignorance.
Why we had forced family planning sometime back? Knowing well it  never works that way?t is obviously because of the reason that we lacked the awareness that having a small family will prevent production of  educationallyDISABLED persons.Newly added members in the already overpopulated families confront stark realities of fraudulent or bogus education.
When we speak of justice and when we speak of freedom let us realise we have none of it in a environment that does not guarantee quality education for its citizens.(Individuals cannot enable this) A person without quality education is not expected to contribute good to the society. He himself is threatened with extinction. There is no place for expressing true sense of freedom of thought speech belief and action.There is no scope for broadening one"s objectives and his social commitments. And hence there is no take off in his life. There is no meaning for such life.

LINGERING INJUSTICE

                                Successive Governments and Judicial Institutions continue to cover up the gross discrimination perpetrated against minority Dalits in the name of their religious affliation.This  has been excellently brought out in a recently published White Paper By Mr.A.M.M.S.Xavier a noted writer thinker and social activist who belongs not to the group that has been discriminated against.


Humanity has never ever encountered such preposterous and cruel stratification of human beings which paved way for perpetual subjugation and inhuman life. The author of the White Paper has unfolded the sad tale: of how  the occupiers relegating the dirtiest jobs to Natives and then call them dirty and designate them as untouchables.

To cut a long story short I am asking this question: Don"t the Governments and Judiciary know that no religion that came after Hinduism has suceeded to address or cure this malaise and rotten disease which is worse than AIDs? The disease inherited by us and deeply rooted to our culture and environment for many thousands of years. Are we really fools to beleive that those thousand years habit is done away with sixty years of religious identification. I dont think so.

All of us are either victims or culprits one way or the other for poisonous and vicious cycle of shame passing on from one generation to another. We have still not found any clue for nipping in the bud the very tendency of caste identity.

I can recall my first day in Government Office.I was overwhelmed by the spontaneous affection shown by my
casteist colleague by welcoming me with  an embrace which hardly I realised was intended to locate if I am wearing my holy thread! Nor have I for gotten how my good friend Jana took me to his house for a cup of coffee much to the disapproval of his mother who did not hesitate to sprinkle water and did cleansing ritual even  before I could leave the place!
In denying the justice for dalit minority of whichever religion it could be, one cannot rule out vindication of religious fundamentalism as justifiable if pursued by Majority.

Matsyanyaya is a concept well accepted by law makers  where a big fish can devour small fish.
It is a legitimate right of majority to exterminate the minority according to the concept.

Prof.;Amartyasen * I have discussed this in one of my blogs*  in his "Idea of Justice" has brought out the excellent theme of right way of rendering justice. Politicians and Judges are required to meditate over this priniciple.

Amartyasen says in classic Sanskrit it is called Niti(In Tamil NEETHI) and Nyaya ( NIYAYAM in Tamil).
True rendering of Justice is by rendering Nyaya . As Plato has envisaged one who is possessing high degree of social awareness sense of justice,purest noblest and most righteous  will see what is happening to actual lives of the people than interpreting statutes.Failing which as one English Judge remarked in 18 th century "your judgment may be right but reasons are certainly wrong.

Walking backward

This write up describes an early experience or first encounter with Powers that be. One who is drunken with power becomes a monster. The powers are half legal and half illegal. The whole world knows this. It inevitably makes one unjust and unprincipled.Your henchmen are all your yes men. In that process you destroy all and sundry who don't matter to you.

Such violent deaths of basic rights of ordinary people and encroachment on their freedom of existence is caused by pursuing policy of favouritism which is nothing but worst form of corruption which invariably results in corruption of moral values in human life.

This is a case of a vice chancellor which office he earned as a political appointment through his M.P. relative in the ruling party those days.With unlimited powers vested with him as first Vice Chancellor (with Statutes and Regulations of the Varsity yet to be written) this all powerful "vice" chancellor misused his position day in and day out to remove people and bring his stooges to significant position.

An youngster was directly reporting to this tyrant; one who is supposed to write out many of his illegal orders.The youngster is conscientious filled with ethical integrity. But definitely not clever not smart not practical.It was Emergency which he had forgotten that there is no fundamental right and there is no right to approach Court of law .
These  days PhD are earned at Libraries.Relevant Doctors know this. I have no need to elaborate.In order to bring his own man to this post of Chief Librarian Gazetted Post they say) this "vice" chancellor issued orders of dismissal to  one handicapped Librarian who was highly qualified and highly experienced than the stooge of this man. Reason for dismissal: having lost a book in this Varsity library containing millions of books.

Youngster rose up in revolt. He organised Union and addressed meetings.Employees came with great support. A hunger strike was organised. But the dismissal order was not withdrawn. Instead the youngster was packed to a distant destination as punishment transfer while he had a kid of three months old. He was later reduced in rank to the post he originally joined eight years back through Public Service Commission.The youngster left the job in disgust.

This is story of an youngster who cannot compromise in his principles even an inch to avoid displeasing others but this is how his adventurous mission  open defiance and rebellion attitude was crushed to pieces.

Values

This piece of writing is dedicated to my Grandchildren Karen Christopher and Mila Mendez.

Everyone of us has a value system. Despite various things happen in course of our lives, we cling to them as a child clings to her mother.It so happened that agnostic cum atheist and down to the earth rationalistic approach to problems of life have  become second nature to many of us probably because of reasons that thinking and liberal environment in which we were born  or brought up with, i am not sure . But deep inside, one is always reminded by a value system a conscience keeper placing a check in each of our moves in this ever competitive world- the inner voice to tell you and warn you to act above utter selfishness, retrace your steps reform yourself and to find out alternative path that brings purity of your character and inner harmony to your life.
From where this value system has originated?

Digging deeper I realise that these values have been fed into my system by my mother.From where she got these values? I have to unambiguously and whole heartedly confide with you that these are Christian Values.
I was constantly reminded of these values by her not directly but indirectly in her daily conversation with Jesus -an impromptu family prayer that was a daily ritual in my childhood.

We are prone to mistakes.We are all  made that way.Christian values recognise this and help us end this vicious cycle.

Christian values for the first time in the history of mankind solves this vexed issue of helplessness on the part of the man who feels guilty about mistakes he has committed and does not know how to proceed further.

First of all forgiving a sinner was unthinkable in our pastoral past. We have now come to realise that selfish gene or self preservation is a defence mechanism built upon us by our genes culture and environment.
We are driven by this mad instinct pursuing our lives with greed jealousy anger and endless fighting.
But the defence mechanism we understand that is put in place to prolong the human race in this planet.We do not actually fulfil this objective by drawing borders of nation or religion or ideology and wage war against one another to bring human race into extinction.
.We have often misinterpreted our selfish instincts to pursue mindless egoistic path regardless of the injustices we commit in that process to
rest of our brethren .The ethical bias within ourselves make us commit more and more sins and we continue to fail in compassion and indulge in self pity.

Christian values make you realise this! It does not stop there. It offers magical solution to enable us to come out of this mess! Man by virtue of having been endowed with natural instincts of self preservation is bound to commit sin. Christianity understood the need to guide him away from this vicious cycle of reward or price system in this world.A huge difference has to come , a huge effort is to be made in this direction to alter this mindset.

Christian Values offer repentance and forgiveness as two indispensable tools to end the cycle.To close the old account and start a new account in our lives on any point of time.
Christian Values allow and enable this process of making a new beginning.We repent our mistakes and ask those to whom we have erred against and ask them to forgive us.We also unilaterally and unconditionally forgive those on whom we have grudges imaginary or real and ask them to help us to open new account.In the new account only profits get transferred which are good and noble thoughts. Losses got liquidated by forgiveness and will not find a place in our new balance sheet of our life.

In  unconditional terms I do this now.By doing this I wish to carry forward this value from my mother to the next generation this  priceless value which has given real significance to the noblest soul who gave up his life  for this one and only cause many thousand years back.

Karen Nivedita Foundation- Miles to go before we sleep!

 Nivvy Baby!You have brought change in lives of many! And the change is happiness!

When Karen came into this world as the child of Christopher it soon followed with the birth of "Karen Nivedita Foundation" a brainchild of Christopher!

The foundation represents fountain of unwavering feelings of empathy that heart of Chris harbours always for the disadvantaged. How many of us have felt this empathy for the Housekeeper in First Ac who makes your bed but has his bed in a cramped space just near the toilet!

A visit to the Government Hospital on one {not a fine} morning for both of us. What we witnessed troubled our minds.The distressing and miserable conditions in the wards.Surely millions of miserable ones
receive a raw deal which is flat denial of basic amenities that Karen Nivedita could reach out!
The seeds of the Foundation were sown in the mind of Christopher that moment!

We were not aware of Millennium Development Goals but we later realised that the goals and objectives synchronised with his aspirations .

Karen Nivedita Foundation took upon itself the following mission:

1.Strive hard to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2.Enable primary education

3.Reduce child mortality

4.Improve maternal health

5.Combat HIV/AIDS

Objects of the trust include:

1.Establish or subsidise orphanages

2.Run medical camps

3.Construct or help constructing hospitals

4.Construct or help schools with secular education

5.Cause of animal welfare

6.Alleviating human sufferings at times of calamities

AND MANY OTHERS.


Karen Nivedita Foundation has enabled:

*construction of 5000 sq feet paediatric ward

*Construction of Ramp at Little House of Divine Providence Cottolengo the Sisters Home for disabled and handicapped children.

*Construction of a modern state of the art and a class apart ICU unit exclusively for the newly born  at government Hospital Coimbatore.

*Regular donor of "Aravannaikum Anbu Illam

*Donor through "Freedom through Education" Project

*Various amounts spent for cause of deserving students who are economically backward .
* Meeting medical and marriage expenses of disadvantaged poor and cancer patients.

* Regular contributions to the Artificial Limb Project
* Construction of toilet blocks for Government Primary Schools
Our heartfelt thanks to all those people who supported us to make this happen!

Summing Up

We have come a long way. The country as a whole might have made vast strides.But lives of many remain pathetic. Dr Manmohan Singh"s dream that  the benefits from rich will percolate to poor has not happened!

Crores are below BPL.

Let us not forget the maxim that" We live in a world of our own making"

There is a purpose  for this article:

Drops make the ocean! If an individual"s hand is strengthened with noble gestures of many hundred more things can be done to alleviate people"s misery.Towards this purpose Karen Nivedita Foundation has been accorded with 80 G EXEMPTION by Income Tax Dept from March 2010.

Do not send any donation now. After the right project is identified we will ensure end use and complete transparency and right to know how each rupee is spent I may publish an appeal in this column . But we need your response now telling us what you think and if you would be interested in being part of our initiatives. Inherent faith in the goodness of people is the driving force of this Foundation.

LEGALLY SPEAKING!!!

Today Is octocer second the national holiday at India one can"t avoid thinking about the barrister at South Africa whose definition of legal profession cloud our minds in the aftermath of Temple versus Masjid verdict delivered day before yesterday!

Last month news in TOI that many Judges were caught redhanded while copying in their University Examinations did not entirely shock me.I am often skeptical whether men who deliver jurisprudence and make crucial decisions on peoples"lives are competent enough to do it.Especially in issues of complex varieties demanding expertise and advanced knowledge and high degree of social awareness on issues involving science technology environment history archaeology philosophy and ethics and morality.

They are invariably possessing archaic knowledge with a basic degree and after study of ageold laws land up in starting to study criminal law or civil disputes or service and labour cases or company law and constitutional law asper the opportunities they get.
These ordinary men give final answers for vexed questions that makes or mars quality of life of multitudes.
For general public ,however, the perception is that they are superhuman or demigods.

Their perception is not completely wrong. They are right expectations.Under balance of power concept they should be eminent men of undisputed integrity noblest purest and most righteous. They examine laws of the state and declare them null and void interpret them to give true definition of justice without fear or favour.They have to pledge their allegiance to human race not restricted to any man made distinctions.
If it comes in God"s name they do not hesitate to act in the interest of humanity.In his definition of PHILOSOPHER-KING Plato envisaged these qualities thousands of years back.

Recent pronouncements of Judges are eyeopeners and fail to meet any of the lofty expectations above explained.
They talk too much assumes too much but are silent spectators to the specific question whether the perpetrators of demolition have indulged in criminal act or not.This reflects a declining trend in values.
depicting the fact that modern morals are curious mixture. One is the desire to live harmoniously and at peace with rest of the religious groups. And the other is subservient to ancient supersitions semi divine characters in mythology preached and followed by the most backward or pastoral or agricultural tribes few thousand years back.
In the recent judgment cognisance of the offence commited in 1992 and examination of evidence the two duties expected out of the litigation have been swept under the carpet.
If they are not experts and they lack specialisation in any Branch of knowledge They cannot go ahead making their views binding on peoples" lives. this is my humble opinion.

Article of Faith

Humanity is confronted with and got entangled with eternal fear. Fear is the driving force towards all complexities that we have built upon ourselves and upon the society we live.Fear over self and  and everyone.Fear against fellow beings who seem to be in conflict of interest with us.Fear of getting offended;      fear against disasters and catostrophies of all kinds;fear against death; fear against after life punishments; fear against one"s sins;fear of call of conscience;fear of facing truth;fear of pursuing truth;reflections of all those confluence of fears taught in childhood;fear against hunger ; survival;tyranny and prospect of losing freedom in expression  thought speech one"s own faith and action.

From cradle to grave fear fear and fear ;nothing else but fear dominates us!!


While the real need is to confront these fears and investigate them the misconceived notions behind them
their origin their meaning their impact their futility their destrutive potentiality their dangerous and corruptive consequences to personality and life of the individual and to the community at large.human mind is quite conviniently and ignorantly looking for the scapegoat mechanism which does not guarantee liberation from fear .The scapegoat is FAITH.

While fear is amenable to analysis faith unfortunately is not.Faith commands analytical mind to STOP at one point orders it to beleive.Right from Saint Thomas beleivers mix both mad faith and cosmological proof rational principles and natural laws selectively to prove their point!

But there is no mad faith involved in analysing consequences of fear.The remedy ,therefore to banish fear lies in banishing ignorance.When we turn pages of history, however. we find that instrument of faith has been invented to banish fear.Major fear of humanity (until 15 th century) is fear against super natural forces. (underlying theme of Malthus)Faith bestowed on certain dogma religion cult or nation not only gave comfort against fear but it also saved people from being threatened with charges of sedition ban arrest labelled as rebel exile and excommunication. Paradoxically the institutions that ensured faith among its members feared of their survival and hence the coercive methods were put in place.Fear ruled. Yours faithfully culture flourished.Pol Plot feared educated and even those who wore glasses!

Feare is behind every human trauma.Faith is inevitably product of fear. But the product has its inherent weaknesses. When fera reaches its epitome its own byproducts which are deep rooted suspicion jealousy
anger vengeance revenge take control.
Our deep insights are to be drawn to various manifestations of fear all of them cannot be sufficiently gone through inthis essay,and the great philosophers and psychologists have observed that change is bound to arrive in deep echelons of mind and then fear ceases to exist.
Faith without this deep and innovative sense of digression is a failed weapon in our hands. A gun without ammunition!
To illustrate: Look at the plight of Kashmiris! Who are in immense grief and suffering.Our sage like Pm who is described as a man of uncommon decency and humility by people of the world is not able to help them.
Because here fear rules (what are CBMs) and faith a failed weapon between two nations.Look at any human conflict present past and future. Look at Israeli Arab conflict.Fear rules and faith miserable. Episodes of Sept 11 and Mumbai!The strained relationship of Muslims with rest of the world is built upon the foundation of fear where faith has no place.Faith is no longer an effective instrument withj most uprights like Obama!
Faith has played no role absolutely no role in ensuring peace and harmony within one"s self families communities cult religion and nations.
For majority of us faith or even beleif in God is earthly convinience or practical necessity.Here ther is no need to tell about the faction that make their living out of faith.
Before i wind up these personal thoughts I share anguish of Scott Adams in God"s Debris."If you beleive a truck is coming toward you--you will jump out of the way. This is reality of beleif"
If you do nothing about it despite your beleif you are lying!Because it is never true beleif if on the one hand I say God exists but on the other hand always fearful jealous suspicious full of vengeance do nothing except sinning ,allow people around me dying in suffering and I still concentrate on hoarding.
Freedom from fear is humanity"s inherent goal.(It canbe adopted incidentally as Ninth Millennium Development Goal).
Coming bto faith. If faith by any chance canbe truthfully practised as it is being preached LET IT UNITE FAMILIES--UNITE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!!!
LET ME SEE IT TO BELEIVE IT!!
After all Love thy neighbour is underlying theme of all religions.(they vary only in detail)

Finally Descartes:''Error is the result of IMBALANCE between understanding and my will"

"reading" a pleasure leading to refinement!

Intensive reading rather than extensive reading is exploratory in nature.

Thirty years back when I first came across a hoarding which read "a sage who walks alone" I attended J.K."s first meeting.He was a genius of geniuses.When i could connect to him not logically or intellectually
but really my life changed. I could reach him at his terms. That is it. Inferiority and superiority both extreme states of mind dissolved into nothing. he said "You are the World" And I became the world.

The very famous allegory of "Cave Man" by Plato comes into mind which I wish to share with readers.

Men who are chained to unreviewed convictions values prejudices and ideologies are like human beings
facing the wall of the cave who have never turned to the entrance of the cave and so has never witnessed
the light of the day!

They only see the shadows of reality and the voices they hear are echoes.

If one such prisoner of circumstances is led out of the cave into the broad day light of the sun first thing that happens  for him is inner resistance.

Finally if he is enabled to see the whole new world he transorms into  a different person though outwardly he looks the same for the fellow human beings.

Imagine if that one person who is mentally liberated has to descend back into the cave!

What great difficulty he has to surmount to get accustomed to darkness of the cave.

No doubt he will be a subject of ridicule and scorn!

In a world of crumbling truths where all generalisaions and commonly accepted definitions of success justice and morality original thinking is the beaconlight and a torch bearer and he lives for this worthy cause.

Let him give the final word!

Finding Simple Answers!

" Hindu" says Stephen Hawking in his new book "Grand Design" reveals God is not a factor in creation which is  a departure from his earlier observation in "Brief History of Time" which I have read.
Now he says it is not necessary to invoke God for setting the universe going.

Bishops all around the world have contradicted. It is a beleif (rather convinient beleif!) Archibishop of Canterbury says to have a intelligent living agent for designing the universe.

Centuries old debate has come to full circle after the physicist"s recent observation.But it all started with Charles Darwin.Chromosomes and mapping of genomes came much later.The great genius unfolded the mystery of how and why we exist. The fact that we are 99.5% of chimpanzee really really startled all of us.

Scientific and intellectual quests were unrelently made for pursuit of truth. But same intelligence and philosophy were used fro making intrepretations to age old supersitions  to pastoral and agricultural masses
who were quoted selectively and always out of context.

But the scientific inquiry did not cease.
Philosophers started asking very difficult questions.From Russell to Scot Adams. Very Many.
Russell for instance said that those who are earnest enough to think that sin is disobedience to god
are compelled to accept that God is not omnipotent. Had he been omnipotent nothing contrary to his will will occur.If god causes men and women to sin they cannot help it. And God has no right to send them to hell.

Living cell has been artificially made now and the tampering with heredity started long back from plants .

God is of course is a simple answer to many complicated questions. Why i came into this world/ Where shall I go? How i have to live and many.
But unfortunately a simple answer is not a right answer.
Secondly cling on to what i beleive is not awareness. awareness is accepting and unlearning.
Finally nothing is more dangerous than mad faith!