sahiti

I have heard/read time and again that Navratris are auspicious periods for spiritual advancement bcos these periods are so conducive for any spiritual “sadhana” (which need not essentially mean some great compilcated practice, or repitition of mantra or performing rituals. It can be as simple as contemplation, self-analysis and any form  of meditation) , that a little sadhana during this period will give enoromous results.

I started to dig on the subject and this is some reasonable info that i could find. There are two Navratris. SriRama Navaratris and Durga Navratris. (Actually three, if we count ganesh navratri also)

One is Durga Navaratri or Navdurga Parva that falls during the first nine days of lunar month of Ashwin according the Hindu Calendar.(Ends with celebration of Mahar navami and vijaya dasami). Another Navaratri period spans the first nine days of lunar month of Chaitra, which is the day of Ugadi and this Navaratri ends with “Srirama Navami “

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If someone knows the significance/ relevance of these Navaratris to us, rationally and scientifically, can you please enlighten me?

(This is the summary of the conversation i had with my husband)

Through a long walk we were discussing what kind of people become Mahatmas/Swamis/Gurus. A look at the list of great men is surprisingly diverse - diverse in backgrounds, diverse in actions and ages. Bar the chronology of existence, a great spiritual man can be anywhere and the list is astoundingly comprehensive for anyone to take inspiration irrespective of who you are and what you do. All these people have understood God - or call it the Laws of Nature or the Principle of Life. A lot of these great men have understood something that common men like me fail to understand or even try to. However, all these people must have something in common. All these people must have realized one, just one mantra (not in a religious sense, just the literary!). That mantra, if you knew and understood, all knowledge is yours. If you can look at that ‘reality’, that is where all the sciences and religious practices meet.

For instance, read this and try to guess who must have said it - “A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.”

This is a quote from Einstein’s book - The Merging of Spirit and Science. Without the mention, it might exactly sound like a Indian guru lecturing. It could have been Sankaracharya’s quote from Viveka Chudamani. Now this is confusing and interesting in the same breath. How can such diverse individuals realize the same truth? I started thinking - is it not as if we are living inside a bubble? A sphere with multiple radii - the radius of the sphere is a way of life each of us choose - infinite of them. However all these radius touch the boundary somewhere, only if you have the will to go the entire distance to the boundary. The radius that you are walking on can be a way to serve diseased and sick like Mother Theresa or it can be your music like Thyagaraja or a scientific inquisitiveness like Einstein or plain blind devotion like Kannappa (Kannappa Nayanar!). The path of the radius is immaterial.

Only when you reach the boundary of the bubble and break it - do you realize that the air outside is just like the air inside. That what is outside is what is inside. As above, so below. The microcosm is oneself, and the macrocosm is the universe. The macrocosm is as the microcosm, and vice versa; Say it in whatever language you want. I was consoling myself for now that I understood. Realizing God or realizing truth requires me to push myself to the boundary, to stretch myself as a human being utilizing my energies to the fullest. It requires me to shrug off a whole lot of distractions - as the travel to the boundary requires dedication and lot of perseverance. With that I understand that a lot of procedures are just help to move on that radius.

With a lot of determination and preseverence, I am sure any one can ‘realize’ God (I believe there is nothing called ‘Seeing’ God - it is not an entity that will materialize infront of you and disappear! You only realize God - that God is in everything around me - so when one sees God, all the usual things that are visible around all are realized to be God!)

(btw he wrote the above post, which i reproduce with his permission :-))

In the next few posts i am planning to touch upon the Gurus from the so called lower castes! India did have a rigid varnasrama or the caste system for centuries. The original character/guna based division has decayed into a birth-based caste system. Inspite of that, it was universally accepted that certain persons who led a pure and virtuous life and constantly engaged in the supreme effort of realization of God were above the caste and creed. They were respected irrespective of caste and temples built in their names. Agreed that there also existed ppl who scorned even them but it only shows who is at a baser level in the path of evolution, the scorner or the scorned and the answer is obvious, isnt it?!!!!

I happened to chance upon Ramanujacharya in my search for material for the above topic and he interests me. I heard/read in my schooling days that a great guru of the south had shouted the supposedly secret mantra from the top of a temple so that everyone would benifit from it…he became my instant hero ..but i didnt know/remember the name. Now i come to know that it was Ramanujacharya. This is what i call spiritualism with humanism!!! I shall eloborate how… (He even had a Dalit Guru! Can any hard-core vaishnavaite emulate him?)


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Ramanuja proceeded to Thirukottiyur to take initiation from Nambi for Japa of the sacred Mantra of eight letters Om Namo Narayanaya. Somehow, Nambi was not willing to initiate Ramanuja easily. He made Ramanuja travel all the way from Srirangam to Madurai nearly eighteen times before he made up his mind to initiate him, and that too, only after exacting solemn promises of secrecy. Then Nambi duly initiated Ramanuja and said: “Ramanuja! Keep this Mantra a secret. This Mantra is a powerful one. Those who repeat this Mantra will attain salvation. Give it only to a worthy disciple previously tried”. But Ramanuja had a very large heart. He was extremely compassionate and his love for humanity was unbounded. He wanted that every man should enjoy the eternal bliss of Lord Narayana. He realised that the Mantra was very powerful. He immediately called all people, irrespective of caste and creed, to assemble before the temple. He stood on top of the tower above the front gate of the temple, and shouted out the sacred Mantra to all of them at the top of his voice. Nambi, his Guru, came to know of this. He became furious. Ramanuja said: “O my beloved Guru! Please prescribe a suitable punishment for my wrong action”. Ramanuja said: “I will gladly suffer the tortures of hell myself if millions of people could get salvation by hearing the Mantra through me”. Nambi was very much pleased with Ramanuja and found out that he had a very large heart full of compassion. He embraced Ramanuja and blessed him.

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Now, isnt that a classic example of spiritualism with humanism? The other scholars learn the dwaitha/advaitha/visistha adwaitha and what not and spend their lives debating..but they forget the fundamental….”love all, nobody is inferior and nobody is superior, by birth or by capability..all are equal”! There are some who feel great bcos they are born into a particular caste, then there are some who feel great bcos they are more “educated”, a few bcos they are more “wealthy”, a few bcos they are more “intelligent”….the list goes on…I remember Kabir doha that i learnt at school..

pothi padi padi jag mua pandit hua na koi
dhaayi akshar prem ka padhai so pandit hoi

people read all their lives, but they dont bcom pandits. One who has read just two and half letters of “prem” will becom a pandit!!!

adi shankara told in bhaja govindam to a old scholar who is revising complicated sanskrit grammer rules…

“Bhaja govindam bhaja govindam, govindam bhaja moodha mate
samprapte sannihite kaale nahi nahi rakshati…..”

Oh! Block head !!! Think of Govinda (The true self) All this knowlege is not going to help you in ur death bed, only Govinda is going to save you!

Moodha mate…a block head…gosh! can it get clearer than this?!? :))This is the “knighthood” that adi shankara bestows on someone who learns without assimilating!

Bhaja govindam has pearls of wisdom, the entire essense of teachings of Adi Shankara put in 12 slokas….deserves a seperate blog…sometime..

Most of the people who are spiritually inclined, attend discourses and read books are of the opinion that they are superior to the others who dont! They, in search of the Absolute truth, give in to this temptation of conceit, never to realize the folly! For, in order to keep up the false notion of superiority they get “more” spiritual! They eat, talk, walk, spiritual jargon not understood my lesser mortals and feel good and sacred! Hence they miss the crux of spiritualism which is to see God with eyes closed,within, as well as with eyes open, in every form of life!

Spiritualism and humanism should not be seperated ! When apart, either of them is as meaningless as the other and as useless! This is one reason i see that Vivekanada stands out! His heart bled at the misery of the East as well as the west. He thundered “Cut out the word help from your mind. You cannot help; it is blasphemy! You worship. When you give a morsel of food to a dog, you worship the dog as God. He is all, and is in all.” This is where the Indian spiritualism has missed the bus according to me! It has not learned to take care of the weak and the downtrodden! For generations, the keepers of Indian spiritualism were involved in so much of vanity and conceit that the suffering masses did not get any attention or even a sympethetic look! The God right in front of the eye was sneered at and complicated search for Him was pursued in all the wrong places with the false dream of “my God” and “my salvation” ! I would only call them misguided and dangerous men of half-knowledge! But hindusim should not be harshly judged upon based on the actions of such perverts!

Come to think of it, there are so many electrical engg amongst us(including urs truly, a EEE engg) who passed out of reputed institues with flying colors but cannot produce any electricity, who cannot fix any electrical gadgets or even replace a fuse wire thats blown off(hey, i can do that. but i do know a few who cant!) !!! Thats the futility of the practical aspects of our education!Equally futile was the knowledge of those who recited vedas and bloated with conceit, without understanding and assimilating into the life what they are parrotting!But we do not harshly judge the science of electricity based such ppl. We dont say, “Look at that electrical engg! He read everything but is useless! So all that he read must be useless and false!” Do we??

Let us not miss the treasure trove of Ancient Indian Science, the sanatana Hindu Dharma ! Let the entire humanity learn it, discuss it, debate it, act on it and benifit from it! Approch with open mind and without prejudice is my humble request! Read Aurobindo and read vivekananda to know the logical, scientific, universal and humanistic version of the Hindu Dharma.

PS:This is just a rambling …donno what i exactly wanted to say in this post…some random thoughts shared!

I happened to read this post “Cosmic Dance” on Aham’s iland. He explains the seemingly complex concept of “Sarvam khalvidam Brahmam”, “The God is all and in all” in such a simple language and with such a clear logic that the statement looks OBVIOUS once we are thru the post. Wanted to share the experience with my friends, so am reproducing the same here (or u can read it at www.aham.rediffiland.com) The post seems to be lengthy, but beleive me, its not at all heavy reading…u can effortlesly dance thru the post
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The cosmic dance

The Vedantic philosophy holds the view that “All this is verily the absolute alone” indicating the ultimate ‘oneness’ of all that exist. The Upanishadic statements “Sarvam khalvidam Brahmam” and “Isovasyam idam sarvam” (All this is permeated by the Godhood) are just two of many such instances where this idea is explicitly expressed. How can “all this” be the absolute itself? Can the creation be same as the creator? Most of the religions say just the opposite. Some may even take it as blasphemy. And above all is it practically possible? So how can Vedanta make such an outrageous statement? Let’s explore and see if there is any substance to this claim.

We have two entities to consider. The creator on one side and the entire creation - both material and non-material - on the other. From our basic observations we can very easily see that when we create something it stands apart from us. A shirt for example though cover my body, cannot be myself. It is made of threads of cotton or something and not of the same stuff that I am made of. It is true that I created it but the difference and separation from me is comprehensive and obvious. Then how can we prove the creation is the creator himself?

Since we have to begin somewhere, let’s begin from the very beginning itself. The beginning of “All this”, the cosmic creation. If you acknowledge that there is creation, naturally there must be a creator. (There are a few who uphold the non-creation theory - Ajaatavada). At this stage we don’t know anything about the creator as such. But it is not really important. What we have to see is, is there a possibility that the creation can be the creator himself whoever he may be. That’s all. Lets call the creator by the popular name “God” during this discussion.

So conceptually speaking, God is the one who created all these and controlled the evolution. He is potential enough to create, sustain and destroy all at his will. What caused the beginning of creation? How did he create it? What raw materials did he use? How long it took him to make it alive and kicking? Where is he now leaving his creation in turmoil? There are questions which perhaps God only can answer. One has to step into the creator’s shoes to have a proper perspective before attempting to analyse them. Now the question is, “Do we have any right to do that?”

Isn’t it a fact though we fall into the category of creation we are also endowed with some creative powers? We do create various things. We use our intelligence, creative power and materials to produce a lot many things. It is said that the macrocosm and microcosm differ only in magnitude but are similar in essence. So there is justification for our attempt to peep into the intricacies of creation as we are creators as well. Let’s investigate the observable facts in order to gain some insight into the possibilities and impossibilities involved in this great mystery of creation. We can use logical reasoning on one side to arrive at conclusions and make a comparison of our own creativity on the other to validate the possibility of the same in a miniature scale.

By definition, God is the ever existing reality beyond space and time and is uncaused and uncreated. In the beginning God alone existed. And then all on a sudden (yet another popular assumption) the process of creation began to unfold. We don’t know whether it all happened in a flash or it took eons but what we know is that any creation requires many ingredients apart from the creator. Factually speaking, something cannot come out of nothing. So there must be some raw materials to start with. Also needed are some tools and instruments as well as the technical know-how. What are the raw materials used by God? What tools did he use? Mind you, at the time of creation there was nothing existing other than God. Then where did the raw materials come from? Probably God must have created these things first. If that’s the case, where from the raw materials for those things came to begin with? Do you see the impossibility of such a situation? There cannot be any raw material available other than the only existing thing which is God himself prior to the commencement of creation.

So the only logical conclusion is that whatever came out as creation must have originated from God and given ex-pression by God. The raw material must be God himself, the tools must be God himself and the knowledge must be God himself and the creative power must be God himself. There is no other possibility! So whatever exists as creation must be God himself through and through.

One may argue that God need not create the world the same way a potter creates the pots. Digging out clay, mixing it with water, loading it on the wheel and shaping it into pots and finally cooking it out to get the finished pot. God is all powerful and can create anything out of his own “WILL” in no time without the need of any raw material.

Well, it is a possibility. Let’s see what happens in such a situation in our own life. I want to build a house. I have the desire, the plan and will to do but have absolutely no money with me and there is no chance that I will ever have any. Take it further that even if I have money, there is no building materials available anywhere ever. Then how will I fulfill my desire? Is there a way I can make a house without bricks and concrete. Can I fix doors without using wood? Can I color it up without paint and brushes? Well, there is one way! Just go to bed and close your eyes. You may have a dream and construct a house exactly as you want it without carrying bricks or concrete or wood or paint there. That too in no time! It will be a dream house…

Don’t you think it must be same case with God as well? If he creates something out of his will, without using any substance, it must be of the nature of the ‘will’ which is mind stuff - same stuff that dreams are made of. God will have a dream and in his dream creations will emerge and events will happen one after another as he willed(so to say). No need of any material at all.

In that case the creations cannot be real. Isn’t it? But the world what we see and interact looks so real and materialistic. How can that be justified? Just the way our own dreams looked real while it happened, the creations of God’s dream will find it real and materialistic as long as looked from within the dream. Once “awakened out of this sleep” one will see the dream as a dream and know the real nature of existence.

Now, what would be the relation of such a dream creation to the creator? Does the dream exist apart from the dreamer? Is not my dream a projection of my own consciousness and confined to my own consciousness? And made of my own mental imagery? Anything and everything in a dream is just mind stuff. Same way the cosmic dream creations are permeated with and sustained by God consciousness and cannot exists apart from God consciousness.

On the other hand if you hold on to a materialistic creation as analysed earlier, you have to account for the pre-existing substance to mould things into. Since the only substance that existed was God, it was God who must have moulded himself into the creations.

So in either case the proclamation of the Vedas hold some waters. As a matter of fact this is the only way possible. If at all there is creation it must be the creator himself expressed explicitly as a concrete materialist world or implicitly as movements of consciousness - like a dream. So in reality God alone is and whatever is seen as creations are just his ex-pressions upon or within himself. Thus the Vedantic proclamation has to be true.

We have equated our capacity to dream with that of God’s creative technique for creating a dreamy world. But what if the world is really materialistic and substantial? Is there any creative activity in our life that resembles the same scenario where the creation is the same as the creator?

Looking into our own creations we see that our creations range from mathematical equations to magnificent monuments. Poetry and paintings to rockets and robots. Concepts of communism to super computers. And the list goes on. Is there anything particular where the creation turns out to be the creator himself?

YES! The act of dancing, which is one of the finest form of creative ex-pressions!

Here the creation is nothing but various gestures, postures and ex-pressions sprouted from and upon the dancer himself. A series of self ex-pressions. Nothing external is required. The raw material is the dancer himself and the creation is the dance which is nothing other than the dancer himself. The dance is the dancer and the dancer is the dance. Every moment is a moment of creativity. The next moment it is gone and gives way to another creation. And it goes on. Birth and death in every moment. Moment to moment to moment…

No wonder the cosmic creation is symbolized by the cosmic dance of Shiva, the Nataraja. “Taandav” as it is called depicts the creation and immediate destruction - birth and death - as an eternal process. Shiva, the supreme dancer is blissfully engrossed in his own creativity. If he stops even for a moment, the cosmos disappears. Leaving the absolute consciousness in deep sleep, without dreams. This is “Pralaya” - The great dissolution until the dance resumes.

So it is Shiva all along. Whether dancing or at pause. All this is Shiva. Whether expressed or suppressed. There is nothing else but Shiva. The creator and the creation in one. The only one…

Shivoham! Shivoham

Have you ever tried holding your breath and trying to think? Generally the trains of thoughts going on in our mind are multiple and it needs atleast some practice to be able to ignore them and a lot of practice to be in a “thoughtless” state. Now try this!
Hold your breath for 60 secs! You see ur mind bcom “thoughtless”! You need effort to think, than effort to be thoughtless! Yes, that is the magic of “breath” !

It is said that if mind is like a kite soaring and exploring the skies of ideas and thoughts without any boundaries, breath is like the thread that holds the kite in place!

You cannot draw boundaries in the sky, you cannot change the winds, but still you can guide the kite. how? with the only connection, the only control that is in your hands, the thread! Similarly, the mind can be controlled through breath, is the ancient wisdom that the scientists of the ancient india called rishis had to offer. We can see myriads of breathing exercises, pranayama classes mushrooming all over. I personally attended the Art of living basic course in which they teach the breathing exercises. They teach the normal generic pranayamas and then one specific “soham” pranayama deviced by Sri Ravi Shankar which is called sudarshan kriya. Ofcourse you have to put up with the theory part, the abstract concepts of how to deal with life etc. Some people may find it superfluous. Add to that small “exercises” like clapping and dancing….!Some enjoy, some find them silly, some tolerate, but if you manage to stick till you reach the breathing exercises, a surprise awaits you. The breathing exercises taught at AOL are good and very effective and demonstrate the power of breath even to a novice ! I was shocked (i.e. a loooooot more than surprised!:-) at the experience i had. I can say I “KNOW” what breath is capable of! It is not I “BELEIVE”. It is my earnest request for all those who are interested and who have not tried to attend the AOL basic course. It has nth to do with religion or anything. It is just a breathing “exercise” if you think “praanayama” as particular to a specific religion.

I heard someone say “Hindu dharma” or “sanatana dharma” does not belong to Hindus, just the way Newtons laws do not belong to Newton! Newton’s laws are laws of nature discovered by Newton! They belong neither to Newton or to England! They can be used by ANYBODY who cares to use them. We do not know how many wifes Newton has, how many children he got, whether he believed in God or not or what were his views on vegeteranism, smoking or alcoholism! All that is immaterial when we think of “Newton’s Laws” ! “Dharma” means Law, rule of behaviour. We say the “rasayana dharma” of a material by which we mean chemical properties. So “Dharma” has nothing to do with religion! It means “Natural property” or a “Natural Law”. Then Hindu Dharma becomes the Dharma discovered by hindus, the laws of nature discovered by hindus! Where does religion come into picture at all? The way the five senses work, the concept of “The self” propounded in Gita, the rule of karma (every action has reaction or you reap as you sow) are all natural laws. What is “hindu” about them other than that they were discovered by “hindus”.

Natural laws exist whether you believe them or not. Just bcos you dont “believe” in gravity, you dont float when you jump from 5th floor!! It is either you “know” or not!
Belief or faith comes in religion, not in science! Belief or faith has the narrow boundaries of country race and region, not science. Hindu dharma was misinterpreted/mis-translated as Hindu religion, where as both are different. The Yoga system, the pranayama, the Gita are gems that belong to the entire mankind and not Hindus alone! Know them, understand them and the religion will automatically disappear leaving behind the pure, unadulterated and universal “Hindu Dharma”!

Puja is essentially a ritual suggestive of symbolic offering of our lives and activities to God.

Symbolic Significance of Puja Items

Every object associated with the ritual of Puja or worship is symbolically significant. The statue or image of the deity, which is called ‘Vigraha’ (Sanskrit: ‘vi’+ ‘graha’) means something that is devoid of the ill effects of the planets or ‘grahas’. The flower that we offer to the deity stands for the good that has blossomed in us. The fruits offered are the fruits of our karma, symbolize our detachment, self-sacrifice and surrender, and the incense we burn collectively stands for the desires we have for various things in life. The lamp we light represents the light in us, that is the soul, which we offer to the Absolute. The vermilion or red powder stands for our emotions.

The Lotus

The holiest of flowers for Hindus, the beautiful lotus is symbolic of the true soul of an individual. It represents the being, which lives in turbid waters yet rises up and blossoms to the point of enlightenment. Mythologically speaking, lotus is also a symbol of creation, since Brahma, the creator came forth from the lotus that blooms from the navel of Vishnu.

The Purnakumbha

An earthen pot or pitcher - called ‘Purnakumbha’ - full of water, and with fresh mango leaves and a coconut atop it, is generally placed as the chief deity or by the side of the deity before starting a Puja. Purnakumbha literally means a ‘full pitcher’ (Sanskrit: ‘purna’ = full, ‘kumbha’ = pot). The pot symbolizes mother earth, the water life-giver, the leaves life and the coconut divine consciousness. Commonly used during almost all religious rites, the pitcher also stands for goddess Lakshmi.

Fruits & Leaves

The water in the Purnakumbha and the coconut have been objects of worship since the Vedic age. The coconut (Sanskrit: Sriphala = God’s fruit) alone is also used to symbolize ‘God’. While worshipping any deity, a coconut is almost always offered along with flowers and incense sticks. Other natural objects that symbolize divinity are the betel leaf, the areca-nut or betel-nut, banyan leaf and the leaf of ‘bel’ or vilva tree.

Naivedya or Prasad

It is our ignorance (’avidya’) which we offer to the deity in a Puja. The food symbolically stands for our ignorant consciousness, which we place before god for spiritual enlightenment. After he suffuses it with knowledge and light and breathes a new life into our bodies, it makes us divine. When we share the prasad with others, we share the knowledge we thus gained with fellowbeings.


The Vedic deities symbolize the forces in nature as well as inside human beings. While discussing the symbolic significance of Vedic deities in his The Secret of the Vedas, Shri Aurobindo says that the gods, goddesses and demons mentioned in the Vedas represent various cosmic powers, on one hand and man’s virtues and vices on the other.

I continue to ruminate on my previous post. The comments received so far have been on the expected lines. Statement of something already known, denial of the problem and total lack of any solution. (not that i expected one! But the denial of the problem is what haunts me!!!). It is the typical Indian style or should i say ostrich style? Or have they become synonymous??

Variety is the spice of life. Scientists take pains to preserve the species that are threatened and see that they flourish in controlled conditions till they are enough in numbers to be left on their own for the Nature to take care of. Are they meddling with the nature or assisting it??? Does the Nature not know how to use the “survival of the fittest” algorithm to eliminate the weak ones?? What's wrong if a few species get extinct, few worms, insects, animals in forest or a few hundred trees vanish and it makes no difference to the common man?!? Does it !?!? (Look at the employment they are generating .few would argue?!?!) As they say, ignorance is bliss! But the more informed among us and the scientists know that the extinction is not due to natural phenomenon. It is due the skew in the Nature that is being added by the man to satisfy his never ending greed!! The knowledgeable know that the Nature would strike back ferociously at the humans to remove the skew. The cloud bursts and the tsunami being the dramatic ones and the much talked about global warming being the slow poison.

As there has been variety in the physical species, there has been variety in schools of thought too. Only the ones those are contemporary that with stand the tests of time stand, while the outdated ones perish. This is a natural phenomenon. If Hinduism is out dated, if it is not contemporary, if it has nth to offer to the mankind, perish it should!! No doubt about that! But what i am worried is the skew that is being added by others with money and muscle power. I am worried about Hindus being the soft target of all proselytizing religions, given that they are comparatively peaceful people.( Note: I say comparatively, not Absolutely. Hindus have never ever invaded any country for spreading their religion by sword, nobody until now could smear her with blood of any crusade!) Allow me to give a more specific example here. It is easy to convert Hindu or Muslim in India to Christianity than in any of the Islamic countries! (If the conversion is caught in the Islamic state, both the converter and the converted will be killed!) Even in India it is easy to try and convert a Hindu to Christianity than a Muslim! Any one challenging that?!?

One may say Hinduism is a Santana Dharma; it has been there and will be there, it is so deep rooted that no one can uproot it!! Amen! I too hope so! But i call it escapism. Hoping that everything will take care of itself if u take care of urself. (This is where the ostrich comes in!) I really admire the missionaries coming from far away countries and leaving the comforts of their centrally air conditioned homes and cars to India and ready to face the vagaries of Nature along with the poor just for the sake of spreading their religion.(Whatever be the hidden incentive/motivation, may be heaven or money, doesn't matter!) Blessed is their religion to have foot soldiers like them!

It is then i imagine Hinduism looking at us with hope pleading us to do something about those who are inflicting the wounds of unfounded accusations against her! For Gods sake, you need not give-up everything and jump in to become my foot soldiers, but at least have enough nerve to condemn the accusations and attacks in public. Instead what do we “intellectuals” do? Nod sympathetically and whisper “I understand, but you are great. Infact so great that you don't need me!!”

I am always caught in this dilemma..to say or not to say. Today i am going to say it all. The topic? Its the topic that the intellegensia brushes away as “personal” and shys away from holding a point of view and expressing it for the “fear of hurting others sentiments”. Yes, it is about “Conversions”.

No single Nation, race, gender, person, “ism” or anything except “God” is perfect. The same knife which saves life when in hands of a surgeon kills when it is with a butcher. A flame can be used to light a candle or burn a house. Everything is what it is. It is how we, humans, use it that makes the difference and attributes the hues of black or white to the action. Given that nothing is absolutely correct or good, all we can do is probably discuss the percentage

What was i saying, ha! Conversions! As per my understanding there is no concept of conversion in Hinduism. If u dont do “something” you dont cease to be Hindu. If You do something you dont “become” a Hindu. Then why reconversion to hinduism one may ask??? Let me explain…

Hinduism is largely a way of life and not a religion. It does not have one holy book, one God, one method of prayer, one Guru/Prohet, one holy place, one BIG festival, one day of prayer per week(friday for muslims and sunday for christians, sabbath for Jews) …etc anything that defines the boundaries of a religion…you name it..Hinduism doesnt have it! Yes Hinduism has no boundaries, no definitions! Hinduism is Science ! It is worship of Nature through worship of fellow human beings which comes through worship of knowledge and wisdom. And that Worship is to be done like breathing, every wakeful moment and every second of sleeping!
Hinduism is akin to an ocean with millions of Gods, thousands of millions of paeans and praises of Gods, where every day of the week is important for some God, where there is some festival every week :)There are as many Gods as the types of people and as many ways to worship them as the nature of people!

Everyone has right to have their opinion on any issue and here is mine! Reconversions are just as ok as conversions! Nothing more and nothing less. Our fore fathers have not talked about them as they felt their time was well spent unfolding greater secrets of Nature and not trying to figure out how the manipulative human brain can be tricked into and out of sth! They were unaware of the malice called manipulated conversions! So they did not propose any antidote of reconversions! The medicine can be found only after the disease surfaces, right?!

The masses, largely illiterates and the tribals think they can only “convert” to some religion. Rituals and symbols become important for them as digesting the abstract concepts is not their cup of tea. So to speak their own language and as an effort to reach out to masses who think that they can only ‘convert’ to a religion, there can be an illusive conversion. Its a way of hinduism keeping pace with the times.

Hinduism does not encourage going around proselytizing ppl, but for someone who wants to come back there is a door we are putting for entering a open ground. This door is for people who think they can ‘enter’ a place only through a ‘door’ and cannot even imagine an open place with no walls and hence no doors. For them it is a doorway in the middle of an open ground saying “If it makes you feel better please walk through”

I am not against the free will of an individual to choose a God in which ever form that he wants to worship, as long as it is a well informed decision. But sending troups of people with all required resources and having it as ‘job’ and defining key performance indicators based on influencing the maximum number of ppl’s will and converting them is unacceptable.

If we have to debate, it is the conversion that we have to debate…reconversion is afterall a conversion in the opposite direction!!!



Interesting link when i searched on the topic in google
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/hbh/hbh_ch-5.html

One more on the caste system..??! You might be thinking that i am obsessed with the subject. But No, I am not. I don't even know the caste of my roomies with whom i have been living for the past 6+ yrs! But in a way, yes, i am. It bothers me to see how the caste system is ingrained in the minds of the masses and people in general that they have stopped questioning its very purpose! It’s ugly shadow falls on the every aspect of our living, whether we realize/accept it or not ! (”Religion is the opium of masses”…remember who said this? yes, yes..that was Gandhi )

If the caste/varna system was initially not based on birth, but on occupation, how did it turn into what it is today…is the point on which i ponder.

No one was crowned a Brahman by birth. One had to toil and attain the "brahma gyan" or "God realization" to become one. Then where on earth did the concept of inheriting the privilege of Brahman-hood (or the curse of untouchablity) come from!?!

Read on for my logical version Any disagreements or Alternate schools of thought are welcome!

Now, a potter's child is exposed to pottery right from childhood and may even have the inherited (now scientifically proved as "genes") talent in the art. Children during their infancy learn by observation and slowly learn by emulating parents. Hence the probability of a potter's son becoming a potter is more than a carpenter's son becoming a potter!! In the latter case he has to choose a specific guru other than his father, learn the art and compete equally with the genetically dexterous potters! Choosing a different occupation from father’s therefore demands more effort during learning as well as sustaining stages. The risk should be voluntarily taken, with no backup of any kind. It demands that such a person should REALLY love what he chose and be good at it. Given the average basic human tendency to stick to comfort zones, people generally took on the reins from their dads! This is how inheriting the occupation of father, though voluntarily, may have started. Ditto, with the Brahmans, kshyatriyas and vaishyas. (As I said, i would only be too happy to get YOUR version/logic incase u dont agree)

However people who dared to take the risk had the option to do so. There are numerous such examples in our scriptures.

Now, why was the order of classification as it is with Brahmans on the top?

In the Indian way of life, where knowledge is held supreme, an enlightened pauper is deemed to be more powerful and respectable than the Emperor! Hence the Brahman was placed before the Emperor (muscle power) and the Businessman (Money power). It is even said that the Gods themselves were under the control of Brahmans. (The mantras controlled the Gods and the Brahmans controlled the mantras and hence the conclusion) As it is said, Power corrupts and Absolute power corrupts absolutely! This absolute power conferred upon the Brahmans by the hindu way of life had its toll! Only a fool would forego such absolute power voluntarily. So the unworthy sons of the worthy Brahmans clinged to the "Brahman-hood" and (mis)interpreted the Vedas to suit them. They claimed it as their birthright and forbade others from even learning the Vedas, lest their misinterpretations be caught! They would initially have had tough time in modifying the rules to add everybody except themselves (A male Brahmin) to the "forbidden to read/learn scriptures" list! Once they succeeded in becoming the unquestionable sole authority, rest is history!! All forms of social evil entered the mighty Hindu tree like vermin.

The basic rishi sampradaya or the Hindu way of life rested on the pillar of enquiry. All the ideas were put through open questioning and scrutiny. As opposed to this, the narrow interpretations of a handful of people were hailed "unquestionable" and asking "why?" was threatened to be a confirmed ticket to hell! (And there were volumes written exclusively on the types of hell(s) and the punishments to scare the common man! ;-)) So fear and apathy had taken place of the quest and enquiry in the common man. This gave the vested interests further freehand in adding more dogmas and dictums. Hinduism was caught in this vicious cycle of self-debasement and destruction for centuries.