The concept and the word 'God' were not born when the first human child was born, nor these were found written on a rock by someone unknown. These were created by some human-being (Plato, to be very particular) for some purpose best known to him. But some of us shall like say that he did a great job while others like me feel that he misguided the whole humanity through this misconception. Anyway this is not the issue, I am here for, but for trying to understand what was in the human mind about the creation before the God was created.
The vast creation full of variety of animated and unanimated forms of matter was sufficient to generate a feeling of wonder in the minds of the people, and they must also be curious to know who created all this. Even theory of evolution was not available to them to quench their quest. They must have been a puzzled lot, but for their engagements in solving problems of their own survival. Since, they were wandering tribes in their limited regions, they might have considered the Earth to have boundaries somewhere far away from them. This was why the Earth was considered to be a flat disk before Galileo's concept of the spherical Earth was accepted.
In-spite of all the puzzlings, nobody ever thought that there has ever been a creator of the whole creation, else they would have hunted for him through their wanderings. Neither, they imagined that the creator is sitting somewhere in the skies. That was unthinkable for them. If there were any thinkers, they might have been sure that no creator can ever reside in his own creation otherwise where he was residing before the creation. This logic that the creator, if any, needed a place to stay, and that there was no place available before the creation, must have proved to them that they is no creator even though they failed to understand the whole process - the evolution. Theism and Explanation (Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)
Plato provided a lame cue to all those curious minds of that time by his concept of God, to serve his own vested interest of establishing a psychological rule over the world through misguiding and terrorizing humanity in the name of God, and he proves to be very successful
Friday, August 5, 2011
Why do People Follow Religions
At the outset itself, I clarify that religion and spirituality are not different things but two sides of a coin. When we speak for one we are, at the same time, speaking for the other. While the religion is society-oriented, the spirituality is individual-oriented. Both assume existence of divinities and are based on super-natural perceptions.
Religious persons go to their places of worship to practise their man-made faith in man-made God and the spiritualists go to their places of meditation to practise their faith in man-made spiritualism, both practise faiths devised by by the mankind. Both the faiths produce some metaphysical effects on the minds of practitioners and charge them emotionally.
Religion
It seems that people attend religious services of their choosing for diverse reasons of which I can name a few. Some want to be closer to their God, some others like fellowships of other believers in those services, while most others feel they must attend because this was inculcated into their minds right from their childhoods and they are terrified - if they don’t attend they would be struck down by their God, destroyed and cast into Hell. Some want to learn and understand more about their own religious heritage and carry it forward. They have got faith and trust in what their parents or their caretakers taught them about their religion and they feel a certain obligation in following in their good parents’ and grandparents’ footsteps, come hell or high water.
Most of the creatures have an instinctive desire to produce offsprings and guide them to go the way they were taught to go, because they do not know any thing better than that and because the alternatives seem to be so daunting and so forbidding. Ordinary people don’t have faith on evolution of human mind over time. So, they maintain the status quo because it is safer to do than to take a chance on something new that may or may not be true or good in the spiritual or the religious sense. After all, isn’t it better to err on the side of what I was initially taught than to err on a side of what I think might be correct?
To take chance or gambling or betting on what is considered a sure-shot by majority and by the ancestors is considered to be a better option, irrespective of what one’s mind says. So, people place their faith in God and believe in waiting to return to that God from where they suppose they had come from. Some take the path of religions while some others follow spiritualism.
Religious persons go to their places of worship to practise their man-made faith in man-made God and the spiritualists go to their places of meditation to practise their faith in man-made spiritualism, both practise faiths devised by by the mankind. Both the faiths produce some metaphysical effects on the minds of practitioners and charge them emotionally.
Religion
It seems that people attend religious services of their choosing for diverse reasons of which I can name a few. Some want to be closer to their God, some others like fellowships of other believers in those services, while most others feel they must attend because this was inculcated into their minds right from their childhoods and they are terrified - if they don’t attend they would be struck down by their God, destroyed and cast into Hell. Some want to learn and understand more about their own religious heritage and carry it forward. They have got faith and trust in what their parents or their caretakers taught them about their religion and they feel a certain obligation in following in their good parents’ and grandparents’ footsteps, come hell or high water.
Most of the creatures have an instinctive desire to produce offsprings and guide them to go the way they were taught to go, because they do not know any thing better than that and because the alternatives seem to be so daunting and so forbidding. Ordinary people don’t have faith on evolution of human mind over time. So, they maintain the status quo because it is safer to do than to take a chance on something new that may or may not be true or good in the spiritual or the religious sense. After all, isn’t it better to err on the side of what I was initially taught than to err on a side of what I think might be correct?
To take chance or gambling or betting on what is considered a sure-shot by majority and by the ancestors is considered to be a better option, irrespective of what one’s mind says. So, people place their faith in God and believe in waiting to return to that God from where they suppose they had come from. Some take the path of religions while some others follow spiritualism.
What is Spirituality
Spirituality is a misused word today. It has nothing to do with God or religion, but is generally considered to be so. Etymologically, it is about ‘life spirit’, which exists in all creatures, so spirituality is not limited to humanity only. It represents desire of a creature to keep on living. Religious people of the world have given it a new meaning - ‘knowledge of the self as an integral part of the almighty God’. This, they say, is achieved by ’spiritual awakening’, exercises, which is controversial because every spiritual guru tells a different method of this exercise. In science and mathematics, there are no ambiguities. If there exists an ambiguity in some phenomena, they are not scientific. So, spirituality is not a science, it is only a hypothesis.
Process of spiritual-awakening is a psychological game, played by a guru on his disciple, making him to believe that he is not what he is, but something else like a super-human, an integral part of the almighty God. This I call his ’super-consciousness’.
Super-consciousness of a person is his day-dreaming, wherein he imagines some super-hero role for himself and starts behaving in that role, like that in a drama. Since, the role is of his choice and satisfying to his desires, he feels satisfied and pleased. This relieves him of his some tensions for some time. But when the hero comes off the stage, he realizes his reality and feels miserable. As a result, he starts longing for a permanent role for himself. But his existence in the world brings him face-to-face with the realities, and he faces a disappointment, making him more miserable than what he was without a spiritual experience.
For hermits, who keep away from realities of the world, such fictitious spiritual roles suit and they fulfil their desire of remaining in their super-hero roles for longer durations. They are often treated as super-souls or ‘mahatmas’ in India. They are no better than the ordinary human-beings but for their factitious roles.
Why there is so much of hyp about spirituality all over the world? It is just because some persons are doing business of it and thus providing temporary day-dreaming relief to troubled innocent people just like a temporary shelter in a refugee camp. The victims of this business feel that their temporal relief is because of their limited exercise and hope to get a permanent relief in future, which never comes. The world today has a large number of satisfied preachers and advocates of spirituality but not a single satisfied practitioner.
To conclude, spirituality is an exercise of ‘bluffing the self’ for momentary pleasures.
Process of spiritual-awakening is a psychological game, played by a guru on his disciple, making him to believe that he is not what he is, but something else like a super-human, an integral part of the almighty God. This I call his ’super-consciousness’.
Super-consciousness of a person is his day-dreaming, wherein he imagines some super-hero role for himself and starts behaving in that role, like that in a drama. Since, the role is of his choice and satisfying to his desires, he feels satisfied and pleased. This relieves him of his some tensions for some time. But when the hero comes off the stage, he realizes his reality and feels miserable. As a result, he starts longing for a permanent role for himself. But his existence in the world brings him face-to-face with the realities, and he faces a disappointment, making him more miserable than what he was without a spiritual experience.
For hermits, who keep away from realities of the world, such fictitious spiritual roles suit and they fulfil their desire of remaining in their super-hero roles for longer durations. They are often treated as super-souls or ‘mahatmas’ in India. They are no better than the ordinary human-beings but for their factitious roles.
Why there is so much of hyp about spirituality all over the world? It is just because some persons are doing business of it and thus providing temporary day-dreaming relief to troubled innocent people just like a temporary shelter in a refugee camp. The victims of this business feel that their temporal relief is because of their limited exercise and hope to get a permanent relief in future, which never comes. The world today has a large number of satisfied preachers and advocates of spirituality but not a single satisfied practitioner.
To conclude, spirituality is an exercise of ‘bluffing the self’ for momentary pleasures.
Why Superstitions
All humans have an innate desire to control things all around themselves even though it is not possible in most of the cases. When some thing is found to be beyond control, the person perceives through his/her imaginative power and may see anything based on his/her background and education. Faith in existence of ghosts is more prevalent in societies where children are traditionally told ghost stories to entertain them. Such stories when repeated many times get embedded in subconscious minds of the children. And whenever they find something beyond their normal perceptions, their sub-conscious mind takes control and makes them to perceive ghosts in forms of the characters of stories told to them. Similar perceptions are prevalent about Gods and Goddesses in many societies all over the globe. Such imaginary things are all superstitions taking roots from sub-conscious minds of the people.
Knowledge is directly related to control which means anything unknown is found to be beyond control. So, any thing unknown to a person may be perceived as any other thing which he/she knows or has heard about - real or imaginary.If the thing is beyond his/her knowledge of something real, his/her imaginative power makes him/her to perceive an imaginary thing This also leads to a superstition.
If you are in a particular set of mind at an instant, and somebody says something which does not become clear to you, you link the voice with your frame of mind and imagine the words related to that. So, a person wants others to say to meet his/her need at that moment and imagines accordingly. The person in this instance being a prisoner of his/her frame of mind, fails to exert any control on his/her organs to perceive the reality and goes by his/her own thought waves. Such temporary deficiency of control also leads to a superstitious imagination.
Neurons carry information signals in our bodies from one point to the other. All neurons on the way may not be healthy or tuned to isolate the real topical signals from other distractions and involvements of mind and so may carry many more signals, even undesirable at a moment. Such signals are often called as noise. Sch noises often limit our powers of perception and things look beyond our control and understanding. This leads to our misunderstanding the reality as something in our sub-conscious mind. So, such noises also lead to superstitions.
Thus, superstitions about God, ghosts, super-natural, extra-terrestrial, etc. are games played by our sub-conscious minds for various reasons.
Knowledge is directly related to control which means anything unknown is found to be beyond control. So, any thing unknown to a person may be perceived as any other thing which he/she knows or has heard about - real or imaginary.If the thing is beyond his/her knowledge of something real, his/her imaginative power makes him/her to perceive an imaginary thing This also leads to a superstition.
If you are in a particular set of mind at an instant, and somebody says something which does not become clear to you, you link the voice with your frame of mind and imagine the words related to that. So, a person wants others to say to meet his/her need at that moment and imagines accordingly. The person in this instance being a prisoner of his/her frame of mind, fails to exert any control on his/her organs to perceive the reality and goes by his/her own thought waves. Such temporary deficiency of control also leads to a superstitious imagination.
Neurons carry information signals in our bodies from one point to the other. All neurons on the way may not be healthy or tuned to isolate the real topical signals from other distractions and involvements of mind and so may carry many more signals, even undesirable at a moment. Such signals are often called as noise. Sch noises often limit our powers of perception and things look beyond our control and understanding. This leads to our misunderstanding the reality as something in our sub-conscious mind. So, such noises also lead to superstitions.
Thus, superstitions about God, ghosts, super-natural, extra-terrestrial, etc. are games played by our sub-conscious minds for various reasons.
What Astrologers Tell to Customers
Astrology, palmistry, numerology, etc. are frauds on humanity because there is no science behind such non-sensible theories of telling about future of a person based on his/her name, date and time of birth, lines on palm, etc. The principal idea behind all such things is a psychological bluff. For this purpose, there are some common ways of how a person is fooled to cheat him/her of his/her hard-earned money.
Firstly, the customer's mind is brought under control by such cheats through some ways which are found to be commonly practiced. The astrologer takes a deep look on head of the customer, opens his/her book and displays deeply pondering over the contents with some movements of his/her lips. This is done to draw full attention of the customer.
1. Rewards Not Commensurable to Hard Work.
The first thing an astrologer tells the customer is that the latter is working hard but not getting suitably rewarded. Since, nobody wants to admit that he is not working hard and thinks or makes others think that he is working really hard, the customer fully agrees with the astrologer.
2. Others are Breaching Trust
If the above-said prediction fails to get information from the customer on him/her, the astrologer shots a second arrow, "Oh, the persons, you are placing your trust on, are bluffing you". Since only a trusted person can breach the trust, every one of us has an occasion when somebody does so hurting us deeply. So, the customer fully agrees with the astrologer on his/her prediction and starts divulging information about him/her experiences with others.
3. In-spite of Lot of Hindrances, You are Doing Your Best
Every one of us faces some or the other problems of life and still trying to do our best to overcome the problems. This is a universal fact. So, when the astrologer tells us this thing, we have a feeling that he has really come to know the problem and can guide towards a solution. With this feeling in mind, the customer starts telling his/her difficulties.
4. You are Honest in Midst of Many Dishonest Persons
When the above tricks fail to entice the customer, he is told that he is an honest person but is surrounded by dishonest persons. Surely, most of the persons agree with such a statement they have no option except to agree with a nodding head in concurrence.
5. Your Days of Misfortune are Close to End
It is a problematic world for most of us, and those reaching an astrologer are surely in some problem. To tighten the grip on the customer's mind, the astrologer tells te customer that his/her problematic time is near ending but he/she is required to make some arrangements. Seeing a solution closeby, the customer agrees with the astrologer.
Once the customer agrees with the astrologer, the astrologer is a sure winner in his/her game of cheating. Then he deals with the victim in a sweet harsh manner to get maximum out of pocket of the customer and that proves to be the end of customer's happy days.
Firstly, the customer's mind is brought under control by such cheats through some ways which are found to be commonly practiced. The astrologer takes a deep look on head of the customer, opens his/her book and displays deeply pondering over the contents with some movements of his/her lips. This is done to draw full attention of the customer.
1. Rewards Not Commensurable to Hard Work.
The first thing an astrologer tells the customer is that the latter is working hard but not getting suitably rewarded. Since, nobody wants to admit that he is not working hard and thinks or makes others think that he is working really hard, the customer fully agrees with the astrologer.
2. Others are Breaching Trust
If the above-said prediction fails to get information from the customer on him/her, the astrologer shots a second arrow, "Oh, the persons, you are placing your trust on, are bluffing you". Since only a trusted person can breach the trust, every one of us has an occasion when somebody does so hurting us deeply. So, the customer fully agrees with the astrologer on his/her prediction and starts divulging information about him/her experiences with others.
3. In-spite of Lot of Hindrances, You are Doing Your Best
Every one of us faces some or the other problems of life and still trying to do our best to overcome the problems. This is a universal fact. So, when the astrologer tells us this thing, we have a feeling that he has really come to know the problem and can guide towards a solution. With this feeling in mind, the customer starts telling his/her difficulties.
4. You are Honest in Midst of Many Dishonest Persons
When the above tricks fail to entice the customer, he is told that he is an honest person but is surrounded by dishonest persons. Surely, most of the persons agree with such a statement they have no option except to agree with a nodding head in concurrence.
5. Your Days of Misfortune are Close to End
It is a problematic world for most of us, and those reaching an astrologer are surely in some problem. To tighten the grip on the customer's mind, the astrologer tells te customer that his/her problematic time is near ending but he/she is required to make some arrangements. Seeing a solution closeby, the customer agrees with the astrologer.
Once the customer agrees with the astrologer, the astrologer is a sure winner in his/her game of cheating. Then he deals with the victim in a sweet harsh manner to get maximum out of pocket of the customer and that proves to be the end of customer's happy days.
Fraud of Astrology
Astrology, what does it mean - etymologically and conventionally. If we find a logical answer to this question, we will come to know whether Astrology is a science or not. Etymologically, Aster means a star, and so Astrology must mean ‘logia or description of stars’. Under this cover, Astrology is akin to Astronomy, with the difference that the first is description and the second is the nomenclature, thereby both meaning almost the same thing. Thus, Astrology proves to be a science.
But presently, Astrology is used for a different purpose - Effect of Stars on Human Life. And I take this meaning of Astrology for my discussion. Therefore, henceforth my discussion of the subject, shall be focused on conventional understanding of the word. Conventionally, Astrology means influence of stars on human-beings, what is known as ‘Jyotish’ is India. Under this definition, we will have further investigate whether this subject is fit to be treated as a science or not. For this, it is better to know first, what do we mean by the word ’science’. Science is a stream of definite knowledge of the subject of study. Here, ‘definite’ means logically-derivable and without any ambiguity. This reduces our original question to - whether Astrology is logically-derivable and unambiguous or not. Influence of stars on human-beings is based on mere hypotheses only without any substancial evidence, hence is not logically-derivable. This puts conventional understanding of Astrology out of realm of sciences. I will put forth other evidences also for Astrology’s ambiguity. First, Astrology is a subject having origin in India where an ancient scripture authored by Parashar is treated as the primary source of this knowledge. I have this scripture on my table now. Under Astrology, all humans are put into 12 classes with a representative zodiac sign for each class. These classes are called rashis in India. Unfortunately, for those having faith in Astrology, the original scripture mentions only 10 rashis in its original Vedic Sanskrit script , but its Hindi translation by a renowned Pandit, the number of rashis has been stated to be 12.
This raises doubt on the originality of Astrology and also on the intentions of Pandits practising and preaching Astrology. In India, community of Pandits practises Astrology as a profession. Second, the 12 zodiac signs are allocated on two different bases - Sun-based and Moon-based, raising a question which one is correct. Third, Is it possible that whole of humanity will have only 12 types of influences of stars on them, while every human-being is different from all others, facing different circumstantial difficulties. Fourth, Can any body on this Earth say that two persons born at the same time do have same fortune? If not, how to explain it through Astrological predictions. All these logical considerations make Astrology an ambiguous and controversial subject, and hence does not desrve to be a science.
But presently, Astrology is used for a different purpose - Effect of Stars on Human Life. And I take this meaning of Astrology for my discussion. Therefore, henceforth my discussion of the subject, shall be focused on conventional understanding of the word. Conventionally, Astrology means influence of stars on human-beings, what is known as ‘Jyotish’ is India. Under this definition, we will have further investigate whether this subject is fit to be treated as a science or not. For this, it is better to know first, what do we mean by the word ’science’. Science is a stream of definite knowledge of the subject of study. Here, ‘definite’ means logically-derivable and without any ambiguity. This reduces our original question to - whether Astrology is logically-derivable and unambiguous or not. Influence of stars on human-beings is based on mere hypotheses only without any substancial evidence, hence is not logically-derivable. This puts conventional understanding of Astrology out of realm of sciences. I will put forth other evidences also for Astrology’s ambiguity. First, Astrology is a subject having origin in India where an ancient scripture authored by Parashar is treated as the primary source of this knowledge. I have this scripture on my table now. Under Astrology, all humans are put into 12 classes with a representative zodiac sign for each class. These classes are called rashis in India. Unfortunately, for those having faith in Astrology, the original scripture mentions only 10 rashis in its original Vedic Sanskrit script , but its Hindi translation by a renowned Pandit, the number of rashis has been stated to be 12.
This raises doubt on the originality of Astrology and also on the intentions of Pandits practising and preaching Astrology. In India, community of Pandits practises Astrology as a profession. Second, the 12 zodiac signs are allocated on two different bases - Sun-based and Moon-based, raising a question which one is correct. Third, Is it possible that whole of humanity will have only 12 types of influences of stars on them, while every human-being is different from all others, facing different circumstantial difficulties. Fourth, Can any body on this Earth say that two persons born at the same time do have same fortune? If not, how to explain it through Astrological predictions. All these logical considerations make Astrology an ambiguous and controversial subject, and hence does not desrve to be a science.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Dangers of Blind Faith
Written by Excerpts from Speech Sitaram Yechuri
“The idea of having or allowing astrology taught in educational institutions is a regressive one,” thundered Mr.Yechuri. He remembered Murli Manohar Joshi as having said that astrology must be taught, as we must rely on our faith -(vishwas) - also. Recently in Chennai, a delegation of ministers was being received at a function. On the podium table were many water glasses filled with water and one of them had coloured water. This glass was actually used as a flower-vase: the gardener had just taken out the old flowers and was searching for new ones from the garden. Meanwhile the minister drank the coloured water thinking it to be some juice or soft drink. The minister was in hospital for 3 days, for his blind faith in the contents of the glass. So, deduced Mr.Yechuri, there is at least one difference between "vishwas" and scientific thinking: three days in hospital!
“The Government's changing of history records is a cause of concern,” said Mr.Yechuri. The BJP and allies, to prove that Hinduism is a "pure" and native religion, have also to prove that the Aryans did not come from outside. For that, they have to further prove that Mohenjodaro and Harappa had some Aryan culture. One mark of Aryan culture is horses, which they needed for travel and warfare. They found a horse's bone near the site, so, it proves, they said, that they were Aryan settlements and that further proves that the Aryans are from here! However, when the bone was analysed, it was found to be only 200 years old!”
Mr.Yechuri pointed out another ridiculous gaff of the BJP - appointed historians. In the sites, a statue of a bull-like creature with long hair and mane was found. They fed a picture of it into computers, and one computer concluded that it looks like a horse! So, they said, it is actually a statue of a horse, and so it proves that they were fromAryan civilization, and so Aryans are from here. Well, Yechuri said with a smile, “When you call a bull a horse, and try to convince everyone that a statue of a bull is actually that of a horse, we can imagine what sort of ideologies and theories you have!”
Mr.Yechuri recalled a joke from his university professorship days. A professor digs in his garden about 10 feet deep, and finds some sort of wire. So he rushes to a colleague and exclaims, "Look what I found. It proves that the ancient Indians were very advanced - they had telephone!" "Excellent," says the colleague, and begins to dig deeper in the same spot. He finds nothing, so he rushes to the first professor and exclaims, "See, I didn't find anything, so it proves that the very, very ancient Indians were still more advanced - they had wireless!"
On measuring "true Hinduism", Mr.Yechuri had something to say. He hails from Andhra Pradesh, where, in some regions a girl is automatically married off to her mother's brother as soon as she comes of age. In North India such a practice would be considered despicable, and the offenders probably lynched. The question is, who is the true Hindu, the North Indians for condemning it, or the Andhraites for allowing it?
The futility of measuring "true Hinduism" can also be seen from the "Mahabali" example. In Kerala and among Keralites, the Onam festival is celebrated. Its theme is that a good and benevolent king Mahabali visits his subjects once a year on that day. The subjects are happy that the king lives at least one day a year for them. In North India, Mahabali is a rakshash who is killed by Vishnu, and whose death was necessary so that the world may exist. So, now, who is the true Hindu, the North Indians for condemning Mahabali, or the Keralites for worshipping him?
Preventing religious beliefs is like Ram telling Krishna-worshippers not to follow Krishna, and Krishna telling Ram-worshippers not to follow Ram. From this we can see that even God does not have the authority to tell you whom to worship and whom not to worship. Atheism is also a belief, so God has no right to condemn anyone for being an atheist. And if even God has no authority in religious matters, who are these saffronites, the BJP and its allies, to tell us?
“The idea of having or allowing astrology taught in educational institutions is a regressive one,” thundered Mr.Yechuri. He remembered Murli Manohar Joshi as having said that astrology must be taught, as we must rely on our faith -(vishwas) - also. Recently in Chennai, a delegation of ministers was being received at a function. On the podium table were many water glasses filled with water and one of them had coloured water. This glass was actually used as a flower-vase: the gardener had just taken out the old flowers and was searching for new ones from the garden. Meanwhile the minister drank the coloured water thinking it to be some juice or soft drink. The minister was in hospital for 3 days, for his blind faith in the contents of the glass. So, deduced Mr.Yechuri, there is at least one difference between "vishwas" and scientific thinking: three days in hospital!
“The Government's changing of history records is a cause of concern,” said Mr.Yechuri. The BJP and allies, to prove that Hinduism is a "pure" and native religion, have also to prove that the Aryans did not come from outside. For that, they have to further prove that Mohenjodaro and Harappa had some Aryan culture. One mark of Aryan culture is horses, which they needed for travel and warfare. They found a horse's bone near the site, so, it proves, they said, that they were Aryan settlements and that further proves that the Aryans are from here! However, when the bone was analysed, it was found to be only 200 years old!”
Mr.Yechuri pointed out another ridiculous gaff of the BJP - appointed historians. In the sites, a statue of a bull-like creature with long hair and mane was found. They fed a picture of it into computers, and one computer concluded that it looks like a horse! So, they said, it is actually a statue of a horse, and so it proves that they were fromAryan civilization, and so Aryans are from here. Well, Yechuri said with a smile, “When you call a bull a horse, and try to convince everyone that a statue of a bull is actually that of a horse, we can imagine what sort of ideologies and theories you have!”
Mr.Yechuri recalled a joke from his university professorship days. A professor digs in his garden about 10 feet deep, and finds some sort of wire. So he rushes to a colleague and exclaims, "Look what I found. It proves that the ancient Indians were very advanced - they had telephone!" "Excellent," says the colleague, and begins to dig deeper in the same spot. He finds nothing, so he rushes to the first professor and exclaims, "See, I didn't find anything, so it proves that the very, very ancient Indians were still more advanced - they had wireless!"
On measuring "true Hinduism", Mr.Yechuri had something to say. He hails from Andhra Pradesh, where, in some regions a girl is automatically married off to her mother's brother as soon as she comes of age. In North India such a practice would be considered despicable, and the offenders probably lynched. The question is, who is the true Hindu, the North Indians for condemning it, or the Andhraites for allowing it?
The futility of measuring "true Hinduism" can also be seen from the "Mahabali" example. In Kerala and among Keralites, the Onam festival is celebrated. Its theme is that a good and benevolent king Mahabali visits his subjects once a year on that day. The subjects are happy that the king lives at least one day a year for them. In North India, Mahabali is a rakshash who is killed by Vishnu, and whose death was necessary so that the world may exist. So, now, who is the true Hindu, the North Indians for condemning Mahabali, or the Keralites for worshipping him?
Preventing religious beliefs is like Ram telling Krishna-worshippers not to follow Krishna, and Krishna telling Ram-worshippers not to follow Ram. From this we can see that even God does not have the authority to tell you whom to worship and whom not to worship. Atheism is also a belief, so God has no right to condemn anyone for being an atheist. And if even God has no authority in religious matters, who are these saffronites, the BJP and its allies, to tell us?
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