CHRISTIAN PRIEST TO BE EXTRADITED TO FACE SEX-CRIME CHARGES
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
By George Diepenbrock
KTKA 49
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Lawrence, KS - A former Catholic priest wanted on sex crime charges
in Texas waived his right to fight extradition Tuesday morning in
Douglas County District Court.
John M. Fiala, 51, told District Judge Peggy Kittel he wanted to
speed up the process.
"I'd be willing to sign the papers to get the process moving
forward," Fiala said.
Fiala is wanted by authorities in Edwards County, Texas, on four
counts of sex crimes against children, according to the U.S.
Marshal's Office. Federal and local authorities arrested him more
than a week ago in the 800 block of East 11th Street.
Fiala was removed from the priesthood in 2008 after the allegations
in Texas surfaced.
According to news reports, Fiala had several priest assignments,
including in Shawnee in 2001 followed by several months in Holton. He
also worked as spiritual director from 1998 to 2001 at a religious
order that had a house in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.
No reports have detailed any sexual abuse allegations against Fiala
while he was in Kansas or Missouri.
During an earlier court appearance, Fiala said he thought that the
Texas case had been dropped and that he wasn't trying to run from
authorities. He could have fought extradition and forced Texas
authorities to seek a governor's warrant.
Kittel told Fiala he likely would be moved to Texas in the next two
weeks.
More at:
http://www.ktka.com/news/2010/sep/14/former-priest-be-extradited-texas-face-sex-abuse-c/
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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P. Rajah
Slimeball Swami
Amar Jyoti's Pants-Down Hanky-Panky Method Of Spiritual Enlightenment
Gets Him In Trouble With The Law.
B y D a n H u f f
GOD RECENTLY FAILED to show up in small claims court. He was found
guilty of second- and third-degree sexual assault anyway. And in her own
humble way, Antoinette Marcel, the woman who filed the suit, has helped
make the quest of spiritual seekers a tiny bit safer in this dangerous
world.
Marcel is a former devotee of the Swami Amar Jyoti, an Indian guru who
has the gall to intimate he's an incarnation of one aspect of the Hindu
god Vishnu.
But Jyoti, who puts on a big show of being celibate and other-worldly,
is really just another religious con man, a manipulative, two-faced
slimeball abusing the trust of others and bullying them to satisfy his
uncontrollable cravings--in the cases of Marcel and other female
victims, his need for total control and secretive sex; in the case of
others, he manipulates them into renouncing personal property, which he
absorbs into his own empire.
Jyoti's far-flung scam includes ashrams in Boulder, Colorado, Poona,
India and, unfortunately, Tucson. His centers in Michigan, New Zealand
and California have already folded.
Marcel is quick to point out she's not trying to denigrate religion in
general nor Hinduism in particular.
She says what she hoped to accomplish in last month's suit in a Colorado
court was to "gain some closure" on the abuse she suffered at the hands
of this petty creep, and to help warn others--especially the young and
impressionable--of the dangers of turning their lives over to anyone who
claims to have all the answers.
The judge also awarded her $3,500 in damages to help pay for the
counseling she needed to put her life back together once she escaped
from Jyoti's grasping fingers and his pathetic little cult of
brainwashed devotees.
As spiritual leaders go, Swami Jyoti sounds like a major piece of shit.
He's also a coward--his Tucson spokeswoman refused to give her name,
refused to divulge his whereabouts and refused to discuss his sexual
peccadilloes, which may be considerable, judging by the length of time
he's been running his guru scam.
Full article:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/07-13-95/curr1.htm
navanavonmilita
Hindu Scandalous Swamis
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/15/hindu-scandalous-swamis/
Swami Ramdev
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Swami Ramdev
Swami Ramdev
Born Ramkishan Yadav
Haryana, India
Residence Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Nationality Indian
Occupation Yogi
Known for proliferation of Pranayama, Yoga and Ayurveda. Leading the
Bharat Swabhiman Andolan (Mission) to eradicate corruption from India
and restore prosperity in the country.
Ramkishan Yadav (date of birth unknown) popularly known as Swami
Ramdev (Hindi: स्वामी रामदेव), is an Indian Hindu swami. He is
particularly known for his efforts in popularizing Yoga as it is
enunciated in Patanjali‘s Yoga Sutras. He is also one of the founders
of the Divya Yog Mandir Trust headquartered in Haridwar, that aims to
popularize Yoga and offer Ayurvedic treatments. The New York Times
calls him an “Indian who built Yoga Empire”, “a product and symbol of
the New India, a yogic fusion of Richard Simmons, Dr. Oz and Oprah
Winfrey, irrepressible and bursting with Vedic wisdom”.[1]
His camps are attended by a large number of people. Over 85 million
people[2] follow his yoga camps via TV channels and video. His yoga
teaching sessions are for the masses and free for all. His stated
principle in life is to be of help to everybody.
Early life
Shri Swami Ramdev ji was born in the [Mahendragarh] district of the
Indian state of the Haryana[citation needed] to a impoverished farmer,
Shri Ramniwas Yadav Ji and his wife, Srimati Gulab Devi Yadav. As a
child he suffered from paralysis. He stated on air[citation needed]
that it was through yoga that he was able to regain the full
functionality of his body again.
He attended school till the eighth standard(class) in Shahbajpur. He
then joined an aarsh gurukul in Khanpur village to study Sanskrit and
Yoga. He was taught there by acharya Shri Pradyuman ji. Eventually, he
assumed Sanyas (or monastic living), taking his present name. He then
moved to Jind district and joined the aarsh gurukul Kalva and started
offering free Yoga training to villagers across Haryana. At gurukul
kalva he was taught by acharya (grand master) Shri Baldev Ji maharaj.
Work
Swami Ramdev, started relentless efforts to popularise Yoga in 1995
with the establishment of Divya Yoga Mandir Trust, along with Acharya
Karamveer and Acharya Balkrishna. While Karamveer is well-versed in
Yoga and the Vedas, Balkrishna is a physician with a degree in
Ayurveda. Ramdev became the president of the trust, Karamveer the
deputy president and Balkrishna the general secretary. The objective
of the trust was to reach Yoga in every part of the country and cure
as many patients as possible. With this he began activities in health
and spiritual pursuits and has cured many incurable diseases since
then. ,(However now Acharya Karamveer has left the Divya Yog Mandir
Trust and is practicing his mission individually and separately at
Mumbai.)
Swami Ramdev’s TV program “Om Yog Sadhana” on Zee Jagran Tv( program
promoted by Mr. Mrituenjay Sharma (producer and director)) and Ashtha
Tv made him quite popular with the people. His TV programs and Yog
camps have proved to be immensely popular. Attendance at his Yog camps
has been quoted as being up to 20,000 people.[3] Among the many
locations, Swamiji was invited and has conducted a Yoga camp at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan – the residence of the President of India.[3]
His TV program is broadcast in several continents including Africa,
Australia, Asia, Europe and America. Executives at the TV channel
carrying Swami Ramdev’s program have reported immense demand for the
show.[3] Viewership is quoted as being 20 million regular viewers.[3]
Followers of these programs claim to have found relief from a variety
of ailments such as high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar,
spondylitis, hepatitis and obesity.[3]
One of the factors that differentiates Swami Ramdev is his emphasis on
teaching and making available the practice of Pranayama (yoga
breathing exercises) for the masses.[3] This is different from other
yoga teachers who place more emphasis on asanas (yoga postures).[3]
Comprehensive video demonstration of Pranayam The practice of
‘praanaayaama’ and ‘Yukt aahaara’ (specific diet) for providing
health, which Baba Ramdev demonstrates, is well-established in Indian
traditions.[4]
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a world-renowned spiritual leader is quoted as
saying: “If an individual can be credited with reviving yoga in this
country (India), it is solely Swami Ramdev. Yoga can cure even fatal
diseases and Swami Ramdev has definitely proved it time and again.
Swami Ramdev has spread yoga to such an extent that sooner or later,
one has to embrace it.”[3]
Patanjali Yog Peeth
The Patanjali YogPeeth
Charak Monument on the campus
Swami Ramdev’s flagship project, the Patanjali Yogpeeth (PYP) Trust,
was inaugurated on August 6, 2006. Its aim is to build the world’s
largest center for Ayurveda and Yoga that includes facilities for
treatment, research and a teaching university[3][5]. The trust
primarily offers free treatment to those who cannot afford to pay. For
others, treatment is provided at a lower cost than at hospitals.
Through PYP, Swami Ramdev continues to work with various institutions
and medical organizations in an effort to study and improve the
effectiveness of yoga against diseases like diabetes, hypertension,
obesity, etc.
Swami Ramdev has acquired a Scottish isle for about £2 million to set
up a wellness retreat. The Little Cumbrae Island, off the fishing town
of Largs in Scotland, will also serve as the guru’s base overseas,
where his teachings of yoga as a means to cleanse the body and mind
are gaining popularity. The acquisition itself was carried out by a
Scottish couple of Indian origin, Sam and Sunita Poddar, who saw
recession and the resultant fall in property prices as an opportunity
to expand the base of Patanjali Yogpeeth — the institution founded by
Ramdev for scientific research and treatment in yog, spiritualism and
ayurveda. The island property has been inaugurated in September 2009
with a ‘Yagna or ‘Yagya’(a Vedic Sanatan Dharm prayer in the presence
of a purifying fire), will be administered by the Patanjali Yogpeeth
(UK) Trust[6].
National Issues Raised
Swami Ramdev has raised a number of national issues through his yoga
camps (yog shivirs). Most of the issues raised by him demand change in
the governance policies of India and the lifestyle of the common
people. Some of the most emphasized issues are:
Bharat Swabhiman Campaign and political party
Swami Ramdev has initiated a movement named Bharat Swabhiman with the
help of activist and social promoter intellectual Dr.Shri Rajiv Dixith
who gives speeches with the intention of eradicating corruption,
crime, poverty from India with an aim to transform it into a World
Power[7].
In an effort to cleanse the political system, Swami Ramdev has
launched an independent political party named Bharat Swabhiman. The
party will be contesting elections in all 545 Lok Sabha seats. There
are plans to enroll 7 to 10 lakh members for the new party in each
district. The Swami has clarified that he himself does not intend to
contest the polls or accept any political posts[8][9].
Malpractices in the agricultural sector
Swami Ramdev says that the use of fertilizers and pesticides has led
to undue load on and poverty of farmers and increased profits for
large business houses involved in this trade. These pose a big threat
to farmers and to the health of the common man since the farm land is
increasingly becoming barren and contaminated with harmful chemicals.
The farm produce like grains, fruits and vegetables are contaminated
with inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.
Consumption of fast food and soft drinks
At most of his yog shivirs (yoga camps) Swami Ramdev has raised the
issue of increased consumption of fast foods, packed foods and soft
drinks by common people. He says that these products are disease
causing junk and must not be eaten. Swami Ji says that soft drinks
like Coke and Pepsi are harmful for children as well as adults, and
recommends to use these as toilet cleaners, to emphasize children and
innocent adults understand the gravity of ill effects.
Exploitation of farmers
Swami Ramdev blames the corrupt governance practices for the miserable
conditions of the farmers and other backward parts of the society. He
says that agriculture is the biggest contributor to India’s economy
and yet the farmers are the most poverty stricken class of people. He
says that for the economic prosperity of the country it is an issue of
utmost importance to bring welfare to the farmers.
Poor condition of indigenous industries
Indian black money in Swiss banks
Swami Ramdev has publicly raised the issue of Indian money stashed
away illegally in Swiss bank which is estimated to be between 1-1.5
trillion USD. He says that the government must take concrete action
and bring back the money as it belongs to the people of India and has
been taken out of the country illegally [1]
84 Crore (840 Million) People living on Rs. 20 a day
Official surveys indicate that at least 84 Crore (840 Million) people
(nearly 75% of the population) are living with a capacity to spend Rs.
20 or less in a day. Swami Ramdev has started the Bharat Swabhiman
Andolan the first aim of which is to bring prosperity to these 840
million people.
Bharat Swabhiman Andolan
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Bharat Swabhiman Andolan is National Movement Started by Swami Ramdev
Throughout India.
Main Goal of Movement is 1. 100% voting
2. 100% nationalist thought
3. 100% boycott of foreign companies, adoption of ‘swadeshi’
4. 100% unification of the people of the nation
5. 100% yoga-oriented nation
5 Vows of Bharat Swabhiman Andolan:
1. We will only vote for patriotic, honest, valiant, farsighted, and
skillful people. We ourselves will vote 100% and also make others
vote.
2. We will unite all patriotic, sincere, aware, sensitive, intelligent
and honest people together 100% and uniting the powers of the nation
will bring about a new freedom, new system and new change. We will
make India the biggest superpower in the world.
3. We will 100% boycott foreign goods made with zero technology and
adopt indigenous goods.
4. We will adopt nationalist thought 100%, and while in our personal
lives we observe Hindu, Islam, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, etc.
religious traditions, in our public lives we will live like a true
Indian – a true Hindustani.
5. We will make the entire country 100% yoga-oriented and make the
citizens inward-focused by making them healthy and arouse the feeling
of self-pride in each one by removing the cheating, corruption,
hopelessness, disbelief and self-languor arising because of self-
confusion, and awaken India’s sleeping self-respect by building
national character
Bharat Swabhiman Andolan is a mass movement campaign launched by Swami
Ramdev to eradicate corruption from India. The Andolan promotes
protest against corruption in every government sector, and claims that
the nature of this corruption is that Indian officials illegally
broker deals to allow foreign companies to enter every Indian social
sector and hamper the indigenous system in every sphere. Government
estimations show that nearly 84 crore (840 million) people in India,
which is nearly 75% of the total population, are living with a
capacity to spend only Rs. 20 (1 dollar ~ Rs. 45) in a day, and the
Bharat Swavhiman Andolan claims that fighting government corruption is
the first step to changing this state of poverty.
The organization aims to accomplish its goal by reviving forgotten
parts of Indian culture among all Indians, and Swami Ramdev says this
would be the first step towards making India a superpower. Swadeshi
Shiksha (education system based on Indian principles) and Swadeshi
Chikitsa (medical system based on Indian principles) are two of the
most important aims of this mission. Establishment of Hindi and all
regional (Bhartiya-Indian) languages as the primary language in
government-sponsored activities like education and the judiciary is
part of the agenda of this movement. Swami Ramdev draws attention to
the fact that in terms of population Hindi is the second most spoken
native language after the Chinese language and yet in its own country
it gets secondary status to English. He also sees a problem in the
fact that no modernized country in the world uses a foreign language
for official purposes except India
Controversies and criticisms
Over the years Swami Ramdev’s name has been a part of several
controversies.
Minimum wage
In March 2005, about 113 employees of the Divya Yoga Mandir Trust
started an agitation for minimum wages, coverage under the Provident
Fund and Employees’ State Insurance schemes. At a tripartite meeting,
an agreement was reached between the workers, management and the
district administration. However, some agitating workers were
dismissed by the Trust after being charged for alleged sabotage. Their
case was taken up by a trade union controlled by the Communist Party
of India (Marxist). They are still to be reinstated.[10][11]
Allegations of unlawful manufacturing practices
In January 2006, senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader
Brinda Karat accused the Divya Yog Mandir Trust Pharmacy, owned by
Ramdev, of using human and animal bones in their medicines. Samples of
the medicines Kuliya Bhasm and Yauvanamrit Bati purchased from
Brahmakalp Chikitsalay, the Trust’s hospital at Haridwar, were
allegedly tested at government labs which later confirmed the presence
of animal materials in the sample. She exhibited the prescription and
cash receipt obtained from the medicine counter in support of her
claim.[11][12].
Later, four samples were sent to the government-recognized Shriram
Institute of Industrial Research in Delhi. The report from this
institution declared that the samples did not contain objectionable
ingredients and were purely herbal. Swami Ramdev was subsequently
cleared of the charges[13]. Notably people’s response was so huge that
subsequent to these allegations, sales of the Trust’s ayurvedic
medicines have soared[3].
Opposition to Homosexuality
In July 2009, in the wake of the Delhi High Court decriminalizing
homosexuality in Delhi, Ramdev told the press “The verdict will
encourage criminality and sick mentality. This kind of thing is
shameful and insulting. We are blindly following the West in
everything. This is breaking the family system in India. Homosexuals
are sick people, they should be sent to hospitals for treatment. If
the government brings this law, I will take to the streets of Delhi in
protest.”[14]
Claims of curing AIDS
In December 2006, press reports claimed that Swami Ramdevji had made
claims of being able to use Yoga to cure AIDS. A website promoting his
products states that the CD4 cell count in some AIDS patients has
improved after practising Yoga[15]. This statement was translated by
certain journalists as claiming a cure for AIDS[16]. As a consequence
of these press reports he was sent a cease and desist order by the
Indian Union Health Ministry and threatened legal action from medical
NGOs[17]. Ramdev responded by saying that notice was not applicable to
him since he never made claim to cure it [18]. , and that he has been
misrepresented by media.[19].
Claims of curing cancer
Other press reports quoted him as claiming to have a cure for cancer
of the breast, liver, prostate, uterus, pituitary gland, brain tumors
and leukemia by practicing the seven breathing exercises.
In a residential camp held in Yog Gram, Haridwar during 19–25 June
2008, several cancer patients stepped forward to recount first-hand
stories of their successful bouts with blood, prostate and breast
cancer using Pranayam or breathing exercises[20].
Swami Ramdev has claimed having documented proof of his successes.
Awards and recognitions
•January 2007 – Honorary Doctorate, KIIT University (Kalinga Institute
of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, Orissa) in recognition of his
efforts at popularizing the Vedic science of Yoga.[21]
•March 2010 – Honored with Degree of Doctorate of Sciences by Amity
University
•April 2010 – Honored with honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Dr
D Y Patil Deemed University.
References
1.^ “Indian Who Built Yoga Empire Works on Politics”.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/world/asia/19swami.html?ref=yoga.
2.^ “Ramdev’s yog brand launched in America”. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1107155.
3.^ a b c d e f g h i j “Life Positive”.
http://www.lifepositive.com/Spirit/Swami_Ram_Dev/The_Messiah_of_Yoga72006.asp.
4.^ Shankaracharya’s “Bhajagovindam Stotra”.
5.^ “Patanjali Yog Peeth – Introduction”. http://www.divyayoga.com/introduction.htm.
6.^ http://www.hindustantimes.com/Baba-Ramdev-buys-Scottish-island/Article1-458920.aspx
7.^ “About Bharat Swabhiman Andolan”. Bharat Swabhiman Andolan.
http://bharat-swabhiman.com/en/about/.
8.^ “Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev launches ‘Bharat Swabhiman’ Party”.
Breaking News Online.
http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/politics/1259-yoga-guru-baba-ramdev-launches-bharat-swabhiman-party.html.
9.^ “Ramdev’s new chant: Will float party soon”. Times of India.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ramdevs-new-chant-Will-float-party-soon/articleshow/5691756.cms.
10.^ Frontline “In the name of Ayurveda”. The Hindu.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=20060210002604200.htm&date=fl2302/&prd=fline&
Frontline.
11.^ a b “How Karat-Ramdev War began”. ExpressIndia.com.
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=61019.
12.^ “Guru accused of ‘human bone’ drug”. bbc.co.uk. 4 January 2006.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4580846.stm. Retrieved 6
January 2010.
13.^ “Yogi cleared of animal parts row”. BBC News. 8 March 2006.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4786114.stm. Retrieved 6
January 2010.
14.^ “Gay is bad, chorus maulanas, saffron brigade & Church”. DNA.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_gay-is-bad-chorus-maulanas-saffron-brigade-and-church_1270429.
15.^ “Ayurvedic Herbs for control of HIV, AIDS & any Sexually
Transmitted Diseases”. yogapranayama.com. http://www.yogapranayama.com/hiv_medicine.htm.
Retrieved 21 March 2007.
16.^ “Swami Ramdev’s website claims AIDS is curable”. dnaindia.com.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1071418. Retrieved 21 March
2007.
17.^ “Yoga effect on AIDS? Swami Ramdev has ‘proof’”.
moneycontrol.com. http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/newsarticle/stocksnews.php?cid=1&autono=30049&source=ibnlive.com.
Retrieved 21 March 2007.
18.^ “I made no claims of curing AIDS: Ramdev”. expressindia.com.
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=78569. Retrieved 21
March 2007.
19.^ “I never claimed I can cure AIDS: Ramdev”. dnaindia.com.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1071141. Retrieved 21 March
2007.
20.^ “I’ll stay away from politics: Ramdev”. ibnlive.com.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/ill-stay-away-from-politics-ramdev/top/30024-3.html.
Retrieved 21 March 2007.
21.^ “Doctorate degree for Yoga Guru Ramdev”. punjabnewsline.com.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/2664/39/. Retrieved 21
March 2007.
External links
•Divya Yoga Mandir Trust
•Bharat Swabhiman Andolan
•Bharat Swabhiman Forum
•Patanjali Yog Peeth UK Trust
•Patanjali Yogpeeth USA Trust
•Swami Ramdev Biography
•Baba Ramdev Facebook fan page
•Baba Ramdev Ji Yoga Videos on www.totalbhakti.com
•Swami Ramdev Yoga Camp in Houston, Texas
•BBC Audio Interview with Swami Ramdev in Hindi
•The republic and the wayward rationalist – Essay by P. Sainath
•Swami Ramdev on the role of Women in Society – Audio Speech by Swami
Ramdev,
•Swami Ramdev Yoga
•BBC Interview with Swami Ramdev
•BBC News – Yogi cleared of animal parts row – March 8, 2006
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Ramdev“
Categories: 1965 births | Living people | Indian Hindus | Hindu gurus
| People from Mahendragarh | Yogis
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fundamentalism
15/09/2010
« Reality Bites India’s Butt
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/15/his-masters-voice/
Note: This is a critical review of India’s Hindu hoodlums. If you
don’t like my description, you can call them India’s cancer, oops,
India’s superbug, oops, India’s hatemongers, oops, India’s monkeys,
oops, India’s Hindu fanatics, oops, India’s patriots.
Just don’t call them. They are too busy in spreading their Hindutva
shit, oops, Hindutva manure on the internet.
These Hindu hoodlums, most of them village idiots, can’t do the
justice to the job.
Hence, the Hindu hoodlum kings, industrialists, moneybags like Ashok
Chowgule hires Jewish hoodlums, oops, converted to Hindu hoodlumism
with fake doctorate, with fake expertise in Vedic Jyotish, “Astrology
according to Vedas to do their dirty job.
This monster, calls himself, DR Jai Maharaj. Said to live in Hawaii,
USA. Said to have a business in some part of Hawaii, Honolulu, to be
exact. Said to have posted something like million messages on the
newsgroups.
I don’t know why, Hindu hoodlums chose such a demented, self-serving
moron, a Jewish trash to promote their religion? Maybe, there isn’t a
good motherfucking Hindu left in Bharat, oops, India.
Well. have fun.
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SOME POINTS ON RAJDEEP SARDESAI’S OPEN LETTER TO…
Author Message
Dr. Jai Maharaj… Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:00 pm
Guest
Forwarded message from Ashok Chowgule
Some points on Rajdeep Sardesai’s open letter to Uddhav Thackeray
Friday, February 12, 2010
In an open letter to Uddhav Thackeray, on the Shiv Sena severe
criticism of Shahrukh Khan, Rajdeep Sardesai writes: “Sharukh is no
surprise since the Sena has always been uncomfortable with the Indian
Muslim identity.”
Clearly the secularists cannot view ANY issue except on communal
terms. There are some Muslims who are members of the Shiv Sena and
also who support the Shiv Sena. I guess, accoroding to Rajdeepji,
they are really not true Muslims. And what about Muslims who have
also criticised Shahrukhji on this issue? I guess, they too are not
true Muslims.
Rajdeepji also writes: “You’ve called Sharukh a traitor for wishing
to choose Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. ”
This is an utter and blatant lie. But then to show one’s so-called
secular credentials it is necessary to resort to lies. Without which
one cannot make any case.
Rajdeepji knows (or should know) that Shahrukh was termed a traitor
by Shiv Sena because he said that Pakistan is a GREAT neighbour.
Now, one can say that Shiv Sena is wrong on this issue. But bring
out his statement out in the public, rather than tell les.
Furthermore, Shajrukhji should be asked why he did not choose any
Paksitani players himself.
Rajdeepji would like Uddahvji to focus on some important issues. For
example, he writes: “Farmer suicides still continue, the after-
effects of drought are still being faced in several districts, but
the focus is now squarely on finding high profile hate figures.”
I am sure if Rajdeepji devotes the resources of his channel on these
important issues, instead of giving a minute-by-minute report on the
travel programme of Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai, the people of this
country would be eternally grateful to him.
Rajdeepji writes: “The Congress-NCP government in the state has been
thoroughly incompetent: the last decade has seen Maharashtra decline
on most social and economic parameters.”
I do not watch Rajdeepji’s channel. Has he highlighted this issue of
incompetence in any meaningful manner?
A general question. Has Rajdeepji written an open letter to Digvijay
Singh on the latter’s visit to Azamgarh in UP, which is well-known to
be a hotbed of creators of terrorists in India? He will probably
write a letter in open praise of Digvijayji.
The open letter is available at:
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/61523/an-open-letter-to-uddhav-thackeray.html
Religion Forum Index »
Hinduism Forum »
FOOD FOR SOUL
FOOD FOR SOUL
Author Message
Dr. Jai Maharaj Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:14 pm
Guest
Forwarded message from “akash singh” <a
href="mahara...@yahoo.com"mahara...@yahoo.com
[ From: "akash singh"
[ Subject: Fwd: Food for soul
[ Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2003
Pranam,
There is this lady called yamuna harshavardhan from
chennai (where else !!!) who writes an article on
msn.co.in called "food for soul". Primarily it is an
agency for christian propaganda. For all it counts she
herself could be christian. Read through here articles
here on
http://server1.msn.co.in/foodforsoul/foodindex.asp
Prior to evangelizing for christianity she had written
some articles on the "mythologies called Ramayana and
Mahabharata". Notice that none of the stories of the
Mahabharata have anything remotely to do with the The
Lord of the Universe, Narayana in his avatar as Lord
Krishna. In contrast look at her iconification and the
hagiography of christ.
Some months back I had pointed this out in a post to the
discussion forum of the column. I had also claimed that
Gates donation of 300 million for AIDS is a not
altogether altruistic. We know that most of the time this
kind of money is used for christian conversions. Also it
does not escape anyone's notice that MSNBC, the
conservative news channel in the US is part owned by
Microsoft. Also has everyone forgotten that Microsoft's
Encarta Encyclopaedia has the material written on
Hinduism by one "wendy doniger".
Attached below is the response from the lady in question.
No mention is made of the issues that I had raised. Only
some references to the fact that so and so is Hindu are
made. The very fact that my post got this lady to respond
means that things are not what they seem to be.
And yes notice that she says "I wish Hindus get educated
about the good in the Bible and then teach the
Christians"
Namaste,
Akash
amuna Harsha yamuna...@hotmail.com wrote:
Quote:
Pranam Mr. Akash
This is Yamuna Harshavardhana from Chennai writing you
(though rather late as I came by this only now) with
regard to your criticism of Food for soul. I am Hindu
without a doubt and all the mythological stories (so far
all the stories were from the Mahabharata and Ramayana is
to follow the Bible) were written by me. I wonder which
Christian is catholic enough to do so???
Leave Bill Gates aside- he sits in Seattle and
Evangelisation should be far from his business concerns.
I am certain of this as I am associated with MS in ways
other than Food for Soul. Nearer home, the Production
Manager for the MSN India site is Mr Krishna Prasad
(certainly he is not Christian) the website designers are
a company called Vishwak (I am sure it is Hindu) and at
the global level, the MSN World manager is Mr. Aravind
Sampath who I know personally to be a chaste Hindu.
Therefore even you can rest assured MSN is not on an
evangelisation spree - I wish Hindus get educated about
the good in the Bible and then teach the Christians.
I do not mean to be arrogant, but please get your facts
right before you point a finger at any person, Mr. Akash.
With Best Wishes
Yamuna
End of forwarded message from "akash singh"
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Panchaang for 3 Chaitr 5105, Tuesday, March 23, 2004:
Shubhanu Nama Samvatsare Uttarayane Moksh Ritau
Meen Mase Shukl Pakshe Mangal Vasara Yuktayam
Ashvini-Bharani Nakshatr Vaidhruti Yog
Gar-Vanij Karan Tritiya-Chaturthi Yam Tithau
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
Dr. Jai Maharaj Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:15 pm
Guest
Forwarded message from "Ashok Chowgule"
[ From: "Ashok Chowgule"
[ Subject: Re: Fwd: Food for soul
[ Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2003
When Yamunajis says ("I wish Hindus get educated about
the good in the Bible and then teach the Christians")
there is an implicit assumption that the Christians have
got educated about the good in Hinduism and are now
teaching the Christians. Can she elaborate on this
assumption?
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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#1 01-04-2008, 09:19 AM
Dr. Jai Maharaj Posts: n/a
AFTER CHITPAVAN RALLY, A MULTILINGUAL BRAHMIN CONFERENCE AT BEED
Forwarded message from Ashok Chowgule
After Chitpavan rally, a multilingual Brahmin conference at Beed
By Rakshit Sonawane
The Indian Express
December 27, 2007
Introduction: Maya shadow looms as community talks about
unity move ahead of Lok Sabha elections
Close on the heels of a rally of Chitpavan Brahmins in
Pune, a multilingual conference of Brahmins has been
organised in Beed, indicating a possible political
polarisation of the community in Maharashtra ahead of the
next Lok Sabha elections.
The two-day conference, to be held on January 19 and 20 at
Jani-janardhan Nagar in Beed, is expected to be attended by
Brahmins from all shakhas and also migrants from other
states speaking different languages, unlike the Pune rally
that was exclusively for Chitpavans.
According to political sources, the state-level rallies
might lead to polarisation of the community in the next two
years. Various shakhas of the community have already held
district-level and division-level meetings over the past
one year in the state. These" shakhas have lambasted
mainstream political parties like the Congress for ignoring
Brahmins and have in principle agreed to work for a party
which would give them their share of power.
"The aim of this conference is to unite Brahmins from all
shakhas, work for their welfare and provide guidance to
enable all, including poor
among them, to face the challenges of future with
confidence," Namdeo Kshirsagar, the general secretary of
the Bahu-Bhashik Brahman Maha-Adhiveshan 2008, told The
Indian Express. "We are expecting Brahimins from all parts
of Maharashtra, speaking different languages like Marathi,
Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi to attend the conference."
"We are not only going to deliberate on our traditions; but
also discuss women's issues, education and self-employment
opportunities for ' the poorer among us," he said.
When asked whether, the conference would have any political
overtones, he replied in affirmative. "The political link
is there...it can't be separated," he said.
"Some Brahmins are already in politics, but are divided
into various parties and organisations. We want to unite
them." He pointed, out that some senior politicians would
be felicitated at the conference, which would also
enlighten the participants on various issues, including
asserting themselves politically. He added that guidance
would be provided for overall development of Brahmins,
materially and intellectually. "For instance, we'll also
provide information on modern methods of farming to
Brahmins of who till land," he said.
The agenda of the conference includes: giving up
traditional practices that are harmful to society,
providing information on modern technology and employment
opportunities, inculcating the need for bringing in social
equality, making efforts to help needy students and
unemployed youths, and empowering Brahmin women to face the
modern world.
Though the percentage of Brahmins in the state is around
three, most of them are highly educated and hold
responsible positions in the government and private sector.
There are a few pockets in the state, where Brahmin voters
can tilt the scales in elections. "There is a feeling among
the Brahmins that despite. their intelligence, they are
sidelined in politics and thereby denied power in the
democratic setup," a senior politician said, pointing out
that the recent awareness in the community had come after
BSP leader Mayawati's "sarvajan hitaya" experiment by
teaming up with Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh and giving them
powerful political positions.
However, the BSP has denied it has a hand in organising the
conferences.
"It is true that there is a renaissance and Brahmins are
coming together after the Uttar Pradesh experiment, but we
have no role to play (in organizing Brahmin conferences),"
the state general secretary of BSP Suresh Mane said. "It is
a spontaneous activity."
Nevertheless, it may be recalled that some speakers at the
Chitpavan rally at Pune had urged the community to
introspect on its political fate and warned the government
about a polarisation on the lines of Uttar Pradesh.
End of forwarded message from Ashok Chowgule
Message from discussion GANG WAR ERUPTS IN BHENDI BAZAAR
bademiyansubhanallah
More options Feb 24, 10:02 am
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian, alt.fan.jai-maharaj,
soc.culture.indian.marathi, soc.culture.indian.karnataka,
rec.arts.movies.local.indian
From: bademiyansubhanallah
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:02:58 -0800 (PST)
Local: Wed, Feb 24 2010 10:02 am
Subject: Re: GANG WAR ERUPTS IN BHENDI BAZAAR
Mr. Ashok V. Chowgule
Vice President
Vishwa Hindu Parishad
Maharashtra, India
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53 online sources [ view sources ]
Employment History
Vice President
Vishwa Hindu Parishad
President
Vishwa Hindu Parishad
President of Maharashtra State Unit
Vishwa Hindu Parishad
Executive Director
Chowgule and Co.
Chairman and Managing Director
Chowgule and Co.
President
VHP-America
Senior Member
VHP-America
President
Maharashtra
President
Goa Pranth
Shipyard-Division Executive Director
Goa Pranth
Vice President
Vishwa Hindu Paris
Board Memberships and Affiliations
Honorary Secretary (past)
Baripada Leprosy Home
Certifications
No certification information is available.
Education
Economics and Statistics
Bristol University
Case Western University
Biography
No biography information is available.
1-10 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamWarWithinIslam_1.aspx?Ar – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/10/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule,Vice-President, VHP
From: Ashok Chowgule
To: Sultan Shahin Edi…@NewAgeIslam.com
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?Artic – [Cached
Version]
Last Visited: 12/10/2008
Ashok Chowgule
www.sprisminvest.com/CompanyProfile/corporateinner.aspx – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 2/5/2009 Last Visited: 2/5/2009
Ashok V Chowgule
www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=NEWS& – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 10/30/2003 Last Visited: 12/10/2007
Ashok Chowgule
Deceased Graham Stewart Staines (hereinafter referred to as ‘Staines’)
as an Australian National whose tryst with Mayurbhanj in Orissa began
in the year 1965 when he made rendezvous with its District Headquarter
at Baripada for treatment and eradication of Leprosy amongst the poor
and did an excellent job in the field.He became the honorary Secretary
of Baripada Leprosy Home.He was also the Secretary of the Evangelical
Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM).As a missionary, he was
preaching Gospel and spreading the tenets of Christianity in jungle
camps held in different tribal belts in the district of Mayurbhanj and
Keonjhar.
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamRadicalIslamismAndJihad_ – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/29/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, VHP
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
conoship.com/uk/press/page55.htm – [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/6/2006 Last Visited: 9/8/2007
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.
Ashok Chowgule: in shipbuilding for the long haul.
The industrial and shipping group was started by Chowgule & Co
executive director Ashok Chowgule’s grandfather with a small
manufacturing business.
Today, the group is involved in industrial explosives, salt and gases,
as well as brewing, marketing agencies and machine fabrication.Its
iron-ore mining generates around three million tonnes of exports per
year, some two million tonnes to Japan and one million tonnes to
China.All are free-onboard (FOB) contracts.
Involved in the business are the Chowgule brothers, Ashok and group
chief executive Vijay, and their first cousins.Ashok and Vijay’s
father is now 91 years old but is described as being “still not
exactly retired”.
Ashok says India’s manufacturing strength is not appreciated given its
educated workforce, industrial knowledge and strong, commercial and
legal infrastructure, ‘which, he claims, makes it relatively easy to
operate in the country.
Things happen slowly in India but those who get into shipbuilding,
given the environmental-impact hoops they have to go through, are
serious players and will be there for the long term, says Ashok
Chowgule.
www.hinduvoice.net/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?flavor=archive – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 5/24/2007 Last Visited: 5/24/2007
On 5/22/07, Ashok Chowgule
www.letindiadevelop.org/resources.html – [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/24/2006 Last Visited: 5/18/2009
by Ashok Chowgule in association with Hindu Vivek Kendra
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamDebate_1.aspx?ArticleID= – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 7/14/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule has posted an 18 month old off-topic article in this
dicussion of the veil. While sanghis and VHP-ites write frequently in
Muslim oriented outlets, Muslim community leaders, including even the
editor of Milli Gazette, cannot get their letters published in
newspapers such as the Pioneer!
7/15/2009 9:50:11 AM Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu
Paris
Ashok Chowgule
toSultan ShahinEdi…@NewAgeIslam.com
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?Artic – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/1/2001 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule
With reference to the enclosed article.
Ashok Chowgule, Vive President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
10/31/2009 1:42:21 AM
11-20 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
www.conoship.com/uk/press/page54.htm – [Cached Version]
Published on: 9/8/2007 Last Visited: 9/8/2007
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.But first,
cargo has to be generated.
Chowgule Group is widely known for its iron-ore mining activities and
bulker fleet but it is now playing a key role in the country’s rise to
prominence on the international shipbuilding scene.
Early last year, Chowgule secured contracts for six multipurpose
cargoships (Multi Purpose Cargos) from a joint venture involving
Navigia, the Dutch affiliate of Germany’s Rudolf Schoning, and
Hamburg
based Apollo Shipping.
All this is a huge leap from Chowgule building inland barges for the
domestic market.Its sights are now set on constructing coastal vessels
for the group’s own use and eventually containerships and products
tankers.
Chowgule’s international presence has been achieved by becoming an
associate member of the Groningen, Holland-based Conoship marketing
and design organization.
Conoship is assisting Chowgule develop its Loutulim and Rassaim yards
in the state of Goa and has put it in touch with equipment suppliers,
including hatch-cover and main engine manufacturers.It has also
organised the design house in Holland for the Multi Purpose Cargo
production drawings.
Also, Conoship helped educate Chowgule in how ships of this size are
produced in Holland.New computer numerical control (CNC) cutting
equipment was purchased from Australia based on broad specifications
outlined by Conoship.The 20 identical Multi Purpose Cargo’s of 4,450
dwt have an aggregate price of around $120m based on an average of $6m
per unit.
Ashok Chowgule, the group’s shipyard division executive director, says
the origins of the shipyard business can be traced back to the
family’s iron-ore mining activities and its building and repair of
mechanized barges for hauling the ore by river to ports.
Grab and suction dredgers, deep-sea fishing trawlers, tugs, hopper
barges and coastal ships have all been produced over the years – more
than 100 so far in total.But Ashok Chowgule says that for a long time
it remained a relatively small production, partly because of India’s
environmental regulations preventing the establishment of large
private-sector shipyards.When circumstances changed in the 1990s,
Chowgule started investing and within the space of 18 months built
around 23 inland barges totaling roughly 55,000 dwt.
Infrastructure improvements have in recent years included upgrading
Rassaim from repair to newbuildings, concreting areas of the yards and
currently converting workshops for fabrication usage.Also, new covered
areas are manufacturing hatch covers designed by Roden Staal, which
will also be present to supervise final construction and fitting.
Currently, the Chowgule yards employ around 45 people in
administration, accounts, commercial and technical roles, while around
500 to 600 workers are subcontracted in depending on requirements.
“We have invested in getting them trained for the requirements of a
modern yard,” insisted Ashok Chowgule.He claims that as regards
steelwork, standards are already 99% of those found inEurope.The
quality of machinery installation is less clear, although still “good”
with the help of sup- pliers.
Much depends on improving management skills and giving them the “right
tools to do the job” adds Chowgule.
There are no European managers employed at the yards but overseas
consultants are used regularly.
Ashok Chowgule concedes that India has benefited from the general
overspill of work from full yards in China.One obvious advantage,
however, is labour costs being a fraction of competitors in the West.
Typical yard pay is about EUR 0.50 ($0.60) per hour, as compared with
EUR 20 in Holland.
Conoship introduced owners to Goa, where Ashok Chowgule says it did
not take long to convince them of its potential.The initial contact
with Conoship took a long time but it did not take long to persuade
them to work together. . Holland was targeted as a partner because of
its excellent track record in building smaller cargoships.
The shipyard chief hopes that within the next few months, when
Chowgule is scheduled to deliver the first Multi Purpose Cargos, it
can prove it has fast-tracked in achieving European levels of
workmanship.
Its 20-strong series of Multi Purpose Cargos is scheduled for
completion between January 2007 and December 2009.Ashok Chowgule
believes that because of investments in the yards, the last may even
be a few months early.
…
Yards in the global market as reliable suppliers of cargoships of up
to 6,000 dwt, says Ashok Chowgule.They will focus on building
containerships and possibly products tankers once the Multi Purpose
Cargos are delivered.
“At the moment we aren’t actively in those markets because we want to
concentrate our energies in making the yards efficiently” he said.
We have introduced many new things and know it will take a lot of
effort and a certain amount of time.
He estimates the Multi Purpose Cargos are costing between 5% and 7%
below European prices.
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?Artic – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/28/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Objective Condition/Matter is the primary source for the idea, It can
lead Buddha to go to jungle in search for Nirvana, conditions could
lead a small time thief Ajmal Kassab to come to India along with his
compatriots on a so-called Jihad mission and kill innocent civilians,
Conditions is the First and foremost factor that it can give a super
constitutional authority to Mr Chowgule to put to test any Muslim
citizen in India for trustworthiness, religious beliefs etc.
Instead of welcoming this great moment and great efforts on the part
of two dignitaries, who are an authority in their respective field,
Mr. Chowgule has targeted the integrity of Malauna, who really don’t
need any certificate from anyone, including Sang Parivar and its
progenies to prove his credentials.
If Ajma Kassab and Ashok Chowgule are the faces of same coin, so
please don’t be surprised if you may come to know, Afghan Jihadi-Anti
War Forces are two sides of the same coin.
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, VHP
From: Ashok Chowgule
…
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
9/30/2009 5:43:48 AM
www.hvk.org/specialarts/ichr/articles/0009.html – [Cached Version]
Published on: 7/8/1998 Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Posted By Ashok V. Chowgule (asho…@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleListWithGroup.asp – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 12/10/2008 Last Visited: 4/7/2009
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamLetters.aspx?GroupID=43 – [Cached
Version]
Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
www.hvk.org/ram/a3.html – [Cached Version]
Published on: 3/23/2007 Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Ashok Chowgule President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra
The Ram Janmabhoomi issue has revolutionised the politics of the
country.A fragmented Hindu samaj has been united to an extent unheard
of in recent times.
www.hvk.org/ram/a4.html – [Cached Version]
Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Ashok Chowgule President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra.
www.hvk.org/Publications/ludden.html – [Cached Version]
Published on: 8/7/2006 Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Ashok Chowgule, President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra, India
www.conoship.com/content/view/62/59/text/javascript/tex – [Cached
Version]
Last Visited: 9/27/2008
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.
…
Ashok Chowgule: in shipbuilding for the long haul.
Ashok Chowgule
The industrial and shipping group was started by Chowgule & Co
executive director Ashok Chowgule’s grandfather with a small
manufacturing business.
Involved in the business are the Chowgule brothers, Ashok and group
chief executive Vijay, and their first cousins.Ashok and Vijay’s
father is now 91 years old but is described as being “still not
exactly retired”.
Ashok says India’s manufacturing strength is not appreciated given its
educated workforce, industrial knowledge and strong, commercial and
legal infrastructure, ‘which, he claims, makes it relatively easy to
operate in the country.
Things happen slowly in India but those who get into shipbuilding,
given the environmental-impact hoops they have to go through, are
serious players and will be there for the long term, says Ashok
Chowgule.
“Desaffronization” or Apology? – [Cached Version]
Published on: 1/30/1995 Last Visited: 7/7/2004
Ashok Chowgule, President of Maharashtra State unit of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad in his book Christianity in India – The Hindutva
Perspective has narrated the acts of atrocities by the Catholic Church
on the Hindus.
21-30 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
9. Are Indian tribals Hindus? – [Cached Version]
Last Visited: 3/10/2009
But there is also, mostly in the BJP, a strong no-nonsense wing of
businessmen, more or less the old (pro-Western, anti-socialist)
Swatantra Party constituency, which has no patience with such
sentimentalism, and refuses to “turn India into a conservation site”.
116 Thus, the VHP president for the Mumbai region, Ashok Chowgule,
owned (until 1998, when he sold it) a company which furnished cement
to the Narmada Dam.
A Factual Response to the Hate Attack on the India… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 4/24/2006 Last Visited: 5/18/2009
At the time, the President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP),
Maharashtra Pranth, Ashok Chowgule commented as follows:
To this, Ashok Chowgule responded as follows:
[107] This section draws extensively from “An analysis of the report :
‘The Foreign Exchange of Hate – IDRF and the American funding of
Hindutva’ ” prepared by Ashok Chowgule in association with Hindu
Vivek
Kendra (http://www.hvk.org)
A Factual Response to the Hate Attack on the India… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 4/24/2006 Last Visited: 12/25/2008
Ashok Chowgule is an industrialist, managing sections of the family
business, a well-known, successful, and respected business house. The
group is headquartered in Goa. The family has set up schools and a
college in Goa, operations in which Ashok takes keen interest.
Ashok completed his schooling in Belgaum, India after which he went on
to graduate in Economics and Statistics from Bristol University in the
U. K., and completed his business studies at the Case Western
University in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon returning home, he has looked
after the finance and administration of the business group, and lately
has been supervising the shipbuilding component of the family
business.
As a part of his social responsibilities, he has been actively
involved in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad since 1991, and at present is
the President of the Maharashtra State unit of the organisation. He
has written several articles and books on the socio-political issues
of Hindutva. Ashok and Hindu Vivek Kendra (HVK) have also recently
published an analysis and of the Sabrang/FOIL Report titled “An
Analysis Of The Report ‘The Foreign Exchange Of Hate.”
A Tribute to Hinduism – [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/30/2000 Last Visited: 7/10/2006
By Ashok Chowgule
(Ashok Chowgule, President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra).
AWAAZ – South Asia Watch – [Cached Version]
Last Visited: 8/17/2008
But VHP’s Ashok Chowgule said in an interview: “We deny all the
allegations.
But Ashok Chowgule, a senior member of the VHP (World Council of Hindu
Churches), a prominent affiliate of the RSS, said: “We deny all of the
allegations.
Adelaide IMC: newswire/8876 – [Cached Version]
Published on: 9/9/2004 Last Visited: 8/13/2005
Ashok Chowgule, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra
region, counters in an email statement that ‘if this provocation
argument has to be accepted, then we have to accept that the terrorist
attacks of September 11 on the USA was entirely justified because the
terrorists have said that they have been provoked by the policy of the
USA’.
Ashok Chowgule | Rating of NGOs | www.karmayog.org – [Cached Version]
Published on: 6/2/2007 Last Visited: 11/25/2008
Ashok Chowgule asho…@chowgulegoa.com
Assocham — Managing Comittee Members – [Cached Version]
Published on: 6/12/2000 Last Visited: 2/2/2001
Mr. Ashok V. Chowgule Director Chowgule & Co.Ltd.Bakhtawar 4th Floor,
Nariman Point MUMBAI – 400 021
BJP FRIENDS – Old Article – [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/17/1996 Last Visited: 2/16/2009
Ashok Chowgule
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue To Hold… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 10/12/2004 Last Visited: 10/23/2005
BANGALORE INITIATIVE FOR RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE (BIRD) & THE CAREY SOCIETY
(United Theological College) have jointly arranged a talk by Mr. Ashok
Chowgule, President, Maharashtra unit of the VHP, on “The Hindu view
on Religious Conversions”, followed by an interactive session, at 5.30
p.m., Thursday, 5 August 2005, at the United Theological College, 63
Millers Road.
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate – [Cached Version]
Published on: 3/8/2004 Last Visited: 11/7/2009
But VHP’s Ashok Chowgule said in an interview: “We deny all the
allegations.
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate – [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/26/2004 Last Visited: 11/7/2009
But Ashok Chowgule, a senior member of the VHP (World Council of Hindu
Churches), a prominent affiliate of the RSS, said: “We deny all of the
allegations.
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate – [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/12/2006 Last Visited: 2/7/2010
Ashok Chowgule, the suave spokesman for Hindutva gave us a hint of the
post script even as IDRF kept insisting carefully that it has no
connections with the RSS.
Ultimately, did Ashok Chowgule, Vinod prakash, Narayanan Komerath,
Ramesh Rao Yvette Rosser and Belu Mehra and lesser planets, asteroirds
and others who pulled their weight behind the 200 page report support
the emergence of an ugly world ? Legally no.
ChaloMumbai.Com – The Complete Digital Guide to the… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 3/3/2002 Last Visited: 3/3/2002
For a man who almost brought Mumbai to a halt on March 1, Ashok
Chowgule, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Mahrashtra is
a picture of peace.Seated in his high-rise apartment at Peddar Road,
which is painted white and has huge paintings adorning the walls,
Chowgule said that the Ayodhya mission is not the culmination of
failed talks with the Muslims but with so-called secularists.
At what point did the dialogue with the Muslim leadership fail?Why
such haste in the plans?It is not failed talks with Muslims that has
created this situation but the failure of talks with those who call
themselves secularists that has made us more steadfast in our aim.And
we had explained our plans in great details earlier.After the 100-day
maha yajna ends on March 15, we will claim what is ours at Ayodhya.
ChaloMumbai.Com – The Complete Digital Guide to the… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 3/14/2002 Last Visited: 3/14/2002
Ashok Chowgule, the state unit president of the organisation is out of
India, according to the organisation’s activists.
VHP are expected to offer what they call ‘nam smaran’ pujas in temples
like the Sanyas Ashram, Khar.The pujas involve chanting of Lord Rama’s
name.
Chowgule Steamship taps into coastal trade | Conoship… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 12/29/2008 Last Visited: 1/8/2010
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.
Ashok Chowgule: in shipbuilding for the long haul.
Ashok Chowgule
The industrial and shipping group was started by Chowgule & Co
executive director Ashok Chowgule’s grandfather with a small
manufacturing business. …
Involved in the business are the Chowgule brothers, Ashok and group
chief executive Vijay, and their first cousins. Ashok and Vijay’s
father is now 91 years old but is described as being “still not
exactly retired”.
Ashok says India’s manufacturing strength is not appreciated given its
educated workforce, industrial knowledge and strong, commercial and
legal infrastructure, ‘which, he claims, makes it relatively easy to
operate in the country.
Things happen slowly in India but those who get into shipbuilding,
given the environmental-impact hoops they have to go through, are
serious players and will be there for the long term, says Ashok
Chowgule.
Companies & Industry – [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/1/2005 Last Visited: 10/31/2005
All vessels are of 4450 DWT capacity which will be delivered in next
three years,” Chowgule and Company Ltd Executive Director Ashok V
Chowgule said.
With this new orders, Chowgule’s shipbuilding division is marking
change in its profile by building cargo ships, he said.At present, the
company is focussing on iron ore barges, passenger vessels, deep sea
refrigerated fishing trawlers, grab and cutter suction dredgers, tugs,
twin hull catamarans and floating restaurants.
“The shipyard will not be accepting any fresh orders as the capacity
is full.It is planning to upgrade its capacity to construct 8 vessels
against existing capacity of three years per year,” he said.
Chowgule said the company would invest Rs 40 crore to upgrade the
existing facilities by inducting advanced machines.
“It has already invested Rs 10 crore and has installed CNC Plasma
cutting machine which can cut steel plates of 12 metres,” he said.
The shipyard, located at Loutulim (Goa), has a good water front, two
construction bays, full fledged workshop, outfitting jetty and
sufficient skid for pre-fabrication facility.
Commenting on the possibilities of acquiring minor shipbuilding
facilities, Chowgule said that the company is now more focussing on
organic growth and would concentrate on ensuring quality of
construction and punctuality in deliveries.
Cybernoon.com – [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/6/2004 Last Visited: 4/7/2004
I discovered that the person was Mr. Ashok Chowgule, the President of
the VHP in Maharashtra and Goa.He obviously felt that I needed to know
more about the plight of the Hindu pandits in Kashmir who had been
mercilessly driven out of their homeland to languish in camps across
Jammu and Delhi.
I am grateful to Mr. Ashok Chowgule for sending me the book first and
then the film narrating the tales of terror and horror amongst the
survivors who are living in makeshift tents for the last twelve years
with nowhere to go in their own country and no one to listen to their
tales of horror and anguish.
Differences between people and the need to value the… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 5/1/1999 Last Visited: 1/15/2005
Says Ashok Chowgule, spokesperson of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
Mumbai, “Conversion is an attack on the Hindu ethos.”Ask Immanuel
Kingsley of the Pentecostal group, House of Prayer, and he will tell
you with terrifying certainty, “We are not intolerant but we love
people and want to take them to Jesus so they will not perish in
hell.”
Fundamentalist political parties such as the Shiv Sena are challenging
all forms of freedom of expression.
Divyabhoomi – an encyclopaedia of Indian Culture – [Cached Version]
Published on: 3/6/2003 Last Visited: 3/6/2003
Ashok V Chowgule Ashok Chowgule is an industrialist and the Executive
Director of Chowgule and Company Limited.With degrees in engineering
and business management from England and the United States of America,
he has been Managing Director, Narmada Cement, the country’s first
large private sector cement plant, until recently a Chowgule group
company.He has been instrumental in achieving a sustained growth for
the group over the past few decades.A keen student of Indian culture,
he is the president of the Maharashtra and Goa Pranth of the Vishva
Hindu Parishad.
Nanik Rupani The Chairman of Priyadarshni Academy, Nanik Rupani is a
self-made, first-generation entrepreneur with interests in industries
as diverse as telecommunications, information technology, electronics
and finance.A humanist and a patron of Indian art and culture, he has
been instrumental in promoting and encouraging several deserving
organisations, programmes and individuals aimed at bettering the human
condition as well as art and culture.The Academy recognises persons
who have contributed exceptionally to society and presents awards
every year.He is a director on the board of many leading institutions
and companies and a philanthropist.
Jayraj Salgaokar Publisher and Managing Director of Sumangal
Publishing that brings out India’s largest selling publication,
Kalnirnay, Jayraj Salgaokar has played a key role in making his brand
a household name not just in India but in Indian homes across the
world.Kalnirnay today is as successful a product as it is an
advertising vehicle.He reads widely on Indian culture and is a
connoisseur of performing art and Marathi literature.He writes and
lectures on mass communication, printing technology and management at
institutions and universities.
41-50 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
Freeindiamedia.com, Express your impartial, radical,… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/29/2003 Last Visited: 5/28/2006
In the words of the President of Maharashtra VHP, Ashok Chowgule, “The
Ram Janmabhoomi issue has revolutionised the politics of the country.
GOANEWS – BY SANDESH PRABHUDESAI – [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/11/2000 Last Visited: 8/21/2003
“The final decision would be taken at the Dharm Sansad, based on a
concrete proposal which would be discussed at the Goa meeting”,
informed Ashok Chowgule, the VHP president for Goa and Maharashtra,
who is also a leading mine owner here.
In fact Goa’s all the three leading industrial houses have come
together to organise the meeting at Ramnathi temple with Shivanand
Salgaoncar heading the reception committee while Shrinivas Dempo
heading the organising committee.
As half of the ongoing work of carving of pillars for the Ram temple
at Ayodhya and Rajasthan would be completed by next year, Chowgule
says the process to decide about the construction date should also
begin.
“It cannot be at any other place than where the Babri masjid was
situated”, he asserts, adding that seeking permission of the central
government to begin the construction work would also be one of the
main issues to be discussed at the Ramnathi meeting.
Stating that the VHP has its own agenda than the Bharatiya Janata
Party, Chowgule also informed that the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini
would not be involved in the meeting officially but only its
activists.
…
Equally topping the agenda of the meeting is the issue of religious
conversions allegedly carried out by the Roman Catholic Church and
alleged terrorist activities at the behest of the Baptist churches in
the North Eastern region, informs Chowgule.
The meeting, he said, would also discuss the threat caused to Haridwar
and Ganga due to the Tehri dam and a grand ceremony to be organised
next year on the occasion of completion of 50 years of the Somnath
temple.
Objecting strongly to the statement made by Pope John Paul II that
mankind can get salvation only through Jesus Christ, Chowgule also
demanded a reaction from the Indian church whether they have a
different viewpoint on it.
Justifying the demand made by the RSS for a swadeshi church, he also
reiterated the VHP stand that Hinduism is the real nationalism in
India and those who believe in Hindu civilisation can only be called
the nationalists.”I am not saying that Indian Christians are anti-
nationals”, he added.
Expressing fear over Pope’s call to dedicate the new millennium to
convert whole Asia into Christianity, he said the margadarshak mandal
would deliberate upon how to counter the threat of religious
conversions and save Hinduism in the Asian region.
Goan Voice UK: Newsletter. Issue 2006-46. Nov. 16, 2006 – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/16/2006 Last Visited: 2/7/2010
Goa’s Chowgule Group is mulling an entry into building ships for
overseas markets, Ashok Chowgule, the group’s shipyard-division
executive director revealed during a visit this week to London. They
are currently building ships at their Loutolim and Rassaim yards in
the state of Goa
ITI-GOA-photogallery – [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/11/2006 Last Visited: 11/6/2009
Chowgule seen ‘inking’ the M.O.A.
State Director & Shri. Ashok Chowgule, Exec. Dir., M/s. Chowgule
Shipyard Pvt. Ltd., Vasco exchanging the M.O.A. documents State
Director giving a listening ear to our Hon’Minister, Shri.
Iraq\’s maritime industry expects boost with Gulf… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/6/2004 Last Visited: 4/10/2006
Ashok Chowgule, chairman and managing director of Chowgule and Co. in
India, as a Gulf Maritime participant, agreed.
?We specialize in building barges and other carriers for many years in
India.Gulf Maritime, we are confident, will give us the opportunity to
tap the increased demand for the same in this region,?Chowgule said.
MiddleEastEvents.com – The rebuilding of Iraq to fuel… – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/11/2003 Last Visited: 9/5/2006
Mr. Ashok Chowgule, Chairman and Managing Director of Chowgule and Co.
from India, a participant at Gulf Maritime readily confirms this
trend.
Navhind Times on the Web: Openspace – [Cached Version]
Published on: 8/30/2003 Last Visited: 9/4/2003
The President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Goa and Maharashtra) Ashok
Chowgule asks in an interview with Umesh Mahambre why no Christian
organisations are protesting when the churches in UK and US disallow
yoga classes inside their premisesThe VHP welcomed the Tamil Nadu
legislation banning religious conversions, saying it should be adopted
by all states.Isn’t it an anti-constitutional demand?
‘RSS-VHP Serve Their Political Agenda’
The activities of Graham Staines – Christian Aggression – [Cached
Version]
Published on: 10/30/2003 Last Visited: 4/1/2008
Ashok Chowgule
Deceased Graham Stewart Staines (hereinafter referred to as ‘Staines’)
as an Australian National whose tryst with Mayurbhanj in Orissa began
in the year 1965 when he made rendezvous with its District Headquarter
at Baripada for treatment and eradication of Leprosy amongst the poor
and did an excellent job in the field.He became the honorary Secretary
of Baripada Leprosy Home.He was also the Secretary of the Evangelical
Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM).As a missionary, he was
preaching Gospel and spreading the tenets of Christianity in jungle
camps held in different tribal belts in the district of Mayurbhanj and
Keonjhar.
The zealots who would inherit – [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/16/1999 Last Visited: 5/1/2002
From: Ashok ChowgulePresident,
Vishva Hindu Parishad – [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/5/2002 Last Visited: 6/29/2006
SECULARIST ANGST – ASHOK CHOWGULEVishva Hindu Parishad
51-53 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
nude police — nude police – [Cached Version]
Published on: 1/12/2001 Last Visited: 7/2/2006
NEWS : Police question Husain over nude painting Posted By Ashok V
Chowgule (asho…@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in) Sat, 18 Jan 97 22:30:33 EST
Messages sorted by: [ author ] [ date ][ subject ][ thread ...
‘I want what is mine’ - [Cached Version]
Published on: 7/27/2001 Last Visited: 4/14/2002
‘I want what is mine’ Ashok Chowgule, explains the logic behind the
VHP’s agenda
For a man who almost brought Mumbai to a halt on March 1, Ashok
Chowgule, Maharashtra president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), is
a picture of peace.Seated in his high-rise apartment at Peddar Road,
which is painted white and has huge paintings adorning the walls,
Chowgule said that the Ayodhya mission is not the culmination of
failed talks with the Muslims but with so-called secularists.
At what point did the dialogue with the Muslim leadership fail?Why
such haste in the plans?
It is not failed talks with Muslims that has created this situation
but the failure of talks with those who call themselves secularists
that has made us more steadfast in our aim.And we had explained our
plans in great detail earlier.After the 100-day maha yagna ends on
March 15, we will claim what is ours at Ayodhya.
‘I’m happy organisers had sense’ – [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/19/2007 Last Visited: 2/19/2007
When contacted, VHP president Ashok Chougule said, “I am happy the
organisers had some sense in them.”
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=39038676
…More to follow about this Hindu rascal
…and I am Sid Harth
HMV Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“hmv” redirects here. For the trademark and record label, see His
Master’s Voice. For The army-type vehicle HMMWV, see High Mobility
Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle.
hmv Group PLC
Type Public (LSE: HMV)
Industry Entertainment Retail
Founded London, England in 1921
Headquarters Maidenhead, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Number of locations 692 Stores, 7 Countries (2008)[1]
Area served The United Kingdom,[1] Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong and
Singapore
Key people Robert Swannell (Chairman)
Simon Fox (CEO)
Products Books
Video Games
Film
Games
Magazines
Music
Fashion
Technology
Merchandise
Cinema
Live Venues
Ticketing
Artist Management
Revenue £1,956.7 million (2009)[2]
Operating income £70.3 million (2009)[2]
Net income £44.2 million (2009)[2]
Employees 13,801 (2009)[2]
Subsidiaries Fopp
Waterstone’s
MAMA Group
7digital (50% Stake)
Website HMV Group,
HMV Canada,
HMV UK,
HMV Hong Kong,
HMV Japan
hmv Group (LSE: HMV) is a British global entertainment retail chain
and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Canada. The
company also operates stores in Ireland, Hong Kong and Singapore. It
is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the
FTSE SmallCap Index. Acquisitions by the HMV Group include
Waterstone’s in 1998 from W H Smith,[1] the music retailer Fopp in
August 2007, and selected Zavvi retail outlets in February 2009.[3]
Simon Fox has been Chief Executive Officer since 28 September 2006.
For this role he is paid an annual salary of £493,000.[4]
HMV stands for His Master’s Voice, a painting created in 1899[5] by
Francis Barraud, A.R.A., of the dog Nipper listening to a cylinder
phonograph. For advertising purposes this was changed to a wind-up
gramophone, and eventually used simply as a silhouette.
History
1920s to 1990s
In 1921 the Gramophone Company opened the first HMV shop in London,
England;[6] the composer Sir Edward Elgar participated in the opening
ceremonies.[7] In March 1931 the Gramophone Company merged with
Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries
Ltd (EMI).
In 1966, HMV began expanding its retail operations in London.
Throughout the 1970s, the company continued to expand, doubling in
size, and in six years became the country’s leading specialist music
retailers. It faced new competition, however, from Virgin Megastores,
established in 1971, and Our Price, established a year later.[7]
Subsequently, HMV overtook Our Price in popularity and threatened
their existence, having established a chain of newer, larger stores.
Growth continued for a third decade in the 1990s. In 1996, when the
company celebrated its 75 year anniversary, there were over 300 HMV
Music stores internationally.[7]
In 1998 HMV Media was demerged from EMI, leaving EMI with a 43% stake
in HMV Media. The same year, the Company bought the Waterstone’s chain
of bookshops and merged them with Dillons.[8]
2000s
From March 1999 through September 2006, Alan Giles was the CEO.[9][10]
In 2002 the Company floated on the London Stock Exchange as HMV Group
plc, leaving EMI with only a token holding.[11]
hmv Flagship Store on Oxford Street, London.
All HMV stores in Germany were closed in 2003.
In 2006, the HMV Group took over the Ottakar’s book chain, via
Waterstone’s, with which it was merged into, in a similar situation to
the acquisition of Dillons. This merger tied in to HMV’s strategy for
growth, as many of the Ottakar’s branches were in smaller towns and
outposts.
Permira bid
The Christmas period of 2005 was disastrous for the HMV Group, with
many product areas falling in sales. As a result, HMV itself became
susceptible to a takeover, this time from a private equity firm called
Permira. On 7 February 2006, HMV Group received a £762 million
conditional takeover bid (based on 190p a share) from Permira, however
it was rejected on the basis that it was an insufficient valuation of
the company.[12]
On 13 March 2006, HMV released a press statement declining a second
offer from the private equity firm, even though it increased the value
of the company, HMV felt that their firm was being undervalued and so
rejected that offer of takeover as well. By the beginning of March
2006, HMV released a statement that the Permira offer undervalued the
medium and long term prospects for the Group[13], resulting in
Permira’s withdrawal from the bidding.[14]
Ottakar’s
The Competition Commission provisionally cleared HMV Group, through
Waterstones, for takeover of the Ottakar’s group on 30 March 2006. The
Commission stated that the takeover would “not result in a substantial
lessening of competition”.[15]
Waterstones then announced that it had successfully negotiated a
takeover of Ottakar’s on 31 May 2006.[16]
All 130 Ottakar’s stores were rebranded as Waterstone’s prior to
Christmas 2006. In March 2007, new Group CEO Simon Fox announced a 10%
reduction over three years in the enlarged Waterstone’s total store
space, comprising mostly dual location shops created by the
acquisition of Ottakar’s.[17]
Recent developments
In early July 2007, retailers Fopp went into administration, with the
closure of 81 stores and 700 staff made redundant. Towards the end of
the month, HMV bought the Fopp brand and six of its stores. HMV
claimed that the six stores had traded profitably prior to their
closure, and that the deal would save around 70 jobs. HMV later added
a seventh Fopp store to its portfolio. They will continue to trade
under the Fopp brand.[18]
In 2007, HMV selected CLIC Sargent as its charity partner until 2010.
[19]
In the 2008 MCV Industry Excellence Awards, HMV was given the title
‘Entertainment Retailer of the Year’.[20]
On 1 September 2008, HMV Group launched Get Closer, a social
networking site which allows users to import their own music library
and rivals current providers including Napster and the iTunes Store
which are both examples of an online music store.[21]
hmv Forum music venue in Kentish Town, London.
On 24 December 2008, Christmas Eve, HMV’s rival Zavvi, also an
entertainment retailer, entered into administration. On 14 January
2009, a placing announcement by the company revealed that they intend
to acquire 14 of Zavvi’s stores.[22] By selling additional shares, the
company will raise money to fund another joint venture with the MAMA
Group, to run 11 live music venues, including the Hammersmith Apollo
which is set to be renamed to the HMV Apollo. Other venues purchased
include The Forum in London’s Kentish Town, the Birmingham Institute
and Aberdeen’s Warehouse. HMV will also use the opportunity to create
a tickets division which will have benefits for HMV loyalty card
members.[23] HMV began piloting their refreshed loyalty scheme during
2008, and it will be expanded during 2009, under the name “pure hmv”.
[24] The scheme had previously ceased to operate after being
introduced in August 2003.
On 18 February 2009, five additional Zavvi stores were purchased by
HMV Group, all will be rebranded to HMV outlets. A 6th store has been
taken over from Zavvi: this is a store in Exeter‘s modern Princesshay
Development.[25] The acquisitions by HMV were investigated and cleared
by the Office of Fair Trading in April 2009.[26]
HMV entered into an joint venture with MAMA Group. The Group had
purchased a 50% stake in MAMA Group in January 2009 as part of a deal
to introduce the HMV brand to live music venues, including the
Hammersmith Apollo.[27] On 23rd December 2009 it decided to buy the
whole of the MAMA Group in live music takeover deal worth £46m.
Worldwide operations
Corporate identity
HMV shops in the UK and Ireland use the HMV trademark with Nipper the
dog. In Asian markets, only the gramophone and not the dog is the HMV
trademark. HMV stores in Canada do not currently have the rights to
the Nipper trade mark, but have applied for use of it.[28]
On 1 April 2007, HMV Group announced that Gromit, the animated dog of
Wallace and Gromit fame, would stand in for Nipper for a three month
period, promoting children’s DVDs in its UK stores.[29]
United Kingdom and in the Republic Ireland
A large HMV branch in Leeds incoprporating an Orange Shop.
The company operates 379 HMV shops and 313 Waterstone’s.(April
2008[30]) HMV shops in the UK and Ireland use the HMV trademark with
Nipper. HMV’s flagship store in Dublin, Ireland has relegated music to
the basement of the store.
Australia
In September 2005, HMV Group decided to sell its 32 Australian stores
to focus on the UK, Irish, Canadian and Asian markets. Under the HMV
Australia subsidiary, these stores were sold to Brazin Limited, known
briefly in the UK as Sanity Music, for AUS$7.3m (£1.7m). The company
also operates the Sanity Entertainment and Virgin Entertainment
(Virgin at Myer) retail chain in Australia. The horizontal merger was
approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in
October 2005.[31] The HMV group’s agreement with Brazin is to phase
out the HMV brand in Australia by 2010. Most HMV stores in Australia
have very high overhead costs and most have been closed when their
lease ends and the remaining stores converted into Sanity stores, if
there is no Sanity store in the area.
HMV’s Australian flagship store, located in Pitt Street Mall, Sydney,
was shut down on Friday 31 August 2007, when the Mid City Centre
shopping centre it was located in, was closed for demolition.
USA & Canada
In 1988, HMV Group began operating in Canada. This coincided with the
bankruptcy, a few years later, of the Canadian record store retail
chain A&A Records. HMV has also been cited as a contributor to the
decline and eventual bankruptcy of two other major Canadian chains,
Sam the Record Man and Music World (HMV in Canada was created by EMI
Music Canada’s buyout of the faltering Mister Sound chain in the late
1980′s.)
HMV stores in Canada do not have the rights to the Nipper trade mark.
HMV had a handful of stores in the Eastern United States, which in
their final years were overseen by HMV’s Canadian operations. In the
1990s they had a significant presence in Manhattan.
Poor real estate decisions made in the early 1990s rendered the United
States stores uneconomical and HMV gradually extricated itself from
leases, with the final store in the United States, having lost
£500,000 in 2003 and £1 million in 2004, closed on 3 November 2004.
[32]
In contrast, HMV has a strong position in Canada’s music market, with
116 stores as of October 2007. For the last two decades, HMV has been
awarded “Canadian Music Retailer of the Year”.[33]
In 2005, HMV Canada took over a Virgin Megastore in Vancouver,
allowing it to own, “Canada’s largest store dedicated to music and
DVD”.[34]
In recent years, HMV Canada has encountered controversy by removing
from sale all music and video recordings made by artists that have
made exclusive distribution deals with other retailers for particular
limited-edition or early-release titles; artists affected by this move
include Alanis Morissette and The Rolling Stones.[35]
Hong Kong
In 1994, HMV began operating in Hong Kong. HMV began relocating their
store locations to shopping malls that are newly opened. HMV in Hong
Kong appeals to the crowd that enjoy organized and free-sampling
environment which many other records cannot match. However, the prices
on their products especially those without promotion and discount are
often higher than many independent record stores. HMV Hong Kong is the
second place after UK that launched in-store digital kiosks. It is
also the first in Asia.
There are currently five HMV stores in Hong Kong.
Japan
In July 2007, HMV Japan, which operates 62 shops, was sold to DSM
Investment Catorce. The stores and HMV Japan website continue to trade
as HMV, but is no longer owned by HMV Group.[36]
India
Gramophone company HMV also had an existence in India till the late
90′s but later it was taken over by the RPG Group. Now the company is
known as SA RE GA MA Music India Ltd. 33, Jessore road, Dum Dum,
Kolkata – 700 028
Product Range
HMV stores stock a range of products from Audio, Books, Blu-ray Discs,
CDs, Computer software and hardware, DVDs, and Video games.[37]
See also
•Fopp
•Ottakar’s
•Waterstone’s
•A&B Sound
•Nipper, the dog featured in HMV’s logo
•The Hut Group
References
1.^ a b c “About Us History”. HMV Group. http://www.hmvgroup.com/aboutus/history.jsp.
Retrieved 2009-01-15.
2.^ a b c d “Annual Report 2009″. HMV Group. http://2009.hmvgroup.ry.com/pdfs/hmv_ara09.pdf.
Retrieved 2010-03-10.
3.^ “HMV snaps up Fopp name and stores”. BBC News. 2007-07-31.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6923511.stm. Retrieved
2009-01-15.
4.^ “Simon Fox: Executive Profile & Biography”. BusinessWeek. McGraw-
Hill. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8291300&ric=HMV.L.
Retrieved 18 August 2009.
5.^ Brewers Dictionary of 20th Century Phrase and Fable
6.^ HMV Group History
7.^ a b c “EMI: A Brief History”. BBC News. 2000-01-24.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/616485.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
8.^ WH Smith unloads book shop chain
9.^ “HMV names Simon Fox as CEO from Sept 28, succeeds Alan Giles”.
Forbes. July 18, 2006. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2006/07/18/afx2885324.html.
Retrieved January 22, 2010. (“Fox will succeed Alan Giles, who will
retire as Chief Executive and as a director of HMV Group at the
group’s AGM on September 28.”)
10.^ Damian Reece (January 12, 2006). “HMV boss to quit as shops lose
to internet”. London: The Daily Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2929969/HMV-boss-to-quit-as-shops-lose-to-internet.html.
Retrieved January 22, 2010. (“Mr Giles’s decision to quit the company,
where he has been chief executive since March 1999…Mr Giles has been
at HMV Group since it was formed in 1998 to acquire Waterstone’s from
WH Smith…”)
11.^ HMV moves to reassure as IPO revival begins to falter
12.^ “Retailer HMV rejects bid approach”. BBC News. 2006-03-13.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4800548.stm. Retrieved
2009-01-15.
13.^ “HMV rejects second bid approach”. BBC News. 13 March 2006.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4800548.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
“‘The board unanimously believes that the revised proposal from
Permira continues to undervalue the group,’ the company said.”
14.^ “HMV suitor Permira abandons bid”. BBC News. 20 March 2006.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4826132.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
“Permira said it was ‘disappointed’… and would no longer be bidding
for the firm.”
15.^ Muspratt, Caroline (2006-05-12). “HMV merger with OOttakers
cleared”. London: Daily Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2938612/HMV-merger-with-Ottakars-cleared.html.
Retrieved 2009-08-16.
16.^ “Ottaker’s accepts HMV takeover though price is slashed”. London:
Guardian. 2006-06-01. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/jun/01/media.
Retrieved 2009-08-16.
17.^ Feltham, Cliff (2007-06-29). “HMV to stay on High Street despite
falling sales of CDs”. London: The Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hmv-to-stay-on-high-street-despite-falling-sales-of-cds-455201.html.
Retrieved 2009-08-16.
18.^ “HMV snaps up Fopp name and stores”. BBC News. 2007-07-31.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6923511.stm. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
“Fopp went into administration at the beginning of July, closing 81
stores and making about 700 people redundant. HMV said all six stores
it was buying had traded profitably before they were closed and that
the deal would save about 70 jobs. HMV later agreed a deal with the
store landlord to add a seventh Fopp shop, in London, to its
portfolio.”
19.^ “Partners”. Clic Sargent.
http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/Getinvolved/Corporatepartnerships/Currentcorporatepartners/HMV.
Retrieved 2009-01-14.
20.^ “MCV Awards ’08″. MCV. http://www.mcvuk.com/news/30160/MCV-Awards-08-The-winners-in-full.
Retrieved 2008-04-14.
21.^ Hall, James (2008-04-26). “HMV tries to Get Closer with social
networking test”. London: Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2789004/HMV-tries-to-Get-Closer-with-social-networking-test.html.
Retrieved 2009-01-15.
22.^ “Placing announcement”. HMV. 2009-01-14.
http://www.hmvgroup.com/media/view.jsp?agreed=true&selectedDisclaimerCountry=UK&id=1271.
Retrieved 2009-01-14.
23.^ “HMV to snap up some Zavvi stores”. BBC News. 2009-01-14.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7829339.stm. Retrieved
2009-01-15.
24.^ “HMV Plans Reward Card Roll Out”. HMV. 2008-12-30.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i935003166745e37d3e62fdb3722b6af0.
Retrieved 2009-01-15.
25.^ “End of the road for Zavvi”. Manchester Evening News. 2009-02-18.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1097409_end_of_the_road_for_zavvi.
Retrieved 2009-02-18.
26.^ “HMV/Zavvi”. Office of Fair Trading. 28 April 2009.
http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/Mergers_home/Mergers_Cases/2009/hmv.
Retrieved 24 December 2009.
27.^ Leroux, Marcus (15 January 2009). “HMV Group plugs into live
music market”. London: Times.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article5519903.ece.
Retrieved 30 March 2010.
28.^ Canadian Intellectual Property Office
29.^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gromit steps into HMV logo role
30.^ HMV Business Review
31.^ “Brazin Ltd – proposed acquisition of HMV Australia Pty Ltd”
32.^ HMV Group plc (17 January 2005). “Operating Review” (PDF).
Interim Report 2004. HMV Group plc. pp. pp. 3-4.
http://www.hmvgroup.com/files/923/HMV_Interim_2004.pdf. Retrieved
2006-12-30. “…HMV USA, where the last store [of which] closed on 3
November 2004.”; “…a £1.0m loss last year and £0.8m of losses made in
HMV USA in the prior year…” .
33.^ HMV Adds Gaming. Marketnews.ca. 28 August 2006. Retrieved 13
September 2006.
34.^ HMV to Open Canada’s Largest Store Dedicated to Music & DVD.
Marketnews.ca. 28 June 2005. Retrieved 13 September 2006.
35.^ “HMV pulls Alanis product to protest Starbucks deal”. CBC Arts.
14 June 2005. Retrieved 13 September 2006.
36.^ “HMV snaps up Fopp name and stores”. Japan sale (BBC News).
2007-07-31. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6923511.stm. Retrieved
2007-07-31. “Separately, HMV said that the sale of the Japan business
to DSM Investment Catorce, would allow it to focus on countries where
it was a market leader. Opening in Tokyo’s Shibuya district in 1990,
HMV Japan now has 62 stores, with about 40 million visitors a year.”
37.^ “HMV”. HMV. http://hmv.com/. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
External links
•HMV Group
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMV_Group“
Categories: Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange | Companies
established in 1921 | Defunct retail companies of the United States |
Companies based in Berkshire | Music retailers of the United Kingdom |
Bookshops of the United Kingdom
•This page was last modified on 19 August 2010 at 17:09.
…and I am Sid Harth
Caste system, Hindu Society, Hindutva, History, Indian Politis, Indian
society, News, Views and Reviews, Religious fundamentalism, Slums
15/09/2010
« Hindu Scandalous Swamis
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/04/04/of-god-godmen-and-good-men-sid-harth/?preview=true&preview_id=30&preview_nonce=a39c5a0741
Religion: Instant Energy
Monday, Jul. 26, 1976
“In this country they have Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, and they
might as well have a Guru’s Day,” said the small, closely cropped
Indian dressed in a red wool ski hat, red silk robes and red knee
socks. He was himself a notable guru, Muktananda Paramahansa. So, last
week at a secluded retreat that was once a Catskill Mountains resort
hotel in upstate New York, more than 2,000 followers staged a day-long
celebration in honor of the man they consider a saint.
There were prayer sessions from which rose chants of Sanskrit verses.
Then the blue lights in the meditation hall dimmed, and the faithful
swayed rhythmically to and fro. Finally, Muktananda proclaimed (in
Mindi, a Hindi dialect), “Now is the auspicious hour of the auspicious
day. The sun and moon are strong.” That heralded the main event: the
marriage of 16 couples, the women in saris, with garlands of flowers.
The guru, who is licensed to perform weddings as a minister in an
ordination mill called the Universal Life Church, blessed the rings
and said, “May you live together in love.”
Muktananda, 68, known to his followers as Baba (father), is America’s
newest fashionable guru. With 62 centers in North America besides the
Catskills ashram, he has attracted more than 20,000 devotees since his
arrival in 1974. He has also received respectful visits from such
celebrities as California Governor Jerry Brown, Singers James Taylor
and Carly Simon, Anthropologist Carlos Castaneda and Astronaut Edgar
Mitchell. At home in India, too, he has a considerable following.
There are centers of his disciples all over the subcontinent. He will
return there this fall in a chartered Air India 747, together with 400
American devotees and a pet bull terrier. But this is undoubtedly not
his last sojourn in the U.S. Says the guru: “Americans are good,
loving and affectionate, law-abiding and disciplined. They have
everything material; now they are searching for and deserve to find
true happiness.” Americans who encounter the guru return the
compliment. Says Joy Anderson, a former dancer who now runs the
Catskills ashram with her husband: “He is the perfect guru for the
West. We expect when we put something in to get something out —like
instant coffee—and from Baba you get instant experience.”
The principles of Muktananda’s teachings are traditionally Hindu:
“Meditate on yourself. Honor and worship your own inner being. God
dwells within you as you.” But whereas most gurus lead their disciples
through a slow evolutionary process, Muktananda transmits shakti—
energy or elemental force—in one two-day ritual of teaching and
meditation called an “intensive” (fee, plus modest room and board:
$100). In the climactic moment, the guru places his fingers on the
disciple’s closed eyes and gently pushes the head back and forth. The
disciple is then supposed to feel the power flowing into him as if by
an electric charge. Some people say they have experienced flashing
lights, visions, ethereal sounds, and even, among women, orgasm.
Molten Gold. Muktananda had much the same experience himself when he
was initiated by his teacher Nityan-anda in 1947. Inspired at the age
of 15 by his first encounter with the man, he left his home in
southern India to seek out various sages and swamis. Twenty-five years
later he found Nityananda again: “His eyes, wide open, were gazing
straight into mine. I was dazed, I could not close my eyes; I had lost
all power of volition. I saw a ray of light entering me from his
pupils. It felt hot, like burning fever. Its color kept changing from
molten gold to saffron to a shade deeper than the blue of a shining
star. I stood utterly transfixed.”
The suppliants who look to Baba Muktananda for such experiences are
generally older than those who follow some other gurus, and they
include a high proportion of professionals: lawyers, actors, educators
and a surprising number of psychologists. Attorney Ron Friedland, 35,
is recuperating from a heart attack. During his convalescence, he
says, he learned that “if you have taken all there is to take out of a
career, and there is nothing more to aspire to, then you know you only
have one-third of the pie—even if it’s the fattest, richest third.”
Jerry Bender, 38, was making $50,000 a year in Los Angeles as the
chairman of two small film corporations when he began to feel unhappy
about his high-pressure existence. “Now,” he says of his sojourn at
the ashram, “I’m in love for the first time in my life. I’m in love
with life. Before this I was in business. Today I am more creative.
When I go back to my business, I’ll probably earn $200,000 a year.”
Says Russell Kruckman, who once taught literature at Northwestern: “I
don’t think people come here looking for a religion. What they come
for is an experience that will give meaning and substance to their
lives. You don’t have to believe or profess anything to be a follower
of Baba. We don’t become Hindus. People get whatever it is they get
from Baba, and their lives are changed.”
Sometimes the changes are small indeed. A number of disciples report
having donated a pack of cigarettes to the guru and thereby been freed
from the desire to smoke (others, even after the guru has touched them
with his sheaf of peacock feathers, still sneak out of the ashram for
a quick puff). But many testify that the guru has genuinely helped
them to cast off “negative emotions” and achieve a certain
tranquillity. Says Muktananda of his own mysterious powers: “I am
however you see me. If you see me as a saint, I am a saint. If you see
me as a fool, I am a fool. If you see me as an ordinary man, I am an
ordinary man.” Asked how he sees himself, he answers, “I see myself as
myself.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914413,00.html
Behavior: THE TM CRAZE: 40 Minutes to Bliss
Monday, Oct. 13, 1975
Before each game, New York Jets Quarterback Joe Namath finds a quiet
spot and seems to nod off. In the middle of a gale on Long Island
Sound, while her friends are wrestling with lines and sails, Wendy
Sherman, a Manhattan adwoman, slips to the bow of a 36-ft. yawl, makes
herself as comfortable as she can, and closes her eyes. On warm
afternoons in Rome, Ga., Municipal Court Judge Gary Hamilton and his
wife Virginia can be found on their screened porch, apparently dozing.
It is not a compulsion to sleep that these and perhaps 600,000 other
Americans have in common. It is TM, or Transcendental Meditation, a
ritual that they practice almost religiously twice a day and every
day.
Last week the man who brought TM to America and the rest of the world,
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, was in the U.S. on one of his infrequent visits
to spread The Word. The white-bearded guru visited his new university,
the Maharishi International University in Iowa, and then flew to Los
Angeles, where he taped the Merv Griffin show. Scores of his followers
were in the audience, welcoming their leader with the traditional
Indian greeting in which the hands are held, prayer-like, just below
the chin.
“He’s the greatest spiritual leader of our age,” proclaimed one of the
Maharishi’s devoted band. “He hasn’t established a religion, but a
knowledge to benefit mankind.”
Outside the TV studio, however, a group of Christian fundamentalists
was present to demonstrate that the diminutive guru has attracted more
than a few detractors. JESUS IS THE LORD, NOT MAHARISHI, read their
signs. The Maharishi saw them, then was whisked away in his limousine
to a suite in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. “We are not a religion,” he
retorted.
Why is there so much fuss about something so arcane-sounding as
Transcendental Meditation? Simple. TM is the turn-on of the ’70s—a
drugless high that even the narc squad might enjoy.
All it demands of its practitioners is that they sit still for 20
minutes each morning and evening and silently repeat, over and over
again, their specially assigned Sanskrit word, or mantra.
This simple exercise is the cureall, its adherents claim, for almost
everything from high blood pressure and lack of energy to alcoholism
and poor sexual performance. “I use it the way I’d use a product of
our technology to overcome nervous tension,” says Stanford Law
Professor John Kaplan. “It’s a nonchemical tranquilizer with no
unpleasant side effects.”
That recommendation alone is enough for many people in this Valium-
saturated age, and the TM organization can scarcely keep up with those
seeking nirvana by the numbers. Some 30,000 are signing up every month—
more than three times as many as a year ago. There are now 370 TM
centers around the country, and around 6,000 TM teachers.
The movement is biggest in that supermarket of Eastern cults and fads,
California, which claims 123,000 meditators. According to the TM
organization’s statistics, there are also 300,000 TM meditators and
2,000 teachers in other countries. Canada leads the way with 90,000,
followed by West Germany (54,000).
Books about TM are on both the hardcover and paperback bestseller
lists, up there, for the moment at least, with the joys of sex, the
dictates of diet, and the woes of Watergate.*
Maharishi International University occupies a 185-acre campus in
Fairfield, Iowa, and is offering 600 students courses in such ordinary
subjects as administration as well as such esoterica as “Astronomy,
Cosmology and the Science of Creative Intelligence” (SCI, as it is
always called, is the grand and somewhat amorphous theory behind TM).
The revenues of the World Plan Executive Council-U.S., the umbrella
name for the burgeoning American TM movement, now amount to $12
million a year.
At national headquarters in Los Angeles, 60 full-time employees
oversee a conglomerate of euphoria that includes the Students
International Meditation Society, which has programs on 100 campuses;
the International Meditation Society, which gives both beginning and
advanced TM courses; and the American Foundation for the Science of
Creative Intelligence, which caters to businessmen. In addition to the
many TM centers, there are also five fully owned and hundreds of
rented country retreats offering lectures, seminars and advanced
meditation (up to 120 minutes a day, or three times the usual dosage).
One such center that the movement owns is set amid 465 acres of
unspoiled countryside at Livingston Manor in New York’s Catskill
Mountains. It has a 350-room hotel, a sophisticated printing plant for
the masses of TM newsletters and other literature, and a videotape and
sound-recording complex worthy of a TV network.
TM is even setting up a television station in Los Angeles. Channel 18
is scheduled to go on the air in November with taped lectures by the
Maharishi and variety shows featuring such famous meditators as Stevie
Wonder, Peggy Lee and the Beach Boys, who have written a one-line TM
song (“Transcendental Meditation is good for you”). Station KSCI will
report only good news. there is talk of a TM network sending smiles
from sea to sea.
TM is often mistaken for other nostrums of the ’60s and ’70s, but it
has little or no relationship to most of them. For example, Esalen,
which inspired the encounter movement in the ’60s, in cludes such
therapy as nude communal bathing and rolfing—deep-probing, painful
massages that are supposed to release the unawakened consciousness.
Arica, a nationwide spiritual organi zation, searches for “the
Essential Self through, among other things, Egyptian gymnastics and
African dances. Meditation is only incidental to Arica, and involves
concentrating on the plan ets Jupiter and Saturn and the colors blue
and black. Est, a San Francisco-based group, puts large numbers of
people together in a room and keeps them there for up to 15 hours at a
time, with only three toilet breaks. This supposedly forces modern man
to look at his existential roots and discover, as Founder Werner
Erhard phrases it, that “what is, is.” Because of the confusion of
names, the Maharishi is also often mistaken for the junior guru, the
Maharaj Ji, 17, the pudgy, high-living “Perfect Master” of the Divine
Light sect. In contrast to all of the other consciousness-raising
groups, TM appears refreshingly dull and commonplace.
The only exotic component of TM, indeed, is the some what mysterious
figure of the Maharishi himself. Questioned about his past, he roars
with laughter. “You see,” he explained to TIME’S Robert Kroon, “I am a
monk, and as a monk I am not expected to think of my past.
It is not important where I come from. I am totally detached and
peripatetic, like Socrates.”
This much is known: he was born in India’s Central prov ince some time
around 1918 (he refuses to give his age) into the Kshatriya or warrior
caste. In 1940 he took a degree in physics at Allahabad University. He
decided, however, to seek enlightenment in a less scientific and more
orthodox Indian way: he spent 13 years, from 1940 to 1953, with Guru
Dev, a swami who left home at the age of nine to seek enlightenment.
Guru Dev revived a lost meditation technique that originated in the
Vedas, the oldest Hindu writings. According to one legend, Guru Dev
charged the Maharishi with a mission: to find a technique that would
enable the masses to meditate. The Maharishi hid away in the Himalayas
for two years. When he emerged, he started the TM movement. In 1956 he
took the name Maharishi, meaning Great Seer in Sanskrit. Now in his
late 50s—though looks as old as the Vedas themselves—the Maharishi, by
all accounts, is a living advertisement for the energy TM supposed to
release. He is forever jeting round the world to visit TM centers in
89 countries. Last month, for ample, he was in Courchevel, a ski
resort in the French Alps, where the movement has temporarily
converted the posh Anapurna Hotel into a training center. In
Courchevel, the Maharishi has a two-seater helicopter always at the
ready to save driving up and down the mountains. The center is a place
of great contrasts. Near the hotel’s indoor swimming pool there is a
dais covered with a saffron-colored cloth and surmounted by a portrait
of Guru Dev. Yet nearby is the inevitable color TV studio, ready to
record the Maharishi’s every word and gesture.
His aides are always awed and reverential around him. The headquarters
of the movement, they say, is not in one physical spot but rather
“wherever Maharishi is”—true believers do not use the article before
his name. He is the only one in the movement who is not expected to
and does not meditate on a regular basis. “He doesn’t have to,” says
Robert Cranson, who served two years as one of his secretaries. “He
long ago achieved a perpetual fourth state of consciousness. The
clarity of his mind is awesome.”
The Maharishi believes that if only 1% of the population any community
or country is meditating, the other 99% will feel good effects and
crime will be reduced. If 5% meditates, he adds, great things will
really begin to happen. “A good time for the world is coming,” he
says. “I see the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. I am only giving
expression to the phenomenon that is taking place.”
Whether the Age of Enlightenment is at hand remains to be seen, but
meditating the TM way is in fact as easy as the Maharishi says it is.
First off, a would-be meditator must attend two introductory lectures
of an hour to an hour and a half. Tl if he is still interested, he
pays his fee: $125 for an individual with lower rates for college and
high school students and children four (the minimum age) to ten.
The initiate takes off his shoes and gathers his “offering”: a fresh,
white handkerchief, several pieces of sweet fruit and a bunch of
flowers. TM claims to be totally secular, and the offerings are
supposedly meant only as symbols: the flowers represent the flowers of
life, the fruit the seed of life, and the handkerchief the cleansing
of the spirit. After handing over his gifts, the newcomer is taken to
a private room, where his teacher lights candles and incense and
places the fruit, flowers and ha kerchief on an altar under a color
portrait of Guru Dev. The teacher then chants in Sanskrit and
introduces the meditator to his mantra, the one word that is meant to
keep him meditating for the rest of his life.
The meditator is never supposed to reveal his mantra—not to wife,
husband, lover or children. Each teacher is personally given a set of
mantras by the Maharishi—exactly 17 according to one knowledgeable
source. He must parcel them out to his initiates, based on a secret
formula that presumably includes temperament and profession. Duly
initiated, the fledgling meditator is ready for his meditating
classes, which last about an hour and a half each and which must be
taken on three consecutive days or nights. Together with others, up to
50 or more, he sits in a lecture room, meditates for ten minutes or
so, opens his eyes with the others, then meditates again. With the
help of charts and diagrams, TM theories are explained by instructors
who, following the movement’s dress code, are invariably well-groomed
and conservatively clothed.
How do you meditate? According to Physicist Lawrence Domash,
chancellor of the Maharishi European Research University in Weggis,
Switzerland, describing meditation is like “trying to explain the
innards of a color television set to a tribe of Pygmies. What you can
do is tell the Pygmy how to switch on the set and tune in to a station
so he can enjoy the program.” In fact, say the TM people, there is no
wrong way to meditate. About 30 seconds after the eyes close, the
mantra should come into the mind on its own; if it refuses, the
meditator gently nudges it and starts repeating it silently to
himself. He does not have to repeat it at any particular speed or to
any special rhythm, such as his heart beat or his breathing. Other
thoughts can come into his mind—they almost invariably do—and the
mantra can slip away for a time, to come back a few seconds or a few
minutes later.
There are only a few rules for meditation. It must be done for 20
minutes (some people, for reasons that only their teachers know, are
prescribed only 15 minutes) in the morning and late afternoon or
evening, but it must never be done before going to bed. One couple who
violated the rule by meditating at 9:30 p.m. told TIME Reporter-
Researcher Anne Hopkins that they were so full of energy afterward
that they could not fall asleep until 4 a.m. It must never be done
immediately after a meal. Meditating can be done almost anywhere—on
trains, in cars, in hotel lobbies.
The only real no-no in meditating is trying. If you try to be a good
meditator, you will, paradoxically, almost certainly be a bad
meditator. Meditating, TM officials insist, cannot be forced, and it
must be done in all innocence, a word they use over and over again.
“If you list instructions, you can’t do it,” asserts Charles Donahue,
coordinator of TM’s Northeast region. “It’s like falling asleep. You
can tell someone what he has to do—brush his teeth, put on his p.j.s
and so on—before going to bed. But how do you describe the actual
process of falling asleep? You can’t.”
Even TM officials admit that 20% to 25% of the people who try TM give
it up after a while. Others claim the apostasy rate is still higher.
One of those who quit is Victor Zukowski, owner of a Sharon, Mass.,
beauty parlor. “Look, I really tried,” he says. “I paid my $125,
attended all the sessions, and submitted to a ridiculous initiation
ceremony. I meditated for six months, and do you know what happened? I
fell asleep ev ery time. I just don’t think it’s right to charge
people $125 for nothing.”
For many people, however, TM seems to work:
¶ Richard Nolan, 31, is a Democratic Congressman from Minnesota. “When
you are in the political arena,” he says, “your day can start at 6 or
7 in the morning at a plant gate, and before you know it, it’s 4 in
the afternoon and you still have hours of work in front of you. That’s
when it is nice to meditate, so you can get the rest you need.”
¶ Marilyn Forman, 40, is a housewife in Melville, Long Is land. When
she found herself screaming at her two children and wondering, “Why
can’t I control myself?” she signed up for TM.
By the end of her second week she felt noticeably less tense and
realized that her “boiling point” had been raised to a reasonable
level. “Whatever TM does,” she says, “it releases those pressured,
tense, harried feelings we all have from life today.”
¶ Curly Smith, 53, a native Oklahoman, is now a land developer in
Boulder City, Nev., living “mighty fine”—enough to pilot his own Lear
jet. “I’m a very practical person,” he says. “I found that with TM I
could take life’s pressures better. My mind was clearer, and I had a
better disposition. The darndest thing about it is that all you have
to do is say your mantra twice a day.
Period. Everything else just falls into place. With me, I immediately
lost my taste for booze. I mean, my friends back in Okie City couldn’t
believe that. Curly Smith not drinkin’. Lord Almighty!”
These glowing testimonials are reinforced by scientific studies that
at least partially back up TM’s claims. The tests are relatively new
and not definitive enough to amount to final proof in the eyes of most
doctors, who are also made a little uncomfortable by the fact that
much of the research has been carried out under the auspices of the TM
organization or has been published by the Maharishi International
University Press. Among significant findings:
¶ Blood pressure drops. Working with 22 hypertensive patients for 63
weeks, two researchers from Harvard and U.C.L.A. found a significant
drop in systolic and diastolic blood pressure after the patients began
meditating.
¶ Oxygen consumption is as much as 18% lower during meditation,
according to a study by the same researchers. This denotes a marked
slowing of the metabolism.
¶ Alpha waves, produced by electrical activity in the brain and
generally associated with a feeling of relaxation, become denser and
more widespread in the brain during meditation.
This has been established in studies by a neurologist at Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston and by two psychiatrists at Hartford’s
Institute of Living.
¶ Other studies show meditators becoming less dependent on cigarettes,
liquor and drugs or hallucinogens of any kind.
The Federal Government has so far funded 17 TM research projects,
ranging from the effects of meditation on the body to its ability to
help rehabilitate convicts and fight alcoholism. Some companies even
think that TM can improve corporate efficiency. TM courses have been
given at, among others, AT&T, General Foods, Connecticut General Life
Insurance Co., Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Chicago, and the Crocker
National Bank of San Francisco.
The chief scientific challenge to TM is not that it is wrong but
rather that it is not the only meditative technique to benefit the
body. Says Dr. John Laragh, director of the cardiovascular unit at New
York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan and perhaps the
leading expert on hypertension in the U.S. (TIME cover, Jan. 13):
“I’m not sure that meditating has had any different effect on blood
pressure than relaxing and sitting on a couch and reading a book.” To
find out, Laragh will soon conduct his own study of the effects of TM
on a group of hypertension patients. Cardiologist Herbert Benson of
Harvard Medical School, who collaborated on much of the original
scientific research on TM, now says that he has a method that gives
the same results; anybody can learn it in a minute, he says, without a
fee and without going to TM classes. “To say there is really only one
way to get the relaxation response is silly,” says Benson, whose book
The Relaxation Response has just been published (Morrow; $5.95).
Simply stated, Benson recommends that the meditator sit down and, with
eyes closed, relax his muscles, beginning with his feet and working up
to his face. He then breathes only through his nose, and as he
breathes out, he says the word one silently to himself. With every
breath out he silently repeats “one,” continuing for ten to 20
minutes.
“Anyone who claims exclusivity is immediately suspect,” says
Psychiatrist Stanley Dean, summing up the chief scientific complaint
against TM. “The TM people’s claim that theirs is the best of all
possible worlds is nonsense. It is a sales gimmick. Meditation has
been a way of achieving mental serenity through the ages, and they
have no patent on it. TM is an important addition to our medical
armamentarium, but it is not exclusive.”
Other psychiatrists, always wary of anyone seeming to poach on their
preserve, say that the TM organization does not screen prospective
meditators and that the technique—especially a sequence of extra
meditations called “rounding”—might well cause unstable persons to go
over the edge.
Paradoxically, TM is also criticized for being too practical and not
meditative enough. Most Hindu gurus, for instance, teach one or
another form of yoga, which combines practical exercises with
meditation to achieve union with Brahma—the ultimate reality or
Absolute. Yoga itself is the Sanskrit word for a yoking, or union. The
various branches of Buddhist meditation—Zen and Tibetan, for example—
usually require great discipline and concentration to try similarly to
gain nirvana, that ineffable state of liberation and union with
ultimate reality in which suffering is eliminated and compassion and
wisdom are attained. “Transcendental Meditation does not reach the
stage of giving you awareness of your real self,” complains Dr. Kumar
Pal, secretary of the Yoga Institute of Psychology and Physical
Therapy in New Delhi. “It is merely a technique, a very limited
technique, and it is not yogic because it lacks the prerequisites of
yogic meditation. A moral life is the sine qua non of yoga practice.
The students and admirers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi have no need to
give up sex, liquor and other immoral habits. They are reveling in
immoral habits at the cost of basic moral values.” TM, adds A.K.
Krishna Nambiar, publisher and editor of Spiritual India, “can make
you a better executive, but it cannot give you the spiritual ecstasy
that other, more spiritual meditation techniques do. It can never lead
the meditator to turya, the fourth and eventual stage of spiritual
ecstasy which is the final aim of meditation and which makes the
meditator one with and part of the universe.”
On the other hand, some Jews and Christians, like the placard-carrying
fundamentalists in Los Angles last week, say that TM, despite its
claims to being purely secular, is really Hinduism in disguise. Their
argument has at least some merit, and though the ordinary meditator
sees traces of religion only in the initiation ceremony, the rites for
TM teachers are permeated with Hindu words and symbols.
The invocation, for example, reads in part: “To Lord Narayana, to
lotus-born Brahma, the Creator, to Vashishta, to Shakti, and to his
son, Parashar, to Vyasa, to Shukadava . . . I bow down . . . At whose
door the whole galaxy of gods pray for perfection day and night,
adorned with immeasurable glory, preceptor of the whole world, having
bowed down to him, we gain fulfillment.”
Whatever it has borrowed from Hinduism, TM does owe something to
religious tradition, and all major religions—Christianity, Judaism and
Islam, as well as the Eastern faiths—at one time or another have
included both meditation and the repetition of a mantra-like word.
“Clasp this word tightly in your heart so that it never leaves no
matter what may happen,” advised a 14th century Christian treatise,
The Cloud of Unknowing. “This word shall be your shield and your
spear.”
Perhaps the most significant fact about the TM craze is that, in the
words of Krister Stendahl, dean of the Harvard Divinity School, it
suggests a “genuine hunger for mystical and religious experiences.” It
is the most visible manifestation of the industrialized nations
looking for relief from the pressures of modern life in Eastern
spiritual or quasi-spiritual movements. The ideal of combining Western
technological society with Eastern spiritual serenity has long
appealed to many American and European victims of what they regard as
the tensions of the 20th century. Japan is sometimes cited as having
achieved that ideal, with tycoons coming home from the shipyard or
computer plant and slipping into their kimonos and into the serenity
of the past. This is possible in Japan because it has preserved the
framework of old traditions and values. Without those, TM or any
similar movement in the West can be at best palliative.
Judged on its own terms and used as a technique and not as a religious
panacea, TM works—at least for many. It will not necessarily make
people better, but it may very well make them feel better or, if
nothing else, think that they feel better.
And that is about as much as they can expect from 40 minutes a day.
* TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Overcoming Stress, by Harold
Bloomfield, Michael Peter Cain and Dennis T. Jaffe (Delacorte; $8.95),
and The TM Book, by Denise Denniston and Peter McWilliams (Price/Stern/
Sloan; $3 95). both in third place this week. Another book that deals
in part with TM, Adam Smith’s Powers of Mind (Random House; $10), is
due later this month.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947229,00.html
Mystics: Soothsayer for Everyman
Friday, Oct. 20, 1967
What do Shirley MacLaine, the Beatles, Mia Farrow and the Rolling
Stones have in common? The answer, as any tabloid reader knows by now,
is a starry-eyed devotion to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a bearded Indian
guru who preaches a method of “transcendental meditation” that might
be summed up as how to succeed spiritually without really trying.
India, of course, has countless yogis, swamis, mystics and meditators
who variously expound Hinduism’s belief that ultimate reality can be
known not through reason, but only through the soul’s intuition of
itself. Though some of these holy men have managed to get a hearing
outside their own country, none has done so well in modern times as
the Maharishi (Great Sage), who had a considerable following even
before he met and conquered the Beatles last August while on a lecture
tour of England.
Peace Without Penance. Son of a government revenue inspector, the
Maharishi discovered his concept of transcendental meditation during
two years of seclusion in the Himalayan mountain village of Utar
Kashi. The Great Sage’s explanation of his message is a trifle opaque:
“When the conscious mind expands to embrace deeper levels of thinking,
the thought wave becomes more powerful and results in added energy and
intelligence.” In a word, some skeptics have suggested, “Think.” All
that is required to achieve this state of “pure being,” says the guru,
is a little reflective thought, preferably half an hour at a time for
beginners.
The Maharishi has been sharply criticized by other Indian sages, who
complain that his program for spiritual peace without either penance
or asceticism contravenes every traditional Hindu belief. His critics
are also upset by the Maharishi’s claim that the Bhagavad Gita,
Hinduism’s epic religious poem, has been wrongly interpreted by most
previous commentators. The Maharishi contends that its real lesson is
that “any man, without having to renounce his way of life, can enjoy
the blessings of all these paths” by simply following his own
meditative technique.
Perhaps because of its comfortable teachings, the Maharishi’s
“Spiritual Regeneration Movement” has spread quickly outside India.
Transcendental meditation is now practiced by an estimated 100,000
followers in 35 countries from Denmark to New Zealand. Headquarters of
the spiritual empire is the Maharishi’s academy on a shaded, 15-acre
site overlooking the sacred Ganges River at Rishikesh, 130 miles north
of New Delhi. When the guru, a bachelor, is not proselytizing about
the globe, he resides at Rishikesh in a simple, red brick bungalow,
where he often meditates for 20 or 30 days at a stretch. His bedroom
is air-conditioned.
Calm & Insight. Last week the academy was being spruced up in
preparation for the arrival of the Beatles. The Liverpool boys are
particularly enthusiastic about the convenience of the Maharishi’s
method, since they can be regenerated without interrupting their
schedule. “You can close your eyes in the middle of Piccadilly and
meditate,” exults George Harrison. The Beatles, who now meditate at
least once a day, are convinced that the guru’s guidance has endowed
them with greater calm and insight.
The Maharishi evidently believes that his teachings are of special
spiritual benefit to affluent, tension-ridden Westerners. In Aalborg,
Denmark, last week, he defended his movement in couch-oriented terms.
“Modern psychology has pointed to the need of educating people to use
a much larger portion of the mind,” said he. “Transcendental
meditation fulfills this need. And,” he added sagely, “it can be
taught very easily.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902143,00.html
INDIA: The Five Ms
Monday, May. 02, 1955
Among India’s many primitive sects, one of the strangest is the
orgiastic Shakta. The five elements of Shakta worship are madya
(liquor), mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (grain), and maithuna
(sexual intercourse), and it has long been their custom to worship the
Hindu goddess Shakti by seeking unity of body and soul in communal sex
rites. Such is kanchalia dharam, the ceremony of the blouse.
In kanchalia dharam, the women place their upper garments in a large
earthenware jar and, after all have feasted and drunk, each man draws
out a garment and goes off with its owner, regardless of her marital
ties.
The Old Way. Nehru’s modern India would like to change Shakta customs.
The government has sent community development officers into the
villages to instruct the Shaktas in modern farming and hygiene and to
teach them to read and write. The government men noted that the
ancient stone pillars embedded in stone rings —phallic symbols
worshiped by the Shaktas—were gathering moss in some villages, and the
officials concluded confidently that the old practices were on the way
out.
One day last week a 28-year-old Shakta named Odia Patel, clad only in
a loincloth, walked into a magistrate’s office in Bali, a district of
Rajasthan in Northwest-Central India. In his hand he held a severed
human nose and a bloodstained knife. Said he: “This is my wife’s nose.
I cut it off because she was unfaithful to me. And this is the knife I
used.”
The Wedding Costume. Inquiry revealed that Odia’s wife was a young
woman named Naji, who came from another village and was not herself a
Shakta. One night Odia told her to put on her wedding costume, a black
kanchalia and a billowing scarlet skirt, scarlet headshawl, heavy
silver bangles, toe rings and silver nose ring. Odia then placed on
her forehead a silver lingam, a highly stylized phallic symbol hung
from a silver chain, and led her to a place where, at the behest of a
guru (priest), 84 Shaktas and their wives had assembled in a secluded
place for the ceremony of kanchalia dharam.
Under the intoning guru’s direction, the Shakta women and Naji took
off their blouses and put them in a large earthenware jar, and the
group drank liquor and feasted on goat flesh. But when Naji discovered
the meaning of the ceremony, she refused to participate further. “You
must take part in our sacrament,” said the guru. Husband Odia also
insisted. When her blouse was drawn from the jar, Naji ran off into
the darkness.
Shamed by her performance, Odia followed her. “After I cut off her
nose,” he told the police, “she begged forgiveness and asked me not to
report the matter to the police, but I refused to listen.” When the
police reached Odia’s hut, they found that Naji had hanged herself.
She had been faithful, after her own fashion.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866274,00.html
Unholy Mess: The Bhagwan faces a federal rap
Monday, Nov. 11, 1985
For a holy man, it was a world of trouble. There, in a third-floor
medical cell of the Mecklenburg County jail in Charlotte, N.C., sat
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh last week, facing 35 counts of conspiring to
violate immigration laws. Back home in Rajneeshpuram, Ore., where he
ran a 1,300-member commune that espouses free love and the good life,
the Bhagwan (Revered One) was accustomed to more deferential
treatment, not to mention a more elegant life- style that offered,
among other amenities, no fewer than 90 Rolls-Royces.
Apparently tipped off that immigration charges against him had been
secretly handed up by a federal grand jury in Portland, the Bhagwan
departed forthwith from Rajneeshpuram. The guru and six disciples
chartered two Learjets and took off so quickly that their pilots had
to obtain final clearances while aloft. As the Bhagwan’s retinue tried
to arrange a flight to Bermuda, Federal Aviation Administration
controllers tracked the planes. When Rajneesh’s touched down at 2 a.m.
at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, authorities arrested him.
In reported frail health from diabetes, assorted allergies and back
ailments, the Bhagwan was incarcerated in the prison infirmary.
Rajneesh’s need for back surgery was the purported reason for his
coming to the U.S. from Poona, India, in June 1981. The surgery was
never performed, and Immigration and Naturalization Service officials
have charged him with lying about it. The Government also charged the
guru and seven of his aides with arranging sham marriages so that
foreign disciples could move to the U.S. as spouses.
Although the sect leader was accused of immigration-law violations,
INS Agent Joseph Green testified in Charlotte that the guru’s
followers were plotting to kill the U.S. Attorney in Portland and the
Oregon attorney general if the Bhagwan was imprisoned. A week earlier,
an Oregon grand jury filed attempted murder charges against Ma Anand
Sheela, 35, the Bhagwan’s former secretary. She had fled the commune
in September, prompting accusations from Rajneesh that she had
conspired to murder his physician. Sheela was arrested last week in
West Germany. In addition to the attempted murder indictment, she too
has been charged with violating U.S. immigration laws. If she can be
extradited to the U.S., she may rejoin her guru, not in the commune
she helped establish, but in a courtroom.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960361,00.html
Books: Transcendence, Incorporated
By HP-Time.com;R.Z. Sheppard Monday, Dec. 24, 1979
KARMA COLA by Gita Mehta
Simon & Schuster; 201 pages; $9.95
The ’60s introduced the medium as the message, and the ’70s perfected
the package as the product. Both points converge in Karma Cola:
Marketing the Mystic East, where, from millenniums before Marshall
McLuhan and Ernest Dichter, the pitch has been that the substance is
the illusion. And vice versa: not long ago, an Indian airline promoted
a package tour with the slogan NIRVANA FOR $100 A DAY.
Gita Mehta’s witty documentary satire illustrates that the cost can be
considerably higher. This is especially true for the thousands of
Europeans and Americans who have flocked to the Indian subcontinent in
search of enlightenment, cheap dope and, like the Californian who
turned her sadhana into a course on “inner environments,” opportunity.
As reckoned by the Hindus and Gore Vidal, this dark, chaotic age of
Kali seethes with confusions, corruption and misapprehension. Karma,
for example, a rather severe concept of determinism, has been turned
into a metaphysical jelly bean by hippies, shopping-center swamis and
jet-lagged gurus. “Karma,” writes Mehta, “is now felt as a sort of
vibration and Krishna is a doe-eyed pinup.”
Mehta, 36, is an Indian-born, Cambridge-educated former teacher of
Greek tragedy. She has clarifying things to say about those who think
that life is a bed of roses and those who believe it is a bed of
nails: “For us [Hindus], eternal life is death—not in the bosom of
Jesus—but just death, no more being born again to endure life again to
die again. Yet people come in ever-increasing numbers to India to be
born again with the conviction that in their rebirth they will relearn
to live. At the heart of all our celebrations, which are still lively
and colorful, is the realization that we are at a wake. But the
tourists we draw because of that color and that liveliness appear to
think that they are at a christening.”
The East not only accommodates Western delusions but also compliments
them with imitation. There are the lyrics of a popular Indian song
inspired by a movie that found God in a hash pipe: “Take a drag. Take
a drag. I’m wiped out./ Say it in the morning. Say it in the evening./
Hare Krishna Hare Rama Hare Krishna Hare Rama.” There are also Western
notions on better transcendence through chemistry. Mehta notes that
young foreigners frequently sell their passports to buy drugs; the
documents are reported stolen and easily replaced at local embassies.
She also reports that villagers who refused to take smallpox
vaccinations 15 years ago are now “dropping uppers and downers with
the best of them,” and “Benares looks set on replacing Bangkok as
Needle City, Asia.”
Opium as the opiate of the people is not a new story; blending
religion, drugs and pop culture in an ancient culture is. When Allen
Ginsberg made his pilgrimage to India in 1962, his influence was
limited to the handful of people who read his poetry. When the Beatles
headed east in 1966-68, they affected tens of millions with their
celebrity and music. They also laid the foundations of the
international guru business. Mehta has an impish eye for the spirit
trade; a multinational convocation of celibates meets in Delhi under
the motto ROYALTY is PURITY PLUS PERSONALITY; downtown, hundreds of
Children of God are demonstrating for the principle of making love for
Jesus. A California touch therapist attends a session in an ashram
only to discover that his Indian counterparts use 2-ft.-long clubs.
The visitor emerges with a broken arm. At a Delhi football stadium the
followers of one guru await the miraculous proof of God from their
master. His evidence: “God exists because if you look in the Oxford
English Dictionary under the letter G, you will eventually find the
word God.” The prize for Hindu chutzpah, however, goes to the master
who asked an ambassador’s wife about the pain in her leg. “It has
never given any pain,” replied the woman. The unflustered guru’s
response: “Leg will be better now.”
Not all Mehta’s observations are that amusing. A French couple arrive
at their consulate with their dead baby. They demand and get money for
the infant’s funeral but then leave the body at a crematorium with a
note that reads, “A Present for the French Consul.” Hippies lie stoned
and malnourished on the beaches of Goa: a young European woman sits
for days in a stupor with her fatherless child hanging onto a withered
breast; a cult of ritual murderers, known as the Anand Marg, stalks
the streets for victims; an American would-be rabbi buys a six-year-
old waif from her father and is shocked when she attempts to
demonstrate her gratitude with sexual favors.
In only 201 pages, Mehta embraces an enormous variety of life and
death. Her style is light without being flip; her skepticism never
descends to cynicism. Given her subject this is a miracle of rational
ism and taste.
−R.Z. Sheppard
Excerpt
“At one morning session at the World Conference on the Future of
Mankind, the English-speaking delegates in Committee Room B were
discussing ‘Science and Spiritual Wisdom.’ After the third speaker, a
meteorologist, had delivered his speech, an earnest American student
stood up and asked,
‘Sir? Isn’t science leading us deeper and deeper into the possibility
of total self-annihilation?’ The meteorologist hunched closer to the
microphone . . .
‘Let us say there is a nuclear holocaust. What will it do? I shall
tell you what it will do. It will cleanse the world!
‘Don’t you understand? We are going toward a postnuclear, post-
Armageddon Golden Age!’
The American student nodded sagely and sat down, grasping the moral
significance of nuclear war for the first time.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947140,00.html
Finding God on YouTube
Faith leaders of all flavors have discovered the video pulpit
Watch Video:
Dattatreya Siva Baba was first introduced to mainstream America years
ago when self-help writer Wayne Dyer dedicated a book to the Indian-
born guru. But Baba has since discovered a cultural mover even more
powerful than Dyer. Baba reports that some 3 million people have
viewed his clips since he began putting short versions of his
teachings up on YouTube 15 months ago. Whether expounding on the laws
of cause and effect, or the god Ganesha’s birthday, the snowy-bearded
Baba sits in the same leopard-skin print chair; only his headgear
changes color. The clips usually pull in 6,000 viewers the day he
posts them. But “Guided Grace Light Meditation,” which was posted in
July when he announced that astronomical phenomena indicated that the
world is due for a golden age, has been viewed on YouTube more than
300,000 times. “I think 300,000 people having that meditation every
day has a great impact on world consciousness,” he says, adding, “I
have always wanted to reach the world inclusively so that people don’t
have to pay to listen to me and I don’t have to pay a lot of money.”
Amen.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1847259_1847281_1847277,00.html
Religion: Junior Guru
Monday, Nov. 27, 1972
He is called Balyogeshwar Param Hans Satgurudev Shri Sant Ji Maharaj—
hardly a name likely to become a household word. A little over a year
ago only a handful of people outside India knew who he was. But last
fortnight, when Guru Maharaj Ji (as he is short-titled) flew from the
U.S. to New Delhi to celebrate a three-day festival in honor of his
late guru father, he was accompanied by seven jumbo jets filled with
new followers from the West. They were only a fraction of the number
he had left behind.
No venerable ascetic in flowing white beard and robes, the latest star
from the East to hit the guru circuit is a plump, cherubic 14-year-
old, lightly mustachioed with peach fuzz, his neatly trimmed black
hair slicked back. He dines on vegetables—liberally supplemented by
mounds of Baskin-Robbins ice cream. He does not practice yoga or
formal meditation (having surpassed, he says, the need for it), but he
has a passion for squirt guns and triple Creature Features horror
movies.
The Maharaj Ji’s mother and three older brothers literally worship
him, kissing his “lotus feet” whenever they are in his presence. To
them as to his other followers, he is the “Perfect Master” and “Lord
of the Universe.” By their testimony, the Maharaj Ji began, while
still a toddler, to deliver inspired satsangs (sermons)—and to amaze
the devotees of his father (then the Perfect Master) by awakening them
in the morning with the exhortation, “Get up, get up. Do meditation!
If you don’t, I will beat you with a stick!”
Silver Steed. When his father died, the Maharaj Ji was eight. “I
didn’t want to be the guru,” he says. “I would have been satisfied to
be a mischievous little boy. But a voice came to me saying, ‘You are
he; you are to continue.’ ” At the funeral, therefore, he confronted
his father’s mourning flock: “Why are you weeping? The Perfect Master
never dies. Maharaj Ji is here, amongst you.”
Four years later, in 1970, Guru Maharaj Ji inaugurated his
international mission with a triumphal ride through Delhi in a golden
chariot, trailed by miles of elephants, camels and devotees. In 1971
the master’s American premies (loved ones) heralded his advent in the
U.S. with a press release stating: “He is coming in the clouds with
great power and glory, and his silver steed will drift down at 4 p.m.
at Los Angeles international airport, TWA Flight 761.” That was enough
to attract a coterie of guru buffs and various other seekers. In
little over a year their number has swelled to some 30,000 youthful
followers who man “Divine Light” centers in 45 states.
The teen-age master suggests a stringent life-style for his devotees,
devoid of drugs, sex, tobacco and alcohol. In exchange he offers the
gift of knowledge designed to open the initiate’s “third eye” of inner
awareness and thus bring him perpetual peace. Knowledge sessions
sometimes last twelve hours or more and are conducted by 2,000
delegated mahatmas throughout the world. “If you can become perfect,”
the Maharaj Ji told his disciples in Delhi’s Ram Lila Grounds last
week, “you can see God. That’s the way I did it.”
A Great Kid. The premies adore their chubby guru, despite his
frustrating habit of showing up hours late for rallies or sometimes
not at all. “People who stick to their schedules become like a rock,”
he explains. As a mark of their devotion, his premies wear their hair
short and shave their beards. Makeshift barber chairs were set up in
Air India’s lounge at Kennedy Airport in New York to shear some
lingering longhairs before the Divine Light pilgrims took off for the
Delhi festival. The grateful faithful have also laden their lord with
gifts, including a Rolls-Royce, a Mercedes and two private planes.
When he and his devotees landed in New Delhi, customs officials
thought they had caught the Perfect Master with an embarrassment of
riches—a suitcase containing diamonds and other jewels plus $65,000
worth of undeclared foreign currency. The guru’s retainers claimed
that the money amounted to only $12,000 and represented excess funds
from their Divine Bank for travel expenses. The jewels, they said,
were the “gifts of devotees from many nations” to the Lord of the
Universe. Indian officials were unconvinced, and launched an
investigation.
The amiable young master remained unperturbed at the airport as he
smilingly greeted his followers from a marigold-decorated throne set
up on the back of a Jeep. “The amazing thing about him,” said his
private secretary, Gary Girard of Los Angeles, “is that he can
meditate 24 hours a day no matter what is happening.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944540,00.html
INDIA-PAKISTAN: The Trial of Kali
Monday, Oct. 27, 1947
On a bed of stretched thongs in an open courtyard in Lahore, half
naked, her head “wrung steeply back, her legs rigid in a convulsion as
of birth, a woman lay dead.
Under the law of the English, whose writ ran for a third of mankind,
it was fixed that whenever a person, however humble, died of violence
or even unexpectedly, public inquiry was made into the causes of his
death. If guilt seemed to fall upon another, a trial was held and
punishment sought lest murder, undetected or held lightly, spread.
In India and Pakistan since mid-August at least 100,000 have died, not
of germs or hunger or what the law calls “acts of God,” but of brutal
slaughter. Scarcely one died in fair combat or with the consolations
of military morale.
No human tribunal ever conceived could try that case, with its clouds
of witnesses, the surging contagion of its guilt. Yet the mind,
squinting at the horror now that the tide of blood had washed back,
naturally cast the evidence in the familiar and dreadful form of The
Trial. The world, with one war still red under its nails and another
beating in its belly, knew, more or less subconsciously, that it would
have to build a prisoner’s dock bigger than the subcontinent of India,
that the crime was not contained by geography, and that the less the
crime was understood the more it would infect the whole of humanity.
Before the Fact. The accused had many aliases; Satan and Evil were
two. In India, however, the accused was feared and terribly
propitiated by millions as Kali, goddess of death and catastrophe,
wife-conqueror of the eternal Siva, the dancer. Not in Kali’s name
were the 100,000 killed. The Moslems despised her as a wretched idol.
The Sikhs* ignored her. Even most Hindus no longer participated in the
rites of Kali’s priests, who dismembered goats (in lieu of human
victims), spraying the blood upon worshipers crowded in fields of
which Kali was mother, fructifier and scourge. Nevertheless Kali, the
Black One, could stand as symbol (or perhaps as scapegoat) for the
horror that had walked hand in hand with bright liberty into India.
Kali has been in India at least 50 centuries, long before Hinduism,
which gradually assimilated her. A few years after the Prophet Mohamed
sent Islam forth to conquer the world, Moslems appeared in India.
After the 11th Century they were masters, sometimes in fact but more
often in name, of the subcontinent. Some Moslems in India today
descend from the conquerors; more are the children of Islam’s vigorous
proselytizing, and none the less fanatical for that.
Six centuries of Hindu political inferiority began to be reversed when
the great Sivaji in the mid-17th Century led his Marathas against the
Moslems. Thus, by the time the British reached India, both Hindu and
Moslem were deeply immersed in hate, deeply conscious of dispossession
before the British dispossessed both. Through all the changes, Kali,
both as mother and as evil, persevered, so that when freedom came
there were more Indians than ever to hate each other more intensively
than ever.
Corpus Delicti. If there had indeed been a Prosecutor to try the
enormous case of this murdered woman and the 100,000 other Indians, he
might have opened with a point of wide application.
An ancient Hindu holy book, the Vishnu Purana, he could recall, says
that the life of man will run in four cycles. The last is to be the
Age of Kali. It closes in, says the book, when “society reaches a
stage where property confers rank, wealth, becomes the only source of
virtue, passion, the sole bond of union between husband and wife,
falsehood the source of success in life, sex the only means of
enjoyment, and when outer trappings are confused with inner religion.”
Then the Prosecutor could turn to India: “Everywhere the armed and the
many devoured the helpless and the few. In Calcutta, in Lahore, in
Amritsar, in Old Delhi and New Delhi and throughout the magnificent
plain of the dismembered Punjab, in homes and shops and factories and
farms and villages and in the religious sanctuaries of all faiths,
amid the clotting of the terrified in depots and on guarded trains and
on lonely station platforms and in the vast shelterless encampments of
refugees and their hypnotized columns across the land, the devastation
raged alike among Hindus and Moslems and Sikhs.
“In the first six weeks of Independence, about half as many Indians
were killed as Americans died during nearly four years of the second
World War. There is still no possible numbering of the wounded and the
mutilated who survived, or of those who must yet die for lack of the
simplest medical facilities, or of so much as a roof over their heads.
It is unbearable, and unwise as well, to cherish memory of the bestial
atrocities which have been perpetrated by Moslem and Sikh and Hindu
alike. It is beyond human competence to conceive, far less to endure
the thought of, the massiveness of the mania of rage, the munificence
of the anguish, the fecundity of hate breeding hate, perhaps for
generations to come.”
The Eyewitness. On this point, the witness Niranjan Singh, a Sikh,
testified. Singh, a few weeks ago a prosperous merchant in the
Montgomery district of the Punjab, now moves about New Delhi on
crutches. He said:
“I shall never rest until revenge is taken upon the Moslems for all
the wicked atrocities they have perpetrated upon innocent people.
Moslems killed my old father, abducted my young daughter, slew my son
and maimed my foot. No mercy whatsoever should be shown to them. I’ve
always treated my Moslem laborers with kindness but the dirty swine
have repaid me with brutality.
“I smelled trouble in my village when Moslems began gathering at the
mosque every day for long conferences. One morning Moslems from all
neighboring areas gathered around our village and attacked it. But
although we were outnumbered, we held them for eight hours. We had
only our kirpans [swords] and a few old rifles. They had modern
weapons. When finally they broke through, there was not one among us
who had not sustained some injury or other. The brutes killed my 90-
year-old father and when my young son rushed to his defense, they
speared him to death. I had been injured on my forehead and gushing
blood had made me partly blind. A young, cowardly Moslem attacked me
from behind with a hatchet, injuring my foot. Before I fell and
fainted, I saw some Moslems carrying away my 16-year-old daughter, who
put up stiff resistance.
“I was left among the dead for two days, dying of thirst, when at last
a Hindu battalion of the Indian Army visited our village and rescued
me. I insist revenge be taken on these traitors and brutes. We ought
to declare war on Pakistan.”
The Madness. The Prosecutor said:
“The stone of murder spread like a huge wave. This outrage in
retaliation for that one and that in retaliation for still another,
and a new one in retaliation for the latest before it, and still a
newer in retaliation for that, another set aflame by the stories of
refugees and another still by pure rumor, and another in retaliation
for that and still another by rumor. The genius of India has ever been
for myth, not rationality: and no man’s reason may be expected to
remain intact under the intricate chemistries of horror, heartbreak,
revenge, the vertiginous contagion of mobs, a thousand years’
collective, unconscious fertilization in allegiance to one faith and
culture.
“Mere rumor, which runs at its wildest under such circumstances, is
enough to dethrone reason; great terror, in a brave man or a cringer,
can turn loose adrenal energies which must exhaust themselves in
outrage and spoliation. It would be untrue to describe as a form of
religious madness, even in religious India, a madness which operates
also with equal fury among godless men. But where deep religiousness
is present it is inevitably used, inevitably adds its own peculiar
intensity.”
The Bereaved. India’s Premier Jawaharlal Nehru testified: “India has
disgraced herself in the eyes of the world.”
The Prosecutor commented:
“The thousand million of Asia, lifting up their hands for freedom, had
looked to India for leadership. Now, East and West, hope is undermined
and confidence destroyed. India’s killings, not instigated by any
alien force, are more morally burdensome upon Asia’s cause than is
China’s war.”
Mahatma Gandhi’s confidante, ex-secretary and the present Indian
Health Minister, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, testified: “Gandhiji is very
sad today. He has told me repeatedly that he is experiencing the pain
and anguish of a thousand daggers pierced in his body.”
During the killing, Gandhi had warned that there was danger of open
war between India and Pakistan.
But the Prosecutor said:
“The world thought war was the ultimate horror, and civil war the
worst of wars. It is not. India is what Macaulay called it, a
‘decomposed society.’ Even the British could not establish law; they
merely kept order. A decomposed society cannot make war, which
requires law, authority, organization. India and Pakistan may progress
to the point where they can make war or even to the point where, being
able to make war, they will decide to live in amity. But in the six
weeks of the killing India and Pakistan were beneath war.”
The Killers. The Court (which is composed of all men who want, for
their own self-preservation, to understand violence) needed
clarification of this point. One way of putting the court’s question
was this:
“It has long been held that mass killing is the work of states, not of
peoples. War, some say, is caused by professional militarism, the
existence of large arsenals and the itch of governments to exercise
their most spectacular function. Similarly, the killing of 6,000,000
Jews in Europe was the work of a state, mad with its organized power.
Are you suggesting that the Indian killing sprang out of the people
themselves, out of the evil which you call Kali?”
The Prosecutor’s answer: “Although leaders of the two states are, in
different degrees, responsible for agitating or at least for
misunderstanding the communal hatred, the appalling fact is that most
of the killing was unorganized and spontaneous. In this case, a rare
and significant one, the state power was not guilty. As for armaments,
the massacres in India and Pakistan were as far removed as possible
from modern war or from the gas chambers of Maidanek. The murderers
with whom we are dealing used knives, chisels, ropes, hockey sticks,
screwdrivers, bricks and slender fingers.”
The Half Innocent. At least half innocent of the killing are the
leaders who had demanded liberty or death for India and got, by Kali’s
black grace, both.
“When tragedy runs amok blame is universal, inextricable and
irrelevant. That the horror was deeper than the ideals or ambitions of
the leaders was ironically demonstrated when they tried to stop it.
Mohamed Ali Jinnah urged restraint, but the killing did not cease.
Gandhi fasted in Calcutta with ultimate local effect, but elsewhere
the killing did not cease. When he visited their sanctuary, 30,000
groaning Moslems virtually adored him, but the killing did not cease.
Nehru personally rescued two Moslem girls from a gang of Sikhs, but
the killing did not cease. A conference between Nehru and Pakistan’s
Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan ended in complete accord and the Joint
Defense Council ordered troops to fire on all rioters and looters, but
the killing did not cease. The newly communalized police force proved
ineffectual and sometimes took part in the riots, and the killing did
not cease. The newly communalized armies, now that the British troops
were inactivated, were like bodies from which the bones had been
drawn.
“At length, by no outward control or rational cause, but only because
destruction itself sickens, the violence quieted, for the time being,
at least.”
Mohamed Ali Jinnah, Governor General of Pakistan, did not testify.
Seeing few, taking advice from none, he sulked in Karachi, the raddled
capital of his already half-ruined country. Of him, the Prosecutor
said:
“Jinnah is far too easy a villain: conceivably an obsessed child of
Mohamed conceivably a man seized in his declining years by that most
dangerous form of satyriasis which longs for naked power alone, Jinnah
has beyond question done more than any other man in India to
exacerbate the sores of communalism and to tease and torment their
rawness; and this purely to secure his nation, and a torn body for
India.
“Even so, he is much too shallowly accountable, and there are
extenuating circumstances. He is only a portion of Islam, and today
all Islam stirs. In India, moreover, his people are a minority,
largely an impoverished minority, and could by no means fully trust in
the majority’s will; Congress Party leaders consistently ignored his
Moslem League in favor of Moslems he regarded as Congress puppets;
Nehru himself, Gandhi himself, must be held as sorely responsible for
underestimating the force that Jinnah tapped, just as Western leaders
for so long underestimated the evil wellspring that Hitler opened up.”
The Orphans. A witness who had seen the Punjab border between Pakistan
and India testified:
“At Wagah, a little town on the grand trunk highway between Amritsar
and Lahore on the Pakistan side of the border, armed Baluchi troops,
all certified Moslems from the frontier territory of Baluchistan,
called a loud halt to travelers trying to go through the border. A
mile down the road, at Atari, armed Dogras, who are a Punjabi Hindu
tribe, searched and checked all Pakistan-bound vehicles. The mile
between the two posts was no man’s land. On the Pakistan side, just
behind an improvised guardhouse, a bulldozer was digging graves for
Moslem bodies which arrived from the India side of the frontier.”
Another witness had been to the map room in New Delhi where the riots
had been spotted in the neatest Pentagon tradition, and where now,
still more incongruously, the tidy pins show columns of humanity
passing in opposite directions to escape their tormentors. Each column
has its thousands of unspeakable histories, yet on the map each exodus
is a mere number.
The Prosecutor summed up the evidence behind the maps:
“Men, women and children and bullocks and groaning carts were plodding
eastward and westward beneath the autumn skies and nights of the
cloven Punjab; past unharvested fields, past empty villages and
eviscerated villages and villages which resemble rained-out brush
fires. Huge, forlorn concentrations of Sikhs and Hindus labored
forward to leave the West Punjab forever. On one day last week,
columns No. 8 and 9 moved across the famous Balloki headworks between
Amritsar and Lahore and passed into the Indian Dominion; not far
behind, foot columns No. 10, 11 and 12 lumbered steadfastly eastward.
Carefully feeling its way around Amritsar, a foot convoy of perhaps
100,000 Moslems made towards Lahore and Jinnah’s Promised Land, at a
rate of ten miles a day.
“One madly ironic note was furnished by a group of Jainist monks who
alighted from an airplane at New Delhi, their mouths and nostrils
scrupulously masked. Fleeing for their own lives, they had not
neglected a strange precaution of their sect. The Jains believe that
the air is a living thing and that they protect the air from injury by
filtering it through the masks as they breathe.
“At one village, on foot, a wretched gaggle of perhaps 100 refugees
arrived. One of them, a woman, was stripped of everything save a
clutched newspaper. Her companions were so stupefied by woe that it
had occurred to none of them to share their clothing with her.
“From Dasuya in Hoshiarpur district came a mass of 114,000 Moslems,
which branched into lesser columns and slowly diminished in the
direction of Bahawalpur State.
“The refugee movement each way is now at a rate of about 150,000 each
week; last week it was speeded up, for both Governments hope to finish
it off by mid-November. From the East Punjab into Pakistan, 2,550,000
Moslems have crossed, leaving 2,400,000 still to be evacuated;
2,275,000 Sikhs and Hindus have crossed from the West Punjab and the
North-West Frontier Province into their Dominion, leaving 1,800,000,
chiefly in isolated pockets, still to come. It is one of the great
exchanges of population in recorded history.”
The Despoiled. An American witness testified:
“It is almost impossible to have a watch repaired in New Delhi now;
the watch craftsmen were Moslems. So were the tailors and the barbers,
the butchers, and the cooks, the waiters and bearers, the rug dealers,
and the drivers of tongas and taxicabs.
“In Lyallpur, Moslem shopkeepers refuse to sell durable goods, because
the increasing scarcity is sure to force the price up; moreover, even
if the shopkeeper did sell, he would have no place to bank the money
(for Hindus and Sikhs were the bankers) and no wholesaler from whom to
buy more goods (for Hindus and Sikhs were the wholesalers). In Lahore,
on the other hand, there is a corrupt buyers’ paradise in looted
goods. A refrigerator goes for 100 rupees ($30), a radio for 30.
Parker “51″ fountain pens, which used to sell for 60 rupees, now go
for 5. “There is no economic exchange between Pakistan and India.
India may survive this schism; Pakistan cannot. Almost its whole
middle class, which was Hindu, has fled. The literacy rate, never
higher than 9%, is now less than half that. Pakistan’s Government is
not able to support more refugees. It is trying to shut off the flood.
Moslems who hear that Pakistan will not let them enter are embittered
and terrified.”
The Threatened. Another witness had talked to rich Hindus who last
week had begun fleeing into Calcutta from Eastern Pakistan. These
Hindus, he said, reported increased activity of the Moslem League
National Guard organizations. If terrorism breaks out in northeast
India, where 13,000,000 Hindus live, the carnage might be unimaginably
greater than in the Punjab.
And had the Punjab killing ended, or was it merely suspended? Two
weeks ago Master Tara Singh, leader of the Sikhs, estimated that the
killing would last three more months and that 500,000 Hindus and Sikhs
and as many Moslems would die of murder, epidemic and starvation. In
another statement, Tara Singh gave this grisly forecast an algebraic
twist. He pointed out that fleeing Sikhs (who are richer) had left six
million acres of land, while an equal number of fleeing Moslems had
left only two million acres. His proposal: drive enough Moslems from
their farms to balance the property exchange.
The Motive. At this point the Attorney for the Defense addressed the
court:
“Do not forget that for centuries Moslem and Hindu and Sikh lived side
by side, if not in harmony, at least in uneasy tolerance. It is true
that over the centuries, from time to time, they killed and rioted and
even fought great wars, but not more often or more fiercely than
peoples elsewhere. This in spite of India’s abysmal poverty which
turns men against one another, in spite of the enraging climate,
either osmotic dust or illimitable ooze.
“If this society, stable enough to breed 400 million men, is
decomposed, then forces outside the peoples of India, not within them,
must be to blame.”
The Prosecutor answered: “Hindu and Sikh and Moslem tolerated each
other, insofar as they did so, not through love or virtue but because
each community was aware that its rival did not possess the power to
coerce it into a hated way of living. Neither the Rajputs, nor the
Moguls, nor the British ever established in India a state whose police
reached out to the ordering of people’s daily lives. Now, with
independence, with the possibility of modern states, each community
saw behind the other the shadow of the policeman and the propagandist.
The Indian communities rushed into violence not to seize power, but
out of the fear of the power that was about to fall into the hands of
others. And this is a primal fear, deeper than rivalries between such
nations as have already known and submitted to police power wielded in
their own names.”
The Guilt of Innocence. The Defense Attorney tried again. He recalled
how the subcontinent had been brought to freedom by good men,
nonviolent men, men above superstition and narrow sectarian hatred.
How could such evil come from a victory won by moral force alone?
And how equally admirable, he said, was it that Britain, another great
and ancient nation, even grander and far more benign in her twilight
than Imperial Rome before her, had at length bowed before that moral
force in a moral beauty as unprecedented and still more graceful. The
Defense Attorney recalled the midnight ceremonies of India’s
manumission in New Delhi two months ago as extraordinarily touching,
the action itself as one of history’s rare moments of good will and
good hope.
The Prosecutor did not deny the point. But, said he:
“Gandhi and Nehru and their like, innocently intent upon their lofty
goal, ascribed communal strife to British machination, so blinding
themselves that, in all good faith, they assumed that once liberty was
achieved, communal violence would immediately cease, and brotherhood
and British guilt prove themselves thenceforth.
“Thus, not in spite of innocence but because of it, blood appeared;
and not the jubilant blood of birth alone, but blood more especially
pleasing to Kali, who is both mother and demolisher. India tore
herself in two in the womb as a condition to being born at all. Even
in the womb, the two unborn nations tore at each other, and from the
instant they were born they fell upon each other in maniacal fury.”
Thrones & Altars. The fury, now apparently spent, might be renewed to
pour in fresh evidence against Kali. Of the 562 princely states,
danger lay in three which stood apart from both India and Pakistan.
One was little Junagadh, whose dog-loving Moslem Nawab* has announced
for Pakistan against the wishes of most of his subjects, who are 80%
Hindu. One was Kashmir, most of whose people are Moslem, but opposed
to Jinnah’s Moslem League. The third was fabulous Hyderabad, whose
Nizam had a good chance of maintaining his state’s independence.
India’s Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel is applying pressure
on all three states; of the Government’s top ministers Patel is the
most outspokenly anti-Moslem, although he is more moderate than
extremist Hindu “Brownshirt” groups. Troops of both India and Pakistan
are actually near Junagadh’s borders.
Or renewal of the fury might come from, an utterly unpolitical cause.
This week, in tense Calcutta and elsewhere in Bengal, worshipers of
the goddess Durga will celebrate her festival with clay images and
ceremonial parades. Durga is the good side of the same ambivalent
goddess of which Kali is the evil face.* In this same week Moslems
will celebrate Id-el-Atha, their version of the story of Abraham and
Isaac. Usually they sacrifice cows, but this week many, lest the
Hindus be offended, plan again to sacrifice sheep.† Even so, the two
coincident festivals might touch off killing in Bengal, which, along
with Bihar and the United Provinces, is considered the next great
danger spot.
The Sky & the Sea. Whether the killing remained suspended or was
mercifully at an end or was to be tragically revived, India was not to
be singled out for condemnation or contempt. No nation had ever come
into the world without bloodshed. In every process of hope, ambition,
confused value, self-deceit, India is merely the world in small, and
one more terrible warning to the conscience of the world. India’s
gravest error, her deepest sin, is rampant in all the world and never
so madly so as in those portions of the world which call themselves
“modern”: the incapacity of those who desire to lead people, whether
for power or in the highest of good will, to know, love, fear,
respect, or even to imagine, what human beings are.
Said the Prosecutor, in closing: “Yet, in spite of Kali the Destroyer
and because of Kali the Mother, India has been and is a great and
ancient land, a wellspring and tabernacle of some of the most inspired
conceptions of the divine will in man which man has ever dreamed of;
and more lately a fount of brotherhood and, among the nations, a
preacher of peace. If India could descend to the depths, it could also
look up to moral Himalayas. Its recent sin was great, but not unique,
especially not unique in origin. It sprang from Kali, from the dark
and universal fear which rests in the slime on the blind sea-bottom of
biology.”
*A Hindu reformist sect founded by Guru Nanak, a contemporary of
Luther. *The Nawab Saheb of Junagadh once threw away 100,000 rupees on
the wedding of his prize Airedale bitch, which wore ribbons to the
ceremony; vows were read for her and her dog. *In 1802, after the
Peace of Amiens, a group of British residents of Calcutta presented
the temple of Kali with 5,000 rupees as a thank offering for victories
over Napoleon. A century later Kali became a symbol of anti-British
Indian nationalism, a place to which Mahatma Gandhi succeeded. That
this substitution was only temporary was indicated not only by the
killing but by Gandhi’s recent loss of popularity among Hindus.
Because he preached communal peace, Hindu extremists last week had
begun to call him “the Mudathma,” meaning “stupid one.” †Until about a
century ago, the sheep was customary. The cow was a vindictive,
communal-minded substitution.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,854810,00.html
Religious Unrest in India
By Simon Robinson/New Delhi Friday, May. 18, 2007
While India’s image makers may want the world to believe that business
is the country’s new religion, for many here there are older faiths —
and faith-driven feuds — that matter more. At least five people were
killed Friday in the southern city of Hyderabad, when a bomb exploded
in a mosque crowded with worshipers attending Friday prayers. Police
say they found and defused two other bombs close by. So far, no one
has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The timing of the bombing may be linked to the sentencing Friday of
100 people convicted of playing a role in a series of deadly blasts in
Mumbai (formerly Bombay), in 1993. Those attacks, which killed 257
people, were carried out by the Muslim-dominated Mumbai underworld to
avenge earlier religious riots that had left 2,000 people dead. But
the authors and motive of Friday’s mosque bombing could remain a
mystery. Months after last year’s bomb attacks that killed more than
35 people near a mosque in the western state of Maharashtra, there are
still no suspects beyond vague police suggestions.
Elsewhere, across the north of the country, rival Sikh groups clashed
for the fourth straight day after the leader of one sect dressed, for
a newspaper advertisement, in a fashion similar to the much adored
17th century Sikh figure Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru.
Enraged Sikhs from other sects attacked properties belonging to the
Dera Sacha Sauda, whose leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had committed
the perceived religious insult. The clashes have killed two people and
injured at least 30, and the national government has sent in troops to
stop further unrest. “The sect chief has committed a grave offense by
trying to imitate Guru Gobind Singh,” said Sikh writer Kharak Singh.
“He must issue an unconditional apology. A stubborn attitude will
precipitate matters.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who happened to be opening a conference
on interfaith harmony Friday, said that there is no place for
religious intolerance in India. “Any political formation trying to
incite people in the name of religion, whatever religion, is in fact
betraying both religion and our constitution,” the Prime Minister
said. All nations, “big and small will have to come to terms with
their growing internal diversity. No modern and open society can be a
monolith.”
So why the recurring religious unrest in India? Moderate Muslim
activist J.S. Bandukwala says that “to a great extent” India has
resolved the question of religious identity which had split the
country for decades. “But in such a huge population it’s so easy for
someone to plant a bomb and cause chaos,” he says. “I don’t think
there’s anything police can do to stop this sort of thing.”
Bandukwala, a physics professor in Gujarat, a western state torn by
bloody communal riots in 2002, has long campaigned against religious
extremism and for moderation and debate. While he sees progress, in
part because of the rising middle class in India, Bandukwala says “on
religious issues people get very quickly built up in this part of the
world. If anybody wants to create a problem they just have to insult
an iconic figure or plant a bomb and you see the results.” In some
ways, he says, “it’s remarkable that India has evolved into a mature
democracy after just 60 years.”
Not just a mature democracy but a vibrant, fast-growing economy. The
world has come to know a new India over the past few years, a place of
outsourcing and hi-tech start-ups, of software engineers and steel
barons. We expect such places to be shiny and secular and scientific,
focused on technological breakthroughs and making money. We don’t
expect religious riots and communal clashes and bombings. In India,
full of paradoxes and wonderful, frustrating inconsistencies, you have
both: hi-tech business parks and age-old religious grudges; software
savvy alongside sectarian brutality. Resolving those contradictions
may well decide India’s future.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1622914,00.html
Religion: Yogi Bhajan’s Synthetic Sikhism
Monday, Sep. 05, 1977
The leader of 3HO inspires devotion—and hostility
Nine years ago, he was an anonymous yoga teacher who owned little but
a suitcase full of beads. Today he earns over $100,000 a year in
lecture fees as Yogi Bhajan, the “Supreme Religious and Administrative
Authority of the Sikh Religion in the Western Hemisphere.” Thousands
of American disciples in his Healthy-Happy-Holy Organization (“3HO”)
revere the robust, bearded Bhajan as the holiest man of this era. With
equal fervor, opponents denounce him as a charlatan and a heretic.
The kind of Sikhism preached by Bhajan, 48, an Indian born in what is
now Pakistan, is far different from that practiced by 10 million
Indians. Sikhism, a blend of reformed Hinduism and Islam, is practical-
minded, allows democratic election of its priests, and abhors
personality cults. Bhajan’s powerful personality is central to his
sect, and ambition has driven him far since his days as an unknown
customs officer at the Delhi airport.
In 1968 Bhajan emigrated to Toronto, later that year moved to Los
Angeles and eventually started his own ashram—spiritual commune—in a
garage. Although India’s Sikhs are renowned as meat eaters, Bhajan has
insisted that his followers be strict vegetarians. While yoga is not
part of Sikhism, Bhajan teaches the practice, and not the mild form
widespread in the U.S. but Tantrism, a strenuous, mystical variety
practiced by men and women in pairs. Claiming to be the only living
master of Tantrism, Bhajan stresses Kundalini yoga, which supposedly
releases secret energy that travels up the spine. He reveals breathing
and massage techniques said to improve sexual performance. And he
preaches: “The man who ties a turban on his head must live up to the
purity of the whiteness and radiance of his soul.”
Undeniably, Bhajan has struck some kind of chord. There are now 110
ashrams of various sizes in the U.S., Canada, and overseas. The yogi
claims to have won some 250,000 followers, but a more realistic
estimate would place the number of zealots at several thousand,
although many more flock to his meetings. Bhajan’s base is a well-
groomed 40-acre ranch near Espanola, N. Mex., where his quarters are
said to feature a domed bedroom and a sunken bath. Neighbors are
nervous about 3HO’s expensive land purchases in the area.
Less visible than the cymbal-clanging Hare Krishnas, the 3HO disciples
rival them in devotion. Men and women alike follow the Sikh traditions
of not cutting their hair and bearing symbolic daggers, combs and
bracelets. Ashram members rise at 3:30 a.m. to practice yoga and
meditate, sometimes while staring at a picture of Bhajan. They often
work twelve hours a day on low salaries and skimpy diets at 3HO small
businesses, such as landscaping companies, shoe stores, and quality
vegetarian restaurants. Full-fledged initiates follow Bhajan’s every
dictum on diet, medical nostrums, child rearing, even orders to marry
total strangers. Guru Terath Singh Khalsa, who is his lawyer and
spokesman, says that Bhajan is “the equivalent of the Pope.”
For most of the converts, the discipline of Bhajanism seems to have
rilled a deep spiritual vacuum. Many are in their mid-20s and come
from upper-middle-class homes. A number had been dependent upon LSD
and marijuana; the movement claims that all have broken the habit.
The adherents are flushed with the rosy beauty of new faith. “We got
involved in Sikhism so we could re-establish a direction in our lives
based on real principles,” a young Jewish woman at a Los Angeles
ashram told TIME Correspondent James Wilde.
Chimed in an ex-Catholic who misses the Latin Mass: “The
demystification of the church turned me off.” Even a Massachusetts
girl who has broken with the movement says wistfully, “At the ashram
we had the nucleus of a real family. It was one of the most beautiful
things I have ever experienced.”
Bhajan has important backers in India. High Priest Guruchuran Singh
Tohra, president of the management committee for northern India’s Sikh
temples, confirms that his council has given “full approval” to 3HO
and recognizes the yogi as a preacher. Tohra, however, says that this
does not mean Bhajan is the Sikh leader of the Western Hemisphere, as
he claims. The Sikhs do not create such offices. Nor, Tohra adds, has
the committee given Bhajan the rarely bestowed title, Siri Singh Sahib
(the equivalent of saying “Sir” three times), which he uses.
Bhajan has his critics—and they are severe. Many traditional Sikhs
insist that yoga has no place in their religion. Sikh Historian
Trilochan Singh says Bhajan’s synthesis of Sikhism and Tantrism is “a
sacrilegious hodgepodge.” Far more important, High Priest Jaswant
Singh, a leader of the Sikhs in eastern India and comparable in status
to Bhajan Backer Tohra, last week denounced Bhajan’s claims. He and
his council professed to be “shocked” at Bhajan’s “fantastic
theories.” Yoga, Tantrism and the “sexual practices” taught by Bhajan,
the council declared, are “forbidden and immoral.”
There are more delicate matters at issue, many raised by people who
knew Bhajan when. Judith Tyberg, respected founder of Los Angeles’
East-West Center, where Bhajan briefly gave courses, questions his
knowledge of Kundalini yoga. She fired him from her faculty after
three months for another reason —which she refuses to divulge.
Bhajan has repeatedly been accused of being a womanizer. Colleen
Hoskins, who worked seven months at his New Mexico residence, reports
that men are scarcely seen there. He is served, she says, by a coterie
of as many as 14 women, some of whom attend his baths, give him group
massages, and take turns spending the night in his room while his wife
sleeps elsewhere.
Colleen and her husband Philip, Bhajan’s former chancellor, who quit
last year, say they could no longer countenance Bhajan’s luxurious
life-style when so many of his followers had to scrimp along.
Filmmaker Don Conreaux, an early apostle, says that originally the
yogi was “against titles, against disciples. Now he teaches only
obedience to him.” When Philip Hoskins quit last year, he says, Bhajan
told him he would suffer 84 million reincarnations and be “reborn as a
worm for betraying your teacher.”
The current chancellor insists that Bhajan “lives in a moderate
manner,” and asserts that reports of illicit affairs and of women in
the yogi’s bedroom are “absolutely untrue.” Yogi Bhajan himself was
unwilling to grant TIME an interview until he visits India this month
with a group of disciples for a Sikh festival. When he arrives there,
the “Supreme Authority” of the Sikh religion in the Western world may
have to answer a few questions from his fellow Sikhs about the kind of
religion he is preaching—and practicing.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915413,00.html
Austrian Murder Sparks Protests in India
By Madhur Singh / New Delhi Tuesday, May. 26, 2009
Followers of Dalit leader Guru Ravi Das Sabha brandish swords, steel
rods and bamboo sticks during a protest in Amritsar, India, on May 25,
2009
Altaf Qadri / AP
Caste rivalries and a fight over offerings at a cash-rich Sikh temple
in Vienna echoed far and wide on Monday as sectarian violence once
again erupted in India’s Sikh-majority state of Punjab. At least two
people have been killed and 14 injured since news reached Punjab
yesterday via text messages and mobile phones that a Sikh preacher of
a lower-caste sect, 57-year-old Sant Rama Nand, had been shot dead in
a clash in a temple in Austria. Thousands of lower-caste Sikhs took to
Punjab’s streets armed with swords and batons, burning buses and
blocking trains. A curfew was imposed in five Punjab towns, and
military and paramilitary forces have been called into the state. The
situation remains tense today as the authorities try to arrange to
have the slain preacher’s body flown directly to his village for
cremation.
Over the years, the quaint little gurdwara on the Rudolfsheim Street
on the outskirts of Vienna has become a hub of Sikh separatists who
supported an insurgency in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s. The
insurgency was eventually stamped down by an iron-fisted state, and
many of its supporters sought and received political asylum in Europe.
As Austria’s legal South Asian community has become more established,
thousands of illegal Sikh migrants from all over Europe have
gravitated there. “The gurdwara was lush with offerings from a
nostalgic and large-hearted diaspora,” says Ramesh Vinayak, who heads
the Punjab edition of the national daily Hindustan Times, and who
visited the Vienna gurdwara in 2005. (See photos of India’s Nehru
dynasty.)
Around the same time, the Ravidasias, a lower-caste community who are
not considered Sikhs though the groups share some similarities,
including worship in gurdwaras, swelled in numbers among Austria’s
Indian diaspora. Disgruntled lower-caste youths from an increasingly
prosperous Punjab — where the landed castes have been reaping the
benefits of the Green Revolution since the 1950s and 1960s — were
making their way to Europe in droves. “What we see now is a result of
rising Dalit assertion,” says Vinayak. “The lower castes set up their
own gurdwara, splitting the congregation and the [revenue from the]
offerings. The pro-Khalistanis (those supporting a separate Sikh
nation) at the older gurdwara felt threatened.” Those tensions came to
a head this Sunday when management of the new gurdwara invited some
preachers of Dera Sach Khand, a Ravidasia sect, to address the
congregation. A violent clash ensued, in which Baba Rama Nand was shot
and 15 people were injured. Baba Rama Nand later died in hospital.
(Read “Five Challenges Facing India’s Election Victors.”)
When news of the killing began to trickle into Punjab, state
authorities went on alert. Although there is no specific history of
Ravidasia-Sikh violence in Punjab, violence has taken place between
followers of various sects across the state, mostly with support of
lower castes among both the Sikhs and non-Sikhs. By Monday afternoon,
large-scale rioting spread to six districts, leading Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, to issue a televised appeal. “Invoking
the teachings of the Gurus, I appeal to all sections of people in
Punjab to maintain peace,” he said. The situation has spun out of
control before. In May 2007, a prominent sect leader with significant
political links, Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda, had
invited the ire of the Sikh masses when he addressed a congregation
dressed as the tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, which is against Sikh
tenets. Ram Raheem Singh’s support base is primarily among the lower
castes. At least one person was killed and over a hundred injured in
the six days of violence that followed.
The events in Punjab — and thousands of miles away in Austria — point
to a broader problem: the dangerous mix of inequitable development and
enduring caste-based resentment. The northern state has a higher than
national average population of Scheduled Castes, an umbrella term for
various lower castes, with 28.95% in Punjab against India’s average of
16%. “Dalit Sikhs and Ravidasias, especially in the fertile Doaba belt
which sends out a large number of immigrants, have seen immense
prosperity lately, and with it, a rising Dalit consciousness and
assertion,” says Dr. Ronki Ram, reader in the Department of Political
Science at Panjab University in Chandigarh, who has recently authored
a paper on the topic. This assertion has found a voice in hundreds of
little sects that have sprung up all over the state, enmeshing socio-
economic struggle with religion in a lethal combination. It is ironic
that Sikhism, the dominant religion of the state, was born in the 15th
century with a promise of equality for all genders, classes and
castes, since a growing inequality among its followers is causing so
much unrest. “The social milieu is lacking equality,” says Ram. “That
is the root of the problem.”
(See photos of India’s slumdog entrepreneurs.)
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1877000,00.html
Watch “The Real Slum Of Slumdog.”
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,13419832001_0,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900882,00.html
Love Guru: Transcendent … Not!
By Richard Corliss Thursday, Jun. 19, 2008
Mike Myers’ signature shtick is the grin and shrug of a little boy
who’s just said something naughty or possibly made fart bubbles in the
bathtub, and who relies on charm to get away with it. He used it on
Saturday Night Live as young Simon, of course, and as basement TV host
Wayne Campbell, and once or twice as Linda Richman. Austin Powers
occasionally flashed that someone-stop-me grin through his misshapen
English teeth. (Dieter the German performance artist and Shrek, not so
much.) The Cat in the Hat was nothing but irritating-ingratiating
impishness. And for the longest time — it’s nearly two decades since
he joined SNL — when Myers smiled, audiences smiled back. They were
his co-conspirators in preadolescent aggression.
That may change this weekend with the debut of The Love Guru, Myers’
first time on screen since 2003. The headlines of early reviews are
the sort that give publicists migraines: “Sheer Self-Indulgence,” “No
Enlightenment, Few Laughs,” “Lame Self-Help Romp” and “Guru Is Doo-
Doo.” About the only encouraging words so far are from Indian and
Indian-American journalists, who had been primed to hate the movie
from advance reports that its treatment of Hindu and Hindu-esque
teacher-preachers — especially of the best-selling, evangelistic,
Deepak Chopra variety — would be derisory. Those reviewers are saying,
basically, that The Love Guru is not as awful as they thought it would
be.
That’s where I am, though not for religious reasons. Mostly I’m in
synch with the Myers character: Maurice Pitka, a goofy innocent who
loves potty humor but has a generous heart. He’s not far from Adam
Sandler’s Zohan, another sweet soul with a few personality defects. A
North American kid raised in India, Maurice at 13 came under the
tutelage of a cross-eyed swami (Ben Kingsley, giving the goose to his
Oscar-winning Gandhi). “I want to become a guru so people will like
me,” young Maurice tells his master, “so I will love myself.” I find
such self-knowledge, not to mention self-absorption, appealing in the
nakedness of its need.
Soon Maurice is an adult in L.A., a hit on the lecture circuit and the
author of such popular tomes as If You’re Happy and You Think It,
Think Again and Stop Hitting Yourself. Stop Hitting Yourself. Why Are
You Still Hitting Yourself? Pitka is famous, but, he thinks, not
famous enough. Rather like the Sean Penn guitarist in Woody Allen’s
Sweet and Lowdown, who realizes he’s no Django Reinhardt, Pitka
rankles at being No. 2 to Chopra. His manager (John Oliver of The
Daily Show) convinces him that he can get on Oprah if he can just
restore the frayed marriage of Darren Roanoke (Romany Malko), a
Toronto Maple Leafs star whose wife is having an affair with banana-
schlonged goalie Jacques “Le Coq” Grande (Justin Timberlake). This
brings him in contact with Maple Leafs owner Jane Bullard (Jessica
Alba).
I acknowledge that the movie’s stabs at wit are not so much sophomoric
as freshmanic. In his Indo-American accent, Pitka asks Darren, “What
is it you cahn’t face?” (cahn’t rhyming with hunt — your kids will
explain the joke to you). And even at 80 minutes or so, The Love Guru
is overly long and repetitious, unable to sustain its comic conceit.
You’ll recognize this failing in movies with other graduates of SNL.
Trained at the Second City improv company, blossoming on late-night
TV, they created or inhabited recurring characters who had five
minutes to establish themselves. Even the most amusing of these
characters, if they were to be expanded, were suited more to half-hour
sitcoms than to feature films. But that’s where the Blues Brothers,
the Coneheads, Stuart Smalley, Pat, Mary Katherine Gallagher and the
Roxbury guys went, not always justifying their films’ running time.
Leaving SNL for movies means you can’t go back, which deprives the
show of some brilliant sketch talent — Dan Aykroyd, Joe Piscopo,
Martin Short, Molly Shannon, Dinitra Vance, the irreplaceable Phil
Hartman — and consigns those actors to movies and TV shows that don’t
show them off to their best advantage.
Wayne’s World was one of the few SNL movie spin-offs that worked. It
set Myers on a mostly successful Hollywood career, whose strangest
entry, the indie 54 (in which he played Studio 54 co-owner Steve
Rubell), was also the most promising. But Myers didn’t do any other
dramatic parts, maybe because so much money was thrown his way to keep
reprising Austin Powers and Shrek. And it’s taken him longer and
longer to devise new characters. Pitka is his first in movies since
Austin Powers (and Dr. Evil) in 1997.
I like parts of The Love Guru because they sometimes take the form of
an Indian musical, with Myers’ sitar strumming becoming the bass line
for the Dolly Parton song 9 to 5 and he and co-star Alba giving their
all to a Bollywood-style dance number. I approve of the opening
narration in the stately tones of Morgan Freeman, which turns out to
be Myers speaking into a “voice-over box” set on the “Morgan Freeman”
key. And I’m a big fan of Timberlake’s farce skills; he shows here
that he has a future in movies, at least as the guy who can upstage
the star comic. (Other guest stars either show up fleetingly, like
Jessica Simpson, Kanye West, NHL star Rob Blake and Chopra himself, or
are used to ill effect, like Stephen Colbert as a hockey announcer.)
So, as much as I’d like to, I cahn’t join the chorus of critical
contumely. The Love Guru is a shambling, hit-or-miss thing, like an
old Laurel and Hardy two-reeler. And like the situations those comics
often got into, this movie is a fine mess.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1816243,00.html
INDIA: A Man on Foot
Monday, May. 11, 1953
The farms around Benares, India’s holy city, are nourished by the
sacred Ganges. The soil is black and crumbly, as rich-looking as
chocolate. Cane grows as high as a man’s head. Water is knee-deep in
the lush paddies. It is a happy land, where plump little children
stand beside the road, laugh and wave to passing automobiles, where
slender farm girls, with water jars balanced gracefully on their
heads, smile shyly before covering their faces with colorful head
cloths. Old men sit in the doorways of mud huts, contentedly puffing
on long-stemmed hookahs.
But as the traveler goes on across the sluggish River Son, then turns
south into the state of Bihar, the landscape begins to change. The
land is dry and almost desert-like. Scattered here & there, like the
bare bones of long-dead hills, are piles of gigantic stones. Jackals
wander across the fields, and black kites wheel lazily in the sky.
Tiny villages huddle beside the road, and when an automobile
approaches, naked children cower in fright, then invariably, as
panicky chickens do, dart into the car’s path. Gaunt women, stripped
to the waist, work in the fields.
Trudging across this bleak land last week, surrounded by adoring
crowds wherever he went, was a gentle, half-deaf little wisp of a man,
dressed in the garb of poverty—a homespun dhoti and cheap brown canvas
sneakers—but lighted by a flame of authority that has made him one of
India’s most notable spiritual leaders. His name is Vinoba Bhave
(pronounced bah vay). He has no place in the government or any other
secular organization; he is what Hindus call an acharya (preceptor).
Only a land with holy cities, sacred rivers and thin margins between
want and plenty could have produced frail (5 ft. 4 in., 86 Ibs.),
ascetic Vinoba Bhave. In two years he has become such a power in India
that only Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is better known to the
Indian masses.
New Urgency. Vinoba, as he is known to millions, was a trusted and
faithful disciple of the late Mahatma Gandhi. He even looks somewhat
like Gandhi, except for a grey beard and frowsy dark hair. He has the
same emaciated body, wears the same sort of bifocal glasses, speaks in
the same calm, soft voice, with kindly humor. One of the most learned
men in India, he has studied Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Marathi,
Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu, Kanarese, Malayalam and English, and this
array of languages serves him well on his travels through polyglot
India. It is not for his learning, however, that India’s millions have
given their hearts to Vinoba Bhave. They have done that because he,
like their beloved Bapu (as they call Gandhi), has brought them a new
hope.
It is no new doctrine that Vinoba preaches. It only seems so, because
the times have given it new urgency. Walking from one to another of
India’s 700,000 villages, he asks those who have land to share it with
those who have none. Without using the words of the gentle Evangelist
who preceded him by two thousand years, he tells his audiences that it
is more blessed to give than to receive. To those who have land he
says: “I have come to loot you with love. If you have four sons,
consider me as the fifth, and accordingly give me my share.” To
impoverished tenants and landless laborers he says: “We are all
members of a single human family.”
The results of this simple approach to man’s better nature have been
astonishing. Bhave calls his campaign Bhoomidan-yagna, which means a
sacrificial offering of land. Since he began his land distribution
campaign two years ago, Vinoba has walked 6,500 miles on tireless
feet, and has distributed more than a million acres of land to the
poor. The largest single gift was 100,000 acres from a maharajah. The
smallest was a gantha (one fortieth of an acre), donated by a
Telingana peasant who owned only one acre himself.
Every Man’s Heart. Not all of the gifts are prompted by charitable
impulse. Some wealthy landowners support Vinoba Bhave and make
donations because they hope his gentle usurpation will appeal to the
mystic strain in all good Hindus more than the violence of Communism.
Bhave has proved that, under certain circumstances, Indians do prefer
his way, that Bhoomidan-yagnn is more effective in ending unrest than
jailing thousands of Reds. “
At one place he said: “Whatever village I go to, people tell me about
the atrocities of the Communists. I pray to God to let the feeling of
love for Communists also reside in my heart. Although the Communists
commit acts of violence, still, hovr can we hate them? I wish everyone
to realize God. I always pray to Him that He should kindle good faith
in the heart of every man.” In another village, held in a vise of
terror, he spoke directly to the Communists: “Do you really believe in
your ideology? If so … why not come in the daytime instead of by
night? If you want to loot the people, loot as I do, with sincerity
and affection.”
Every party in India approves of Bhave’s movement, including Nehru’s
Congress Party and the Socialists—every party, that is, except the
Communists. Even the Communists do not denounce the man or his goal,
only his method (which they profess to scorn as inadequate and
unworkable, despite the fact that it works). For 30 years the Congress
Party has talked land reform, studied schemes, but has accomplished
little. After independence, Nehru turned over land legislation to the
state governments, where it has been obstructed by landowner
interests. Of India’s 357 million people, in a land where plague,
pests, drought, floods, debt and ignorance conspire to perpetuate
abject poverty, Bhave is one man who is doing something tangible about
redistributing the land. To the Western eye, there arc visible
shortcomings in Vinoba’s Bhoomidan-yagna. It has not increased the
number of acres or the quantity of crops, and therefore—his critics say
—provides no conclusive answer to India’s immense agricultural
problem. Although more than 70% of India’s people work the land for a
living, the nation must import food or starve. Yet Bhoomidan-yagna has
given pride of ownership to hundreds of thousands, and hope to
millions more.
Eight Swishes. Vinoba Bhave is a sick man: he has a duodenal ulcer and
malaria. For food, he takes only two cups of milk daily, the second
laced with honey. Yet somehow he finds the energy to walk a steady ten
to 20 miles a day. When he is on the road, he and his disciples get up
in some sleeping village at 3 a.m. There is a patter of handclaps, a
tinkling bell, the flash of a kerosene lantern, the shuffling of
sandals in the dust, and the little group departs for the next
village, singing hymns. When he is not on the road, Vinoba gets up an
hour later and meditates for an hour. At 5, he has his first cup of
milk, swishing each mouthful exactly eight times before swallowing.
Bhave’s entourage numbers a dozen or more enthusiastic young Hindus,
male and female, average age about 24, who stay three months to a year
with him, so that the membership is constantly changing. Some
disciples usually precede him to the next village, to announce his
arrival from a sound truck and to see that everything is in order
(including latrine-digging, if a big crowd is expected). The only
permanent member of the group is Damadar Das, 38, who joined Gandhi at
18 and became Bhave’s secretary after the Mahatma died. Damadar Das
mails copies of Vinoba’s speeches to the newspapers and keeps track of
the land deeds, although each one is shrewdly inspected and initialed
by Bhave personally.
Bhave’s ashram (retreat) is at Puanar in Madhya Pradesh, about six
miles from Gandhi’s former ashram at Wardha. The main bungalow at
Puanar, donated by Gandhi’s old benefactor, the late Millionaire
Jamnalal Bajaj, seemed so luxurious to the ascetic Bhave that he was
tempted to refuse it. Finally he accepted, but stripped the bungalow
to its bare walls. Like Gandhi before him, Bhave is an expert spinner
and weaver. Unless it is raining, he sleeps outdoors every night,
whether on the road or at Puanar.
Lifelong Celibacy. Vinoba Bhave was born 57 years ago to a Brahman
(high-caste) family in Gangoda, a village in western India. His given
name was Vinayak, but Gandhi changed it to Vinoba in later years, and
the disciple accepted it as his name. At ten the boy began his career
of holy man: he made a resolution of lifelong celibacy, gave up sweets
and started going barefoot. Gandhi, who in young manhood was a lawyer
and a comfortably married man, admired Vinoba’s untarnished virginity.
The Mahatma frequently said that his only regret in life was that he
had known the delights of sex.
At 20, Bhave was shipped off to study at Bombay, but went instead to
Bengal. Apparently (he is reticent about his early life) he joined the
nationalist movement in Bengal, eating at public kitchens. He studied
Sanskrit at Benares, and became deeply immersed in Hindu theology. He
first saw Gandhi in 1916. Being too shy to approach the Mahatma, Bhave
wrote a letter instead, and Gandhi invited him to join the ashram at
Sabarmati. When Gandhi learned that his new follower had not written
to his family for several years, he sat down himself and wrote to
Bhave’s father: “Your Vinoba is with me. His spiritual attainments are
such as I myself attained only after a long struggle.”
Return Before Nightfall. Bhave was restless at Sabarmati, however, and
went away to study more Sanskrit, telling Gandhi that if he did not
find peace of soul he would be back in a year. Over the ensuing
months, the others in the ashram forgot his promise, but one morning
at prayers, the Mahatma said that this was the day Vinoba had promised
to return. Vinoba was back before nightfall.
In 1932 Bhave suffered his first arrest for taking part in Gandhi’s
civil-disobedience movement. Thereafter he spent several more terms in
British jail, serving a total of about two years. After India won her
nationhood, through the bloody communal riots between Hindus and
Moslems and through Gandhi’s death, Bhave remained in obscurity,
except for occasional newspaper articles carrying his strictures
against money. To Bhave, money “tells lies and is like a loafing
tramp.” For a medium of exchange he favored scrip, showing the number
of hours a person had worked to earn it.
Two years ago he went to the state of Hyderabad to attend a meeting of
Gandhi’s old disciples. The Communists were terrorizing Hyderabad,
especially the Telingana district, and Bhave was appalled by what he
found there.
Culture & Blood Baths. In the 10,000 square miles of Telingana,
8,000,000 peasants had long suffered the worst land tyranny in India.
They were virtual serfs, without hope of getting land of their own.
Communist guerrillas moved in to correct this—in their own way. They
killed or put to flight scores of landowners, distributed the land,
seized whole villages and set up their own schools. In battles between
guerrillas and state constables backed by government troops, 3,000
people were killed and 35,000 Reds jailed. Both landowners and farmers
were caught in the murderous crossfire.
Bhave wandered into areas from which the police had warned him to stay
away, but he was unharmed. At first he preached ahimsa (Gandhi’s old
nonviolence), but he soon saw that this was not enough. “I confess,”
he said, “that the incendiary and murderous activities did not unnerve
me, because I know that the birth of a new culture has always been
accompanied in the past by blood baths. What is needed is not to get
panicky, but to keep our heads cool and find a peaceful means of
resolving the conflict. The police are not expected to think out and
institute reforms. To clear a jungle of tigers, their employment would
be useful. But here we have to deal with human beings, however
mistaken and misguided. When a new idea is born, new repression cannot
combat it.”
Then Vinoba Bhave thought of asking landowners to give land to the
landless, saying (or at least politely implying) that if they did not,
the Communists or the government might take it away. Thus Bhoomidan-
yagna was born, in bloody Telingana. Even the Nizam of Hyderabad,
reputed one of the richest and most miserly men in the world, gave
some land, though neither the Nizam nor Bhave would say how much (the
merit acquired by giving is lost by boasting of it). Some 35,000 acres
were collected and reassigned to the most destitute. Gradually the
revolt and the terror died down.
Palms & Mango Leaves. Prime Minister Nehru’s government was delighted.
Nehru too is Gandhi’s heir—but a modern, half-Westernized one. Gandhi
had a political core which Bhave ignores and Nehru has inherited.
Nehru, moreover, believes in industrialization and irrigation and vast
schemes; Bhave believes in self-denial and spinning wheels. After
Bhave’s triumph in Telingana, Nehru wanted him to come to New Delhi
and discuss Bhoomidan-yagna with the National Planning Commission, and
offered to send a plane down to fly Vinoba back. Vinoba said: “I will
come, but in my own time, and as always.” He walked, with members of
his ashram. New Delhi was 795 miles away.
That slow plodding to the capital, which took two months, was a
triumphant journey. At nearly every town and village, Bhave found
arbors of palms and mango leaves erected for him to walk through.
Underfed, ragged villagers crowded around to touch the holy man’s
feet, and to bathe them when he would stop for a rest. Municipal
dignitaries garlanded him with flowers, which the little ascetic
passed back to the crowd. At each departure, the elders walked with
him a mile toward the next village. And at every stop, he held a
prayer meeting and carried on with Bhoomidan-yagna.
At New Delhi, he stayed in a bamboo hut near the concrete ghat in
which Gandhi’s body was cremated. Nehru called twice, in the midst of
a busy election campaign. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the President of India,
came and told Bhave to take as much as he wanted of Prasad’s land
holding in Bihar. Members of the Planning Commission came and stayed
for hours. Even a delegation of Communists, headed by Party Boss Ajoy
Ghosh, paid a courteous visit. After eleven days, Bhave left New Delhi
and has not been back to the capital since. He dislikes cities.
No Animal Matter. Three months ago, while walking through Bihar,
Vinoba Bhave was seized with acute malaria. His temperature rose above
103, but he kept on walking as long as he could, then continued by
bullock cart. In Chandil, a small village, he collapsed and was put to
bed, but he refused all medication. “God,” he said, “either wants to
free me or desires to purify this body for employing it again in His
work.” He also refused to be taken to a hospital in Patna, the state
capital. Said he: “Do not people also die in Patna?”
Crowds gathered around the house where the holy man lay ill. Half a
dozen state and national government officials sent doctors to care for
him. Dr. Prasad and others pleaded with him to take the drugs they
prescribed.
Finally, on being assured that the medicines contained no animal
matter, Bhave consented. He improved almost immediately. During his
convalescence, Nehru and Prasad flew down for a visit. And his
disciples carried on with Bhoomidan-yagna, collecting 33,000 acres of
land. When Bhave took to the road again, the donations came in so fast
that the ash ram’s bookkeeping system was almost snowed under. Last
week, after 110 miles of dusty tramping in Bihar, he had picked up
another 365,000 acres.
The Way of Love. Nowadays Vinoba Bhave reads only three books:
Euclid’s Elements, Aesop’s Fables and the Bhagavad Gita. For him, as
for Gandhi, the Bhagavad Gita is the supreme book of human guidance.
This great Sanskrit poem, imbedded in a larger work called the
Mahabharata, is later than the Vedas and the Upanishads, and fills a
role in the Hindu holy books something like that of the New Testament
in the Bible. During one of his jail terms, Vinoba lectured every
Sunday on the Gita. He translated it into Marathi* verse, and this
work sold about a quarter of a million copies.
The Gita prescribes three paths for the soul’s union with God: karma-
yoga, the way of action, Jnana-yoga, the way of knowledge, and bhakti-
yoga, the way of love. The poem is set in the frame of bloody battle,
a great battle on the plain of Kurukshetra. The hero, Arjuna, is
downcast because he must fight against men who, he suspects, are his
brothers, even though they are foes, and the god Krishna givers Arjuna
advice. Krishna persuades Arjuna that it is permissible to fight,
indeed, that he must fight, so long as the struggle serves no selfish
ends. Although most Indian scholars believe that the poem refers to a
real battle, Gandhi was so deeply committed to nonviolence that he
convinced himself that the battle of Kurukshetra was an allegory, that
it portrayed the conflict of good & evil in the human heart.
Bhave practices karma-yoga, the way to God through action in the
world: “You must perform every action sacramentally, and be free from
all attachment to results.” It is not to be undertaken with out first
mastering the other yogas, learning control of the body, the breathing
and the mind; learning concentration through love and devotion by
prayer; gaining knowledge by meditation.
Vinoba Bhave has read and admired the scriptures of other religions,
and he knows that the way of love was discovered long ago in many
places outside the mountain-walled subcontinent of India. Yet in this
racked century, the way of love seems, as Bhoomidan-yagna shows,
always new.
“My object,” says Vinoba Bhave, “is to transform the whole of society.
Fire merely burns; it does not worry whether anyone puts a pot on it,
fills it with water and puts rice in it to make a meal. Fire burns and
does its duty. It is for others to do theirs.
“The people are going to solve their problems, not I. I am simply
creating an atmosphere. The beginning is always small, but when the
atmosphere spreads, somebody will ask—and somebody will give.”
*A Sanskritic language spoken in western India.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935318,00.html
…and I am Sid Harth
Hindu Society, Religion
Hindu, Mythology, Religion, Theology
04/04/2010
« India Ink: Sid Harth
News, Views and Reviews: Sid Harth »
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/08/11/mrsa-comings-and-goings-sid-harth/?preview=true&preview_id=4462&preview_nonce=f14018e2e8
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India trashes ‘superbug’ report, says it’s doctored
Pushpa Narayan, TNN, Aug 13, 2010, 12.24am IST
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Tags:uk report|superbug
CHENNAI: A day after the Lancet report on drug-resistant ‘superbug’
NDM-1 created a global scare, India has hit out at the study, which it
said was funded by pharma companies that make antibiotics to treat
such cases.
While the Union health ministry issued a statement on Thursday which
also takes offence to the naming of the bug after the national
capital, the paper’s Chennai-based lead author Karthikeyan Kumarasamy
dissociated himself from parts of the report.
“The study was funded by the European Union and two pharmaceutical
companies, Wellcome Trust and Wyeth, which produce antibiotics for
treatment of such cases. It also needs to be highlighted that several
of the authors have declared conflict of interest in the publication,”
the health ministry said.
Doctors have criticised the report, saying it appeared to be aimed at
hitting at India’s booming medical tourism that was taking away
business from the West.
Kumarasamy said he had not written many of the interpretations in the
report; they were added later without his permission or knowledge. “I
do not agree with the last paragraph which advises people to avoid
elective surgeries in India. While I did the scientific work,
correspondence author Timothy R Walsh of Cardiff University was
assigned to edit the report,” Kumarasamy told TOI.
According to the study based on a survey of patients in Indian cities,
a multi-drug resistant strain of bacteria was spreading from Indian
hospitals. The bug entering the blood stream through infected hospital
equipment could lead to multiple organ failure, said the researchers.
However, experts had alleged a bias in the findings and said such
infections could originate anywhere.
Writing to the report’s co-author Walsh on Thursday, Kumarasamy’s
guide at University of Madras Padma Krishnan said the report would
“create boundaries” between scientists. “The research was taken up in
the interests of patient care, but the report has projected a negative
image of India,” she added.
Walsh has been quoted in British media as advising people to “think
long and hard” before making a decision to undergo treatment in Indian
hospitals. Incidentally, the Lancet report comes close on the heels of
International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery ranking India among
the top five destinations for cosmetic surgery. Walsh was not
reachable over the phone.
Kumarasamy said the report pained him. “It was too small a sample to
extrapolate. My intention was to find out whether such multi-resistant
bacteria existed in India. We see several such strains of multi-drug
resistant bacteria across the world,” Kumarasamy added.
Small town lad behind big find of micro bug
Pushpa Narayan, TNN, Aug 12, 2010, 02.27am IST
Tags:united kingdom|thangam menon|pushpa narayan|navarasam college of
arts|madras university|lotus hospital|cardiff university
CHENNAI: Karthikeyan Kumarasamy’s phone kept ringing non-stop on
Wednesday. The 32-year-old research scholar at AL Mudaliar Institute
of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, was flooded with
compliments, inquiries and requests after The Lancet Infectious
Diseases Journal on Wednesday published a paper he co-authored with UK-
based scientist Timothy Walsh on a deadly superbug that threatens to
spread across the world.
It has been a long journey for Kumarasamy, from a Tamil medium
government school in Vellakoil in Erode district in Tamil Nadu to
Cardiff University’s research lab. “I owe it all to my parents and
teachers,” he says. As a student, who was always keen on
microorganisms, he did his Bsc in microbiology from Navarasam College
of Arts and Science, Narachalur. He then moved to Nammakkal for post-
graduation.
His interest in bacterial infections grew when he joined a small
private hospital, Lotus Hospital, in Erode. “Working as a
microbiologist in 2000, I tracked the bacterial strains that caused a
common hospital-acquired infection. I was thrilled to see them under
the microscope then,” he says. Ten years later, he mapped the superbug
in Chennai and went on to work on the find at Cardiff University in
the UK.
He moved to the Madras University for his Phd in drug-resistant
bacteria in 2007. When UK-based Walsh visited the campus for a
lecture, Kumarasamy was introduced to the scientist by Padma Krishnan,
a faculty member and a member of the team which studied the superbug.
“We are so proud of him,” smiles the University institute’s
microbiology department head Dr Thangam Menon.
Drug-resistant ‘superbug’ traced to India
Pushpa Narayan, TNN, Aug 12, 2010, 12.36am IST
Comments (40)
Tags:superbug|drug resistant superbug
India rejects UK scientists’ ‘superbug’ claimCHENNAI: Scientists have
tracked down a drug-resistant superbug that infects patients and
causes multiple organ failure to Indian hospitals but doctors here see
in it the germ of a move to damage the country’s booming medical
tourism industry.
The ‘superbug’ resistant to almost all known antibiotics has been
found in UK patients treated in Indian hospitals. Named after the
Indian capital, it is a gene carried by bacteria that causes gastric
problems, enters the blood stream and may cause multiple organ failure
leading to death.
“India also provides cosmetic surgery for Europeans and Americans, and
it is likely the bacteria will spread worldwide,” scientists reported
in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal on Wednesday. While the
study has the medical world turning its focus on infection control
policies in Indian hospitals, the Indian Council of Medical Research
has alleged a bias in the report and said it is an attempt to hurt
medical tourism in the country that is taking away huge custom from
hospitals in the West. “Such infections can flow in from any part of
the world. It’s unfair to say it originated from India,” said ICMR
director Dr VM Katoch.
Katoch has reasons to fume, as the superbug NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-
beta-lactamase) is named after the national capital, where a Swedish
patient was reportedly infected after undergoing a surgery in 2008.
Since then there have been several cases reported in the UK and in
2009, the health protection agency in the UK issued an alert on the
‘gram negative’ bacterial infection that is resistant to even the most
powerful and reserved class antibiotics called carbapenems.
In a joint study led by Chennai-based Karthikeyan Kumarasamy, pursuing
his PhD at University of Madras and UK-based Timothy Walsh from
department of immunity, infection and biochemistry, department of
medicine, Cardiff University researchers sought to examine whether
NDM-1 producing bacteria was prevalent in South Asia and Britain.
“We saw them in most of the hospitals in Chennai and Haryana. We
estimate that the prevalence of this infection would be as high as
1.5%,” Kumarasamy told TOI. “We found the superbug in 44 patients in
Chennai, and 26 in Haryana, besides 37 in the UK and 73 in other
places across India, Pakistan and Bangaladesh,” he said.
What makes the superbug more dangerous is its ability to jump across
different bacterial species. So far, it has been found in two commonly
seen bacteria, E coli and K pneumoniae. “We have found that the
superbug has the potential to get copied and transferred between
bacteria, allowing it to spread rapidly. If it spreads to an already
hard-to-treat bacterial infection, it can be turn more dangerous,”
Kumarasamy said.
Senior doctors working in infection control said India lacks policies
on antibiotics, infection control and registries for hospital-acquired
infections. By the ICMR director’s own admission, India cannot
scientifically fight back allegations of being the source of such
superbugs, as the country does not have a registry of such hospital-
acquired infections.
“Two in every five patients admitted to hospitals acquire infections.
This extends the patient’s stay in the hospital, increases the
expenses and causes side-effects,” said Dr Dilip Mathai, head of the
department of internal medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore.
For a long time, India has been seeing Extended Spectrum Beta-
Lactamase (ESBL), which are enzymes that have developed a resistance
to antibiotics like penicillin. ESBL enzymes are most commonly
produced by two bacteria – E coli and K pneumoniae, the two bacteria
in which the new superbug has been found. “These were treated by a
reserved class of antibiotics called carbapenems. We have seen at
least 3% of people infected with this do not react to these reserved
drugs,” he said.
Public health experts say globalisation has allowed bacteria to spread
rapidly across the world and India, as a medical hub, should be geared
for the challenge. Katoch, who is also the secretary, department of
medical research, agrees. “At present, we don’t have any system in
place. There are neither rules for hospitals nor a registry to record
hospital-acquired infections. We are now in the process of forming a
cell that will activate a registry and issue guidelines for an
integrated surveillance system,” he said.
Comments: Newest First
Dinesh Sharma (Jaipur-Rajasthan)
12 Aug, 2010 10:21 PM
Developed Countries are suffering due to our success in Medical
tourism..So naturally It PAINS for them..So to scuttle our Multi-
Billion Medical Tourism they are association a global natural
occurrence(or their own creation in their labs) of a gene mutation in
a virus to our nation.
Agree (2)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (1)
rachna (rwanda)
12 Aug, 2010 08:04 PM
Indian hospitals need to screen and test all foreigners for HIV/AIDS
and all possible infections, before they are operated. Because they
are the possible source of infections which can spread easily to other
pts.We do not have hospital infection control measures very well
implemented in our hospitals.
Bharat Kumar (Mumbai)
12 Aug, 2010 01:05 PM
This is a real challenge for us Indians and the world as a whole. But,
for us Indians this is huge looming disaster. Antibiotics are
prescribed right left and center. Our pharmacies dispense medicines
without prescriptions.
Agree (4)
Bharat Kumar (Mumbai) replies to Bharat Kumar
12 Aug, 2010 01:25 PM
The editor removed the sentence where I compared the possibility of
drug resistance bugs, taking us (human society ) to the pre-ntibiotic
period when plague killed millions… Editors needs to understand the
subject before editing….
Agree (2)
kdsk (assam)
12 Aug, 2010 12:06 PM
funny,see live parliament on tv ,you will find many there.
Agree (4)
India (India)
12 Aug, 2010 11:56 AM
AIDS, Swine Flu did not originate from India. The whole world got it.
This superbug could have been brought by these patients into India.
Since there is no pre screening regimen in india, this problem will
multiply. Also it is a wake up call for india to do a reality check of
their hospitals. These foreign patients go to the top class hospitals.
Will the researchers also disclose the hospital and the doctors who
operated on the patients. These kind of problems will multiply as long
as we don’t have a tight healthcare system. I wish this superbug
catches all the our netas.
Agree (4)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (1)
Sivaram (NewDelhi)
12 Aug, 2010 11:27 AM
The biggest problem in India is indiscriminate use of antibiotics by
the quacksAgree (7)
Disagree (1)
sitarambabu (hyderabad)
12 Aug, 2010 11:26 AM
This is another way for pharma industry to creat panic Agree (4)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (1)
De Britto (Pondicherry)
12 Aug, 2010 10:46 AM
It has become a fashion to create sensitive news by western scientists
to attract the scientific world and create a platform for the
pharmaceutical industry to make big money. It is premature to say that
the new strain is from India with out ascertaining the origin and it
is ‘bad precedence’ to name the enzyme as “NEWDELHI
Metallo ß-lactamase’.
Agree (4)
Disagree (5)
NEIndia (NE India)
12 Aug, 2010 10:45 AM
Former US President George W Bush had made a statement blaming India
for rising food prices. And now this blame again
Agree (2)
Disagree (3)
Re
Premal D.Shah (Cupertino, California,USA)
12 Aug, 2010 10:00 AM
This is not a story to hurt India’s health industry and hospitals. My
cousin brother has contracted this “bug”
Agree (4)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (1)
Sanjeev (Sydney)
12 Aug, 2010 09:47 AM
There have been reports of Ventromycin resistant superbug infection in
Sydney hospitals going as far back as 2006
Agree (4)
Disagree (2)
Raj (Perth)
12 Aug, 2010 09:00 AM
Even if the origin of this bug is not India, as claimed by some,
chances of this bug spreading, within India and overseas from India,
are quite high given conditions of our hospitals. This is very very
scary.
Agree (5)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (1)
Jatin (Gurgaon)
12 Aug, 2010 08:52 AM
It looks like the rising medical tourism industry in India is also the
target here as they are offering huge discounts on medical procedures
which is cutting into profits of the pharma mafia in the west. It
could very well be the case that this is a designer bug, mounted on a
westerner and sent to Indian hospitals for medical procedures and the
bug being resistant to all known antibiotics could easily penerate the
Indian medical system plus by naming it after New Delhi or Indians,
its easily sold to the xenophobic west. Whichever drug company come up
with the new molecule to fight this should be prime suspect as far as
designer bug allegation goes.Agree (6)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (4)
Dominic (Mumbai) replies to Jatin
12 Aug, 2010 11:28 AM
The allegation is right out of a fiction novel but could be true. But
the fact remains whether the spread of the bug is stopped or not or
would it mutate into something more dreadful?
Agree (1)
Shyamal Ghosh (Mumbai) replies to Jatin
12 Aug, 2010 10:22 AM
I totally agree with Mr.Jatin. The so called ‘superbug’ scare is
deliberately spread by the healthcare industry of developed countries
to hurt our booming mecal-tourism. Hospital acquired infections are
common in other parts of the world also. Unfortnately we never fight
back such allegations.
Agree (2)
Disagree (1)
Craig (Adelaide) replies to Shyamal Ghosh
12 Aug, 2010 10:35 AM
Typical Indian nationalist paranoia.
Agree (1)
Disagree (2)
Jatinder (New Delhi)
12 Aug, 2010 08:50 AMI wonder why MRSA wasn’t given the name “white
mens superbug”
Agree (6)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (1)
Jatin (Gurgaon)
12 Aug, 2010 08:46 AM
The origin of this bug cannot be in India, for this bug to evolve
carbapenem-resistant gene, it has to have carbapenem exposure over and
over for a million times perhaps, and its commonly accepted knowledge
that western countries overuse antibiotics, its used in all kind of
soaps, shampoos, animal fodder, human foods etc etc. This has to have
a western origin where MRSA has also originated, and it is clear that
this bug, has a lot of similarities to MRSA which was created by white
people’s excessive use of antibiotics. It is horryifying how the
immature Indian new age journalists are taken away by what is
published by a western world journal, which is still yet to be
identified, clarified on the Indian side. This is extremely clearly a
well thought of campaign by the British medical fraternity to malign
Indian medical tourism, as clearly they are losing important customers
in the form of patients who visit India for world class treatment at
much cheaper costs. Shame to the Indian journalist (and the editor)
who has not just printed the headline, but given the 3 bullet points
on top of it, as if shouting, look! this British journal is awesome,
and all it says needs to be agreed with and respected. Horrible!
Agree (4)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (2)
Rohan (USA)
12 Aug, 2010 08:28 AM
Instead of shooting the messenger, look at the way Indian Medical
schools are churning MBBS and MD’s at an alarming rate. Kind of
doctors are coming out of these bogus medical schools, nothing is
impossible. One can buy these medical degrees by paying lakhs of
rupees!! Just few months ago, a guy got into MD program in General
Surgery by paying 50 lakhs!! He could not pass the entrance test but
got into the program by paying money.
Agree (13)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (3)
Sandeep Jain MD (USA)
12 Aug, 2010 07:48 AM
Here is what I want to say.
Disagree (2)
Madhwa (USA)
12 Aug, 2010 07:42 AM
Why do you TOI guys hide the comments? It was not against India! In
fact, I was trying to defend India and its medical profession! Now I
am seriously suspicious of your credentials! You censor anythign
against the sources of your funding! Definitely someone needs to
investigate you or your reporters. Something veru shady is going on in
your company. I know that this comment of mine will not be published!
Agree (3)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (2)
Ramesh (Toronto) replies to Madhwa
12 Aug, 2010 07:57 AM
MY experiences are the same with TOI.
Agree (2)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (1)
Madhwa (USA)
12 Aug, 2010 07:06 AM
Anyone having studied elementary statistics would know that this study
is bogus! The sample size is too small for the underlying population
and is concentrated in only a few places cutting across countries!
Besides, the name given to the “super bug”
Agree (5)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (1)
ravi (chennai) replies to Madhwa
12 Aug, 2010 07:32 AM
totally agree. and then these news papers take time to publish these
nonsense kind of articles.
Agree (2)
Disagree (2)
Recommend (1)
ravi (Chennai)
12 Aug, 2010 07:06 AM
Again they are are it. The westerners are trying to create panic by
some stupid kind of study. They do some kind of study which mostly may
not be authentic. But hope the Indian medical council comes out with
regulations and practice which will help India in the long run.
Agree (5)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (1)
NM Krishnan (new delhi)
12 Aug, 2010 06:29 AM
Even if true that it is traced to India,to name it ‘NewDelhi’ shows
how much the west is jealous and prejudiced. Their talk of
fairness,etc. is just bullshit-a UK or USA born bull! A true scientist
would rather find a way out instead of hurting others. While this
shows thier open prejudice, the hidden prejudices that our men in
those countries must be facing is just unimaginableAgree (5)
Disagree (6)
Recommend (1)
Indian (India)
12 Aug, 2010 06:22 AM
This is another vicious campaign to scare people not to go India for
medical treatment. One should not be surprised that this “superbug”
Agree (3)
Disagree (3)
Recommend (1)
Indian (Melbourne)
12 Aug, 2010 06:17 AM
do not worry about it, Indians are more resistance to these bacteria
than any other nationals. This western researchers are hyping this
research so that they can stop people coming to India for medical
treatments. They have not tested the patients from other country
especially like China, Thailand which are also the hub for medical
treatments…….
Agree (1)
Disagree (4)
Recommend (1)
paceage (bhopal)
12 Aug, 2010 06:12 AM
I am a doctor myself friends, and i will like to bring to everyone
notice that here in India many of us use antibiotics
injudisiously ,They are often overused:
Agree (8)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (3)
ravi (chennai) replies to paceage
12 Aug, 2010 07:01 AM
But Doctor, the patients in India fully believe the doctors. It is
upto the doctors and doctor community to look into these things and
that it is not overused.
Agree (3)
Disagree (1)
Dr Sandeep Jain MD, MRCP (USA)
12 Aug, 2010 06:02 AM
As a practising physician in US and some one who was trained in India
and has also worked for several years in UK this is a particularly
relevent topic for me. I have several observations:
Agree (2)
ravi (chennai) replies to Dr Sandeep Jain MD, MRCP
12 Aug, 2010 06:58 AM
Doc, It would be nice if you can give your Researched views on this.
While I believe that the westerners do what they can to blame Indians.
As you are aware that the doctors down west are concerned about them
loosing their patients.
Agree (1)
Disagree (1)
SS (NY) replies to ravi
12 Aug, 2010 07:37 AM
Ravi, Sorry my earlier reply didn’t go through. Here are my 2 cents.
Let’s not generalize east vs. west here. This is one peer reviewed
article that is in question here. Infectious disease is not a big
concern in the west except for nosocomial (hospital acquired)
infections. Western doctors themselves are not to be blamed for the
media hype. While majority of the findings in the study are correct.
Superbugs are not fictional – they are the outcome of monumental abuse
of antibiotics in agriculture in the west. I have read the entire
paper in question. The findings are alarming, however, the final
conclusion regarding medical tourism to India appears to be based on
general perception/prejudice rather than the experimental finding.
Agree (1)
Disagree (2)
SS (NY) replies to ravi
12 Aug, 2010 07:20 AM
Ravi,
Disagree (1)
SS (NY) replies to Dr Sandeep Jain MD, MRCP
12 Aug, 2010 06:15 AM
Looks like your post is incomplete. It would be nice to have your
informed opinion heard.
Agree (2)
Disagree (2)
Sandeep replies to SS
12 Aug, 2010 06:52 AM
Dear SS, I am not sure why my whole message cannot not be seen. Will
write it again.
Disagree (2)
SS (NY)
12 Aug, 2010 04:33 AM
While the article is a peer reviewed research paper in a respected
scientific journal and the findings are alarming, if not totally new.
Expanded spectrum metallo-beta-lacatmases are not new – they have been
doing rounds for a while and their frequency is ever increasing in
recent times. However, if any one reads through the paper to the end,
the intentions/reflections of the authors do not seem to be purely
scientific opinion. Though authors declare no conflict of interest,
the lead author has research funding from several pharma majors (as
well financial holdings in them)and seems to be an attorney in
addition to scientific expert. Though not totally speculative, the
claims doubting medical tourism to India appear to have political
overtones. The sample size is too small and as authors note, may be
biased! Trying to influence policy decisions based on such a study
probably is bit too much.
Agree (7)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (7)
samar (UK)
12 Aug, 2010 02:29 AM
COULD THAT BE THE REVANGE FOR OUR COLONIAL EXPLOITATION WHICH LED
INDIA INTO ECONOMIC DISASTER AND POVERTY!?!
Agree (3)
Disagree (15)
Recommend (2)
Vipin (India)
12 Aug, 2010 02:06 AM
Please read an article “Growing Antibiotics Resistance and the Need
for New Antibiotics”Agree (12)
Disagree (1)
Recommend (10)
Warning on New Superbugs from South Asia
Paris : France | Aug 11, 2010 By ken_nic2009 1
0 Views: 87
1Posted by: ken_nic20092 2Posted by: ken_nic20091
A gene called NDM-1 that makes bacteria resistant to even last-resort
antibiotics spreads from India to the U.K. This was made possible by
plastic surgery patients who’ve carried the new class of superbags,
which could spread worldwide.
The gene was first identified by Timothy Walsh of Cardiff University
last 2009. It was discoverd in two types of bacteria in a Swedish
patient admitted to a hospital in India. First, Klebsiella pneumoniae
and second, Escherichia coli.
Credibility Reach
Global Reach
This report’s viewers come from the following countries:United States
of America (67.4%)Canada (10.5%)India (7.4%)United Kingdom (4.2%)5
other countries (6.3%)
READ MORE: superbugs, Biology, antibiotics, Enterobacteria,
antibiotic, Health Medical Pharma, odd-news, Timothy Walsh, France,
Paris, Clinical pathology, Gram negative bacteria, Pneumonia,
Infectious diseases, Klebsiella pneumonia, Klebsiella pneumoniae,
Escherichia coli, superbug, Microbiology
Video: Fears new superbug could go global ITN NEWS
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India trashes ‘superbug’ report, says it’s doctored Times of India
…and I am Sid Harth
NEW VIDEO! Adventures of the Leptin Family…
Invasion of the FRANKENFOOD!
MRSA Threatens World Health Minneapolis
MN Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Video Clip: Click to Watch
Americans have entered into a new type of competition with the Chinese
– who will produce the next bacterial superbug plague first? This is
no laughing matter.
Earlier this year researchers reported that 48,000 Americans are
killed each year by hospital-acquired infections. This atrocity costs
the health care system 8.1 billion per year. Half of that is spent on
superbug MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
infections. MRSA is caused by a strain of staph bacteria that’s become
resistant to antibiotics. Even the most powerful antibiotics may not
be able to kill some of the new MRSA flesh-eating superbugs. This
problem has been caused by the medical profession’s overuse of
antibiotics and is spreading into the general community with those on
athletic teams (especially wrestlers), child care workers, and those
living in crowded conditions most at risk.
An alarming report coming out of Europe warns that China now threatens
the world health by unleashing waves of MRSA superbugs on every other
country. Blatant overuse of antibiotics has caused a recent doubling
of untreatable MRSA infections in Chinese hospitals. Similarly,
overuse of antibiotics in farm animals is causing superstrains of MRSA
to be shipped around the world.
“We have a lot of data from Chinese hospitals and it shows a very
frightening picture of high-level antibiotic resistance,” said Dr
Andreas Heddini of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease
Control. “Doctors are daily finding there is nothing they can do, even
third and fourth-line antibiotics are not working. There is a real
risk that globally we will return to a pre-antibiotic era of medicine,
where we face a situation where a number of medical treatment options
would no longer be there. What happens in China matters for the rest
of the world.”
A new study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health helps us
understand the extreme nature of this problem. Researchers identified
that MRSA produces new types of toxins that enter immune cells and
kill them.
During any plague in history there have always been survivors.
Surviving any highly aggressive pandemic infection, whether viral or
bacterial, will depend on how efficiently your immune system can
function as well as how well your detoxification systems work; i.e.,
your ability to bind and excrete the bacterial toxins.
Your toxin-clearing ability will rely on liver function. In cases of
overweight individuals, liver function is handicapped and congested by
surplus fat accumulation. This means individuals wanting to be
prepared must improve not only detoxification function but also
metabolism.
It is somewhat ironic but will no doubt be proven to be the case that
those on statin drugs will have little ability to fight MRSA
infections. One of the primary defense functions of LDL cholesterol
(mistakenly labeled as “bad” cholesterol) is that it binds up
bacterial toxins such as LPS and removes them from the body. Those
with drug-induced abnormally low levels of LDL will be sitting ducks
when any high powered bacterial infection makes it way through the
general community.
Also ironically, the very people who caused this problem will be
turned to as the so-called experts to help treat a population. I am
one person that will not be turning to them for advice.
Byron J. Richards
Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist
Wellness Resources
Minneapolis, MN
952-929-4575
Scientists find new superbug spreading from India
By Kate Kelland and Ben Hirschler
LONDON | Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:14pm BST
LONDON (Reuters) – A new superbug could spread around the world after
reaching Britain from India — in part because of medical tourism — and
scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.
Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New
Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and
in Britain.
NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics,
including the most powerful class called carbapenems, and experts say
there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it.
With international travel in search of cheaper healthcare increasing,
particularly for procedures such as cosmetic surgery, Timothy Walsh,
who led the study, said he feared the new superbug could soon spread
across the globe.
“At a global level, this is a real concern,” Walsh, from Britain’s
Cardiff University, said in telephone interview.
“Because of medical tourism and international travel in general,
resistance to these types of bacteria has the potential to spread
around the world very, very quickly. And there is nothing in the (drug
development) pipeline to tackle it.”
Almost as soon as the first antibiotic penicillin was introduced in
the 1940s, bacteria began to develop resistance to its effects,
prompting researchers to develop many new generations of antibiotics.
But their overuse and misuse have helped fuel the rise of drug-
resistant “superbug” infections like methicillin-resistant
Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA).
In a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal on
Wednesday, Walsh’s team found that NDM-1 is becoming more common in
Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan and is also being imported back to
Britain in patients returning after treatment.
“India also provides cosmetic surgery for other Europeans and
Americans, and it is likely NDM-1 will spread worldwide,” the
scientists wrote in the study.
“CINDERELLA” BUSINESS
For many years, antibiotic research has been a “Cinderella” sector of
the pharmaceuticals industry, reflecting a mismatch between the
scientific difficulty of finding treatments and the modest sales such
products are likely to generate, since new drugs are typically saved
only for the sickest patients.
But the increasing threat from superbugs is encouraging a rethink at
the few large drugmakers still actively hunting for new antibiotics,
including Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.
Walsh and his international team collected bacteria samples from
hospital patients in two places in India, Chennai and Haryana, and
from patients referred to Britain’s national reference laboratory
between 2007 and 2009.
They found 44 NDM-1-positive bacteria in Chennai, 26 in Haryana, 37 in
Britain, and 73 in other sites in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
Several of the British NDM-1 positive patients had recently travelled
to India or Pakistan for hospital treatment, including cosmetic
surgery, they said.
Most worryingly, NDM-1-producing bacteria are resistant to many
antibiotics including carbapenems, the scientists said, a class of the
drugs often reserved for emergency use and to treat infections caused
by other multi-resistant bugs like MRSA and C-Difficile.
Anders Ekblom, global head of medicines development at AstraZeneca,
whose Merrem antibiotic is the leading carbapenem, said he saw “great
value” in investing in new antibiotics.
“We’ve long recognised the growing need for new antibiotics, he said.
“Bacteria are continually developing resistance to our arsenal of
antibiotics and NDM1 is just the latest example.”
Experts commenting on Walsh’s findings said it was important to be
alert to the new bug and start screening for it early.
“If this emerging public health threat is ignored, sooner or later the
medical community could be confronted with carbapenem-resistant
(bacteria) that cause common infections, resulting in treatment
failures with substantial increases in health-care costs,” Johann
Pitout from the University of Calgary in Canada wrote in a commentary
in same journal.
(Editing by Myra MacDonald)
Hospital superbug infections on the decline
By Frederik Joelving
NEW YORK | Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:19pm BST
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The antibiotic-resistant microbe MRSA may
be slowing its pace after rampaging through hospitals for years,
researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
said Tuesday.
From 2005 to 2008, surveillance data from nine metropolitan areas
showed an overall decline of 28 percent in severe infections with MRSA
(methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) contracted in healthcare
settings.
“We are encouraged by the findings,” said CDC’s Dr. Alexander Kallen,
whose study is published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Although the data aren’t nationally representative, he said they
bolster earlier studies and are “very good evidence that invasive MRSA
infections are decreasing.”
Versions of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to the penicillin-like
antibiotic methicillin were first discovered in the UK in the early
1960s; since then, the multidrug-resistant bacterium has cropped up
and become a problem around the world, especially its persistent
spread in hospitals.
In 2005, researchers estimate the bug caused severe infections in
nearly 95,000 Americans, killing more than 18,500 of them.
The new study, drawing on surveillance data for a population of about
15 million people in nine metropolitan areas, looked only at
infections in which the bacteria had invaded a sterile part of the
body, such as the blood and joints.
Of the more than 21,500 cases identified, more than three-quarters
were in people who were hospitalized or had been in recent contact
with the healthcare system.
Kallen said the number of people who had acquired the bug somewhere
other than a healthcare facility was too small to provide good data.
Over the four-year study period, the occurrence of severe MRSA
infections that showed up while a patient was hospitalized dropped by
nine percent each year, from an initial rate of about one in 10,000.
In non-hospitalized patients, the rate dropped by nearly six percent
annually.
“Overall, it’s good news,” Dr. Daniel J. Diekema of the University of
Iowa, an expert in infectious diseases, told Reuters Health.
“But before we get too self-congratulatory about reducing MRSA rates,
we need to remember MRSA is only one type of Staph,” said Diekema, who
wrote an editorial about the new findings. He noted that MRSA accounts
for less than one in 10 hospital infections.
At this point, nobody knows why the rates are falling. One possibility
is that infection prevention efforts are paying off, said Diekema.
Over the past decade, hospitals have introduced several measures aimed
at preventing the spread of infectious disease, such as requiring
staff to wash their hands with soap before inserting a catheter into a
patient.
CDC’s Kallen said this was probably one of the most important points,
and he recommended patients always make sure that nurses and doctors
wash their hands prior to providing care.
Some hospitals also test patients specifically for MRSA when they
admit them, a procedure that may cost as much as $45 per patient.
To ensure hospitals’ limited resources are well spent, said Diekema,
“it would be nice if we knew more about what prevention measures have
led to this decline.”
Journalist Maryn McKenna, who published a book about MRSA earlier this
year, said the findings were no reason to stop worrying about the
superbug. (See Reuters Health story of May 14, 2010.)
“We already know that if we don’t pay close attention to it, it
burgeons,” she told Reuters Health, adding that the new study was the
first strong signal that prevention programs might work.
“It would be a really bad time to relax,” she said. “It’s a good time
to say instead, let’s figure out what’s working.”
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/vat34n JAMA/Journal of the American Medical
Association, online August 10, 2010.
Overview
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterial
infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics.
Symptoms
Staph skin infections cause a red, swollen, and painful area on the
skin. Other symptoms may include:
Drainage of pus or other fluids from the site
Fever
Skin abscess
Warmth around the infected area
Symptoms of a more serious staph infection may include:
Chest pain
Chills
Cough
Fatigue
Fever
General ill feeling (malaise)
Headache
Muscle aches
Rash
Shortness of breath
Treatment
Draining the skin sore may be the only treatment needed for a local
skin MRSA infection. This can be done at the doctor’s office.
More serious MRSA infections, especially HA-MRSA infections, are
becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Antibiotics that may still
work include:
Clindamycin
Daptomycin
Doxycycline
Linezolid (Zyvox)
Minocycline
Tetracycline
Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim, Bactrim DS, Septra, Septra DS)
Vancomycin (Vancocin, Vancoled)
It is important to finish all doses of antibiotics you have been
given, even if you feel better before the final dose. Stopping
treatment early by not finishing the full course of antibiotics can
lead to further drug resistance in the bacteria, or can cause an
infection that seemed to be gone to come back (relapse).
Other treatments may be needed for more serious infections. The person
may be admitted to a hospital. Treatment may involve:
Fluids and medications given through a vein
Kidney dialysis (if kidney failure occurs)
Oxygen
Causes
MRSA is a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria. S.
aureus is a common type of bacteria that normally live on the skin and
sometimes in the nasal passages of healthy people. MRSA refers to S.
aureus strains that do not respond to some of the antibiotics used to
treat staph infections.
The bacteria can cause infection when they enter the body through a
cut, sore, catheter, or breathing tube. The infection can be minor and
local (for example, a pimple), or more serious (involving the heart,
lung, blood, or bone).
Serious staph infections are more common in people with weak immune
systems. This includes patients in hospitals and long-term care
facilities and those receiving kidney dialysis.
MRSA infections are grouped into two types:
Healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) infections occur in people who
are or have recently been in a hospital or other health-care facility.
Those who have been hospitalized or had surgery within the past year
are at increased risk. MRSA bacteria are responsible for a large
percentage of hospital-acquired staph infections.
Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections occur in otherwise
healthy people who have not recently been in the hospital. The
infections have occurred among athletes who share equipment or
personal items (such as towels or razors) and children in daycare
facilities. Members of the military and those who get tattoos are also
at risk. The number of CA-MRSA cases is increasing.
Tests & diagnosis
Depending on your symptoms, your doctor may recommend the following
tests to detect and confirm the bacteria causing the infection:
Blood culture
Culture of the drainage (fluid) from the infection
Skin culture from the infected site
Sputum culture
Urine culture
Prognosis
How well a person does depends on the severity of the infection and
their overall health. MRSA-related pneumonia and blood infections are
associated with high death rates.
Prevention
Careful attention to personal hygiene is key to avoiding MRSA
infections.
Wash your hands frequently, especially if visiting someone in a
hospital or long-term care facility.
Make sure all doctors, nurses, and other health care providers wash
their hands before examining you.
Do not share personal items such as towels or razors with another
person — MRSA can be transmitted through contaminated items.
Cover all wounds with a clean bandage, and avoid contact with other
people’s soiled bandages.
If you share sporting equipment, clean it first with antiseptic
solution.
Avoid common whirlpools or saunas if another participant has an open
sore.
Make sure that shared bathing facilities are clean.
Complications
Serious staph infections may lead to:
Blood infection (also called blood poisoning or sepsis)
Cellulitis
Infection of the heart valves (endocarditis)
Pneumonia
Toxic shock syndrome
Organ failure and death may result from untreated MRSA infections.
When to contact a doctor
Call your health care provider if:
A wound seems to get worse rather than heal
You have any other symptoms of staph infection
News More »
MRSA Threatens World Health
NewsReleaseWire.com (press release) – 1 week ago
Half of that is spent on superbug MRSA (Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus) infections. MRSA is caused by a strain of staph
bacteria that’s become …Brockville General Hospital declares MRSA
outbreak officially over
EMC St. Lawrence – 2 weeks ago
MRSA is Staphylococcus (Staph) bacteria that has become resistant to
the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary Staph infections. …
Don’t Let Germy Gyms Get You Sick
CBS News – 4 days ago
MRSA’s prevalence of it is increasing in the community. If you notice
a boil or pimples on exposed skin – arms, legs, back – and it’s
getting red and …
Google Scholar More »
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection.
S Bradley – Clinics in geriatric medicine, 1992 – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Comparison of community-and health care-associated methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection
TS Naimi,KH LeDell,K Como-Sabetti,SM Borchardt,DJ … – Jama, 2003 –
jama.ama-assn.org The development of vancomycin resistance in a
patient with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection
K Sieradzki,RB Roberts,SW Haber,A Tomasz – New England journal of
medicine, 1999 – content.nejm.org
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Overview
A skin abscess is a collection of pus and infected material in or on
the skin.
Symptoms
Fever or chills, in some cases
Local swelling, hardening of tissue (induration)
Skin lesion
Open or closed sore, domed nodule
Red
May drain fluid
Tender and warm affected area
Treatment
The goal of treatment is to cure the infection. The doctor may cut and
drain the abscess to clean the area and control the infection.
Antibiotics are given by mouth to control the infection.
Heat (such as warm compresses) may speed healing, reduce inflammation,
and make the area feel better. Raise the affected part to reduce
swelling and inflammation.
Causes
Skin abscesses are fairly common. They occur when an infection causes
pus and infected material to collect in the skin.
Skin abscesses may occur after:
A bacterial infection (often staphylococcus)
A minor wound or injury
Boils
Folliculitis
Skin abscesses may occur anywhere on the body. They affect people of
all ages.
Tests & diagnosis
Your doctor can diagnose the condition based on the appearance of the
area. A culture or examination of any drainage from the lesion may
help identify what organism is causing it.
Prognosis
Most skin abscesses can be cured with proper treatment.
Prevention
Prevent and watch for bacterial infections. Keep the skin around minor
wounds clean and dry. Consult the health care provider if you develop
signs of infection. Treat minor infections promptly.
Complications
Prevention of the proper functioning of nearby tissues
Spread of infection around the same area or throughout the body
Spread of infection through the bloodstream, causing:
Abscess formation on the joints or other locations
Endocarditis
Many new abscesses (“seeding” of infection)
Osteomyelitis
Tissue death (gangrene)
When to contact a doctor
Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you have any
signs of skin infection, including:
Drainage of any kind
Fever
Pain
Redness
Swelling
Also call for an appointment
Overview
A furuncle (boil) is a skin infection involving an entire hair
follicle and nearby skin tissue.
See also: Carbunculosis
Symptoms
A furuncle may begin as a tender, pinkish-red, swollen nodule but
ultimately feel like a water-filled balloon. Pain gets worse as it
fills with pus and dead tissue. Pain improves as it drains. It may
drain on its own. More often the patient or someone else opens the
furuncle.
The furuncle:
Is usually pea-sized, but may be as large as a golf ball
May develop white or yellow centers (pustules)
May join with another furuncle or spread to other skin areas
May grow rapidly
May weep, ooze, crust
Other symptoms may include:
Fatigue
Fever
General ill-feeling
Itching before furuncle develops
Skin redness or inflammation around the lesion
Treatment
Furuncles may heal on their own after an initial period of itching and
mild pain. More often, they increase in discomfort as pus collects.
They finally burst, drain, and then heal on their own.
Furuncles usually must drain before they will heal. This most often
occurs in less than 2 weeks. Treatment by a health care provider is
needed if a furncle lasts longer than 2 weeks, returns, is located on
the spine or the middle of the face, or occurs with a fever or other
symptoms because the infection may spread and cause complications.
Warm moist compresses encourage furuncles to drain, which speeds
healing. Gently soak the area with a warm, moist cloth several times
each day. Deep or large lesions may need to be drained surgically by a
health care provider. Never squeeze a boil or attempt to cut it open
it at home because this can spread the infection and make it worse.
Meticulous hygiene is important to prevent the spread of infection.
Draining lesions should be cleaned frequently. You should wash your
hands very well The after touching a furuncle. Do not re-use or share
washcloths or towels. Clothing, washcloths, towels, and sheets or
other items that contact infected areas should be washed in very hot
(preferably boiling) water. Dressings should be changed frequently and
discarded in a manner that contains the drainage, such as by placing
them in a bag that can be closed tightly before discarding.
Antibacterial soaps and topical antibiotics are of little benefit once
a furuncle has formed. Systemic antibiotics may help to control
infection in those with repeated furuncles.
Causes
Furuncles are very common. Furuncles are generally caused by
Staphylococcus aureus, but they may be caused by other bacteria or
fungi found on the skin’s surface. Damage to the hair follicle allows
these bacteria to enter deeper into the tissues of the follicle and
the subcutaneous tissue.
Furuncles may occur in the hair follicles anywhere on the body, but
they are most common on the face, neck, armpit, buttocks, and thighs.
Furuncles can be single or multiple.
Tests & diagnosis
Diagnosis is primarily based on the appearance of the skin. Skin or
mucosal biopsy culture may show staphylococcus or other bacteria.
Prognosis
Some people have recurrent bouts with abscesses and little success at
preventing them. Furuncles can be very painful if they occur in areas
like the ear canal or nose. A health care provider should treat
furuncles of the nose. Furuncles that develop close together may
expand and join, causing a condition called carbunculosis.
Prevention
The following may help prevent the spread of infection:
Antibacterial soaps
Antiseptic (germ-killing) washes
Good hygiene (such as thorough handwashing)
Complications
Abscess of the skin, spinal cord, brain, kidneys, or other organ
Brain infection
Endocarditis
Osteomyelitis
Permanent scarring
Sepsis
Spinal cord infection
Spread of infection to other parts of the body or skin surfaces
When to contact a doctor
Call for an appointment with your health care provider if furuncles:
Appear on the face or spine
Continue to occur
Do not heal with home treatment within 1 week
Occur along with a fever, red streaks extending out from the sore,
large fluid collections around the boil, or other symptoms
US sees drop in dangerous hospital staph illnesses
By LINDSEY TANNER (AP) – 22 hours ago
CHICAGO — Aggressive, drug-resistant staph infections caught in
hospitals or from medical treatment are becoming scarcer, another sign
of progress in a prevention effort that has become a national public
health priority.
The decline was seen in a federal study of methicillin-resistant
staph, or MRSA. The bug often causes only a boil or skin infection.
But researchers in the study focused on invasive cases that can become
deadly, invading the bloodstream, flesh, lungs and bones.
Researchers found that in nine metro areas, cases of MRSA (MUR’-suh)
fell about 16 percent between 2005 and 2008. That translates to a drop
from about 32 cases per 100,000 to 26 cases per 100,000 people.
The results suggest aggressive efforts to stop the germ from spreading
are working, researchers said. Such efforts include better hand-
washing by doctors and nurses, and testing for MRSA when patients are
admitted to the hospital.
“We’re very encouraged by the results,” said Dr. Alexander Kallen of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the study’s lead
author. But he added, “It’s still too early to celebrate. A lot of
work needs to be done about better ways to eliminate MRSA.”
The researchers focused on invasive MRSA in hospital patients or those
who recently got treatment in a hospital or other health-care setting,
including kidney dialysis patients.
This decline in cases follows another CDC report last year that found
invasive MRSA infections in intensive care units had fallen.
While the overall rate declined, skin and soft tissue infections
remained mostly unchanged; these include fearsome flesh-eating
infections that can be disfiguring and even deadly. Still, these cases
were rare in the study.
Also, the report didn’t address MRSA infections that occur in schools,
locker rooms and other ordinary settings. Some reports have suggested
those may be on the rise.
Cases in the community are “a tougher nut to crack” because there’s
more uncertainty about what makes people outside health-care settings
vulnerable to MRSA, said Dr. Jaime Belmares, an infectious disease
specialist at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill.
Loyola is among hospitals around the country that have begun testing
all incoming hospital patients for MRSA, and then isolating and
treating these who have it. Belmares said incidence of MRSA at his
hospital has fallen since it launched universal testing in 2007.
Healthy people commonly carry staph germs on their skin and in the
nose. Overuse of antibiotics has made some strains tough to fight when
they cause illness.
An earlier CDC report on invasive diseases estimated that there were
more than 90,000 cases of MRSA nationwide in 2005. Kallen and
colleagues didn’t offer a national estimate.
Their report is in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical
Association. A JAMA editorial said the report highlights an important
lesson — that understanding of MRSA incidence is somewhat limited and
that better surveillance is needed. Government monitoring of the
disease should expand beyond the nine regions studied to include rural
areas and eventually all 50 states, the editorial said.
___
Online:
JAMA:
CDC:
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
CDC: MRSA Cases Decreasing In Hospitals
Aug 10, 2010 9:01 pm
US/Eastern CDC: MRSA Cases Decreasing In Hospitals Reporting
Dr. Maria Simbra PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
AP
MRSA, or methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, can be a serious
infection.
“There are certain types of infection, like blood stream infections,
or wound infections after surgery that you can get after MRSA that
either will require longer durations of antibiotics or maybe another
trip back to the OR to get out the tissue that’s infected,” explains
Dr. Carlene Muto, head of infection control at UPMC.
MRSA is a bacterial infection – a staph infection – caused by a strain
that’s resistant to common antibiotics for staph infections.
Around the turn of the century, the number of cases caused some alarm.
Up until that point, there were really not consistent interventions in
place across the country.
In 2005, about 100,000 people had this and about one in five died.
Considering how serious it can be, the CDC has some encouraging news
in MRSA trends.
A CDC study is now showing a reversal. From 2005 to 2008, based on 15
million people in nine cities across the country, researchers found
the cases of MRSA in hospitals and in communities decreasing.
“The study showed that over this four-year time period there was about
a 28 percent decrease in these serious MRSA infections that start in
the hospital,” says Dr. Alexander Kallen at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. “There was also about a 17 percent decrease in
these infections that start in people outside the hospital but are in
people that have contact with the health care system.”
“This is the first very large population based study,” Dr. Muto
continues. “This is 15 million people, and if you can show it in nine
different settings across the country that those rates came down, it
can happen anywhere.”
While the paper can’t address why there’s a decrease, many believe
it’s because of the interventions put in place since MRSA got so much
attention at the beginning of the decade. Interventions include wider
availability of hand sanitizer, better hand-washing, more care with
special IVs called central lines and increased tracking.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Jan 19, 2009 9:09 pm US/Eastern
MRSA Rising In Kids’ Ear, Nose, Throat infections
CHICAGO (AP)
Researchers say they found an “alarming” increase in children’s ear,
nose and throat infections nationwide caused by dangerous drug-
resistant staph germs. Other studies have shown rising numbers of skin
infections in adults and children caused by these germs, nicknamed
MRSA, but this is the first nationwide report on how common they are
in deeper tissue infections in the head and neck, the study authors
said. These include certain ear and sinus infections, and abcesses
that can form in the tonsils and throat.
The study found a total of 21,009 pediatric head and neck infections
caused by staph germs from 2001 through 2006. The percentage caused by
hard-to-treat MRSA bacteria more than doubled during that time from
almost 12 percent to 28 percent.
“In most parts of the United States, there’s been an alarming rise,”
said study author Dr. Steven Sobol, a children’s head and neck
specialist at Emory University.
The study appears in January’s Archives of Otolaryngology, released
Monday.
It is based on nationally representative information from an
electronic database that collects lab results from more than 300
hospitals nationwide.
MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, can cause
dangerous, life-threatening invasive infections and doctors believe
inappropriate use of antibiotics has contributed to its rise.
The study didn’t look at the severity of MRSA illness in affected
children.
Almost 60 percent of the MRSA infections found in the study were
thought to have been contracted outside a hospital setting.
Dr. Robert Daum, a University of Chicago expert in community-acquired
MRSA, said the study should serve as an alert to agencies that fund
U.S. research “that this is a major public health problem.”
MRSA involvement in adult head and neck infections has been reported
although data on prevalence is scarce.
MRSA infections were once limited mostly to hospitals, nursing homes
and other health-care settings but other studies have shown they are
increasingly picked up in the community, in otherwise healthy people.
This can happen through direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with
surfaces contaminated with germs from cuts and other open wounds.
But staph germs also normally live or “colonize” on the skin and in
other tissues including inside the nose and throat, without causing
symptoms. And other studies have shown that for poorly understood
reasons, the number of people who carry MRSA germs is also on the
rise.
Sobol said MRSA head and neck infections most likely develop in MRSA
carriers, who become susceptible because of ear, nose or throat
infections caused by some other bug. Symptoms that it could be MRSA
include ear infections that drain pus, or swollen neck lymph nodes
caused by pus draining from a throat or nose abcess.
Unlike cold and flu bugs, MRSA germs aren’t airborne and don’t spread
through sneezing.
MRSA does not respond to penicillin-based antibiotics and doctors are
concerned that it is becoming resistant to others.
The study authors said a worrisome 46 percent of MRSA infections
studied were resistant to the antibiotic clindamycin, one of the non-
penicillin drugs doctors often rely on to treat community-acquired
MRSA. However, other doctors said it’s more likely that at least some
of infections thought to be community-acquired had actually originated
in a hospital or other health-care setting, where MRSA resistance to
clindamycin is common.
Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center, said the research “fits nicely” with
smaller studies reporting local increases in MRSA head and neck
infections.
“Every time someone looks, the rates of MRSA are going up and that’s
certainly concerning because it’s a bug that can cause dramatic
disease,” Creech said.
(© 2010 The Associated Press
Dec 11, 2007 10:56 am US/Eastern
Maryland Teacher Dies After Staph Complication
ROCKVILLE, Md. (CBS)
A Maryland public school teacher has died due to complications from a
drug-resistant form of staph infection, school officials said.
Herbert Hoover Middle School Principal Billie-Jean Bensen announced
the death Monday in a letter sent to parents and staff members. The
school planned to sanitize King’s classroom as a precaution.
Special education teacher Merry King had been absent from the school
since Nov. 30 and had been hospitalized since early last week,
reported CBS station WJZ-TV in Baltimore.
King’s daughter said she died Sunday evening due to complications from
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.
School officials said there was no reason to believe anyone at the
school has a greater-than-normal risk of contracting the infection.
There was no indication the bacteria was contracted at the school,
said spokesman Brian Edwards, however, the school will sanitize King’s
classroom as a precaution.
Dozens of cases of the infection have been reported in the Washington
region, but exact figures are not available because doctors are not
required to report MRSA to state health authorities.
An estimated 90,000 people in the United States fall ill each year
from MRSA. It is not clear how many die from the infection; one
estimate put it at more than 18,000, which would be slightly higher
than U.S. deaths from AIDS.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The
Associated Press contributed to this report.)
…and I am Sid Harth
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
“MRSA” redirects here. For other uses, see MRSA (disambiguation).
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
SEM micrograph of MRSA.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria
Phylum: Firmicutes
Class: Cocci
Order: Bacillales
Family: Staphylococcaceae
Genus: Staphylococcus
Species: S. aureus
Binomial name
Staphylococcus aureus
Rosenbach 1884
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium
responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It
may also be called multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or
oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA).
MRSA is, by definition, any strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria
that has developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, which
include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin,
oxacillin, etc.) and the cephalosporins.
MRSA is especially troublesome in hospitals, where patients with open
wounds, invasive devices and weakened immune systems are at greater
risk of infection than the general public.
[edit] Signs and symptoms
A ruptured MRSA abscess
S. aureus most commonly colonizes the anterior nares (the nostrils),
although the respiratory tract, opened wounds, intravenous catheters,
and urinary tract are also potential sites for infection. Healthy
individuals may carry MRSA asymptomatically for periods ranging from a
few weeks to many years. Patients with compromised immune systems are
at a significantly greater risk of symptomatic secondary infection.
MRSA can be detected by swabbing the nostrils of patients and
isolating the bacteria found inside. Combined with extra sanitary
measures for those in contact with infected patients, screening
patients admitted to hospitals has been found to be effective in
minimizing the spread of MRSA in hospitals in the United States[1],
Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands.[2]
MRSA may progress substantially within 24–48 hours of initial topical
symptoms. After 72 hours, MRSA can take hold in human tissues and
eventually become resistant to treatment. The initial presentation of
MRSA is small red bumps that resemble pimples, spider bites, or boils
that may be accompanied by fever and occasionally rashes. Within a few
days the bumps become larger, more painful, and eventually open into
deep, pus-filled boils.[3] About 75 percent of community-associated
(CA-) MRSA infections are localized to skin and soft tissue and
usually can be treated effectively. However, some CA-MRSA strains
display enhanced virulence, spreading more rapidly and causing illness
much more severe than traditional healthcare-associated (HA-) MRSA
infections, and they can affect vital organs and lead to widespread
infection (sepsis), toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing (“flesh-
eating”) pneumonia. This is thought to be due to toxins carried by CA-
MRSA strains, such as PVL and PSM, though PVL was recently found to
not be a factor in a study by the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the NIH. It is not known why some
healthy people develop CA-MRSA skin infections that are treatable
whereas others infected with the same strain develop severe infections
or die.[4]
The most common manifestations of CA-MRSA are skin infections such as
necrotizing fasciitis or pyomyositis (most commonly found in the
tropics), necrotizing pneumonia, infective endocarditis (which affects
the valves of the heart), or bone or joint infections.[5] CA-MRSA
often results in abscess formation that requires incision and
drainage. Before the spread of MRSA into the community, abscesses were
not considered contagious because it was assumed that infection
required violation of skin integrity and the introduction of
staphylococci from normal skin colonization. However, newly emerging
CA-MRSA is transmissible (similar, but with very important
differences) from Hospital-Associated MRSA. CA-MRSA is less likely
than other forms of MRSA to cause cellulitis.
[edit] Risk factors
At risk populations include:
•People with weak immune systems (people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer
patients, transplant recipients, severe asthmatics, etc.)
•Diabetics
•Intravenous drug users
•Use of quinolone antibiotics[6]
•Young children
•The elderly
•College students living in dormitories
•People staying or working in a health care facility for an extended
period of time
•People who spend time in coastal waters where MRSA is present, such
as some beaches in Florida and the west coast of the United States[7]
[8]
•People who spend time in confined spaces with other people, including
prison inmates, soldiers in basic training[9], and individuals who
spend considerable time in changerooms or gyms.
[edit] Hospital patients
Many MRSA infections occur in hospitals and healthcare facilities,
with a higher incidence rate in nursing homes or long-term care
facilities. Rates of MRSA infection are also increased in hospitalised
patients who are treated with quinolones. Healthcare provider-to-
patient transfer is common, especially when healthcare providers move
from patient to patient without performing necessary hand-washing
techniques between patients.[6][10]
[edit] Prison inmates
In confined environments such as prisons, with continual admission of
new members who may typically be in poor health and adopt poor hygiene
practices, there have been a number of challenges reported first in
the U.S. and then in Canada. The earliest reports were made by the CDC
in state prisons. Subsequently reports of a massive rise in skin and
soft tissue infections were reported by the CDC in the Los Angeles
County Jail system in 2001, and this has continued. Pan et al.
reported on the changing epidemiology of MRSA skin infection in the
San Francisco County Jail, noting the MRSA accounted for >70% of S.
aureus infection in the jail by 2002. Lowy and colleagues reported on
frequent MRSA skin infections in New York State Prisons. Two reports
on inmates in Maryland have demonstrated frequent colonization with
MRSA.
In the news media hundreds of reports of MRSA outbreaks in prisons
appeared between 2000 and 2008. For example, in February 2008, The
Tulsa County Jail in the U.S. State of Oklahoma started treating an
average of twelve Staphylococcus cases per month.[11] A report on skin
and soft tissue infections in the Cook County Jail in Chicago in
2004-5 demonstrated that MRSA was the most common cause of these
infections among cultured lesions and furthermore that few risk
factors were more strongly associated with MRSA infections than
infections caused by methicillin-susceptible S. aureus. In response to
these and many other reports on MRSA infections among incarcerated and
recently incarcerated persons, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has
released guidelines for the management and control of the infections
although few studies provide an evidence base for these guidelines.
[edit] People in contact with live food-producing animals
Cases of MRSA have increased in livestock animals. CC398 is a new
clone of MRSA that has emerged in animals and is found in intensively
reared production animals (primarily pigs, but also cattle and
poultry), where it can be transmitted to humans. Although being
dangerous to humans CC398 is often asymptomatic in food-producing
animals.[12]
[edit] Athletes
In the United States, there have been increasing numbers of reports of
outbreaks of MRSA colonization and infection through skin contact in
locker rooms and gyms, even among healthy populations. A study
published in the New England Journal of Medicine[13] linked MRSA to
the abrasions caused by artificial turf. Three studies by the Texas
State Department of Health found that the infection rate among
football players was 16 times the national average. In October 2006, a
high school football player was temporarily paralyzed from MRSA-
infected turf burns. His infection returned in January 2007 and
required three surgeries to remove infected tissue, as well as three
weeks of hospital stay.[14] MRSA has also been found in the public
school systems throughout the country.[15]
[edit] Children
MRSA is also becoming a problem in pediatric settings,[16] including
hospital nurseries.[17] A 2007 study found that 4.6% of patients in
U.S. health care facilities were infected or colonized with MRSA.[18]
[edit] Diagnosis
Mueller Hinton agar showing MRSA resistant to oxacillin disk
Diagnostic microbiology laboratories and reference laboratories are
key for identifying outbreaks of MRSA. New rapid techniques for the
identification and characterization of MRSA have been developed. This
notwithstanding, the bacterium generally must be cultured via blood,
urine, sputum, or other body fluid cultures, and grown up in the lab
in sufficient numbers to perform these confimatory tests first, so
there is no quick and easy method to diagnose an MRSA infection,
therefore initial treatment is often based upon ‘strong suspicion’ by
the treating physician, since any delay in treating this type of
infection can have fatal consequences. These techniques include Real-
time PCR and Quantitative PCR and are increasingly being employed in
clinical laboratories for the rapid detection and identification of
MRSA strains.[19][20]
Another common laboratory test is a rapid latex agglutination test
that detects the PBP2a protein. PBP2a is a variant penicillin-binding
protein that imparts the ability of S. aureus to be resistant to
oxacillin.[21]
[edit] Strains
In the UK, where MRSA is commonly called “Golden Staph”, the most
common strains of MRSA are EMRSA15 and EMRSA16.[22] EMRSA16 is the
best described epidemiologically: it originated in Kettering, England,
and the full genomic sequence of this strain has been published.[23]
EMRSA16 has been found to be identical to the ST36:USA200 strain,
which circulates in the United States, and to carry the SCCmec type
II, enterotoxin A and toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 genes.[24] Under
the new international typing system, this strain is now called
MRSA252. It is not entirely certain why this strain has become so
successful, whereas previous strains have failed to persist. One
explanation is the characteristic pattern of antibiotic
susceptibility. Both the EMRSA15 and EMRSA16 strains are resistant to
erythromycin and ciprofloxacin. It is known that Staphylococcus aureus
can survive intracellularly,[25] and these are precisely the
antibiotics that best penetrate intracellularly; it may be that these
strains of S. aureus are therefore able to exploit an intracellular
niche.
Community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) is more easily treated, though more
virulent, than hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA). CA-MRSA apparently
did not evolve de novo in the community but represents a hybrid
between MRSA that spread from the hospital environment and strains
that were once easily treatable in the community. Most of the hybrid
strains also acquired a factor that increases their virulence,
resulting in the development of deep-tissue infections from minor
scrapes and cuts, as well as many cases of fatal pneumonia.[26]
In the United States, most cases of CA-MRSA are caused by a CC8 strain
designated ST8:USA300, which carries SCCmec type IV, Panton-Valentine
leukocidin, PSM-alpha and enterotoxins Q and K,[24] and ST1:USA400.
[27] Other community-acquired strains of MRSA are ST8:USA500 and
ST59:USA1000. In many nations of the world, MRSA strains with
different predominant genetic background types have come to
predominate among CA-MRSA strains; USA300 easily tops the list in the
U. S. and is becoming more common in Canada after its first appearance
there in 2004. For example, in Australia ST93 strains are common,
while in continental Europe ST80 strains predominate (Tristan et al.,
Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2006). In Taiwan, ST59 strains, some of
which are resistant to many non-beta-lactam antibiotics, have arisen
as common causes of skin and soft tissue infections in the community.
In a remote region of Alaska, unlike most of the continental U. S.,
USA300 was found rarely in a study of MRSA strains from outbreaks in
1996 and 2000 as well as in surveillance from 2004-6 (David et al.,
Emerg Infect Dis 2008).
[edit] Prevention
[edit] Screening programs
Patient screening upon hospital admission, with nasal cultures,
prevents the cohabitation of MRSA carriers with non-carriers, and
exposure to infected surfaces. The test used (whether a rapid
molecular method or traditional culture) is not as important as the
implementation of active screening.[28] In the United States and
Canada, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued
guidelines on October 19, 2006, citing the need for additional
research, but declined to recommend such screening.[29][30]
In some UK hospitals screening for MRSA is performed in every
patient[31] and all NHS surgical patients, except for minor surgeries,
are previous checked for MRSA.[32]
In a US cohort of 1300 healthy children, 2.4% carried MRSA in their
nose.[33]
[edit] Surface sanitizing
NAV-CO2 sanitizing in Pennsylvania hospital exam room
Alcohol has been proven to be an effective surface sanitizer against
MRSA. Quaternary ammonium can be used in conjunction with alcohol to
extend the longevity of the sanitizing action.[34] The prevention of
nosocomial infections involves routine and terminal cleaning. Non-
flammable Alcohol Vapor in Carbon Dioxide systems (NAV-CO2) do not
corrode metals or plastics used in medical environments and do not
contribute to antibacterial resistance.
In healthcare environments, MRSA can survive on surfaces and fabrics,
including privacy curtains or garments worn by care providers.
Complete surface sanitation is necessary to eliminate MRSA in areas
where patients are recovering from invasive procedures. Testing
patients for MRSA upon admission, isolating MRSA-positive patients,
decolonization of MRSA-positive patients, and terminal cleaning of
patients’ rooms and all other clinical areas they occupy is the
current best practice protocol for nosocomial MRSA.
[edit] Hand washing
At the end of August 2004, after a successful pilot scheme to tackle
MRSA, the UK National Health Service announced its Clean Your Hands
campaign. Wards were required to ensure that alcohol-based hand rubs
are placed near all beds so that staff can hand wash more regularly.
It is thought that even if this cuts infection by no more than 1%, the
plan will pay for itself many times over.[citation needed]
As with some other bacteria, MRSA is acquiring more resistance to some
disinfectants and antiseptics. Although alcohol-based rubs remain
somewhat effective, a more effective strategy is to wash hands with
running water and an anti-microbial cleanser with persistent killing
action, such as Chlorhexidine[35]
A June 2008 report[citation needed], centered on a survey by the
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology,
concluded that poor hygiene habits remain the principal barrier to
significant reductions in the spread of MRSA.
[edit] Essential oil diffusion
An in vitro study on the inhibition of MRSA by essential oil diffusion
found that 72 of 91 investigated essential oils exhibited zones of
inhibition in soy agar plates streaked with MRSA (strain ATCC 700699).
The most effective being lemongrass oil (Cymbopogon flexuosus), lemon
myrtle oil (Backhousia citriodora), mountain savory oil (Satureja
montana), cinnamon oil (Cinnamomum verum), and melissa oil (Melissa
officinalis) essential oils. Of these, lemongrass essential oil was
the most effective, completely inhibiting all MRSA colony growth.[36]
Tea tree oil also kills all MRSA strains that have been tested.[37]
[edit] Decolonization
After the drainage of boils or other treatment for MRSA, patients can
shower at home using chlorhexidine (Hibiclens) or hexachlorophene
(Phisohex) antiseptic soap from head to toe, and apply mupirocin
(Bactroban) 2% ointment inside each nostril twice daily for 7 days,
using a cotton-tipped swab. Household members are recommended to
follow the same decolonization protocol.
Doctors may also prescribe antibiotics such as clindamycin,
doxycycline or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. However, there is very
little evidence that using more antibiotics actually has the effect of
preventing recurrent MRSA skin infections.[38]
[edit] Proper disposal of hospital gowns
Used paper hospital gowns are associated with MRSA hospital
infections, which could be avoided by proper disposal.[39]
[edit] Isolation
Current US guidance does not require workers in the general workplace
(excluding medical facilities) with MRSA infections to be routinely
excluded from going to work.[40] Therefore, unless directed by a
health care provider, exclusion from work should be reserved for those
with wound drainage that cannot be covered and contained with a clean,
dry bandage and for those who cannot maintain good hygiene practices.
[40] Workers with active infections should be excluded from activities
where skin-to-skin contact is likely to occur until their infections
are healed. Health care workers should follow the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention’s Guidelines for Infection Control in Health
Care Personnel.[41]
To prevent the spread of staph or MRSA in the workplace, employers
should ensure the availability of adequate facilities and supplies
that encourage workers to practice good hygiene; that surface
sanitizing in the workplace is followed; and that contaminated
equipment are sanitized with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-
registered disinfectants.[40]
[edit] Restricting antibiotic use
Glycopeptides, cephalosporins and in particular quinolones are
associated with an increased risk of colonisation of MRSA. Reducing
use of antibiotic classes that promote MRSA colonisation, especially
fluoroquinolones, is recommended in current guidelines.[6][10]
[edit] Public health considerations
Mathematical models describe one way in which a loss of infection
control can occur after measures for screening and isolation seem to
be effective for years, as happened in the UK. In the “search and
destroy” strategy that was employed by all UK hospitals until the
mid-1990s, all patients with MRSA were immediately isolated, and all
staff were screened for MRSA and were prevented from working until
they had completed a course of eradication therapy that was proven to
work. Loss of control occurs because colonised patients are discharged
back into the community and then readmitted; when the number of
colonised patients in the community reaches a certain threshold, the
“search and destroy” strategy is overwhelmed.[42] One of the few
countries not to have been overwhelmed by MRSA is the Netherlands: An
important part of the success of the Dutch strategy may have been to
attempt eradication of carriage upon discharge from hospital.[43]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that
each year in the United States there are about 1.7 million nosocomial
infections in hospitals and 99,000 associated deaths. The estimated
incidence is 4.5 nosocomial infections per 100 admissions, with direct
costs (at 2004 prices) ranging from $10,500 (£5300, €8000 at 2006
rates) per case (for bloodstream, urinary tract, or respiratory
infections in immunocompetent patients) to $111,000 (£57,000, €85,000)
per case for antibiotic-resistant infections in the bloodstream in
patients with transplants. With these numbers, conservative estimates
of the total direct costs of nosocomial infections are above $17
billion. The reduction of such infections forms an important component
of efforts to improve healthcare safety. (BMJ 2007)[citation needed]
This problem is not unique to one country; the British National Audit
Office estimated that the incidence of nosocomial infections in Europe
ranges from 4% to 10% of all hospital admissions. As of early 2005,
the number of deaths in the United Kingdom attributed to MRSA has been
estimated by various sources to lie in the area of 3,000 per year.[44]
Staphylococcus bacteria account for almost half of all UK hospital
infections. The issue of MRSA infections in hospitals has recently
been a major political issue in the UK, playing a significant role in
the debates over health policy in the United Kingdom general election
held in 2005.
On January 6, 2008, half of 64 non-Chinese cases of MRSA infections in
Hong Kong in 2007 were Filipino domestic helpers. Ho Pak-leung,
professor of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, traced the
cause to high use of antibiotics. In 2007, there were 166 community
cases in Hong Kong compared with 8,000 hospital-acquired MRSA case
(155 recorded cases — 91 involved Chinese locals, 33 Filipinos, 5 each
for Americans and Indians, and 2 each from Nepal, Australia, Denmark
and England).[45]
Worldwide, an estimated 2 billion people carry some form of S. aureus;
of these, up to 53 million (2.7% of carriers) are thought to carry
MRSA.[46] In the United States, 95 million carry S. aureus in their
noses; of these, 2.5 million (2.6% of carriers) carry MRSA.[47] A
population review conducted in three U.S. communities showed the
annual incidence of CA-MRSA during 2001–2002 to be 18–25.7/100,000;
most CA-MRSA isolates were associated with clinically relevant
infections, and 23% of patients required hospitalization.[48]
One possible contribution to the increased spread of MRSA infections
comes from the use of antibiotics in intensive pig farming. A 2008
study in Canada found MRSA in 10% of tested pork chops and ground
pork; a U.S. study in the same year found MRSA in the noses of 70% of
the tested farm pigs and in 45% of the tested pig farm workers.[49]
There have also been anecdotal reports of increased MRSA infection
rates in rural communities with pig farms.[50]
Healthcare facilities with high bed occupancy rates, high levels of
temporary nursing staff, or low cleanliness scores no longer have
significantly higher MRSA rates. Simple tabular evidence helps provide
a clear picture of these changes, showing, for instance, that
hospitals with occupancy over 90% had, in 2006–2007, MRSA rates little
above those in hospitals with occupancy below 85%, in contrast to the
period 2001-2004. In one sense, the disappearance of these
relationships is puzzling. Reporters now blame IV cannula and
catheters for spreading MRSA in hospitals. (Hospital organisation and
speciality mix, 2008)[citation needed]
[edit] Treatment
Both CA-MRSA and HA-MRSA are resistant to traditional anti-
staphylococcal beta-lactam antibiotics, such as cephalexin. CA-MRSA
has a greater spectrum of antimicrobial susceptibility, including to
sulfa drugs (like co-trimoxazole/trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole),
tetracyclines (like doxycycline and minocycline) and clindamycin, but
the drug of choice for treating CA-MRSA has not been established.[5].
HA-MRSA is resistant even to these antibiotics and often is
susceptible only to vancomycin. Newer drugs, such as linezolid
(belonging to the newer oxazolidinones class) and daptomycin, are
effective against both CA-MRSA and HA-MRSA.
Vancomycin and teicoplanin are glycopeptide antibiotics used to treat
MRSA infections.[51] Teicoplanin is a structural congener of
vancomycin that has a similar activity spectrum but a longer half-life.
[52] Because the oral absorption of vancomycin and teicoplanin is very
low, these agents must be administered intravenously to control
systemic infections.[53] Treatment of MRSA infection with vancomycin
can be complicated, due to its inconvenient route of administration.
Moreover, many clinicians believe that the efficacy of vancomycin
against MRSA is inferior to that of anti-staphylococcal beta-lactam
antibiotics against MSSA.[54][55]
Several newly discovered strains of MRSA show antibiotic resistance
even to vancomycin and teicoplanin. These new evolutions of the MRSA
bacterium have been dubbed Vancomycin intermediate-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (VISA).[56][57] Linezolid, quinupristin/
dalfopristin(synercid), daptomycin, and tigecycline are used to treat
more severe infections that do not respond to glycopeptides such as
vancomycin.[58]
[edit] History
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a
worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss
the issue on the talk page.
A colorized SEM of MRSA.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was discovered in 1961 in
the United Kingdom. It made its first major appearance in the United
States in 1981 among intravenous drug users. MRSA is often referred to
in the press as a “superbug“. The number of MRSA infections in the
United States has been increasing significantly. A 2007 report in
Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), estimated the number of MRSA infections
in hospitals doubled nationwide, from approximately 127,000 in 1999 to
278,000 in 2005, while at the same time annual deaths increased from
11,000 to more than 17,000.[59] Another study led by the CDC and
published in the October 17, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association estimated that MRSA would have been responsible
for 94,360 serious infections and associated with 18,650 hospital stay-
related deaths in the United States in 2005.[60][61] These figures
suggest that MRSA infections are responsible for more deaths in the
U.S. each year than AIDS.[62]
The Office for National Statistics reported 1,629 MRSA-related deaths
in England and Wales during 2005, indicating a MRSA-related mortality
rate half the rate of that in the United States for 2005, even though
the figures from the British source were explained to be high because
of “improved levels of reporting, possibly brought about by the
continued high public profile of the disease”[63] during the time of
the 2005 United Kingdom General Election. MRSA is thought to have
caused 1,652 deaths in 2006 in UK up from 51 in 1993.[64]
It has been argued that the observed increased mortality among MRSA-
infected patients may be the result of the increased underlying
morbidity of these patients. Several studies, however, including one
by Blot and colleagues, that have adjusted for underlying disease
still found MRSA bacteremia to have a higher attributable mortality
than methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) bacteremia.
[65]
While the statistics suggest a national epidemic growing out of
control, it has been difficult to quantify the degree of morbidity and
mortality attributable to MRSA. A population-based study of the
incidence of MRSA infections in San Francisco during 2004-5
demonstrated that nearly 1 in 300 residents suffered from such an
infection in the course of a year and that greater than 85% of these
infections occurred outside of the healthcare setting.[66] A 2004
study showed that patients in the United States with S. aureus
infection had, on average, three times the length of hospital stay
(14.3 vs. 4.5 days), incurred three times the total cost ($48,824 vs
$14,141), and experienced five times the risk of in-hospital death
(11.2% vs 2.3%) than patients without this infection.[67] In a meta-
analysis of 31 studies, Cosgrove et al.,[68] concluded that MRSA
bacteremia is associated with increased mortality as compared with
MSSA bacteremia (odds ratio = 1.93; 95% CI = 1.93±0.39).[69] In
addition, Wyllie et al. report a death rate of 34% within 30 days
among patients infected with MRSA, a rate similar to the death rate of
27% seen among MSSA-infected patients.[70]
MRSA is sometimes sub-categorized as community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA)
or healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA), although the distinction is
complex. Some researchers have defined CA-MRSA by the characteristics
of patients whom it infects, while others define it by the genetic
characteristics of the bacteria themselves.
The first reported cases of CA-MRSA began to appear in the mid-1990s
in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom,
France, Finland, Canada and Samoa, and were notable because they
involved people who had not been exposed to a healthcare setting.[5]
In 1997, four fatal cases were reported involving children from
Minnesota and North Dakota.[5] Over the next several years, it became
clear that CA-MRSA infections were caused by strains of MRSA that
differed from the older and better studied health care-associated
strains.[71]
[edit] Research
[edit] Clinical
It has been reported that maggot therapy to clean out necrotic tissue
of MRSA infection has been successful. Studies in diabetic patients
reported significantly shorter treatment times than those achieved
with standard treatments.[72][73][74]
Many antibiotics against MRSA are in phase II and phase III clinical
trials. eg:
•Phase III : ceftobiprole, Ceftaroline, Dalbavancin, Telavancin,
Aurograb, torezolid, iclaprim…
•Phase II : nemonoxacin[75].
[edit] Pre-clinical
An entirely different and promising approach is phage therapy (e.g.,
at the Eliava Institute in Georgia[76]), which in mice had a reported
efficacy against up to 95% of tested Staphylococcus isolates.[77]
On May 18, 2006, a report in Nature identified a new antibiotic,
called platensimycin, that had demonstrated successful use against
MRSA.[78][79]
Ocean-dwelling living sponges produce compounds that may make MRSA
more susceptible to antibiotics.[80]
Cannabinoids (components of Cannabis sativa), including Δ9-
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN),
cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabigerol (CBG), show activity against a
variety of MRSA strains. [81]
[edit] References
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…and I am Sid Harth
News, Views and Reviews
MRSA
11/08/2010
« Guess who is Coming to Dinner, Disaster: Sid Harth
Dan Rostenkowski, no More: Sid Harth »
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/04/05/hindus-tantrum-sid-harth/?preview=true&preview_id=37&preview_nonce=4d7ea47a7c
Bharata Bharati
March 21, 2010
Today the gravest threat to Hindu dharma comes from Indian passport
holding Sanyasis with trans-national and trans-religious sympathies.
They profess great solicitude for their white foreign or rich PIO
bhaktas and the creature comforts accruing from this allegiance (first
class air fares, limousines at the other end, five star accommodation,
etc). They openly engage foreign faiths and governments in dialogue,
the aims, objectives and outcomes of which are hidden from Hindu
Indians, and brazenly dismiss the grave threat posed to Hindu dharma
on Bharat bhumi by trans-national ideologies and religions.
Indians who abandoned their bhumi for pure economic gains, gloating
about leaving the license permit raj and corrupt quota regime at home,
could not have suddenly turned religious-cultural unless their host
countries permitted it. They would have realised this when rabid anti-
Hindu scholars conducted a vicious campaign against American Hindus
associated with fund-raising for RSS social activities in India.
Another wake up call would have been the shabby experience in the
California textbook case. Now Hindus (including our Global Hindu) have
run away from the Texas textbook controversy; those associated with
RSS once have long gone underground, or reinvented themselves as
‘objective’ critics of the Sangh Parivar!
We reiterate that Hindu dharma belongs to the Hindu bhumi and Indian
Hindu people. The white Christian attempt to de-link dharma from the
land is an idea whose time is gone; the full weight of globetrotting
sanyasis (such as it may be) will not succeed in making foreign
bhaktas or ex-Indian bhaktas the ‘authentic’ voice of native Hindu
tradition. Globetrotting sanyasis would do well to read the writing on
the wall and retreat to the safety of their Hindu havens, expelling
possible mischief-making white bhaktas before they launch a full-scale
war for ashram properties and assets. Those comfortable with white
bhaktas should settle on those shores.
Finally, it will surely be asked whom am I to make these startling
prescriptions. I derive my courage from the Vedas which are explicit –
Dharma is that which is stated by one wise man (this is gender
neutral, by the way), not that which is voted by an assembly of fools.
Let the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha not be an assembly of fools; let it
abandon its faux international (read anti-national) agenda.
Global Foundation for Civilizational Harmony: Historically
theosophical societies and sex scandals have gone together. Watch this
space …
The pornographic scandal involving the globe-trotting Nityananda, a
founder-member of the Global Foundation for Civilisational Harmony
(GFCH) and close associate of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, convener,
Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, has violated the most profound
civilisational patents of the Sanatana Dharma with frightening
nonchalance.
So extreme is the trivialization of the issues involved in the
scandal, so insistent the clamour by those without adhikāra to declaim
upon Dharma on this bhumi, that we need first and foremost to assert
unequivocally the inalienable relationship between Dharma, Bharat
Bhumi and Bharat Jana (people). Who, according to Hindu tradition, has
the right to speak for Hindu dharma on Hindu bhumi is the crux of our
concern.
Dharma vests in the Jambudvipa of Bharat
In Hindu tradition, a human being’s true identity is spiritual and
transcendental, and can be realised only inwardly in terms of his
relationship to the Absolute (parabrahman). But in the material world,
man’s identity is psycho-physical and social; this bestows him with
the ritual eligibility (adhikāra) to act to attain the goals of human
existence (purusarthas). Critical to any discussion of the identity of
a people is their self-image and self-definition, in which their
perception of their geography plays a crucial role.
Indians have from hoary times made a distinction between natives and
foreigners, based not on racial awareness but upon the unique
character of the Indian ethos. Modern race consciousness of skin and
colour was never part of Hindu tradition (hence the resistance to the
colonial imposition of the Aryan race theory). The Rgveda Samhita uses
the word ‘Arya’ to denote a pious householder; the term evolved to
mean noble, cultured, a contrast to the mleccha or barbarian/outsider.
Hindu tradition subsumes all primal identities of jana (clan, tribe,
later people or viśah) and gotra (also clan, tribe) in the pan-India
Varna system – a hierarchy that is socio-ethical and ritual, but not
ethnic. Being embedded or estranged from the Varna system marks the
Indian from the foreigner; the system of Monarchy also welded smaller
clan identities into a larger socio-political and cultural whole.
Traditional social identity was thus associated with Varnasrama
dharma, gotra, janapada; this underlay social and ritual rights and
obligations, adhikāra…
All Hindu ritual begins with a resolve (sankalpa) in which one recalls
one’s place in space and time. The traditional formula recalls one’s
belonging to Jambudvipa or Bharatvarsa. Jambudvipa is the primordial
unity of the Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina streams. In Buddhist tradition,
the Buddhas and Cakkavattis (chakravartins) can be born ONLY in
Jambudvipa. The Jain concept of Jambudvipa is larger and includes
Bharata as one of its seven regions. Bharata is divided into six
regions; the Tirthankaras and Cakravartins are born in the Arya
janapadas alone.
Puranas divide the earth into seven dvipas (regions, not islands);
Jambudvipa is the centre and is divided into nine Varsas; Bharata is
one of them. Bharatavarsa is named after the legendary Bharata and is
defined as the land north of the ocean and south of Himalayas
(Vishnupurana 2.3.1). Here the system of four Varnas, Caturvarnya,
operates; hence it is the only place where proper practice of religion
is possible as Varnasrmadharma makes the performance of svadharma
possible. Hence Bharata alone is karmabhumi.
In other countries, bhoga is possible, but not karma, as without
adhikāra, karma is not possible. One cannot tread the path of
emancipation without treading the path of karma. The samkalpa-mantra
recalls the obligations to which one is heir by virtue of being born
in Bharatavarsa, and of the eligibility won by that place in moral and
religious life.
Bharat is thus a geo-cultural region where natural and cultural
frontiers correspond in terms of the Himalayas and the sea; but in the
north-west and north-east, the natural frontiers are not so clear and
even today merge into the lands of the barbarians who do not use
Sanskrit or follow the four-fold order…
Trans-national Hindus and trans-national loyalties of Globetrotting
Gurus
Rajiv Malhotra: American public relations expert: so far his public
relations efforts in India have been a disaster.
This civilisational patent – that Bharat alone is the punyabhumi where
dharma can be practiced properly, because here alone karma can be
expiated by Hindus living on this bhumi – is being grossly violated by
sanctimonious globetrotting swamis and rich officious Hindus who quit
this bhumi for foreign soil and citizenship. Guided by unseen but
readily discernible forces, these ex-Indians seek to impose
monotheistic ideologies, systems, values and mindsets upon Indian
Hindus – to facilitate the geo-political concerns of their white
masters who wish to continue to dominate the world any which way –
though they have no adhikāra to do so.
Today therefore, the gravest threat to Hindu dharma comes from Indian
passport holding Sanyasis with trans-national and trans-religious
sympathies. They profess great solicitude for their white foreign or
rich PIO bhaktas and the creature comforts accruing from this
allegiance (first class air fares, limousines at the other end, five
star accommodation, etc). They openly engage foreign faiths and
governments in dialogue, the aims, objectives and outcomes of which
are hidden from Hindu Indians, and brazenly dismiss the grave threat
posed to Hindu dharma on Bharat bhumi by trans-national ideologies and
religions.
Once the Nityananda sex scandal broke out on March 2, 2010, the
‘swami’ disappeared and a few days later issued a puerile statement to
the effect that he had done nothing ‘illegal;’ this firmly established
his guilt in the public domain. It was the duty of Hindu Dharma
Acharya Convener (HDAS) convener Swami Dayananda Saraswati (who unlike
Nityananda belongs to a proper religious lineage and has had training
in Vedic religion and culture), to ask the self-proclaimed ‘self-
realised’ Nityananda to remove his saffron robes and return to civil
society, being unfit to uphold the parampara of a sanyasi.
Hindu tradition permits certain priests and preceptors to marry. But
Nityananda perpetuated a fraud by posing as a brahmachari (celibate)
and jeevan-mukta (released from the bondage of life and death while
still living in the world). Doubts were voiced in private about his
character and spiritual attainments long before the current scandal
broke (he represents no Vedic parampara or rishi-acharya tradition);
but he was given a global platform in the Global Foundation for
Civilisational Harmony.
Global Foundation for Civilizational Harmony: What does the respected
Swami Dayananda Saraswati have to do with this outfit?
The GFCH is most likely an enterprise of Swami Dayananda, as it is
unlikely that either the Dalai Lama or former President APJ Abdul
Kalam (or for that matter Sri Sri Ravishankar; Acharya Mahapragya;
Archbishop Cardinal Oswald Gracias; Guru Baba Ramdev; Maulana Mahmood
Madani; Mata Amritanandmayi Devi; Paramhamsa Nityananda; Rabbi Ezekiel
Isaac Malekar or patron Zena Sorabjee) would have taken the initiative
to bring this group together. Hence it is almost certain that it is he
who invited Nityananda to form part of this august gathering, and he
is therefore accountable for Nityananda’s conduct.
It is going to be a terrible embarrassment for the Hindu community
when the other religious leaders and founder-members meet and remove
the impugned swami, if he does not resign with grace. Already much
damage has been done, and cannot be repaired, as the actress in the
sex video is a married lady who has confessed voluntary and regular
relations with Nityananda. That has effectively ended the feeble
claims of compromised videos and explains the inaction against Sun TV
and Dinakaran!
Swami Dayanandaji: The guru is ruined by the disciple’s ambitions.
Swami Dayananda, convener, Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha (HDAS), has
maintained an unacceptable silence in this sordid episode. Despite
this writers demands that Swamiji speak up, accept personal
responsibility for promoting a sweet talker without formal religious
training as a ‘global guru,’ and resign as convener, HDAS, he opted to
hide in the shadows. Instead, some useful idiots were deployed to
threaten me with a defamation case!
Even worse, a self-educated Global Hindu (person with citizenship of a
white Christian nation and no academic or religious training in Hindu
traditions, but is closely associated with Swami Dayananda and
promoted in HDAS for unknown reasons) was deployed to declaim, via the
internet, the official excuses for Nityananda. At first this officious
person asked everyone to shut up and floated a silly video interview
with Nityananda, who was hiding from official enquiries but was
available to the Global Hindu! This went down badly with Indian
officialdom, especially as rumours flew thick and fast that Nityananda
was getting refuge with a religious leader (sic) in Haridwar, where an
internationally famous lawyer was invited for legal consultation!
Reading the mood of ashram inmates, the Global Hindu backtracked and
asked Nityananda to resign all official positions in his set up. He
did not know that in Hindu tradition, a fallen monk must renounce the
saffron robe and return to civil society – a punishment worse than
death for sensitive souls. (It is what the writer demanded of Swami
Dayananda when she discovered him making a mockery of Hindu tradition
in the name of an oxymoron called Inter-Faith Dialogue, which shall be
the subject of a future article).
Global Hindu went further in his ignorance (avidya). Some years ago,
‘guided’ by white superiors, he had peddled a blueprint for cutting
and chopping the vast Hindu spiritual universe into a corporate
hierarchy with a single point of control that would be easier to
‘manage.’ By whom, he did not say, but it didn’t need Einstein to
figure that out.
All this was part of a larger effort to install Swami Dayananda
Saraswati as a Hindu Pope, make him the Sole Recognised Voice of Hindu
India, and then impose the agenda of the so-called Global Hindu upon
hapless Bharat. Persons like the writer saw through this charade from
the very first; needless to say, we have not been popular with Swami
Dayananda and his foreign bhaktas/friends.
Global Hindu-speak: Equating Hindu Dharma with Tantric Sex!
Rajiv Malhotra & Nithy the Tantrik: Are they the two new Kensey sex
researchers?
Global Hindu took the most astonishing route to defend/explain
Nityananda’s sex-with-a- married-woman act. I suspect this is part of
a pre-planned agenda to sensationalise Hindu dharma by equating it
with something called Tantric Sex, and thus demonise and diminish it
in the eyes of Hindu bhaktas – something reminiscent of Max Mueller’s
project to interpret the Vedas in a manner that would scandalize and
humiliate English-educated Hindus. It seems that the White Man –
burdened with the task of ruling and ruining the Creation – is unable
to invent a new modus operandi despite such a long criminal innings!
Anyway, Global Hindu said ‘the relationships between siddhis
(extraordinary yogic powers), morality, Tantra and sex’ is the
framework in which to interpret Nityananda. Under cover of a dialogue
with Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (whose spiritual
lineage is also unknown), Global Hindu suggested that there is NO
connection between yogic powers (siddhis) and morality, because
siddhis are a scientific phenomena in the sense that these powers can
be harnessed by anyone, and ‘science’ deals with truths that are
morally neutral. Comparing chalk to cheese, he said Einstein’s immoral
life would not invalidate his scientific theories. He ‘proved’ his
argument saying great siddhas like Ravana lacked morality.
Sri Sri said something equally inane. Had either gentleman a modicum
of Hindu learning, he would know that siddhis are acquired after great
tapas, from the benevolence of the great Devas and Devis, and are not
a mechanical acquisition like power on a solar energy panel. Further,
since the purpose of tapas and dhyana (meditation) is to move beyond
acquisition of siddhis (which only indicate the level of attainment),
the misuse of siddhis by Asuras and Danavas is dealt with via the
karmic process, which is why such formidable entities are invariably
defeated. The karmic trajectory is not morally neutral at all.
Don’t you know? He is TM thru and thru. But if that is a Vedic rishi
parampara we don’t know about it. Stupid us!
Global Hindu then asked Sri Sri (whose religious-academic credentials
are unknown), if the Shiva Sutras are valid? Now, those who think
Global Hindu has the adhikāra to pontificate on Hindu Dharma in India
must surely realise that the very question is un-Hindu and is
consistent with the Church objective of vilifying Hindu dharma in
parts to ultimately de-legitimise the whole. The Shiva Sutras are
valid for Shiva bhaktas, and that is it. The 112 spiritual
enlightenment techniques taught therein, with 6 delineating sexual
contact between male yogi and female yogini, are for seekers on that
path. They are not for everyone even within the Shaiva Sampradaya, are
not imposed on everyone, and cannot be denied to those who seek.
No one, much less a non-Indian, should have the temerity to try to
create Canon Law (Christian [religious] law) in Hindu dharma by asking
if any part of dharma is valid (or should be banned?). The American
Deepak Chopra is free to entertain his clients with sexual gymnastics;
his marketing techniques do not reflect the essence or even part of
Hindu dharma.
As for the view that Adi Sankara integrated the Vedic and Tantric
traditions, I can only say I am saddened that the defence of the
indefensible Nityananda has come to this. It is being claimed
Nityananda used Tantric techniques to arouse body energies; if he was
doing this with lay bhaktas with no knowledge of what they were
getting into, and with foreigners who have no conception of dharma but
only crave the exotic, one can only ponder the wisdom of those who
promoted this man to such an exalted position on the national and
international stage. (Indeed, this is precisely the reason why some of
us have been demanding that globetrotting swamis immediately cease and
desist from speaking on behalf of Hindu Dharma in international fora;
they diminish the grandeur and complexity of the tradition to make it
conform to the desires of politically savvy white men and women
pretending to be bhaktas).
Global Hindu is pleased that Tantra is being subjected to the clinical
experimentation of psychologists and other scientists examining latent
human energies and potentials. This is surely something likely to be
misused in places like Guantanamo Bay; do recall that the US was the
foremost buyer of Nazi concentration camp medical literature!
Sky-clad Naga sadhus: This Dasanami order was created to protect kavi-
wearing sanyasis from Muslim assassins.
I found it distasteful that Global Hindu could term our Naga Sadhus as
‘completely naked’ (his italics). A native Hindu would know that the
sadhu is digambar – sky-clad. He made it worse by saying he did not
regard the sadhus as ‘either vulgar or primitive’ and that Hindu
orthodoxy is contradictory because it rejects Tantra in public and
respects Naga sadhus and various symbols and rituals rooted in Tantra.
This is Christian gibberish at its best; it is impossible to answer
such intellectual vacuity.
After this buildup, Global Hindu defended the meditation techniques
taught by Nityananda, adding that there is ‘nothing inherent about sex
that is rejected by Hinduism across the board…’ as brahmacharya
(sexual abstinence) is just one spiritual path… Amidst a mountain of
obfuscation, Global Hindu slyly lets out that Nityananda confessed to
him that the Shiva Sutras have two categories of techniques. While
most sutras do not involve physical contact with another person, for a
small number of persons the 6 sutras involving sexual Tantra need to
be tested and perfected for modern times, before they can be safely
taught more widely; Nityananda considered this a legitimate R&D as is
done in a lab for developing a product!
Nithy & Ranjitha: Research and Development, eh?
I have never heard anything so obscene in my life. This R&D obviously
has a white western audience in mind; Devi alone knows what all he did
and with whom. It seems fair to conclude that the perversion was on a
fairly large scale, as Global Hindu reveals: ‘I believe that he even
entered into written legal contracts with them to make sure that both
parties were clear about the arrangement. The reason for this “Non-
Disclosure Agreement” was to make sure that someone who willingly
approaches him for Tantra does not later accuse him of physical
contact..’
This is appalling. A Hindu guru actually sought and took legal advice
and ordered the drafting of a legal document that would ‘empower’ him
to have sex with men and/or women disciples without legal hassles! To
be legally valid, such documents would have been attested by a Public
Notary or Oath Commissioner, this merits an official enquiry.
Doubtless what happened in these ‘classes’ was reminiscent of
Caligula’s Rome! For Global Hindu to mischievously equate Tantra with
Sex by Mutual Consent is disgraceful.
Nityananda, we are told, became a celebrity seven years ago on account
of his oratory (and sexual prowess?). In USA, his ‘healing powers’
drew doctors, businessmen, IT professionals, corporate executives with
terminal illnesses into his fold. Global Hindu says he used his money
for social work which frustrated missionary activity in Tamil Nadu; he
goes into much verbiage about blackmail threats & sexually explicit
videos… What emerges clearly is that Global Hindu was friendly with
this sanyasi and ‘helping’ his career over the years …
Global Hindu-speak: Outsource Hindu Dharma to White Devotees!
We now come to the real agenda of Global Hindu, and all Hindu acharyas
who do not speak out firmly and unequivocally against it will be
complicit in the white Christian design to decimate Hindu Dharma on
this punyabhumi. This specifically applies to the Hindu Dharma Acharya
Sabha which has, over the years, unilaterally and gratuitously been
promoting the mediocre intellectualism of the Global Hindu, including
an utterly forgettable book that he has been marketing assiduously in
the course of his religious diplomacy (read back-scratching club) with
global gurus.
To come straight to the point, this management consultant turn eminent
researcher (whatever that means), now declaims in his stentorian tones
that Nityananda’s problem was that he got ‘persons with Brahmin
qualities performing duties that demand Kshatriya and Vaishnav
[vaishya] skills…’ The ashram leaders, he said, lacked the
professional competence required to manage a rapidly growing global
enterprise (it’s all about money, honey). What was needed was not
Brahmin (ascetic) but Kshatriya (combative, to protect the moolah)
qualities.
And it is the white devotees (naturally!) who have Kshatriyata or
leadership expertise, courage and commitment. (I am not going to say
‘I told you so,’ but Swami Dayananda does owe a personal apology and a
personal explanation for unleashing the dogs of war on those of us who
questioned the undue eminence of ex-Indians and non-Indian ‘Hindus’ in
his close entourage, and his mis-use of HDAS to facilitate the ends of
genocidal monotheisms in India, of which plot the promotion of PIOs
was a part).
While native Hindu bhaktas, shamed by the scandal, retreated in
silence, Global Hindu declaimed that Westerners at the Kumbh were very
willing to stand up for their guru, but nobody had bothered to
organize them and take advantage of Nityananda’s global following! His
primary concern seemed to be to salvage the assets for the white
bhaktas; he was contemptuous of ashram inmates who suffered nervous
breakdowns due to the scandal.
Well, the Pope has not succeeded with his cover-up. What made Rajiv &
Nithy think they would succeed with their’s?
Global Hindu warned that many gurus fear similar attacks against other
gurus (well, those who know they have compromised themselves with
bhaktas in India or abroad are afraid), and urged a ‘central Hindu
mechanism to deal with these episodes along the lines of various
church mechanisms that intervene when Christianity faces a scandal.’
In other words, frighten Hindus into conforming to Christian Canon Law
and hierarchical systems, and control the system through the central
node. The Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha is being sought to be built up
into precisely such an institution, with rootless agents telling us
that HDAS deliberations are ‘binding on all Hindus.’ Excuse me, they
are not, and never will be. All that Hindu dharma needs is a sharp end
to the global career of the global sanyasis, or a complete delink
between globetrotters and native bhaktas.
HDAS is currently frightened and wants to wash its hands off the
Nityananda affair, but Global Hindu has already said HDAS should take
over the ashram! But HDAS knows its limits in the current situation,
and is now too much under the public scrutiny of some of us to dare
walk that treacherous path.
Global Hindu concludes that ‘being a global guru is very demanding
today, given that one has to represent a very old tradition
authentically and yet in a manner that appeals to modern people. This
is why Hindu leaders need a crash course on matters that are well
beyond the traditional education in their own sampradayas (lineages).’
Global Hindu has damned himself with his crass ignorance – a guru is
supposed to guide his flock and not repackage himself like a cinema
formula for box office returns – we can see where that attitude has
landed Nityananda. Gurus who are true to tradition and maintain the
purity of personal conduct do not need modern marketing gimmicks to
remain in ‘business’ – we can safely leave that to the economic and
cultural evacuees who are successfully selling dharma abroad, and will
make heaps of money, until some naked white man or woman decides to
stake claim for a share in the pie!
Conclusion: Bharat in the punyabhumi
VivekaJyoti Blog: Swamijyoti of the Vivekananda Kendra was Rajiv
Malhotra’s front man. He demanded that everybody support him with
Nithy’s defense and became enraged when some Hindu editors declined.
He is now campaigning for this blog administrator’s deportation.
It should be obvious that the category of persons calling themselves
Global Hindus pose a serious danger to Hindu dharma on Hindu bhumi;
all Hindu gurus and sanyasis and lay citizens must be on guard against
this group which willingly serves the political agenda of the white
Christian nations.
Hindus in India need to understand that qualified Indians who over two
generations, actively instigated by their parents, decided to use the
professional education available in limited quantities in Nehruvian
India to better their economic prospects by running away to the
salubrious West, are no longer Indian in any sense of the term. Most
have acquired the citizenship of western nations, and during visits to
this land, boast of their relief at being free of the cultural baggage
associated with Hindu samskaras!
It was the emerging geo-political needs of the Anglo-Americans that
made India vital for exerting pressure on Russia, China, and Central
Asia, and hence it was sought to be co-opted into the Western sphere
of influence. The elite was already pro-West (decades of Ford
Foundation, etc), but now the Indian Diaspora in the United States was
‘encouraged’ to be ‘Hindu nationalist’, as the UK Diaspora was too
secular.
With foresight, American Jewish women were planted as bhaktas to take
over the ashrams of the globetrotting sanyasis, and the PIOs started
descending on the ashrams of Hindu gurus, professing to be most
impressed with their social work or erudition!
An attempt was made to secure dual citizenship for this Diaspora (eg.,
Rahm Emanuel is an Israeli citizen; Saakashvili has an American
passport, etc.) but this floundered as the prime beneficiaries of such
a move would be the citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh! Now, in the
wake of the Mossad assassination of a Palestinian leader in Dubai
using dual citizenship passports, and the fact that Sri Lanka’s
troubles flow from the fact that Gen. Sarath Fonseka was allowed to
take an American Green Card while serving as Army Chief, many former
colonies will be re-looking the dual citizenship issue. The issue of
close kin of political leaders living abroad as foreign citizens will
also come up for wider discussion some day.
Indians who abandoned their bhumi for pure economic gains, gloating
about leaving the license permit raj and corrupt quota regime at home,
could not have suddenly turned religious-cultural unless their host
countries permitted it. They would have realised this when rabid anti-
Hindu scholars conducted a vicious campaign against American Hindus
associated with fund-raising for RSS social activities in India.
Another wake up call would have been the shabby experience in the
California textbook case. Now Hindus (including our Global Hindu) have
run away from the Texas textbook controversy; those associated with
RSS once have long gone underground, or reinvented themselves as
‘objective’ critics of the Sangh Parivar!
We rest our case with the reiteration that Hindu dharma belongs to the
Hindu bhumi and Indian Hindu people. The white Christian attempt to de-
link dharma from the land is an idea whose time is gone; the full
weight of globetrotting sanyasis (such as it may be) will not succeed
in making foreign bhaktas or ex-Indian bhaktas the ‘authentic’ voice
of native Hindu tradition. Globetrotting sanyasis would do well to
read the writing on the wall and retreat to the safety of their Hindu
havens, expelling possible mischief-making white bhaktas before they
launch a full-scale war for ashram properties and assets. Those
comfortable with white bhaktas should settle on those shores.
Finally, it will surely be asked whom am I to make these startling
prescriptions. I derive my courage from the Vedas which are explicit –
Dharma is that which is stated by one wise man (this is gender
neutral, by the way), not that which is voted by an assembly of fools.
Let the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha not be an assembly of fools; let it
abandon its faux international (read anti-national) agenda.
The writer is Editor www.vijayvaani.com
Images and image captions have been added by IS
Video: The Nithyananda Mea Culpa Interview – Rajiv Malhotra
Nityananda videos: A testing time for Hindus – Radha Rajan
Lessons from the Swami Nithyananda Saga – Rajiv Malhotra
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psychological warfare, religion, sadhus, sanyasi, secularism, shiva,
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10 comments
Times of India, Chennai, 3 April 2010
Godman expose a teamwork: Ex-disciple
Chennai: Lenin Karuppan alias Nithya Dharmananda, the man behind the
leaking of the Swami Nithyananda’s scandalous video, says that he had
a group of people working with him in the Bangalore ashram to expose
the “wrongdoings” of the godman. Talking to Times Of India, Lenin said
that they had used a sophisticated motion sensor camera to shoot the
video and it was not fixed inside the room by him.
“I do not want to reveal the names (of others involved) or how we
fixed it there. However, I have been helped by a group in making this
video so that I could expose the real face of Nithyananda, whom
thousands worship as god. I have got more evidence against him,” Lenin
said.
Lenin said he decided to expose Nithyananda after two ashram inmates
told him that the swami had sexually exploited them. “A man and a
woman shared their story with me and I was shocked. This was three
months before we recorded the video. Then we conducted an
investigation and found many others had fallen victims,” Lenin said.
He said he was now trying to get the two victims, one of whom is still
in the ashram, to lodge a formal complaint against Nithyananda.
For the first time after the leak of the scandalous video, which
showed Nithyananda and a Tamil actress, Lenin was questioned by the
Karnataka police on Thursday. “They interrogated me for seven hours
yesterday( on Thursday). I have given them all the proof I had. Apart
from the original CD, I have also given them an audio recording of a
phone call made to me by Nithyananda, who called me to arrive at a
compromise and later threatened me,” Lenin said. When asked about
tarnishing the image of an actress, Lenin said that he too felt sorry
for her. “But I had to expose Nithyananda for larger public good,” he
said.
The Chennai city police had registered two cases against Nithyananda
following complaints lodged by Lenin and also by a group of advocates.
He has been booked under various sections of IPC relating to
deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings,
rape, unnatural sex, cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal
conspiracy.
However, both these cases have been transferred to the Bangalore
police. Nithyananda’s whereabouts are still not known though he has
said he wants to live in ‘spiritual seclusion’ after stepping down
from his official positions at the Nithyananda Dhyanapeedam.
by IS April 3, 2010 at 10:42 am
Rajesh Talwar in Canada posted this comment on Débutante Dharma-Gurus:
Violating a civilisational patent – at http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1144
Finally Maharishi Om’s demand that Nityananda should apologise to
Hindus and also give up his sanyasi clothes supports the stand of
these two feisty ladies who have stood firm even when they have been
abused on many email groups by 2 or 3 men. Ms. Jain, I live in Canada
and I know Nityananda has a large following here. There is a lot of
anger and sadness here. But one thing struck me as being queer. Why
has there been no coherent defence of this Nityananda from India? I
have read several postings on emails from these 3 or 4 men who have
abused you and Radha Rajan. From what I could make of them, one is a
retired IAS gasbag, one of them is a silly scholar who has only been
reposting letters from one group to another, the third was from some
slimy swamy something-or-the-other who was circulating mail which are
generally foolish and make no sensible arguments he is a disgrace to
the name swami for circulating cheap gossip) and the fourth was from a
man who quoted some tamil proverbs with a covert sexual meaning. If
this is the standard of intellectual discussions from men in India, I
am glad I dont live there anymore. And they say in India we worship
women. I feel sorry that you ladies are being abused but you know
what, you hang in there and continue with your intellectual war. You
ladies are doing simply great. Would love to meet you both the next
time I am in India. Good luck ladies. If the men are morons, arent
there women to speak up for you? – Rajesh Talwar
by IS April 2, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Nithy has made a grave mistake and brought all Hindu Dharma
representatives into disgrace. He has an obligation to change his ways
and apologize for abusing the trust of his devotees. In another age
Naga sadhus would have dealt with him in a very severe manner: they
would have stripped him of his kavi cloth and rudraksha mala and given
him jal samadhi in the Ganga.
We don’t advocate jal samadhi today, but Nithy should remove his kavi
cloth, shave his head, take a Ganga bath, and humbly apologize to all
the people he has cheated.
There is no other way. And if he is really a man of character, he will
do these simple ritual actions to indicate a change of heart and
mitigate the great harm he has done to Hindu Dharma.
by Swami Devananda Saraswati April 2, 2010 at 7:31 pm
PRESS RELEASE
Appeal to Nithyananda by Maharishi Om
Founder of the Rejuvenation Yoga Institute of America and YogaUSA.com,
an institution that has over 200,000 followers learning Vedic
knowledge.
1 April 2010
Contact:
tel: ++1.630.699.4038
w: http://www.yogausa.com
e: mahari...@gmail.com
Om Namah Shivaya,
This is a special appeal to Nithyananda. All of you know him very
well. Nithyananda, please say sorry to all devotees and say sorry to
all sanyasis (monks) because you are bringing a bad name to sanyasis
(monks) and also a bad name for Hinduism.
Your statements, they are very, very confusing. One place you are
saying that you are doing an experiment … and you are in samadhi
(trance). But, whatever you are experimenting in samadhi (trance) that
is not an act of a sanyasi (monk). This is very, very bad.
In another statement, you are saying that “I did nothing wrong;
nothing illegal, at all. And, I have not done anything against the
law.” What is legal and illegal for a sanyasi (monk)? Can you please
explain?
In another statement, you are saying that the video was morphed,
manipulated, and misrepresented – (of) your personal life. What was
morphed? And, what was manipulated? Can you please explain?
In another interview, you are saying that she (Ranjitha) was your true
devotee. She is and she will be your devotee. And, she will remain
your devotee. And, she was volunteering, serving, and taking care of
you when you were sick.
We devotees don’t understand these statements at all. (You are) very
confused. These statements are confusing and creating frustration in
devotees’ hearts. (Your statements are) contradicting (to) each other;
nobody knows which one is true and which one is real. What it appears
to the general public that the statements are made up, and the truth
is not being revealed. Why don’t (you) say sorry? And, say, sorry,
again and again? And, say, “I made a mistake, and I cannot live up to
the standard of a real sanyasi (monk)?” And, ask for forgiveness? And
take corrective measures?
We, sanyasis (monks) are in great pain and sorrow. With your actions,
we request to you, (to) please say sorry to (the) public and correct
yourself. You, Nithyananda, need to leave this kavi (holy saffron)
cloth immediately.
We request to the public to keep a close watch on people who misguide
and who mislead you. Remember the statement from Kabirdas:
Guru kijiye jaan ke, paani pijiye chhan ke.
That means: Understand your guru before you accept him, and always
filter the water before you drink it.
What is the meaning of sanyasi (monk)? Who is a sanyasi and a true
guru? Sanyasa means renunciation and detachment from worldly affairs.
Sanyasa means tyaga (unconditional detached love), not raga (lust) or
anuraaga (worldly love). Sanyasa means love, not lust at all. Swami
means the one who has mastered over sensual pleasures. But, it is
clearly coming out from your (Nithyananda’s) statements that you are
not following the path of dharma (righteousness). Please, admit your
mistake and say sorry. Guru means true guide, like a mother.
I again humbly appeal to the devotees who are following the path of
dharma (righteousness) and they are in pain, please remain calm in
this difficult time, have faith in God and continue your spiritual
journey.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om (Peace within, Peace throughout, Peace
Everywhere)
by Maharishi Om April 2, 2010 at 10:57 am
[...] Debutante Dharma-Gurus: Violating a civilizational patent –
Sandhya Jain – http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/debutante-dharma-gurus-violating-a-civilisational-pat…
[...]
by Nithy resigns from ashram & all associated trusts – Media
Reports « Bharata Bharati March 30, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Reposting from someone…
Sandhya Jain is outright wrong that Hinduism is limited to India and
that she has monopoly over interpreting it. The whole world is made of
the same panchabhootas. Everything in the world is the manifestation
of the same one and only Brahman. Vedanta’s truths are not
geographically limited. But she turns Vedas into a racist theory. The
Arya in Vedas did not refer to any race but to a quality which all
humans can achieve. Equating arya as race is what European racists did
and she has unfortunately become colonized. Her understanding of jana,
gotra, etc. is flawed, and she lacks access to the Sanskrit originals.
There is too much guilt by association in her thinking. GFCH, Swami
Dayananda Saraswati, Hindu Acharya Sabha, Hindu American Foundation,
WAVES, etc. are all declared guilty (in this and prior articles by her
and her collaborator Radha Rajan) just because they are outside India.
She does not offer specifics of what they have done to deserve this.
Nor does she prove why mere association with these entities must
necessarily disqualify anyone to be credible as a Hindu. This violates
the dharma’s criteria of making judgment in a fair and balanced
manner. It is meant to suck in gullible people.
She is promoting a dangerous form of untouchability in which all those
she does not agree with can be condemned without due process, merely
by showing their association with entities on her black list. This is
how Nazis operated, and how radical fundamentalists function by
branding those to be targeted. Does she have the right to turn
Hinduism into such hate based radicalism?
She was raised in English medium education and lived in Delhi’s
cocktail party circuit (which she accuses others of but exempts
herself.) She lived a privileged childhood with her father who worked
as an English language scribe in Times of India all his life. Should
that also taint her own family as mleccha by association? Sandhya Jain
lived off of NRIs sponsoring her foreign trips for years. When they
stopped funding her, she started to lash out against all NRIs. This is
plain jealousy and a form of blackmail. Smt. Jain presumably wears a
bra, something that emerged from mleccha culture, not her narrowminded
idea of Bharat. She uses mobile phone, internet, airlines and many
western originated things. She is frequently found hobnobbing in
Delhi’s five star westernized settings. Surely she does not apply her
own logic and disqualify herself as a Hindu?
Is she against globalization of India and its culture? This is a
complex issue that seems to be well beyond her intellectual capacity.
If she advocates that true Hindus are those who live only within
India, then does she also wish to expel all foreigners now living in
India in various jobs and capacities in order to keep India “pure”
according to her criteria? If so, how would that differ from a policy
of isolationism under the garb of “true Hinduism”?
By her logic, those who “globetrot” and are hence unqualified to speak
about dharma include: Dalai Lama, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Baba Ramdev,
Mata Amritanandmayi Devi, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Swami Vivekananda,
Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi, and just about everyone we respect.
What rubbish! Is Buddhism voided as dharma just because it spread
across Asia as India’s most successful export ever?
According to Jain’s reasoning, all “other countries” into which she
clubs everything outside India, harbor only anti-Hindu people. By the
same token, she presumes that being based in India gives her
legitimacy without any need for her to do purushartha or any kind. We
would like to know what gives her adhikar to be so arrogant as if she
has a monopoly on Hinduism.
Sandhya Jain is implying that merely by virtue of being in India one
becomes Aryan/noble. What about Lakshar, the Mumbai crime mob, and the
recent prostitution ring leader busted in Delhi who was very much a
bhumiputra dressed in saffron clothes? So the Maoists and Nagaland
Christian terror supporters and Khalistanis are all great Hindus, just
because they are physically inside Bharat.
The following is an unsubstantiated charge for which she is unable to
cite any specifics. Nobody familiar with Malhotra’s works will
understand heads or tails of what is going on in her head when she
writes: “Some years ago, ‘guided’ by white superiors, he had peddled a
blueprint for cutting and chopping the vast Hindu spiritual universe
into a corporate hierarchy with a single point of control that would
be easier to ‘manage.’ By whom, he did not say, but it didn’t need
Einstein to figure that out.” In fact, on the contrary, more than most
Indians Malhotra has studied and critiqued white culture and its
attempts to control. When Malhotra posted his articles on whiteness,
Sandhya Jain was among those who felt uneasy because of her own
whiteness complex.
Jain misquotes Malhotra on links between Hinduism and tantra. She has
not read his article objectively. She also makes a snide remark as
follows: “Global Hindu is pleased that Tantra is being subjected to
the clinical experimentation of psychologists and other scientists
examining latent human energies and potentials. This is surely
something likely to be misused in places like Guantanamo Bay; do
recall that the US was the foremost buyer of Nazi concentration camp
medical literature! ” But by this logic, ALL SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS
CAN BE SEEN AS SOME SINISTER CONSPIRACY LIKE GUANTANAMO BAY AND
NAZISM. She fails to explain what is specific about tantra experiments
that have this sinister quality.
Sandhya Jain writes, “The Shiva Sutras are valid for Shiva bhaktas,
and that is it. The 112 spiritual enlightenment techniques taught
therein, with 6 delineating sexual contact between male yogi and
female yogini, are for seekers on that path.” But that is exactly the
position of Swami Nithyananda. He explicitly said that he was not
offering tantra to the general public and that he had a few such
contracts only.
She is also jealous that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Global Guru, did not
grant her any interview but spoke to Malhotra.
Ironically, Sandhya Jain uses English language exclusively, and has
never made a paisa writing in any other language. So she should reject
her own works as tainted with mleccha.
by sanjay mehta March 25, 2010 at 12:55 am
By the way, who has annointed Ms Jain to speak on the behalf of ALL
Hindus even in India? I am a Hindu from India – still an Indian – who
is working abroad and I have nothing to be ashamed of that fact. And,
I do not need any guidance, lease aside permission, from the likes of
Ms Sandhya Jain, to call myself Hindu. With such defenders, Hindus do
NOT need enemies. But then, what can one say about the sanity, or
otherwise, of someone who wrote Communist occupation and destruction
of Tibet was an act of guardianship from the Christian West!
by Gopi March 22, 2010 at 10:36 am
There is a very interesting discussion going on at Sandhya Jain’s site
Vijayvaani. Go and see it at
http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1144
by SDS March 22, 2010 at 10:36 am
he he he… it was very very funny… Indeed.
by Piyush Pandey March 22, 2010 at 8:52 am
I agree entirely with the points and specific demands Sandhya Jain is
making in this article. Finally somebody is telling the truth and
asking some serious questions (as did RR before her at
Rajiv Malhotra’s explanation for his involvement in this sordid affair
is very weak and not at all convincing. He appears to be another
dissembler and casuist in true Western Jesuitical tradition (see
http://medhajournal.com/geopolitics-guru/973-why-swami-nithyananda-must-resign-now.html?showall=1
). He has made a fool of himself as has his spokesman Swamijyoti of
the Vivekajyoti Blog, and he is trying to cover his bottom with the
bits of rag he might find here and there so that he can escape back to
the safety of “civilized” Princeton . He is an American fixer with
American money and an American point of view, and has little or no in-
depth understanding of Hindu Dharma and its intrinsic and indissoluble
relationship to Hindustan. We don’t need anything he has to offer,
thank you.
Malhotra’s understanding of Tantra also needs revision. All popular
Hindu religious practice today is tantric in that it employs mantras,
yantras, and images. This has nothing to do with sex. Sexual
techniques are there in a small part of the Tantra and they have been
exaggerated and taken out of context and sensationalized by Westerners
and those Hindus who slavishly follow everything Westerners say or do.
But tantra is and has never been for sadhus wearing kavi cloth. It was
a practice employed by a very few under the strict guidance of a guru
by yogis who were either married persons or otherwise had a legitimate
relationship with their partners. Sanyasis are not to practice these
obscure forms of yoga and, indeed, sanyasis are a distinct class
different from yogis. So Tantra cannot be used to justify or excuse
Nithya’s intimate relationships with women. Please lets not hear any
more of this humbug and hooey from the learned American from Princeton
who does not seem to know the difference between a sanyasi and a yogi,
or tantra and sex.
His observation about the sky clad Nagas at the Kumbh is ignorant and
foolish. Is he aware that the on initiation the Naga’s penis is
“broken” and the Naga can not have an erection even if he wished to?
Nithya must defrocked and the relevant kriya performed to join him
back into a family. This was done with another Nithya of Ganeshpuri, a
disciple of Muktananda) when it was discovered that he was having
sexual relations with women in the ashram. This Nithya so far has
shown no remorse even though he has brought shame and disgrace on
Hindu Dharma and has no more the right to wear the kavi cloth. As his
sponsor, Swami Dayanandaji has an obligation to the Hindu community to
see that Nithya’s titles and sacred costume are taken away from him.
Swami Dayanandaji also has an obligation to distant Nithya and his
misdeeds from the rest of the sadhu fraternity – we are all being
tarred with the same brush because of the mistakes of one randy young
man.
Nithya’s properties can be returned to their original owners – after
all he has abused their trust and cheated them. There is no reason why
he should retain these properties when they were not put to the use
the devotee who gifted them intended. And nobody else has a right to
them including the American interloper and his various associations.
And lastly, Nithya if he has any character at all must admit his
mistake and ask forgiveness of the many people he has deceived. He
will be forgiven – but how can we forgive an offender who does not
admit his wrong doing and does not make an effort to change his
lifestyle and licentious ways?
by Swami Devananda Saraswati March 21, 2010 at 1:07 pm
THE HINDU: Editor Ram and M.F. Husain’s ‘right’ to debase Hindu
Goddesses – Hilda Raja
March 15, 2010
This letter was written to The Hindu editor N. Ram by Dr. Mrs. Hilda
Raja, retired Professor of Social Sciences, Stella Maris College,
Chennai, in response to an editorial favouring the painter M.F. Husain
and his right to freedom of expression. Husain lives in self-imposed
exile in the UAE. He has renounced his Indian citizenship in favour of
Qatar citizenship.
Dear Ram,
I have taken time to write this to you, Ram, for the simple reason
that we have known you for so many years. You and The Hindu bring back
happy memories. Please take what I am putting down as words that come
from an agonized soul. You know that I do not mince words and what I
have to say, I will. I call a spade a spade. Now it is too late for me
to learn the tricks of being called a ‘secularist’ if that means a
bias for one, and a bias against another.
Husain is now a citizen of Qatar. This has generated enough of heat
and less of light. Qatar you know better than me, is not a country
which respects democracy or freedom of expression. Husain says he has
complete freedom. I challenge him to paint a picture of Mohammad fully
clad!
There is no second opinion that artists have the right of freedom of
expression. Is such a right restricted only to Husain? Will that right
not flow to Dan Brown? Why was his film, The Da Vinci Code, not
screened? Why was Satanic Verses banned? Does Salman Rushdie not have
that freedom of expression? Similarly, why is Taslima Nasrin hunted
and hounded and why fatwas have been issued on both these writers? Why
has Qatar not offered citizenship to Taslima? In the present rioting
in Shimoga, in Karnataka, against the article Taslima wrote against
the tradition of burqua which appeared in the Out Look in January
2007. Nobody protested then either in Delhi or in any other part of
the country. Now when it reappears in a Karnataka paper there is
rioting. Is there a political agenda to create a problem in Karnataka
by the intolerant goons? Why has the media not condemned this
insensitivity and intolerance of the Muslims against Taslima’s views?
When it comes to the Sangh Parivar it is quick to call them goons and
intolerant, etc. Now who are the goons and where is this tolerance and
sensitivity?
Regarding Husain’s artistic freedom it seems to run unfettered in an
expression of sexual perversion only when he envisages the Hindu Gods
and Goddesses. There is no quarrel had he painted a nude woman sitting
on the tail of a monkey. The point is he captioned it as ‘Sita’.
Nobody would have protested against the sexual perversion and his
orientation to sexual signs and symbols. But would he dare to caption
it as ‘Fatima enjoying in Jannat with animals’?
Next example is the painting of Durga copulating with a lion. Here
again his perversion is evident and so is his intent. Even that, let’s
concede, cannot be faulted. Each one’s sexual orientation is each
one’s business, I suppose. But he captioned it as ‘Durga’. This is the
problem. It is Husain’s business to enjoy in painting his sexual
perversion. But why use Durga and Sita for his perverted expressions?
Use Fatima and watch the consequence. Let the media people come to his
rescue then.
Now that he is in a country that gives him complete freedom, let him
go ahead and paint Fatima copulating with a lion or any other animal
of his choice. And then turn around and prove to India the freedom of
expression he enjoys in Qatar.
Talking about freedom of expression. This is the Husain who supported
Emergency and painted Indira Gandhi as Durga slaying Jayaprakash
Narayan. He supported the jailing of artists and writers. Where did
this freedom of expression go? And you call him secularist? Would you
support the jailing of artists and writers, Ram? Would you support the
abeyance of the Constitution and all that we held sacred in democracy
and the excessiveness of Indira Gandhi to gag the media, writers,
political opponents? Tell me honesty, why does Husain expect this
freedom when he himself did not support others with the same freedom
he wants? And the media has rushed to his rescue. Had it been a Ram
who painted such obnoxious, degrading paintings, the reactions of the
media and the elite ‘secularists’ would have been different. Because
there is a different perception and index of secularism when it comes
to Ram, and a different perception and index of secularism when it
comes to Rahim/Husain.
It brings back to my mind an episode that happened to The Hindu some
years ago (1991). You had a separate weekly page for children with
cartoons, quizzes, and with poems and articles of school children. In
one such weekly page The Hindu printed a venerable bearded man fully
robed with head dress, mouthing some passages of the Koran, trying to
teach children. It was done not only in good faith but as a part of
inculcating values to children from the Koran. All hell broke loose.
Your office witnessed goons who rushed in, demanded an apology, held
out threats. In Ambur, Vaniambadi and Vellore the papers stands were
burned, the copies of The Hindu were consigned to the fire. A threat
to raise the issue in Parliament through a Private Members Bill was
held out. Hectic activities went on. I am not sure of the nature and
the machinations behind the scene. But The Hindu next day brought out
a public apology in its front page. Where were you, Ram? How secular
and tolerant were the Muslims?
Well, this is of the past. Today it is worse because the communal
temperature in this country is at an all high: even a small friction
can ignite and destroy the country’s peace and harmony. It is against
this background that one should view Husain who is bent on abusing and
insulting the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Respect for religious
sentiments, need to maintain peace and harmony should also be part of
the agenda of an artist, if he is great. If it is absent then he
cannot say that he respects India and express his longing for India.
Let’s face it. He is a fugitive of law. Age and religion are
immaterial. What does the media want? That he be absolved by the
courts?
Even for that he has to appear in the courts. He cannot run away.
After all this is the country where he lived and gave expression to
his perverted, sadistic, erotic, artistic mind under freedom of
expression. I simply cannot jump into the bandwagon of the elite
‘secularist’ and uphold what he had done. With his brush he had
committed jihad-bloodletting.
The issue is not just nudity. Yes, the temples, the frescoes in
Konarak and Kajhuraho, have nude figures. But does it say that they
are Sita, Durga or any goddess? We have the Yoni and the Phallus as
sacred signs of Life – of Siva and Shakti. Take these icons to the
streets, paint them, give the painting a caption, it becomes vulgar.
Times have changed. Even granted that our ancients sculptured and
painted naked forms and figures, with a perverted mind to demean
religion there is no license to repeat that in today’s changed
political and social scenario, and it is not a sign of secularism and
tolerance. I repeat there is no quarrel with nudity: painters have
time and again found in it the perfection of God’s hand craft.
Let me wish Husain peace in Qatar – the totalitarian regime with zero
tolerance! May be he will convince the regime there to permit freedom
of expression in word, writing and painting. For this he could start
experimenting painting forms, and figure of Mohammad the Prophet, and
his family. And may I fervently wish that the media, especially The
Hindu, does not discriminate goons. Let it not substitute tolerance
for intolerance when it comes to Rahim and Anthony, and another index
for Ram.
I hope you will read this in the same spirit that I have written. All
the best to you Ram.
Dr. Mrs. Hilda Raja
Vadodara, Gujarat
M.F. Husain’s alien concept of Bharat Mata
Husain has stated that he paints images naked when he has contempt for
them. He has contempt for Bharat Mata so he paints her without dress
or decoration. He is aware that this deeply offends Hindus who revere
Bharat Mata as a nurturing mother and goddess, but spiting Hindus
pleases his primitive jihadi psyche as much as exposing Sita to
profane public view or dismembering Hanuman does. Husain lives in
exile in Dubai because he is afraid to face the Hindus he so
despises.- IS
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leter to the editor-in-chief of The Hindu
Posted in class, communalism, cultural relativism, culture, ethics,
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history, india, islam, jihad, koran, media, mohammed, multicultural,
muslim, nehruism, neo-colonialism, newspaper, politics, psychological
warfare, rama, religion, riot, secularism, shiva | Tagged secularism-
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express, art, hindu goddess, kujuraho, saraswati, mother teresa |
11 comments
The intellectual dishonesty of India’s pseudo secularists – Dev
Nadkarni
by IS March 26, 2010 at 11:05 am
I fully endorse Abhi’s characterisation of Rama, Sita, Hanuman and
Bharata as our very life and breath. Rajaji, generally not given to
demonstration of emotion, was moved to write in his introductory note
to his Tamil translation of Valmiki Ramayana –”Till the Ganga and
Cauvery flow, the Ramayana will protect the men, women and children of
India like an affectionate mother by their side. Listen folks…The
question whether reading and hearing the Ramayana is of any benefit
has been settled centuries ago by the Tamilian Kamban”. Rajaji was a
great administrator and a model of integrity. He was the champion of a
market economy decades before anyone thought of it in India. But he
considered his expositions of Ramayana as his greatest service to
Indians. That shows how deep the influence of the Ramayana is on
Indians.
by vamanan81 March 21, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Gautam Kumar’s answers are themselves full of logical loopholes.
1. Quatar may be so intolerant that if Husain paints Muhammad even
clothed, they will have him stoned, but then it is not about Qatar,
utters Adhikari.
If Husain can live in a country that is much more intolerant than us,
why cant he live in India? Why is he and his mediawalla sycophants
pretending that he is in a paradise of freedom? Why did Husain accept
a hell of repression as his adopted country? What happened to his love
for freedom of expression, what about the right of artists whom Qatar
suppresses? All this makes me feel Husain doesnt give a rat’s behind
about freedom of expressionm what do you feel Mr Adhikari? I also
notice you kept your mouth shut about his sycophancy of Indira Gandhi,
I would have loved to see your response, but you could only come up
same liberal tripe.
2. What is so ‘perverted’ about Husain’s drawing mythological figures
in the nude?
They are not mythological figures, dunderhead, when will you all
understand this; they are living breathing parts of our being. Until
you have the courage to paint your wife and mother and daughter naked
and show it all of us, lick this argument back into your mouth.
3. We don’t want to force anyone to our viewpoint by ransacking
galleries or burning works of art or physically threatening those who
disagree with us, Hindu or Muslim.
What to do Adhikari Saheb, when the government utters extreme
profanities against us: ‘Ram was a myth’; and your vaunted courts are
too impotent to intervene in Muslim appeasement cases, this is what
happens. Selective implementation of Constitution doesn’t help, and
you must all use your brains apart from reading out the Constitution
like a parrot. And assuming that even we say yes, his galleries should
not be burnt, he will still remain the same evil retard.
by abhi March 21, 2010 at 11:09 am
Gautam Adhikari and other anti-Hindu fanatics are suffering from an
impotent rage at being rendered irrelevant after serving all their
lives debasing Hinduism and admiring the foreign cults. Had India not
been under slavery for so many years, people of his ilk would have
been lesser. Inferiority complex, self-debasment, dhimmitude, etc.,
are an integral part of his being. Husain’s right to pervertize
Hinduism is ok, but the right of billions of us to feel offended is
not ok, doing so automatically makes you a Hindu fanatic.
So I guess Gautam babu will have to live with Hindu fanatics for a
long time to come, who knows one day his kids may seat him in a chair
and verbally strip him of all his dignity for perpetuating this
ignoble Hindu-bashing all his life and bringing shame to them,
assuming he is a Hindu.
by abhi March 21, 2010 at 10:32 am
I agree with Dr. Hilda Raja and second her sentiments. But I don’t
think that only the captioning of the paintings as ‘Sita’ and ‘Durga’
was wrong. While the portions having to do with Sita and Hanuman in
the Valmiki Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana and Tulsi’s Ramcharitmanas are
the most sublime in any literature anywhere in the world, where did
Hussain get this idea of making his Sita straddle his Hanuman’s tail?
It is entirely in his imagination. While our communists and pseudo
secularists shout ‘tolerance’ at the Hindus, they keep mum when it
comes to Muslims and Christians. Why is that? With Hindus split by
language, class and caste, as well as numerous sects, I think Hinduism
must be declared a minority religion…And of course it is the one
religion which most of the English language media love to despise.
by vamanan81 March 20, 2010 at 2:19 pm
It is not only The Hindu and The New Indian Express that have tried to
put up a secular defence of Husain, the Deccan Chronicle has done so
too through its Congress columnist Jayanti Natarajan. I sent the
following letter to the Deccan Chronicle on March 1st but it has never
been published.
This refers to Jayanti Natarajan’s article “No more Husains” (DC,
March 1). One does not have to be a Bajrang Dal cowboy to be offended
by M.F. Husain’s paintings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses and, indeed,
Hindus themselves. Any sensitive Indian who values India’s pluralistic
social and religious culture would be offended by his vulgar paintings
of a nude Sita Devi “pole dancing” on a naked Hanuman’s tail or Durga
Devi copulating with a lion. These paintings represent Husain’s
personal and contemptuous view of Hindu civilization.They are not
acceptable in India as public art works (as they will not be
acceptable in Qatar). Freedom of expression like all freedoms, entails
responsibility and sensitivity to the feelings of the community one
lives in; it is not a licence to trample on the religious beliefs of
others. Had Husain first caricatured his own prophet Mohammad without
any clothes, we could accept the argument that all are equal in the
artist’s eye and that he had not singled out Hindus for ridicule.
by Ram Narayan March 18, 2010 at 5:03 pm
We are not aware that Comrade Ram published Dr. Raja’s letter in his
little newspaper. If he did, pls tell us when or where so that we may
give him some democratic, freedom of expression credits.
A similar letter to this was sent to the pharasee editor-in-chief
Aditya Sinha of The New Indian Express. He also did not have the
courtesy to give Dr. Raja any space or the courage to to make her very
well thought out rejoinder to The Hindu editorial public.
Our secular editors are loud-mouthed cowards at best. But the real
fault lies with Hindu intellectuals and moneybags who are not able to
publish a quality mainstream national newspaper that would give space
to the Hindu point of view.
by IS March 18, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Congratulations to Dr. Mrs. Hilda Raja for the well researched letter
to Shri Ram. Of course thanks to Shri Ram for publishing the letter in
The Hindu. What impressed me was the pain taken by Dr. Mrs. Hilda Raja
in collating all the relevant information.
by T C Viswanathan March 18, 2010 at 11:35 am
The best way to counteract this is to ask our Hindu painters to paint
Abhrahamic Devils (Heathens and Fakirs have nothing Divine). We can
paint them in our sandals and water closets. Our Hindu brethren is
quite equipped to ape the west. So we can try this and wait for the
secular media’s left brain’s response. If we shy away they will take
over. Might is right in the modern democracy.
by Ravishankar March 17, 2010 at 3:44 am
Logic seems to be in short supply in Gautam Adhikari’s response to Dr.
Hilda Raja’s comment on Husain’s predicament and alleged high art.
Firstly, her highlighting of the absence of democracy and freedom in
Qatar, chosen by Husain as his new home, is perfectly relevant since
it says something about his respect for the very values being espoused
in defending his right to paint as he pleases. Secondly, why the self-
confessedly irreligious Mr. Adhikari has a special dispensation to
dictate how the religious-minded should react to Husain’s sacrilegious
art rather escapes me. Thirdly, if the opinion of bona fide
international (wow!) aesthetes suffices to vindicate his depiction of
bestilaity by Hindu deities that should surely hold true for the
Prophet and his retinue being displayed in the nude as well. Except
that Husain has said that painting of Hitler in the nude was his
special way of disparaging him.
by Dr Gautam Sen March 16, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Dr. Hilda Raja’s letter has been replied to by Gautam Adhikar, a
former executive editor of the Times of India, 16 March 2010. He
acknowledges Hilda Raja’s argument but like all Indian secular
editors, he leaves out those parts which don’t serve his purpose. Dr.
Raja’s argument cannot be faulted and should be carefully read before
going to Gautam Adhikari’s edit. It is available at Times of India:
Why should we shut up?
by IS March 16, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Video: THE NITYANANDA MEA CULPA INTERVIEW? – Rajiv Malhotra
March 13, 2010
more about “The Nityananda Mea Culpa Interview? -…” posted with Vodpod
Yes, No, Maybe So: The Nithy Mea Culpa Interview?
Is it a confession? Figure it out yourself, but in his latest video on
YouTube, Nithyananda Swami, who fled from his `ashram’ near Bidadi
after his sexcapades were exposed on television, says, “I will not
experiment with anything that is not accepted by society.” In the
second part of an `interview’ he gave to one of his `disciples’, a
man calling himself Rajiv Malhotra, Nithyananda couches what looks
like his mea culpa in a protest, saying that “all great masters in the
past” had faced similar attacks, clubbing himself with Adi
Shankaracharya, Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Mr.
Malhotra pitches in for his ‘guru’ saying that new allegations of rape
and cheating were being made after the media found that there was
nothing illegal in the video footage that television channels had
aired. It is the first time Nithyananda and his associates have
addressed the videotapes directly. Nithyananda says, “In a way this
defamation has taught me lessons about society, life and humanity
which I had never thought of before. It has made me more responsible.
Now, I have decided not to experiment with anything that is not
accepted by society widely.” That is not all. He goes on to say that
new allegations were being made against him because society believes
that, “If one thing is wrong, then everything is wrong. So, go out and
abuse everything. It is the usual mentality of society.” “This has
happened to all masters, even to Adi Shankaracharya, Swami Vivekananda
and Ramakrishna. When the masters are in the body, they have to go
through this. It is inevitable.” – Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, 13 March
2010
Yes, No, Maybe So: The Nithy Trance Interview?
Bangalore: After the brouhaha over a video that allegedly showed him
in a compromising position with a woman, Swami Nithyananda said he was
“in a trance” when the tape was made.
In an interview to Times Now at Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh, where he is
staying to participate in the Kumbh Mela, Nithyananda said there was
“misrepresentation, manipulation, conspiracy and morphing” in the
video. Referring to the actress in the video, he said, “She was, she
is and she will be my devotee. In fact, her entire family are my
devotees. In December 2006, I was in a deep trance and physically not
well. At that time, she had taken care of me.”
‘Tape was manipulated, ready for any probe’
Claiming that he was in a trance when the sleaze video telecast by
television channels recently was being recorded, Nithyananda
Paramahamsa, in an exclusive interview to Times Now in Haridwar in
Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, neither denied nor confirmed that it was
him on the tape. The 33-year-old godman said he was “in a state of
samadhi (trance)” when the video, showing him in a compromising
position with an actress, was taken. The tape, he said, had been
“misinterpreted, morphed and manipulated”. He alleged that the media
onslaught on him was without any basis and that he was being held
guilty without a trial. Excerpts from the interview:
Was that you in the sleaze tape?
There’s a lot of misinterpretation, manipulation and morphing. Now, we
are working to find out which part was recorded and which was
manipulated. When that video was taken, I was in a state of trance. My
personal life has been misrepresented and my privacy has been invaded.
Media has even taken pictures of me when I was changing clothes after
a bath. This has been done to defame me.
It is being said that the tape was taken in Dec 2009? Were you sick
then?
I was sick for a very long time. Consciously, I was in a samadhi …
physically I was not well. Some of the things have been misinterpreted
by the onlookers. Or rather it has been misinterpreted by those who
wanted to do it.
Has life changed for you in the last two weeks?
In the thirty-three years of my life I have seen fame. I was the most
watched guru on YouTube. Now, in the last few days I have been the
most watched scandal. Both have taught me many things about life. But
what shocked me most is the thought that there is so much enmity
against me. The good thing from all this is I am getting millions of
emails, phone calls and a flood of support from people who are not
even my devotees. My disciples are feeling so bad that someone’s
private life has been misinterpreted and abused.
Was the actress in your ashram then?
She has been serving me for a very long time. She was volunteering to
take care of me when I was sick. All her family members have been my
devotees. There is no denying that she is a devotee.
Many of your devotees say they have been betrayed by your act. Have
you advocated abstinence and celibacy?
I have always said it’s an individual’s choice. I have never promoted
celibacy or abstinence. I have always said ‘you decide’. As of me, I
don’t have any lust in my life. I don’t feel the need for another
person in my life.
Did anyone blackmail you with the footage?
I don’t want to say anything now. I have been abused. I don’t want to
do the same thing in return. It’s believed that according to law
everyone is innocent until proven guilty. In my case, I am guilty
until I prove myself innocent. I have been an author, educationalist
and even done social service. But I have been branded as a spiritual
guru and I have not been given the benefit of doubt. I was not treated
in a fair manner. Even before analysing facts, people have passed
judgments.
Do you think it’s because of stand-off with people in power?
I don’t have any political ambition. I did not fight with anybody. I
don’t want to disrespect anyone.
Why did you leave without clearing the air on the issue as soon as the
tape was released?
I was so shocked. I needed a few days to settle down and understand
who was behind the attack. Within one hour of the news telecast, eight
ashrams were destroyed. We did not know who was behind all this. We
did not even know we had enemies. The attack was so strong and sudden
that we were not ready for it.
How long will you stay away like this? A court has issued summons,
the police have been wanting to question you …
If I am called I will go and co-operate with the authorities. I was
planning to stay here till March 15 for the Kumbh Mela and then
organise a press conference. I have received no request from any
authority so far. But if they want, I can go immediately. I am willing
to co-operate with any enquiry.
Do you think this incident has affected your credibility?
The people who are abusing me now have never praised me. Those who
were my devotees are still with me. People have many expectations and
impose that on others. And they themselves conclude that the other
person has not fulfilled the expectation. Then they try to judge or
find some evidence that would prove that their expectations are not
fulfilled. – Sunday Times, Chennai. 14 March 2010
Rajiv Malhotra – Nithyananda Interview (8 April 2009)
Nithyananda teaching ‘yoga’ to the lady Ranjitha
The Lenin Dharmananda – Nakkeeran Interview
Deliberate Media & Government Attack on Swami Nithyananda & Sanatana
Dharma – V. Sundaram
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sanyasi, secularism, shiva, tv, veda | Tagged nityananda sex video,
nityananda, rajiv malhotra |
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Times of India, Chennai, 3 April 2010
Godman expose a teamwork: Ex-disciple
Chennai: Lenin Karuppan alias Nithya Dharmananda, the man behind the
leaking of the Swami Nithyananda’s scandalous video, says that he had
a group of people working with him in the Bangalore ashram to expose
the “wrongdoings” of the godman. Talking to Times Of India, Lenin said
that they had used a sophisticated motion sensor camera to shoot the
video and it was not fixed inside the room by him.
“I do not want to reveal the names (of others involved) or how we
fixed it there. However, I have been helped by a group in making this
video so that I could expose the real face of Nithyananda, whom
thousands worship as god. I have got more evidence against him,” Lenin
said.
Lenin said he decided to expose Nithyananda after two ashram inmates
told him that the swami had sexually exploited them. “A man and a
woman shared their story with me and I was shocked. This was three
months before we recorded the video. Then we conducted an
investigation and found many others had fallen victims,” Lenin said.
He said he was now trying to get the two victims, one of whom is still
in the ashram, to lodge a formal complaint against Nithyananda.
For the first time after the leak of the scandalous video, which
showed Nithyananda and a Tamil actress, Lenin was questioned by the
Karnataka police on Thursday. “They interrogated me for seven hours
yesterday( on Thursday). I have given them all the proof I had. Apart
from the original CD, I have also given them an audio recording of a
phone call made to me by Nithyananda, who called me to arrive at a
compromise and later threatened me,” Lenin said. When asked about
tarnishing the image of an actress, Lenin said that he too felt sorry
for her. “But I had to expose Nithyananda for larger public good,” he
said.
The Chennai city police had registered two cases against Nithyananda
following complaints lodged by Lenin and also by a group of advocates.
He has been booked under various sections of IPC relating to
deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings,
rape, unnatural sex, cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal
conspiracy.
However, both these cases have been transferred to the Bangalore
police. Nithyananda’s whereabouts are still not known though he has
said he wants to live in ‘spiritual seclusion’ after stepping down
from his official positions at the Nithyananda Dhyanapeedam.
by IS April 3, 2010 at 10:49 am
Rajesh Talwar in Canada posted this comment on Débutante Dharma-Gurus:
Violating a civilisational patent at http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1144
Finally Maharishi Om’s demand that Nityananda should apologise to
Hindus and also give up his sanyasi clothes supports the stand of
these two feisty ladies who have stood firm even when they have been
abused on many email groups by 2 or 3 men. Ms. Jain, I live in Canada
and I know Nityananda has a large following here. There is a lot of
anger and sadness here. But one thing struck me as being queer. Why
has there been no coherent defence of this Nityananda from India? I
have read several postings on emails from these 3 or 4 men who have
abused you and Radha Rajan. From what I could make of them, one is a
retired IAS gasbag, one of them is a silly scholar who has only been
reposting letters from one group to another, the third was from some
slimy swamy something-or-the-other who was circulating mail which are
generally foolish and make no sensible arguments he is a disgrace to
the name swami for circulating cheap gossip) and the fourth was from a
man who quoted some tamil proverbs with a covert sexual meaning. If
this is the standard of intellectual discussions from men in India, I
am glad I dont live there anymore. And they say in India we worship
women. I feel sorry that you ladies are being abused but you know
what, you hang in there and continue with your intellectual war. You
ladies are doing simply great. Would love to meet you both the next
time I am in India. Good luck ladies. If the men are morons, arent
there women to speak up for you? – Rajesh Talwar
by IS April 2, 2010 at 8:28 pm
PRESS RELEASE
Appeal to Nithyananda by Maharishi Om
Founder of the Rejuvenation Yoga Institute of America and YogaUSA.com,
an institution that has over 200,000 followers learning Vedic
knowledge.
1 April 2010
Contact:
tel: ++1.630.699.4038
w: http://www.yogausa.com
e: mahari...@gmail.com
Om Namah Shivaya,
This is a special appeal to Nithyananda. All of you know him very
well. Nithyananda, please say sorry to all devotees and say sorry to
all sanyasis (monks) because you are bringing a bad name to sanyasis
(monks) and also a bad name for Hinduism.
Your statements, they are very, very confusing. One place you are
saying that you are doing an experiment … and you are in samadhi
(trance). But, whatever you are experimenting in samadhi (trance) that
is not an act of a sanyasi (monk). This is very, very bad.
In another statement, you are saying that “I did nothing wrong;
nothing illegal, at all. And, I have not done anything against the
law.” What is legal and illegal for a sanyasi (monk)? Can you please
explain?
In another statement, you are saying that the video was morphed,
manipulated, and misrepresented – (of) your personal life. What was
morphed? And, what was manipulated? Can you please explain?
In another interview, you are saying that she (Ranjitha) was your true
devotee. She is and she will be your devotee. And, she will remain
your devotee. And, she was volunteering, serving, and taking care of
you when you were sick.
We devotees don’t understand these statements at all. (You are) very
confused. These statements are confusing and creating frustration in
devotees’ hearts. (Your statements are) contradicting (to) each other;
nobody knows which one is true and which one is real. What it appears
to the general public that the statements are made up, and the truth
is not being revealed. Why don’t (you) say sorry? And, say, sorry,
again and again? And, say, “I made a mistake, and I cannot live up to
the standard of a real sanyasi (monk)?” And, ask for forgiveness? And
take corrective measures?
We, sanyasis (monks) are in great pain and sorrow. With your actions,
we request to you, (to) please say sorry to (the) public and correct
yourself. You, Nithyananda, need to leave this kavi (holy saffron)
cloth immediately.
We request to the public to keep a close watch on people who misguide
and who mislead you. Remember the statement from Kabirdas:
Guru kijiye jaan ke, paani pijiye chhan ke.
That means: Understand your guru before you accept him, and always
filter the water before you drink it.
What is the meaning of sanyasi (monk)? Who is a sanyasi and a true
guru? Sanyasa means renunciation and detachment from worldly affairs.
Sanyasa means tyaga (unconditional detached love), not raga (lust) or
anuraaga (worldly love). Sanyasa means love, not lust at all. Swami
means the one who has mastered over sensual pleasures. But, it is
clearly coming out from your (Nithyananda’s) statements that you are
not following the path of dharma (righteousness). Please, admit your
mistake and say sorry. Guru means true guide, like a mother.
I again humbly appeal to the devotees who are following the path of
dharma (righteousness) and they are in pain, please remain calm in
this difficult time, have faith in God and continue your spiritual
journey.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om (Peace within, Peace throughout, Peace
Everywhere)
by Maharishi Om April 2, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Nithy has made a grave mistake and brought all Hindu Dharma
representatives into disgrace. He has an obligation to change his ways
and apologize for abusing the trust of his devotees. In another age
Naga sadhus would have dealt with him in a very severe manner: they
would have stripped him of his kavi cloth and rudraksha mala and given
him jal samadhi in the Ganga.
We don’t advocate jal samadhi today, but Nithy should remove his kavi
cloth, shave his head, take a Ganga bath, and humbly apologize to all
the people he has cheated.
There is no other way. And if he is really a man of character, he will
do these simple ritual actions to indicate a change of heart and
mitigate the great harm he has done to Hindu Dharma.
by Swami Devananda Saraswati April 2, 2010 at 7:33 pm
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/sex-swami-duped-firangs-in-the-us-18710.php
Douglas McKellor, an American national and once a disciple of Swami
Nityananda, has registered a case with California State Attorney
General against the self-proclaimed godman.
In his complaint, McKellor has accused Nityananda of sexually
exploiting the devotees at the ashram, fraud and financial
irregularities.
A resident of San Jose in California, McKeller came in contact with
Nityananda in 2007.
Influenced by the swami, McKellor changed his name to Swami
Nityaprabha and later became the head of the California branch of
Dhyanapeetham.
Describing how he got conned by Nityananda, McKeller, in his
complaint, said, “I was in the first batch that enrolled for
Nityananda’s week-long instant enlightenment programme.
It was held at the Los Angeles ashram in June 2007, where I paid swami
a fee of $400,000 for the workshop and the enlightenment certificate.”
McKeller added, “During the workshop, I felt abnormally lightheaded.
It was like as if some strange drug was causing me lose all my senses.
Nityananda performed some fire rituals and asked us to cut a strand of
our hair. Then, he put the hair in fire along with something that
looked like marijuana seeds.
After the workshop, he issued certificates to everyone claiming that
we had attained enlightenment.”
McKeller also accused Nityananda of sexually exploiting his American
devotees. “Nityananda was fond of pretty girls.
While he was at Sanatan Dharma temple in Norwalk, California, for a
two-day workshop on spirituality, he asked me to stand outside the
door to ensure no one disturbed him, while he was with female guests,”
he said in his complaint.
He was reportedly fond of striptease parties with pretty girls.
McKellor added that Nityananda used to eat his meals and rest with
young girls in his private quarters at the cult organisation’s Norwalk
and Montclair ashrams.
The swami had named attractive girls ‘flowers’ and used to say that
they are a must item for his puja.
H S Chandramouli, Nityananda’s advocate, confirmed that a complaint
has been filed by McKeller. “Those close to swami are discussing about
the plan of action. However, noting has been decided yet,” said
Chandramouli.
by IS April 2, 2010 at 7:04 pm
[...] The Nithyananda mea culpa interview – Rajiv Malhotra –
http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/video-the-nityananda-mea-culpa-interview-rajiv-malhot…
[...]
by Nithy resigns from ashram & all associated trusts – Media
Reports « Bharata Bharati March 30, 2010 at 12:10 pm
[...] Video: THE NITYANANDA MEA CULPA INTERVIEW? – Rajiv Malhotra
[...]
by Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha heading the way of Gandhi’s INC:
Part 1 – Radha Rajan « Bharata Bharati March 25, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I find rajeev malhotra has his own agenda. He was corrupting already
corrupted nityananda. Both of them pathetic humans.
by alex March 24, 2010 at 6:40 pm
[...] Video: THE NITYANANDA MEA CULPA INTERVIEW? – Rajiv Malhotra
[...]
by Debutante Dharma-Gurus: Violating a civilisational patent –
Sandhya Jain « Bharata Bharati March 21, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Readers note that though the Chennai media give full coverage to the
Nithyananda sex scandal, neither The New Indian Express or Deccan
Chronicle will touch the Catholic Church paedophile sex scandals that
have engulfed Ireland and are now engulfing Germany, The Netherlands,
Poland and other parts of Europe. This is not surprising: the Deccan
Chronicle is South India’s largest Christian-Congress newspaper and
has a personal relationship with the thin white lady who rules over
us, and The New Indian Express is edited by a Bihari from Brooklyn,
New York who keeps most of the edit page and all of the letters column
for himself. Once an independent newspaper, The New Indian Express is
the poorer half of the Indian Express in North India which is
controlled by a foreign hand called Acts Ministries. Hindu religious
leaders cannot expect fair treatment from any of these Chennai
newspapers even when they behave themselves. The Times of India is
also controlled by the World Christian Council but it seems to be
giving more equal-handed coverage to Nithy’s sex scandal than the
other two mainline Chennai papers.
If Hindu moneybags and intellectuals are not able to produce a first
class national newspaper that reflects the Hindu point of view, then
Hindus have no ground for complaint if the Christian-controlled
newspapers and broadcasters go to town on a Hindu godman whenever the
opportunity arises.
See who controls the Indian media at http://hamsa.org/akbar.htm#d
by IS March 14, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Let’s cut the crap, Nithy! Even if you were a good boy you are not
equal to Adi Shankara or Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. What an insult
to the sadhus and saints of Bharata who try to overcome their human
nature, from a randy little godman who did not see the all-seeing eye
in the a/c air cooler.
by 108 March 13, 2010 at 6:32 pm
The Doniger-Penguin agenda: demeaning Hindus and disparaging their
Gods – Ranjani Saigal with Shrinivas Tilak & Vishal Agarwal
March 7, 2010
“Aldous Huxley once said that an intellectual was someone who had
found something more interesting than sex; in Indology, an
intellectual need not make that choice at all.” – Wendy Doniger in
When the Lingam is Just a Cigar, Psychoanalysis and Hindu Sexual
Fantasies
Ranjani Saigal in conversation with Dr. Shrinivas Tilak
Shrinivas Tilak is an independent researcher based in Montréal. Born
in 1939 in India, he immigrated to Canada in 1965 where he did B.A.
(Asian studies), M.A. (history and philosophy of religion) at
Concordia University, Montréal, and Ph.D. (history of religions) at
McGill University, Montréal). Dr.Tilak has taught at several
universities in Canada and his publications includeThe Myth of
Sarvodaya: A study in Vinoba’s concept (New Delhi: Breakthrough
Communications, 1984); Religion and Aging in the Indian Tradition
(Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1989), and
Understanding Karma in Light of Paul Ricoeur’s Philosophical
Anthropology and Hermeneutics (Charleston, S.C.: BookSurge (revised),
2007). His forthcoming work is 64 Ways to Self-improvement through
Karmayoga: A Gandhian Initiative.
Ranjani Saigal: Could you describe the mission of department of
religion and religious studies in North America?
Shrinivas Tilak: In North American universities, study of religion is
a legitimate academic pursuit. Students are encouraged to learn about
world religions in theory and practice both from an insider’s and
outsider’s perspectives. Ideally, a graduate in religious studies
tends to be tolerant, broad-minded, and accommodative of fellow beings
that may be practitioners of faiths different than his own.
Unfortunately, the teaching of Hinduism at the high school and
academic levels has remained an exception from this general trend and
most professors of India and Hinduism tend to be ‘Orientalists’ (see
below response to question # 7).
RS: What motivated you to study this topic in a Canadian rather than
an Indian University?
ST: My generation that graduated from high school in India in the
1960s was under tremendous parental pressure to go for education and
career in the fields of science and technology. I accordingly trained
as a pharmacist and continued in that line of work in Germany and
Canada until the 1970s. Living in Montreal, Canada, I had the freedom
and privilege to make a career change. Since I was always interested
in the history, culture, and religion, I registered in the faculty of
religion at Concordia and then at McGill University, Montreal, from
where I earned my doctorate in the history of religions. I did my
graduate work in religion in the West because in modern India,
religion is not taught as an academic discipline at the university
level.
RS: As a faculty member, what was your approach to teaching this
subject and what did you hope your students gained from your teaching?
ST: I must make it clear that I never held a tenured position and as
such had no opportunity to formulate a distinct teaching style of my
own. I generally tried to follow the teaching guidelines rooted in
objectives outlined in response # 1 above. I thought it was necessary
to consider the history of Hinduism first from a Hindu viewpoint, then
from an academic one. Different sorts of valuable insights may come to
individuals both inside and outside the tradition and need not
threaten one another. I therefore was keen that my students (whether
Hindu or non-Hindu) received a fair understanding of typical Hindu
precepts and practices both from the insider and outsider’s
perspective. In reality, I discovered that both the students and the
university administration were unwilling to accept any interpretation
of Hindus and their dharma from their own standpoint. The main reason
being that India has lived under foreign rule for the last millennium
and does not now have a tradition of learning or teaching Hinduism
using its own cognitive categories. Since India’s history was written
by the victors, almost by definition, such a move outlawed or
‘deformed’ the Hindu self perception and understanding of their own
history (for more details and discussion of this problem see my blog
“Taking back Hindu studies” on http://shrinivas-tilak.sulekha.com/
RS: The book of Wendy Doninger The Hindus – An alternate history has
been published which has caused a lot of ire. From a scholarly
perspective, what is your opinion on the content of this book, which
is written by someone who is in the same scholarly field as yourself?
ST: Doniger claims that she is a ‘recovering Orientalist’ and has
abandoned the Orientalist perspective in teaching or writing about
Hinduism. Orientalism, she asserts, refers to a cluster of attitudes
that implicated the first European scholars of India in the European
colonization of India, overwhelming reliance on textual studies being
one of them (pp. 34-35). The fact is, Orientalism is much more than
what Doniger claims it to be. It stands for the body of knowledge that
the European powers began to generate from the seventeenth century
onwards with a view to consolidate the economic, military, and
political gains they had started making in Asia and Africa. Thus,
having acquired military and political control over a sizable portion
of India, administrators of the British East India Company began to
cast doubt and sow divisions among the people of Asia (and Africa)
concerning their cultures, religions, and societies by gaining
exegetical control over their traditional systems of knowledge. The
discipline of Indology, which is a modern product of Orientalism,
demonstrates a clear instance of how Western scholarship appropriates
for itself the power to represent Indians, to translate and explain
their thoughts and acts.
In chapter five Doniger claims that violence was embedded in Vedic
sacrifice of cattle and horses. She situates the ritual violence in
the social violence that it expressed, supported, and required, the
theft of other people’s cattle and horses (Doniger 2009; pp. 103).
Doniger claims that post-Vedic Hindu bhakti and Hinduism have also
been violent (Doniger 2009: pp. 194). Please also take a look at my
blog “Doniger does a doggie” at Bharata Bharati for in depth analysis
of this book.
RS: Is there clear evidence that this book does not follow the
“scholarly publication guidelines” followed in the western liberal
arts tradition?
ST: I must specify that the book does follow these guidelines. Thus,
Doniger acknowledges that the wild misconceptions that most Americans
have of Hinduism need to be counteracted by making Americans aware of
the richness and human depth of Hindu texts and practices, and an
American interlocutor is often the best person to build that bridge.
Hence this book (Doniger 2009: pp. 652-653). Unfortunately, Doniger
does not take her own advice and on page one announces: the main
purpose of The Hindus is to provide a narrative account of
“alternative people” who do not figure in the Brahmin-generated history
—people who are alternative in the sense of otherness, people of other
religions, or cultures, or castes, or species (animals). Behind the
facade of providing an alternative history, the real agenda of The
Hindus is to drive a wedge between the marginalized and the mainstream
Hindus.
RS: Do such books have potential for harm? If so what kind of harm can
it inflict?
ST: Under the guise of providing an alternative history, the real
agenda of The Hindus is to drive a wedge between Hindus and non-Hindus
in India and elsewhere. In order to show how Hindus are so utterly
unlike others, Doniger engages in denigrating, distorting, and
demeaning all Hindus (low or high caste, men or women) and what is
worse, ‘defrocking’ (both theologically and sexually) their gods and
goddesses. Such a book therefore does have the potential to harm the
Hindu self-perception and identity, particularly, young Hindus who
happen to live in the diaspora.
Ranjani Saigal in conversation with Vishal Agarwal
Vishal Agarwal (b. 1970) holds Master’s degrees in Materials
Engineering and Business Administration. He works in a biomedical
device firm dealing with cardiac surgery. Vishal spent most of his
life in India where he lived in Delhi and in Pune. Currently, he
resides with his wife and son in Minnesota State, USA. Vishal is an
ardent student of Hindu Dharma and ancient Indian history and is a
practicing Hindu. Currently, he is engaged in the collection of
electronic versions of Hindu texts, their translation and in writing
biographies of Hindu philosophers for lay readers.
Ranjani Saigal: How did you get interested in the field of Ancient
Indian Texts? How did you gain expertise in this are?
Vishal Agarwal: I was raised in my elementary and early middle school
years by my maternal grandfather, who would narrate stories about
medieval India (from the Delhi-Lahore region) to me. My Aunt, who
lived with us, also majored in History in college. As a result, I got
a lot of exposure to the history texts and read her college books in
my younger years out of an (admittedly) unusual interest. At that
time, I found the history of ancient India too boring but loved to
read about the Moghul Empire. I also liked to read the few books on
Hinduism published by the Chinmaya Mission and the Geeta Press that my
father had in our home.
It was in my high school years when I went to our local temple library
to borrow some books on Organic Chemistry when I encountered a
treasure house of Hindu scriptures and books on ancient history.
Around the same time, I was also intrigued by the opposing views on
the historicity of the belief that the Babri Mosque was constructed
over a demolished Hindu temple. This further motivated me to read as
much as I could. I have not looked back since then. I have been
studying books on ancient India and on Hinduism several hours every
day for almost 20 years now. In a way therefore, I am self-taught
although I have also had the great benefit of doing some course-work
under Professor Vasudha Narayanan at the University of Florida in
1998.
The religious scriptures of India give me a lot of peace and answer my
spiritual and mental needs adequately. And for this reason, I will
continue to read and teach them as long as I live.
RS: What motivated you to work on a blog repudiating the work of Paul
Courtright?
VA: Courtright’s book could not be ignored for several reasons. First,
it bore a Foreword by none other than Wendy Doniger, who is the
currently reigning Czarina of Indology in the United States. Second,
the book received a national award for its presumed excellence .
Third, it was published by the Oxford University Press, one of the
most reputed academic publishers in the world. Fourth, its reprint in
India was brought out by Motilal Banarsidass, the largest publisher,
exporter and distributor of Indological books in India.
I became aware of the controversy somewhat late and was quite repelled
by the pornographic quotes from the book on various websites. I
checked out the book from our local University of Minnesota library
and was aghast to see sloppiness scattered all over. I discovered that
the book was quite well acclaimed in academic circles despite its
numerous flaws. So I teamed up with Kalavai Venkat (whom I had met on
the Internet in 2002) and together we wrote a critique of Courtright’s
misuse of textual sources to fabricate a fictitious interpretation of
passages relating to Lord Ganesha. The response from the scholarly
community indicated that they were being quite close-minded, bigoted
and dishonest. No one responded to us from an academic perspective and
instead, we were accused of being Hindu fundamentalists. It is really
sad to see that in the field of Hinduism studies, many of the so-
called scholars spend more time in scratching each other’s backs
instead of doing their research diligently. The reality is that in
this publish or perish culture, the Emperor (or the Empress) really
has no clothes.
RS: The book of Wendy Doninger The Hindus – An alternate history has
been published which has caused a lot of ire. What is your opinion on
the content of this book?
VA: I am not an insider in the field of academic study of India and
Hinduism. Perhaps, this grants me freedom from potential bullying by
the czars and czarinas of Indology. I am not subject to peer pressure
to conform to academic dogmas and power structures because they cannot
threaten my livelihood. Coming to Doniger’s book, I think it is a
seriously flawed book.
Let us be honest: the Marxist historians who dominate the field of
history writing in India lack the competence or inclination to write
any comprehensive history of Hindus. Doniger had therefore had a
wonderful opportunity to plug this gap in the field of Hindu history
which she has sadly frittered away. She chose to fall back on the same
questionable devices that she uses in her other works nauseatingly –
Freudian free association, cute and witty phrases at the expense of
accuracy, selective use of evidence to retrofit data into preconceived
theories etc. I have posted my comments on her book online at
http://vishalagarwal.voiceofdharma.com/articles/thaah/
Even though the book in its present form is flawed and should be
withdrawn, I think it is not beyond repair and has some good ideas. It
is written in lucid English and is quite readable (even if it gives
wrong information). She can certainly chose to rewrite large parts of
it, change the overall structure and plan of the book a bit and
release a second edition. In the past, she has dismissed her worthy
critics by saying that “they do not even know what we do not know”,
and her cohorts have labeled us as “emotional and dangerous hindutva
followers.” Now, she needs to swallow her pride and consult
knowledgeable Hindus in the United States if she wants to salvage her
reputation.
RS: Is there clear evidence that this book does not follow the
“scholarly publication guidelines” followed in the western liberal
arts tradition?
VA: The evidence is in the form of the hundreds of errors – factual,
distortion of sources, biased interpretations – that my chapter-wise
reviews list. The publisher may say that he did run through the
motions and have his editors and peer reviewers check the drafts. But
the fact that so many of these errors slipped through clearly
indicates that the process was either not carried out, or that the
process was carried out by editors who were incompetent.
There is some amount of sloppiness in all branches of learning, and to
focus on western liberal arts traditions would be unfair. All the
same, the brightest minds do not study ancient Indian history as a
profession (but may study it from outside while pursuing other types
careers). South Asian Studies and Indology departments are at the
fringes of their universities in general. There are simply so few
scholars in these fields that it is easy for a single-eyed person to
become the ruler of blind men. Which is why we see that books like the
one by Courtright being regarded as masterpieces.
Indic and Hinduism studies in particular are also plagued by a strong
prevalence of racist and Judeo-Christian fundamentalist attitudes
amongst several western scholars. One only needs to peruse the
archives of Liverpool Indology and other lists controlled by them to
see how much abuse and discrimination Indians have to suffer in these
professional discussion lists. Anyone from India contradicting the
received wisdom of Western Indology is termed as a Hindu Nationalist.
On the other hand, there are also quite a few academics of Indian
origin who subscribe to Leftist and Communist ideologies and inject
Indian politics in American Academe. When I went to college in India,
we used to hear of Leftist and Communist controlled Teacher Unions in
Delhi University and other places. Now I see that these same teacher
union leaders are in American Universities in dozens. They will
collude with anyone who can berate Hindus just because that is what
they did when they were in India. Rajiv Malhotra has aptly used the
term ‘sepoys’ for them.
RS: Do such books have potential for harm? If so what kind of harm can
it inflict?
VA: As an example, let us take Courtright’s book. We discovered that
slanted descriptions of the deity in the book had started creeping
into mainstream society in the West. For instance, in an exhibit on
the Hindu deity arranged by a museum in Baltimore, the book served as
a seminal text that was quoted in citations accompanying the exhibit.
After the publication of the book, Paul B. Courtright came to be
acknowledged as an authority on the subject of Ganesha. This was
evident from the way in which numerous other writers of books on the
deity not only acknowledged his help and guidance, they often quoted
his text approvingly or at least in a neutral manner. A source book on
Hinduism and psychoanalysis cited long extracts from his book to
explain the father-son relationship in the Hindu society. These
citations actually constituted some of the most vulgar and offensive
sections of Ganesa. Obviously according to the author of this source
book, Courtright’s work was seminal for a psychoanalytical
understanding of family relationships amongst Hindus. In Australia,
Lord Ganesha was depicted as ‘Gaynesh’ by local gay groups. While I
support gay rights, such a depiction is very misleading. And finally,
several hate websites run by fundamentalist Christian groups copiously
quote Courtright’s book to ‘prove’ that the Hindus are a very depraved
bunch of idiots. So we see that Courtright’s book had several harmful
effects.
Now let us take Doniger’s book. I looked at the Worldcat database and
noted that in less than one year of its publication, more than 700
libraries have acquired it in North America and Europe. With the
current trend of globalization, everyone in the west wants to know
about alien cultures. Given the chatty style of Doniger’s book, I fear
that it will be read by a lot of people and will reinforce stereotypes
in their minds about Hindus. I doubt that the cover used by Doniger
will allow the book to be used as a textbook in very many schools. But
again, there is a chance that school textbooks writers will use her
book as a reference. Penguin is a very large publisher and Doniger
will doubtless visit India on her book promotion tours, spreading her
faulty interpretations further. Hindu haters will, in the course of
time, quote her book to the effect that Hindu saints indulged in
sexual orgies, that Hindu deities were full of lust and so on. It is
this kind of hate mongering against Jews that even led to their
holocaust during WW II, and Doniger should understand it well enough.
RS: It is a sad fact that most English writings on Hindu traditions
are by writers who are not of Indian or Hindu origin. What can we do
to change this?
VA: The generalization implicit in the question is only partially
correct. If you visit bookshops in India, one finds that most of the
books on Hindu traditions are actually written by Indians or Hindus
themselves. The books published in the west are typically to expensive
for libraries and individuals to acquire even though some publishers
are making available cheaper Indian editions. And then, you do have a
flourishing vernacular language publishing industry that publishes
numerous good titles on Hinduism every year in India. One of the
reasons why books by Western scholars get undue importance is that
they are quoted profusely by their native informants – the Marxist
historians of India, especially on matters related to Ancient and
Modern India. And second, the influential Anglophone urban Indian in
the metro cities is so divorced from his or her own traditions that
they will lap up anything written on our culture by a westerner.
There are no short cuts to change this current situation in which
fewer and fewer Indians and Hindus are writing on our own tradition
day by day. Reading, reading, and reading are the only good antidote
to this problem. We must invest money in buying books, either for
personal study, or for donation to libraries or needy scholars in
India. We must start schools in our temples (both in India and outside
India) to educate our children on our traditions.
We must have deep faith in our traditions, and this should translate
into leading our lives with a purpose and a plan, rather than wasting
time and resources on non-productive items and activities like weekly
parties.
Bad writings should be countered with good writings. Instead of
wasting time shooting two byte emails everyday, knowledgeable Hindus
should spend their time more constructively by writing scholarly
articles for Internet magazines, print magazines and journals.
We should also encourage our own children to take up Hinduism studies
as their college majors (or at least as minors).
RS: What suggestions do you have for Indian Americans who may want to
voice their concern?
VA: The bane of the Hindu American community is that professors in
religious studies of India origin are too timid to stick out their
necks and protest against this blatant distortion of our traditions.
In many cases, these academics are at the end of the careers but will
not show the courage to move even their little finger when their
activism is needed by the community. They should decide whether their
loyalty lies with their religious and cultural heritage, or with
dishonest colleagues who treat them as ‘pillow dictionaries’ (to
borrow a phrase used by Doniger) or as inferior native informants
anyway. If a dozen of them develop some spine, the problem will
disappear within a few months. The pathetic timidity that Hindu
professors show is unparalleled in other religious traditions.
Ironically, these same professors sometimes do not hesitate to collude
with their prejudiced colleagues and run down their own co-
religionists in the process to save their own skins.
To the general Indian American and Hindu American community – I would
remind that the first of the 26 divine qualities listed by Lord
Krishna in the 16th chapter of the Gita is ‘fearlessness’. We should
voice our objections to being demonized by Indologists and not bother
about being labeled in pejorative terms. We must have faith in our
traditions and should speak with conviction and without getting
intimidated by others.
And finally, we should speak as a people who actually know and
practice our tradition. This means, as I said above, that we should
read, read and read about our heritage, and also continue to take
steps to transmit our traditions to our children.
Further reading:
The Hindus: A chapter-wise review by Vishal Agarwal
Oh, but you do get it wrong!
Rajiv Malhotra on Wendy Doniger
Ten challenges to the Washington Post by Rajiv Malhotra
Review of The Hindus: An Alternative History
Hinduism Studies and Dhimmitude in the American Academy
Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hindu Studies in America
Sign Petition
Demand to withdraw the flawed book on Hindu history by Prof. Wendy
Doniger called THE HINDUS: AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY to be published by
PENGUIN BOOKS INDIA. To sign the petition go to
http://www.petitiononline.com/dharma10/petition.html
This article originally appeared at http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=6329
Nityananda videos: a testing time for Hindus – Radha Rajan
March 5, 2010
Hindus on Hindu bhumi have to take a collective stand on three issues
– demand complete ban on religious conversion to Abrahamic faiths,
stop all foreign funds to NGOs and religious institutions, including
Hindu institutions, and an autonomous board for administering and
overseeing all Hindu temples and Hindu religious institutions.
Hindus on Hindu bhumi are confronting the most menacing threat ever to
their survival on this bhumi from the Abrahamic faiths and their
respective state power – Islamic and White Christian nations and their
governments. The three core concepts of pluralism, freedom of religion
and self-determination, imported from Christianity’s contemporary
liberal democracy incarnation, define the character of contemporary
understanding of nation and good governance.
Hindus have failed to challenge these concepts in any meaningful way
in any domestic or international forum and this failure signifies that
Hindus in government and Hindu thinkers and leaders either do not
realize the end-objective of these concepts or are so compromised that
they dare not challenge them.
Sanyasis exemplify the purpose of human birth as Hindus – to
understand the nature of the self. This knowledge or this
understanding reveals to the individual the boundaries and the
boundlessness of the self. Sanyasis know the limits of not only the
body but also the mind. Paradoxically, it is the limited mind which
gives us the sense of limitlessness too, and the sanyasi in saffron
robes best represents this stunning paradox.
Knowledge of the self comes with the attendant knowledge of the nature
and source of Creation. With this knowledge, which Hindus call para
vidya, the individual may choose to live the life of an enlightened
householder or grihasta, or may choose to become a sanyasi.
The sanyasi, for his part, may choose to live in society as a guru or
acharya or simply as a sanyasi; or he may choose to leave society
behind to live the life of a recluse. What distinguishes the
enlightened householder from an enlightened sanyasi is the colour of
his clothes. The sanyasi dons the saffron robes not for him, but for
the rest of us in society. An enlightened man in saffron robes is like
a vehicle with a beacon light on top – it is meant to convey something
to those who see it.
The sanyasi embodies the quintessential Hindu worldview which demands
that a Hindu does not disturb the innate harmony and order in
Creation. In short, a sanyasi embodies every Hindu’s journey to
fulfill the purpose of human life as understood and articulated by our
rishis because, as the opening line of Vivekachudamani puts it
pithily, of all births or all existence in Creation, it is rarest of
rare to be born a (Hindu) human. A sanyasi is therefore the embodiment
of rigorous discipline of mind and body, or perfect order.
A sanyasi is expected, by definition, to live a life that does not
pamper the body; and the body by definition is an aggregate of five
senses. A sanyasi, the enlightened man in saffron robes, is the
exemplar in society who is expected minimally to keep his body under
the full control of his mind by tapasya; maximally, he should be seen
to have attained the perfect unity and harmony of existence with para
vidya.
The sanyasi as the embodiment of the Hindu worldview and as the
immediate instrument of the knowledge that is transmitted through the
guru-sishya parampara is therefore the highest and most important
entity of Hindu dharma.
The videos of Nityananda broadcast by a leading Tamil news channel, at
the very least, rendered the sanyasi’s saffron robes meaningless and
without purpose. Consensual sex or physical intimacy between two
adults behind closed doors is a private affair and violation of that
privacy can and must be made punishable under law; but a sanyasi whose
saffron robes have a definite meaning in Hindu dharma, and who has
chosen to play a role in public life as a sanyasi, cannot claim right
of privacy for what is essentially an act that violates sanyasa
dharma.
For all those who reposed faith in Nitaynanda’s integrity to sanyasa
dharma, these are agonizing days. As bhaktas of Nityananda, there are
only two options open to them. If the videos are genuine, then the
bhaktas must realize that they are born in a tradition where every
institution is subject to inquiry and if called for, repudiation. If
the bhaktas are forced to reject Nityananda as Guru, they must return
to the traditional mathams and acharyas of their ancestors.
It is just as possible that the videos are compromised and if that is
so, it is hoped that these bhaktas will challenge the authenticity of
the videos in court and if the videos are proved to have been
manipulated or morphed, they should ask for maximum punishment under
the law against the news channel which broadcast the videos. This
alone will deter future misadventures to malign Hindu dharma. The
bhaktas then would not only have won the war to restore the honour of
their guru, they would have won a battle for Hindu dharma as a whole.
However, the issue of Nityananda’s videos is only peripheral to the
purpose of this column. This column is concerned about the impact of
these terrible videos on the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha. Nityananada
is one of the Hindu Founders-Patron of the Global Foundation for
Civilizational Harmony or GFCH, a body that merits the severest
criticism for its stated objectives.
Hindus on Hindu bhumi have to take a collective stand on three issues
– demand complete ban on religious conversion to Abrahamic faiths,
stop all foreign funds to NGOs and religious institutions, including
Hindu institutions, and an autonomous board for administering and
overseeing all Hindu temples and Hindu religious institutions.
Hindus on Hindu bhumi are confronting the most menacing threat ever to
their survival on this bhumi from the Abrahamic faiths and their
respective state power – Islamic and White Christian nations and their
governments. The three core concepts of pluralism, freedom of religion
and self-determination, imported from Christianity’s contemporary
liberal democracy incarnation, define the character of contemporary
understanding of nation and good governance.
Hindus have failed to challenge these concepts in any meaningful way
in any domestic or international forum and this failure signifies that
Hindus in government and Hindu thinkers and leaders either do not
realize the end-objective of these concepts or are so compromised that
they dare not challenge them.
GFCH exemplifies this Hindu failure to perceive the threats posed by
the Abrahamic faiths; if the Hindu Founders-Patron of GFCH understood
the nature of the threat they would not have created the forum in the
first place with the self-destructive objectives that they flaunt with
such élan.
The defining characteristic of all Hindu Founders-Patron of the GFCH,
including Nityananda, is that they all have ashrams in several White
Christian countries in America and Europe and have overseas NRIs,
PIOs, and non-Indians as bhaktas. These sanyasis have accumulated huge
assets as immovable property in these countries and their ashrams
depend heavily on foreign funds.
If Hindus in India, as a part of their war to protect the Hindu bhumi
have to take on the US, the EU and the UN on the issue of religious
conversion, foreign funds, the character of this nation and the basis
of nationhood, it is legitimate to question whether these sanyasis
with foreign bhaktas, foreign funds and assets abroad are in a
position to fight this war.
Just as important is the question, what will overseas Hindus do when
Hindus at home are fighting the American government on the question of
religious conversion and the role of foreign funds in subverting the
nation and the role of the UN in facilitating the subversion. And this
confrontation is certain to happen. The answer is ‘nothing’. They have
done nothing, they can do nothing, and they dare not do anything. More
importantly, they will not be allowed to do anything that can shake
even a stone in the political and strategic interest edifice that has
been put in place by these governments.
The American government has shown repeatedly how it deals with its
adversaries – individuals, communities and nations.
And that is why this writer has taken strong exception to the
following :
Swami Dayananda Saraswati as Founder-Patron of GFCH and Convener HDAS
forging an undesirable and even potentially dangerous link between the
two organizations whose objectives are mutually contradictory The
growing influence of overseas Hindus – NRIs and PIOs influencing the
functioning and purpose of HDAS Swami Dayananda Saraswati and unnamed
others on his behalf participating in and signing resolutions and
agreements at multi-religious meetings which conform to and do not
challenge the 3 cardinal liberal Christian political concepts –
pluralism, freedom of religion and self-determination Swami Dayananda
Saraswati while holding the position of Convener HDAS, actively
promoting inter-faith dialogue without getting the Abrahamic religions
to concede anything in our favour.
The HDAS is the highest body of Hindu religious leaders representing
ancient sampradayas and lineages. Their constituency is here, on Hindu
bhumi. They have to be on the side of their bhaktas when they fight to
protect dharma on this bhumi. They cannot be weakened by
considerations of foreign bhaktas, foreign funds or assets in foreign
lands. Protecting Hindu dharma on this bhumi and protecting assets
abroad are two mutually exclusive objectives.
Hindu Dharma Acharyas on this bhumi will have to demand total ban on
religious conversion and end the flow of all foreign funds into this
country. GFCH, by the very character of its Hindu Founders-Patron,
cannot do this; by being linked to the HDAS through Swami Dayananda
Saraswati and his bhaktas, the HDAS is similarly disabled.
Nityananda with his foreign funds, foreign bhaktas and foreign ashrams
has exposed how this foreign connection can render our religious
leaders, in their efforts to attract the young in our societies and
foreigners raised on a ‘liberal’ diet, compromise their anushthana or
rigorous adherence to rituals which discipline the body and mind. This
slackening of discipline renders them vulnerable to penetration and
infiltration.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati must therefore either disassociate himself
from the GFCH or step down as Convener of the HDAS. This is not a
disrespectful proposition as it is being made out to be by thoughtless
and/or manipulative Hindus. This demand springs from an unflinching
commitment to protect our sanyasis and high religious institutions
from infamy and manipulation by our adversaries through the agency of
useful idiots.
Hindus who bounce around on email groups working themselves up into
phony hysterics because some of us dare place counter-arguments and
courageous Hindu nationalist ideas in the public domain, run the risk
of diminishing themselves from the high status of useful idiots
serving overseas interests to useless idiots at home.
You tell me: Are these video images morphed or compromised?
Video: Why the video was made: the Lenin Dharmananda-Nakkeeran
Interview
Video: Rajiv Malhotra – Nityananda Interview (8 April 2009)
Deliberate media and government attack on Sanatana Dharma – V.
Sundaram
Posted in ashrams, christianity, conversion, cultural relativism,
culture, globalization, hegemony, hindu, hinduism, hindutva, history,
india, islam, judaism, legitimizing power, media, monotheism,
multicultural, neo-colonialism, ngo, proselytize, religion, sadhus,
sanyasi, tv | Tagged christianity, dharmananda, Global Foundation for
Civilizational Harmony, hindu, hindu dharma acharya sabha, hindu
nation, hinduism, human rights, india, indian history, islam, lenin,
nakkeeran, nityananda, nityananda sex video, politics, prophetism,
proselytize, rajiv malhotra, rajiv malhotra-nityananda interview,
sanatana dharma, sanyasi, sex videos |
16 comments
Times of India, Chennai, 3 April 2010
Godman expose a teamwork: Ex-disciple
Chennai: Lenin Karuppan alias Nithya Dharmananda, the man behind the
leaking of the Swami Nithyananda’s scandalous video, says that he had
a group of people working with him in the Bangalore ashram to expose
the “wrongdoings” of the godman. Talking to Times Of India, Lenin said
that they had used a sophisticated motion sensor camera to shoot the
video and it was not fixed inside the room by him.
“I do not want to reveal the names (of others involved) or how we
fixed it there. However, I have been helped by a group in making this
video so that I could expose the real face of Nithyananda, whom
thousands worship as god. I have got more evidence against him,” Lenin
said.
Lenin said he decided to expose Nithyananda after two ashram inmates
told him that the swami had sexually exploited them. “A man and a
woman shared their story with me and I was shocked. This was three
months before we recorded the video. Then we conducted an
investigation and found many others had fallen victims,” Lenin said.
He said he was now trying to get the two victims, one of whom is still
in the ashram, to lodge a formal complaint against Nithyananda.
For the first time after the leak of the scandalous video, which
showed Nithyananda and a Tamil actress, Lenin was questioned by the
Karnataka police on Thursday. “They interrogated me for seven hours
yesterday( on Thursday). I have given them all the proof I had. Apart
from the original CD, I have also given them an audio recording of a
phone call made to me by Nithyananda, who called me to arrive at a
compromise and later threatened me,” Lenin said. When asked about
tarnishing the image of an actress, Lenin said that he too felt sorry
for her. “But I had to expose Nithyananda for larger public good,” he
said.
The Chennai city police had registered two cases against Nithyananda
following complaints lodged by Lenin and also by a group of advocates.
He has been booked under various sections of IPC relating to
deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings,
rape, unnatural sex, cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal
conspiracy.
However, both these cases have been transferred to the Bangalore
police. Nithyananda’s whereabouts are still not known though he has
said he wants to live in ‘spiritual seclusion’ after stepping down
from his official positions at the Nithyananda Dhyanapeedam.
by IS April 3, 2010 at 10:47 am
Rajesh Talwar in Canada posted this comment on Débutante Dharma-Gurus:
Violating a civilisational patent – at http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1144
Finally Maharishi Om’s demand that Nityananda should apologise to
Hindus and also give up his sanyasi clothes supports the stand of
these two feisty ladies who have stood firm even when they have been
abused on many email groups by 2 or 3 men. Ms. Jain, I live in Canada
and I know Nityananda has a large following here. There is a lot of
anger and sadness here. But one thing struck me as being queer. Why
has there been no coherent defence of this Nityananda from India? I
have read several postings on emails from these 3 or 4 men who have
abused you and Radha Rajan. From what I could make of them, one is a
retired IAS gasbag, one of them is a silly scholar who has only been
reposting letters from one group to another, the third was from some
slimy swamy something-or-the-other who was circulating mail which are
generally foolish and make no sensible arguments he is a disgrace to
the name swami for circulating cheap gossip) and the fourth was from a
man who quoted some tamil proverbs with a covert sexual meaning. If
this is the standard of intellectual discussions from men in India, I
am glad I dont live there anymore. And they say in India we worship
women. I feel sorry that you ladies are being abused but you know
what, you hang in there and continue with your intellectual war. You
ladies are doing simply great. Would love to meet you both the next
time I am in India. Good luck ladies. If the men are morons, arent
there women to speak up for you? – Rajesh Talwar
by IS April 3, 2010 at 10:14 am
Nithy has made a grave mistake and brought all Hindu Dharma
representatives into disgrace. He has an obligation to change his ways
and apologize for abusing the trust of his devotees. In another age
Naga sadhus would have dealt with him in a very severe manner: they
would have stripped him of his kavi cloth and rudraksha mala and given
him jal samadhi in the Ganga.
We don’t advocate jal samadhi today, but Nithy should remove his kavi
cloth, shave his head, take a Ganga bath, and humbly apologize to all
the people he has cheated.
There is no other way. And if he is really a man of character, he will
do these simple ritual action to indicate a change of heart and
mitigate the great harm he has done to Hindu Dharma.
by Swami Devananda Saraswati April 2, 2010 at 7:40 pm
PRESS RELEASE
Appeal to Nithyananda by Maharishi Om
Founder of the Rejuvenation Yoga Institute of America and YogaUSA.com,
an institution that has over 200,000 followers learning Vedic
knowledge.
1 April 2010
Contact:
tel: ++1.630.699.4038
w: http://www.yogausa.com
e: mahari...@gmail.com
Om Namah Shivaya,
This is a special appeal to Nithyananda. All of you know him very
well. Nithyananda, please say sorry to all devotees and say sorry to
all sanyasis (monks) because you are bringing a bad name to sanyasis
(monks) and also a bad name for Hinduism.
Your statements, they are very, very confusing. One place you are
saying that you are doing an experiment … and you are in samadhi
(trance). But, whatever you are experimenting in samadhi (trance) that
is not an act of a sanyasi (monk). This is very, very bad.
In another statement, you are saying that “I did nothing wrong;
nothing illegal, at all. And, I have not done anything against the
law.” What is legal and illegal for a sanyasi (monk)? Can you please
explain?
In another statement, you are saying that the video was morphed,
manipulated, and misrepresented – (of) your personal life. What was
morphed? And, what was manipulated? Can you please explain?
In another interview, you are saying that she (Ranjitha) was your true
devotee. She is and she will be your devotee. And, she will remain
your devotee. And, she was volunteering, serving, and taking care of
you when you were sick.
We devotees don’t understand these statements at all. (You are) very
confused. These statements are confusing and creating frustration in
devotees’ hearts. (Your statements are) contradicting (to) each other;
nobody knows which one is true and which one is real. What it appears
to the general public that the statements are made up, and the truth
is not being revealed. Why don’t (you) say sorry? And, say, sorry,
again and again? And, say, “I made a mistake, and I cannot live up to
the standard of a real sanyasi (monk)?” And, ask for forgiveness? And
take corrective measures?
We, sanyasis (monks) are in great pain and sorrow. With your actions,
we request to you, (to) please say sorry to (the) public and correct
yourself. You, Nithyananda, need to leave this kavi (holy saffron)
cloth immediately.
We request to the public to keep a close watch on people who misguide
and who mislead you. Remember the statement from Kabirdas:
Guru kijiye jaan ke, paani pijiye chhan ke.
That means: Understand your guru before you accept him, and always
filter the water before you drink it.
What is the meaning of sanyasi (monk)? Who is a sanyasi and a true
guru? Sanyasa means renunciation and detachment from worldly affairs.
Sanyasa means tyaga (unconditional detached love), not raga (lust) or
anuraaga (worldly love). Sanyasa means love, not lust at all. Swami
means the one who has mastered over sensual pleasures. But, it is
clearly coming out from your (Nithyananda’s) statements that you are
not following the path of dharma (righteousness). Please, admit your
mistake and say sorry. Guru means true guide, like a mother.
I again humbly appeal to the devotees who are following the path of
dharma (righteousness) and they are in pain, please remain calm in
this difficult time, have faith in God and continue your spiritual
journey.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om (Peace within, Peace throughout, Peace
Everywhere)
by Maharishi Om April 2, 2010 at 7:38 pm
sanatana dharma does not require hard selling…neither does it require
any protectionism…eventually what will stand out is dharma…we need not
cry hoarse unless we feel the necessity to vent!
by ravi April 1, 2010 at 8:38 am
[...] Nithyananda videos: A testing time for Hindus – Radha Rajan -
http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/nityananda-videos-a-testing-time-for-hindus-radha-raj…
[...]
by Nithy resigns from ashram & all associated trusts – Media
Reports « Bharata Bharati March 30, 2010 at 12:10 pm
[...] Nityananda videos: A testing time for Hindus – Radha Rajan [...]
by Debutante Dharma-Gurus: Violating a civilisational patent –
Sandhya Jain « Bharata Bharati March 21, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Actress Ranjita cannot be blamed for this. She is used to acting in
films in similar vulgar scenes and she never had the image of puritan
or claimed so.
The person to be blamed and to be punished is Rajendran (the real name
of this idiot). He should be referred as Avamanam Rajendran , instead
of Saint’s name in future. The person should be beaten in public, if
all these allegations on him are proved. He is not Nityananda – but he
is ‘Nitya Avamanam’ for Saint Community. He will be remembered in
history for this shameful act. I know that real Saints leave
everything in life – but this false saint threw away prestige, shame,
trust of people, self respect, decency, decorum, morality, etc. He is
a real shame to India, especially to Tamil Nadu.
An early action should be taken in his case and put him behind the
bars. The justice in this case should form basic lesson for the other
Saints in our country
by VJ March 18, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Like people go against Swamis, they should go against politicians in
all the states in any party, completely expose their houses and
families, and never make them win in elections. This POLITICS is
playing havoc with all the religions.
by Sakthi March 12, 2010 at 11:09 am
The matter of the Nityananda sex video can be settled in 5 minutes if
Nityananda’s friend and sponsor Swami Dayananda Saraswati, head of the
Arsha Vidya Gurukulam and convener of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha,
calls the Sun TV proprietors and asks them to verify the authenticity
of the video. In that the respected Swamiji has not made the phone
call, or does not inform the public about the answer the Maran
brothers have given him, we may safely assume that the video is
authentic and has not been morphed or compromised.
The video was made by Nityananda’s own disciples and distributed by
them throughout the world as already stated to the Chennai police. Two
of these disciples have sought protection from the Chennai police and/
or court. If there is a Christian conspiracy behind the video as
claimed by Rajiv Malhotra and others, then that possibility must be
taken very seriously by all concerned parties including Sun TV.
Christian missionaries in India and their financiers abroad will stoop
to any level and employ every dirty trick known in order to malign
Hindu leaders and Hindu culture. But that does not invalidate the
authenticity of the contents of the video; it only supplies the motive
and money behind the making of the video. Were Nityananda’s disciples
bought by World Vision or another Christian outfit? So far there is no
evidence to indicate that missionaries were involved.
Hindu sadhus and gurus must learn to behave themselves in public and
private. When they become popular and receive the adulation of
hundreds and thousands of trusting, devout bhaktas they often get
swelled heads that are empty of anything but their own name. They
think they are invincible. That is a mistake. They are obliged to
Dharma itself and to the public who feeds them. They should be
especially careful of their conduct in Tamil Nadu, a state ruled by a
hostile, anti-Hindu administration whose citizens are informed every
morning and evening by a prurient, hostile, and anti-Hindu ’secular’
media that is always looking for just such a scandal as this one (but
refuses to report similar scandals in madrasas and seminaries).
Nityananda is an independent, free-lance godman and guru who
represents his own interests. He is not a traditional sanyasi and does
not have a traditional diksha. He does not represent a traditional
Hindu acharya parampara (though his hysterical devotees pretend that
he does). He is not registered or associated with any traditional
ashram or math but was one of the founders (like Swami Dayananda) of
the new theosophical outfit the Global Foundation for Civilizational
Harmony. This should be clearly understood by all Indians before they
start throwing stones at traditional sadhus and acharyas because of
the conduct of one very popular independent operator. Unfortunately,
the kavi cloth of the traditional sanyasi has been dragged in the mud
because of the conduct of one man who also wears the same costume with
(now) doubtful authority.
Nityananda is a Shiva bhakta with great charm and teaching ability. He
is able to influence the lives of many people. He has captured the
hearts of many people. If he has made a mistake, he has an obligation
to Dharma and the people whose trust he has abused to admit his error.
Sexual misconduct is a human failing and can be corrected. Even our
great Rishis made mistakes, fell down, and then rose up again to
become victorious in their discipline. Nityananda will be victorious
too, but he must make a radical change in his lifestyle and insure
that the opportunity for misdeeds doesn’t arise again.
Ayodhya seers: ladies should not visit ashrams alone or after dark
by SDS March 11, 2010 at 11:03 am
The godman is on the run and our respected gurus – his sponsors to
various high profile public positions like the Global Foundation of
Civilizational Harmony – are tongue-tied. Not a word to say to the
exercised Hindu public. Dumb like oxen. The guru is God according to
the chela – but not when there is scandal blowing all around the
countryside. Then chela must depend on God alone only and his little
helper in the form of political commentator Cho who so far is the only
shaved head in Chennai with something sensible to say. What a sad
state of affairs in the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha: The Voice (not
heard yesterday or today) of Collective Hindu Conciousness!
Cho: Fake godmen around in ancient times too – R. Bhagwan Singh
by SDS March 8, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Kindly visit the following sites to know more about the issue:
http://dravidianatheism.wordpress.com/
http://dravidianatheism2.wordpress.com/
http://rationalisterrorism.wordpress.com/
http://secularsim.wordpress.com/
I have dealt with the issue without any bias covering both sides.
These sites are in Tamil, as the issues are to reach Tamils, who have
been confused, brainwashed and thus supposed to know the facts behind.
Interested may visit, read, comment and criticize for further
analysis.
by vedaprakash March 7, 2010 at 2:30 pm
TIMES OF INDIA REPORT
KERALA PRIEST HELD FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF MINOR
Ananthakrishnan G, TNN, Mar 6, 2010, 03.29am IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Kerala Christian priest has been arrested for
alleged sexual abuse of a minor girl inmate of a hostel run by
Orthodox Church at Pothukal in Malappuram district in September last
year. The victim is a student of Catholicate Higher Secondary School
run by the church.
Father K G Joseph alias Father Habib Joseph was arrested and produced
in a local court on Thursday. He, however, was granted bail. Joseph
later denied charges. Crime Branch sources said the priest was charged
under Section 354 IPC (assault or criminal force to woman with intent
to outrage her modesty), a bailable offence.
Police are also probing the “unnatural” death of the girl’s elder
sister, who “succumbed” to suspected food poisoning at hostel in
October last year. A few days after her death, the 14-year-old class
IX student had alleged that she and her elder sister Anu were made to
wash feet and massage Joseph and another priest who was a regular
visitor to the hostel and that it often ended up with them being
sexually harassed.
Though they took up the matter with a nun, she instead of helping,
threatened them with dire consequences, the girl had alleged. The two
sisters belonging to a poor family of Kelakam in Kannur district
thought it better to resign to their fate as otherwise they would have
had to discontinue studies.
Sixteen-year-old Anu, a class XI student, died on October 24, 2009.
Soon after her death her younger sister had told reporters in the
presence of her father that Anju was taken out in a car by the second
priest on October 21 and they returned late in the night. Anu looked
very tired and was crying and didn’t eat anything the next day. This
infuriated the nun who beat her up, she had alleged.
The torture was so brutal that there were blood stains on the wall of
Anu’s room, she had alleged.
by KGS March 6, 2010 at 7:51 pm
TIMES OF INDIA REPORT
POPE’S BROTHER’S CHOIR FACES SEX ABUSE CLAIMS
AP, Mar 6, 2010, 02.37am IST
BERLIN: An ever-widening sexual abuse scandal involving Germany’s
Roman Catholic Church spilled into the heart of Pope Benedict XVI’s
homeland on Friday when a former member of a boy’s choir led for 30
years by his brother claimed he was a victim.
A former singer came forward with allegations church employees had
sexually abused him in the early 1960s, said Clemens Neck, a spokesman
for the Regensburg Diocese which oversees the school connected to the
renowned Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir.
Neck gave no details on the extent of the abuse, but insisted it
happened before Georg Ratzinger, the pope’s brother, took over the
choir in 1964. Ratzinger led the choir, comprised of around 500 boys
and young men, until his retirement in 1994.
A Vatican source said the pope did not intend to immediately issue a
formal statement on the claims in Regensburg.
by KGS March 6, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Ask Swami Dayananda, why did he leave Chinamaya mission in 1981? Why
he started to give sanyas in Hrishekesh to any brahmachari and asked
them to come to his ashram? this was during 1982 oct… to be precise
12th. God or nature or even supernatural power doesn’t play dice. I
want to ask you a frank question? what is the difference between a
hindu? a Christian and a Muslim? Nothing! If god had played different
roles a christian would have had a longer nose, a Hindu a shorter one
and a muslim a longer ear! Wake up stop comparing, the issue with
Nityanada is with Sex, when a bhakta donates, he expects that Sanyasi
to lead a good life and not divulge in Sexual life. Stop comparing,
Insha allah! is the same as Lord jesus, is same as hari om! words were
created by us and not by him. Man when we are naked we are all the
same. 4.5 liters of blood flowing in our body. Nitya anada is
different it is 4.5 liters in the Lower part
by Anoop March 5, 2010 at 9:21 pm
No doubt Swami Dayananda is completely compromised by being both HDAS
convener and part of the GFCH outfit. The latter appears to be an
updated version of the Theosophical Society that is organised like the
Unitarian Church. He will have to choose between the two as there is a
glaring conflict of interests here.
It has become crystal clear that the Hindus of India have been
virtually disenfranchised in the last 60 years since Independence.
They have been disenfranchised not by foreign armies but by foreign
ideologies and values that have been internalised by many Hindus – the
globetrotting godmen are an example – through the christianised
education process they have been through – and believe me all modern
so-called secular liberal humanistic education is really Western
Christian education even if the student never sees the inside of a
church. The result is that educated, americanised, and in some cases
alienated Hindus both inside India and outside, have become the
greatest enemy of the Hindu who is rooted in his own ancient, tried
and true civilization and not motivated to leave home by a desire for
things foreign including values and ideology. If Hindu values are
lost, and they have been lost completely at the level of government,
so too is Hindu civilization lost. Are we going to let MK and his
buddies in the Catholic Bishops Conference of India win the day?
They will win because we have no effective leaders, and those leaders
we do have in various Hindu outfits are busy being universal or
universalist when they should be dealing with the critical problems at
home.
This sadhu is persuaded that Radha Rajan and Sandhya Jain have got it
right. If we dismiss what they are saying as cranky or extreme, we do
so at our own peril.
by Swami Devananda Saraswati March 5, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Horseplay in Harappa: Sid Harth
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Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
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Hindus’Tantrum: Sid Harth
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I Write, Therefore I am: Sid Harth
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Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
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Sex and CD Scandal: Sid Harth
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Not Required Indian, NRI: Sid Harth
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Why ‘Marathi’?
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Telangana Tempest: Sid Harth
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Of States and Statesmanship: Sid Harth
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Sa for Sanskrit Pop: Sid Harth
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Black Money Monster: Sid Harth
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Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
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Indian Power-Pow-Wow, Wow!: Sid Harth
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26/11 Saga Continues: Sid Harth
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Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
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Of Justice and Injustice: Sid Harth
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Sangh Parivar Pageant: Sid Harth
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Stop this terroristic activities of Shiv Sena
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BJP RIP: Sid Harth
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Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
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Sangh Parivar Pageant: Sid Harth
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Sudharma, Sanskrit Newspaper: Sid Harth
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Shimla Shenanigans: Sid Harth
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Communalism, Conflict, Hindu Society, Hindutva, Propaganda, Religion
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Google's Secrets
Georgia Politics 6:30 a.m. Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tea party victories
Christine O’Donnell upended nine-term Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware’s
Republican Senate primary on Tuesday. The Tea Party Express, former
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim
DeMint, R-S.C., backed O’Donnell, while former Texas Rep. Dick Armey’s
FreedomWorks groups remained neutral. Here’s how some other candidates
supported by Palin and tea party activists have fared during the 2010
election campaign:
Alaska: Lawyer and tea party favorite Joe Miller’s surprise GOP
primary win has left Sen. Lisa Murkowski pondering a write-in
candidacy.
Colorado: Republicans have tried to get their nominee for governor,
tea party favorite Dan Maes, to quit the race. He’s claimed he worked
as an undercover police officer in Kansas — statements that have not
been corroborated by authorities — and he once suggested that a Denver
bike-sharing program is part of a U.N. conspiracy to control American
cities.
Georgia: Karen Handel, who was backed by Palin, lost the GOP
governor’s race to Nathan Deal. In the race for Deal’s congressional
seat, former state Rep. Tom Graves, who was supported by several tea
party groups, defeated former state Sen. Lee Hawkins.
Kentucky: Rand Paul defeated Republican establishment favorite Trey
Grayson in the Senate primary.
Maryland: Former Gov. Robert Ehrlich defeated investor Brian Murphy,
who was endorsed by Palin in the Republican primary for governor.
Nevada: Sharron Angle says “I am the tea party,” and endorsements from
out-of-state groups including the Tea Party Express and Club for
Growth helped her defeat former state Republican leader Sue Lowden in
the June primary. She is looking to knock out Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid.
New Hampshire: The GOP Senate primary between former state Attorney
General Kelly Ayotte (the choice of Palin and anti-abortion groups)
and Manchester lawyer Ovide Lamontagne (the choice of DeMint and local
tea party activists) ended with a narrow Ayotte victory.
South Carolina: Nikki Haley trailed for months before a tea party
surge and Palin’s endorsement lifted her to the GOP nomination for
governor.
Utah: Sen. Bob Bennett lost his job at the state convention in May
when tea party activists and other GOP voters rallied behind Mike Lee.
Political Insider / Jim Galloway
Seth Persily’s private war on Nathan Deal’s reputation
5:42 pm September 15, 2010, by Jim Galloway
Seth Woodard Persily didn’t like what he saw in Nathan Deal’s TV ads
this summer.
So the Atlanta lawyer and public relations specialist has declared a
private war on the Republican nominee for governor. Persily is out to
sabotage Deal’s reputation on the Internet.
There is reason to believe that he is succeeding in his effort to make
sure that every time Google sees the words “Nathan Deal,” the world-
changing search engine offers up the word “ethics.”
Left to right: Nathan Woodard-Persily, Caitlin Woodard Persily,
Brittany Woodard Persily, and Seth Woodard Persily, all of Atlanta.
It may be the first campaign of its kind, one that opens an entire new
field of worry for political candidates.
Perhaps more important, it is a low-cost area of activism open to any
small group of people with access to a computer, a keyboard and time.
Persily insists he is acting as a private citizen, not on behalf of
the rival campaigns of Democrat Roy Barnes or of Libertarian John
Monds.
The first thing you need to know about Persily is that he is the gay
father of two, joined in a Piedmont Park marriage ceremony two years
ago to his partner Nathan.
Persily also sits on the board of directors of YouthPride of Atlanta,
an organization dedicated to providing a social venue for gay and
lesbian teens, and to the prevention of teen suicide.
On Aug. 5, near the end of his bitter primary runoff against former
secretary of state Karen Handel, Deal launched a TV spot alleging that
Handel at one time supported domestic partnership benefits for gay
couples.
The same ad pointed to Handel’s support, while on the Fulton County
Commission, for funding directed to YouthPride. Deal condemned
YouthPride as “a group that promotes homosexuality among teenagers as
young as 13.”
So Persily had two reasons to be angry.
The second thing you need to know about Persily is that he is the
executive vice president of Penn Multimedia, a 2-year-old Atlanta firm
that specializes in the relatively new field of reputation management
— especially on the Internet.
So when Persily gets angry, he has options.
Usually, he uses his powers for good. Say a company has been forced to
issue a recall on a faulty widget — a move that produces a certain
amount of bad press and a viral YouTube video.
Making a difference on Google is always the prime target.
“We flood the Internet with positive results so that video or bad
review or that column is no longer in the top 10 [search] results,”
Persily said. “Well over 90 percent of people will never go to the
second page of Google. If you can control what’s on that first page of
Google, it doesn’t really matter what people are saying about you
anywhere else — because no one will ever see it.”
Going after Deal was something new for Persily.
“I’ve never tried to harm someone’s reputation. This is a first for
us,” he said. “We’ve always been in the business of cleaning people’s
reputations up.”
What Persily has targeted is not the hyperlinked search results you
get after punching the words “Nathan Deal” into Google. Given the
search engine’s secret algorithms, manipulation of those results is
nearly impossible.
Persily has attempted something slightly more subtle.
When you type any search term into Google, the search engine
immediately suggests a number of additional words. Whenever “Nathan
Deal” is now typed into a Google search panel, the first suggested
word is “ethics.” Second is “vs. Karen Handel.” And third is “bio.”
Anyone who accepts Google’s first suggestion will be offered page
after page of articles about an investigation conducted by the Office
of Congressional Ethics into allegations that, as a congressman, Deal
pressured state officials to protect a private salvage business in
which he was a partner.
Persily makes no claim that he created the Google connection. Only
that he has encouraged it — to make sure that “ethics” stays No. 1.
He and a dozen Georgia volunteers have employed two tactics. Across
the Internet, they have posted dozens of articles, dozens of times, in
dozens of places, that include the words “ethics” and “Nathan Deal.”
The articles don’t have to be about Deal. They don’t even have to be
read. They just have to include the name of the north Georgia
congressman, and the word “ethics.”
Secondly, during spare moments through the day, whether at home or in
the office, Persily and his allies go to Google and type “Nathan Deal
ethics” time and time again.
This is more than a case of smoke and mirrors.
“It’s conceivable. I wouldn’t be very surprised if something like this
worked,” said Guy Lebanon, assistant professor at Georgia Tech with a
specialty in machine learning and knowledge management.
The key to manipulating a Google search suggestion, Lebanon said,
would be the widespread distribution of Deal-ethics articles across
the Web, and to make sure that “Nathan-Deal-ethics” searches arose
from many disparate locations rather than a single source.
The Deal campaign said it was aware of Persily’s activities,
understood the importance of reputation management, and was adopting
counter-measures —saturating the Internet with positive articles about
the Republican nominee for governor.
“As the frontrunner, we have to expect liberals to attack us. And they
have to expect to be attacked in return,” said Brian Robinson,
spokesman for the Deal campaign.
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on
Facebook.
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..72 comments Add your commentMatt D.
September 15th, 2010
6:04 pm
“Persily insists he is acting as a private citizen, not on behalf of
the rival campaigns of Democrat Roy Barnes or of Libertarian John …”
Yeah, I believe that. I also believe the sun will rise in the west
tomorrow and set in the east. I believe that the check is in the mail
and that Santa Claus will come and leave me lots of presents this
Christmas. I believe in the Easter Bunny . . .
bushwacker
September 15th, 2010
6:12 pm
He’s obviously a democratic hack doing what democrats do, just like
Branes’ ad’s,when they cannot argue the issues the try to demonize
their opponent.
Only it does not work anymore, THE DEMS ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE when
one candidate is about to be foreclosed on or file bankruptcy BUT
STILL LEADS THE DEM candidate by 11%.
Its all over for the libs, the people have had enough of the RULING
CLASS ignoring the people!
September 15th, 2010
6:14 pm
Persily should be commended for his efforts. Nobody is more
susceptible to corruption than a politician with financial problems.
You can’t trust a man with a history of ethics violations to not use
his office for personal gain. How would it look to the rest of the
nation if Georgia would elect an individual that is bankrupt to lead
our state?
September 15th, 2010
6:17 pm
As far as polls go, this story just broke. A lot of Republicans are
now re-thinking their support for Deal. Deal should step down. Karen
Handel may have a fighting chance still.
Reality
September 15th, 2010
6:21 pm
Yeah, it’s totally a stretch to think that a gay man would appose some
one that hates gays and wants to deny them their rights on his own.
That would never happen, some one must be paying him. Morons.
BadDeal
September 15th, 2010
6:24 pm
“Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant” The more people know about Deal’s
ethics, the more likely they won’t make the mistake voting for him.
Just today we find out that Deal had been doing business with
Community Bank & Trust in Cornelia, GA, which was shut down and sold
earlier this year for , yeah you guessed it, “Unethical” lending
practices.
Reality
September 15th, 2010
6:24 pm
*oppose … d@mn-it.
Dave
September 15th, 2010
6:30 pm
Fair tactic or not, Rep. Deal is ethically challenged. And, what’s up
with “[a]s the frontrunner, we have to expect liberals to attack us.
And they have to expect to be attacked in return,” said Brian
Robinson, spokesman for the Deal campaign.” The Deal campaign is going
after the guy?
CB
September 15th, 2010
6:32 pm
I just love the fact that the guy makes his living “covering up” bad
press for companies – like defective products that could/have injured
someone, covering up corporate scandals that would affect the company,
etc., yet, he thinks that his work is “noble” – BS!
This guy is a corporate hack who makes his living covering up the
things that companies don’t want the citizenry to see/know…not a big
shock that he supports Roy Barnes.
Matt D.
September 15th, 2010
6:43 pm
CB: Birds of a feather, so to speak.
Party On!
September 15th, 2010
6:43 pm
likely in the pocket of barnes and his camp–for big money!
Georgia was better when Roy was in office
September 15th, 2010
6:43 pm
Who said he was a Barne’s supporter. The article didn’t say it. I do
assume that he will support Barnes, but that does not appear to be his
motive or main motive. He is mad about Deal’s stances on gays and the
commercials.
v8 cat
September 15th, 2010
6:49 pm
Deal = scumbag.Don’t tell me anybody would consider voting for this
hypocrite.
The Goobernator
September 15th, 2010
6:57 pm
@bushwacker: People are tired of Conservatives as the RULING CLASS
ignoring the people.
I love Deal Dweeb, Brian Robinson, his threat, “we have to expect
liberals to attack us. And they have to expect to be attacked in
return,” Boy that’s great Brian, very mature but NOT what I want from
a leader. I want someone NOT tossing labels out like some junior high
bully. Deal has no clue how to lead, he just smears lies and hate…
LIBERALLY!
I can see Russia from my house
September 15th, 2010
7:05 pm
Nathan, come on up to Alaska and help me keep an eye on the Russians.
You can put your shoes under my bed anytime, you sexy thang! You
betcha!
E
September 15th, 2010
7:07 pm
Give em hell Seth!!!!
Marcos
September 15th, 2010
7:15 pm
Good for him. I am sick and tired of right wing conservatives like
Deal preaching personal responsibility while unable to control their
own lives. So hypocritical. So pathetic.
AngryVoter
September 15th, 2010
7:33 pm
Maybe I’ll change my name to “none of the above” so I can win this
race.
Seriously, no matter how bad Deal might be, his one redeaming quality
is he’s not Barnes. The Dems must be feeling pretty silly for having
nominated him at this point, as they could have easily won this time
had they nominated someone who hasn’t already failed.
Gay People Fight Back
September 15th, 2010
7:38 pm
I’m so happy to see gay people fighting back. The commercials that
Nathan Deal’s campaign ran were reprehensible. It was truly sickening
the way Deal attacked YouthPride and domestic partnership benefits.
Deal is getting EXACTLY what he deserves.
Burroughston Broch
September 15th, 2010
7:50 pm
There are more substantial issues at stake than yet another offended
gay rights zealot.
frugal voter
September 15th, 2010
7:52 pm
I guess it is time for me to start typing ” Nathan Deal sleaze” into
the Google search engine.
Top ten here we come!!
rooster
September 15th, 2010
7:53 pm
Does Deal suffer from multiple personality disorder? Why does he
constantly use the first-person plural when referring to himself? Is
it possible only one of his personalities is ethically challenged?
frugal voter
September 15th, 2010
7:56 pm
It appears that Roy’s gubernatorial ambition is altruistic. And Deal’s
ambition is to get free housing before he’s foreclosed upon. And, as a
life long Republican, I am sorry to have to vote Democrat to keep this
sleaze out of any house…congressional or otherwise.
This is a substantive issue
September 15th, 2010
7:56 pm
I take it from your comments Mr. Broch, that you are not gay.
I know Nathan Deal
September 15th, 2010
7:59 pm
And he will do anything, ANYTHING, to get elected. Furthermore, people
like Deal, who strike out at gay people, usually have some sort of
homosexual issues of their own that they are dealing with.
Michael
September 15th, 2010
8:01 pm
Persily is the same kind of public relations guy that BP hires to
clean up the internet, plant positive stuff, and then claim the green
crown again. Deal is just corrupt, bankrupt and republican. Wait,
that’s redundant.
What did the Cox employee say at the Debate
September 15th, 2010
8:05 pm
Atlanta has been voted most homo frienly city, more than even San
Francisco. Kasim Reed, Coleman of the DeKalb BOE to name a few others
that the agenda has bestowed on Atlanta. I’m sure they are in the
middle of the APS coup. This is all orchestrated by Attorney Brock and
the “for sale” Towery. Its the reason GA remains last in education.
atlanta mom
September 15th, 2010
8:06 pm
Hard to say which suggestion will come up first on google now:
Nathan Deal ethics
or
Nathan Deal bankruptcy
And why would anyone think this is anything other than a family
matter?
bart
September 15th, 2010
8:07 pm
Deal is a racist, a bigot, a crook, stupid, unethical, homophobic, and
has displayed horrible judgment. He would force your 12 year olds who
were raped and impregnated to carry the rapist’s baby. He has said he
is willing to look at secession. Of course, he’ll be elected by the GA
voters.
No where near!
September 15th, 2010
8:15 pm
Can Coach Bobo! Oh wrong blog, anyway, maybe someone should flood the
internet with Persily and Homo! Every time you type in Homo you get
Persily! Slander at it’s best!
ethics or bankruptcy
September 15th, 2010
8:17 pm
atlanta mom, i’m guessing it’ll be a 1-2 punch on google now. and you
know what, Deal will still win. the two biggest phrases associated
with our next governor are ethics and bankruptcy. you gotta love
Georgia.
Matt D.
September 15th, 2010
8:24 pm
My, my, this is a testy bunch!
Michael said, “Deal is just corrupt, bankrupt and republican. Wait,
that’s redundant.”
I think one could safely say that you aren’t a Republican.
Bart said, “Deal is a racist, a bigot, a crook, stupid, unethical,
homophobic, and has displayed horrible judgment.” I think it’s safe to
say that you will be voting for Barnes.
So, we have two democrats that aren’t voting for Deal. What a shock!
This is definitely “above the fold front page news”!
Nowm in the privacy of your respective homes, practice saying,
“Governor Deal”.
atlanta mom
September 15th, 2010
8:24 pm
@ethics or bankruptcy
But he feels our pain
No Longer Republican
September 15th, 2010
8:26 pm
Fantastic! I applaud his efforts! We do not need this crook as our
next governor. Eight years of Sonny has just about ruined this state,
a Deal administration would finish it off!
Georgia female
September 15th, 2010
8:36 pm
Let’s see what else we can say against Nathan Deal. The Democrats are
having a field day with our liberal media. Where is Roy????? What are
you going to say about him????? probably acolades of some kind.
I support Mr. Deal all the way in November!!!!!!!!
Fake Deal plant commentor
September 15th, 2010
8:43 pm
The Democrats are having a field day with our liberal media. I support
Mr. Deal all the way in November!
bart
September 15th, 2010
8:51 pm
Matt D., you are correct. I am a Handel supporter who will hold my
nose and vote for Barnes. It is amazing to me that anybody would vote
for Deal. He is crooked, shows poor judgement, is a bigot, is
unethical, has espoused secession, and is stupid. Why would I vote for
Deal?
Burroughston Broch
September 15th, 2010
8:51 pm
@ This is a substantive issue.
My sexual orientation is not relevant. Whether Mr. Barnes or Mr. Deal
does or does not pander to gays is not a substantive issue. Among
substantive issues are education, taxes, transportation, reducing the
size of state government, and dealing with the under-funded state
pension system.
Lily
September 15th, 2010
8:52 pm
Matt D., you are correct. I am a Handel supporter who will hold my
nose and vote for Barnes. It is amazing to me that anybody would vote
for Deal. He is crooked, shows poor judgement, is a bigot, is
unethical, has espoused secession, and is stupid. Why would I vote for
Deal?
we can do better
September 15th, 2010
9:02 pm
We have got to stop putting country bumpkins in office if Georgia is
ever to rise above the Deals and Richardsons that have run this state
for WAY too long.
td
September 15th, 2010
9:03 pm
On one hand we have a man that was trying to help his daughter and son
in law have the American dream of being a business owner, company went
under and now he has to pay back the loans. On the other hand, we have
an ex governor that sued his own state to allow illegals, convicted
felons and others not qualified to vote sneak in the polls, vote and
mess with the integrity of our election system (while costing the
state millions to defend and making a profiting himself).
Barnes has already proven he can not be trusted in his first term by
lying to the teachers and to the southern culture movement. I think
the choice is clear and the average voting is going to vote for Deal.
Deal staffer
September 15th, 2010
9:24 pm
Wow, looks like I’m gonna get lots of overtime pay this evening.
Deal staf—-uh, Patriotic Hardworking Non-Swishy Georgian
September 15th, 2010
9:27 pm
I’m voting for Deal, and so is everyone I know! The groundswell of
support is amazing! Go Governor Deal!!!111!!!!!
From PeachPundit
September 15th, 2010
9:29 pm
Nathan Deal was a partner in the failed business venture, not just a
poor sap for helping out his daughter and son-in-law. His handlers are
attempting to put the best spin possible on his business activities,
but he was in the deal to make money. For those of you who know how to
look up on-line superior court clerk deed records, go to Habersham
County Deed Book 839 pages 641-49 and see the transaction details.
Nathan and his wife, not his daughter or son-in-law, borrowed $2.4
million on 2-1-2008 for land and building that’s now valued at
$725,000.Their bank payment was $15,000 a month and they had a rental
agreement with the business to pay rent. The business was in the
middle of nowhere and sold high-dollar outdoors equipment, clothing,
and hunting/fishing supplies. For example, they offered a fancy fly
rod and reel for $4,000. I doubt they sold many. Folks in NE Georgia
shop at WalMart for these type items. The rich dandies that
occassionally come through on their way to Highlands just didn’t spend
enough dough there. And we want this guy to lead our State out of the
Great Recession? Get Real, say NO to Deal.
Amy in the ATL
September 15th, 2010
9:29 pm
Deal really opened up his own can of worms with those absolutely
reprehensible ads against Karen Handel. Did he really NEED to throw
out the anti-gay agenda to win the primary? Last time I checked, hate
is not a family value. And if you hate like that, you deserve a little
mud slung back at you. I’m just sorry Handel didn’t win so we could
hopefully be having a more productive election.
SpaceyG
September 15th, 2010
9:41 pm
The gays can take a few days off and rest from their efforts to
sabotage the Deal campaign. Seems Deal and the Deal Family Dream, LLC
are imploding nicely all on their own, with a little help from the
entire GA press corps now, given today’s news. I’m sure there is even
more to, er, come out (pardon… it just typed-out that way) in these
last few weeks before the election too.
This is all soooo much better’n TV!
atlmom
September 15th, 2010
9:42 pm
Votemonds.com
Substantive Issue
September 15th, 2010
10:06 pm
@ Burroughston Broch
For you, your orientation might be irrelevant. However, if you and you
family and your friends’ families were under attack by the ethically
challenged Nathan Deal, it might matter just a little bit more. Deal
is a weak, immoral rascal not to mention a bigot. Trust me, I know
him. I know him well.
Matt D is wrong again
September 15th, 2010
10:08 pm
Hey Matt, I’m thinking you might be right about Nathan Deal serving a
term or two. But I don’t think “Governor” will be his title. More like
“Inmate.”
Ray
September 15th, 2010
10:09 pm
Can’t Deal use some of that $300k/yr he stole from the taxpayer while
he was drinking his way through DC?
Idiot makes ‘w’ look like a rocket scientist…
GOP for Barnes
September 15th, 2010
10:11 pm
I will be voting almost a straight Republican ticket in November…
except for Governor.
Common Sense
September 15th, 2010
10:14 pm
Deal? Unbelievable……..only in GA – well OK South Carolina too – could
a bankrupt, no ethics politican be elected Governor.His extremely poor
business acumen epitomize what helped create the Great Recession.
Should have listened to Karen Handel but the “good old boys” ruled the
day……
Loran, Whatayagot?
September 15th, 2010
10:21 pm
This may be one of the biggest hissyfits I’ve ever seen. Maybe even
like a drive-by slapping. Don’t criticize the gay lifestyle or
disparige (sp?) it in any way. If they choose to legitimize their
lifestyle, it must be legitimate and to not agree with it makes you
some kind of bigot. Ah…… never mind anymore comments. These are buried
so deep that only I might read them/
Sodomy hurts
September 15th, 2010
10:40 pm
Frigging Democrat sodomite. He needs to go back to dorking his gay
lover in the rectum and leave politics to others
schroeder
September 15th, 2010
11:09 pm
gays kick arse
Burroughston Broch
September 15th, 2010
11:15 pm
@ Substantive Issue.
What has Deal actually done to you and your family and your friend’s
families, other than publicly disagree with you and your lifestyle?
What has Barnes done for you and your family and your friend’s
families, other than promise to pander to you? Gay rights is a very
small issue for most of the electorate, particularly outside metro
Atlanta. However, it seems to be the only issue for gays. That’s very
short sighted, in my opinion. Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
Me
September 15th, 2010
11:19 pm
How does a father with 2 young children have time for such folly? He’s
obviously got some growing up to do.
What a Deal
September 15th, 2010
11:21 pm
Let’s assume Deal’s daughter and son-in-law were would-be
entrepreneurs who couldn’t get daddy to cosign a loan. Would they ever
have even gotten the chance to fail miserably at their harebrained
business? Would Deal have had any sympathy for them in the event they
filed bankruptcy, like so many other “irresponsible parasites” now
seeking government assistance? I think not.
If you’re born on third base and still can’t make it home, you’re
truly idiotic.
takawira
September 15th, 2010
11:26 pm
Near bankrupt,ethically challenged,crockpot,sleazy,financially
irresponsible… DEALER DEAL,failed business man?
TAKE YOUR PICK FOLKS!
Governor??
Unless you didnt pass highy school.
Think!
September 15th, 2010
11:29 pm
Deal hasn’t just “publicly disagreed;” he is actively working to
disenfranchise and strip the rights from people based on their sexual
orientation.
I am NOT gay, however, this affects me in that it harms “US” as a
people…not to mention friends happen to be gay.
He’s a CROOK. He slithered out of Congress before they could indict
him. Feel our pain? PLEASE.
September 15th, 2010
11:46 pm
So Deal “bailed-out” his daughter and son-in-law by securing a loan
for money he did not have and won’t be able to repay. Anyone else see
the hypocrisy in this? I guess he felt his kids were “entitled” to the
bank’s federally insured money.
Michael
September 16th, 2010
12:16 am
@Matt D. I’ve been saying Governor Dumb*ss for the last 20 yrs in Ga.
Now, get along and go chase a gay Mexican who’s trying to build a
mosque, your country needs you.
Fred Flinstone
September 16th, 2010
1:21 am
Hey Gummy: I see that “catlady” and her cousins are boycotting
Maureen’s blog and have near ’bout shut it down. But, I see that you
have been busy all day on ole Jimbo’s blog here. I give you credit…you
can dominate a blog with that cousin-dialogue stuff. I’ve a good photo
or two of you at the picket line. You want me to show you?
Barney
September 16th, 2010
1:27 am
@ Fred: You are so right about Catlady and her cousins dominating the
blogs (especially Mom3Thugs). She needs to change her same tired
topics too. Catlady says the same thing all the time. I want to hear
more from “BABY SAY,” but he says that he won’t get on Jimbo’s blog as
long as Catlady and Her Cousins are dominating. We love you PBM!
Gay rights matters
September 16th, 2010
1:39 am
If someone attacked your family the way Deal attacked gay families in
his commercials, wouldn’t you fight back too? Good job Persily!
buttmuncher
September 16th, 2010
1:42 am
who in their right mind wants to take it up the tailpipe?
buttmuncher
September 16th, 2010
1:43 am
silly f a ggot d icks are for chicks.
Burroughston Broch
September 16th, 2010
2:11 am
@ Think!,
How is Deal “actively working to disenfranchise and strip the rights
from people based on their sexual orientation?” Do you have first hand
knowledge and, if so, precisely what is it?
@ Gay rights matters,
How is Deal “attacking your family in his commercials?” What damage is
being inflicted on you? Or is he saying that he doesn’t approve of
your lifestyle?
Most of the gays I know who are obsessed with gay rights are paranoid
as well, and take offense at every one who doesn’t advocate the gay
rights agenda. With them, there seems to be no middle ground – you are
either 100% behind them and are vocal and assertive about it, or you
are the enemy.
In my experience,
Fire Eater
September 16th, 2010
4:48 am
Maybe we need to see some Deal ads unloading on homos like these two
freaks…my suggestion would be to run some clips of the “Folsom Street
Fair” in San Francisco with the voiceover “…here are the ones who
demand access to your children and confiscation of your guns.”
Other smears against Deal are allegedly the work of groups funded by
internationalist oligarch George Soros.
catlady
September 16th, 2010
7:01 am
Kind of reminds me of Richard Nixon’s claims about how many pro phone
calls and telegraphs he had received on the Vietnam War, or his
manipulation of data about enemy deaths. Except this is TRUE.
catlady
September 16th, 2010
7:09 am
Atlanta mom: Family matter?! When have you tried and succeeded in
getting millions in loans for your children, using your house as
collateral, when it is not worth even one million? When your income is
(supposedly) $150,000 and the house and other property is already
mortgaged? When you successfully can pull off those loans yourself,
let me know. THEN it might be a “family matter.” Right now there is
something quite fishy in him being able to get those loans!
No Haters
September 16th, 2010
7:32 am
@buttmuncher who says “who in their right mind wants to take it up the
tailpipe?” I think a better question is who in their right mind would
care what others do in bed? You have some issues you need to work
through. Good luck with them.
…and I am Sid Harth
Technology
September 16, 2010
« Phone Phucking phor Dummies
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/16/poor-indians-oops-americans/
Poor Americans
Poverty Rate Climbs in Recession, One in Seven Now Poor
Census Data Show 43.6 Million Americans in Poverty, Most in 51 Years
By DEVIN DWYER
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2010
One in seven Americans are living in poverty, the U.S. Census Bureau
reported today — the highest level since 1994.
But the increase in the federal poverty rate, to 14.3 percent last
year from 13.2 percent in 2008, was notably smaller than the 15
percent many experts had been predicting as the country has struggled
to emerge from a painful recession.
“The bad news is that poverty is high and it’s going up, but not as
dramatically as we had feared,” said Sheldon Danizger, director of the
National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan.
An estimated 43.6 million Americans in 2009 were living off incomes
below the federal poverty line, or around $11,000 for an individual
under 65 or $22,000 for a family of four.
The total number, an increase of 3.7 million over 2008, is the largest
in 51 years, since the government first started tracking poverty
data.
While Census Department officials declined to speculate on the causes
of the increase, the new statistics are widely viewed as a sober
reminder of the impact of the recession that began in 2008.
The federal poverty rate is now 1.8 percent higher than in 2007.
Danzinger said the government’s data shows the stimulus package has
helped to keep millions of Americans out of poverty.
“Unemployment insurance took more than 3 million people out of poverty
last year… Social Security payments also helped… so much so that
poverty among the elderly went down,” he said. “The stimulus package
gets credit.”
Still the report comes as potentially more bad news for Democrats and
the Obama administration who have been trying to persuade voters that
their economic policies are working to turn the economy around.
Member Comments
14 Comments
View: First to Last
I am amused.
India’s poverty surpasses that of America’sDid someone say one in
seven? That is a laugh. LOL!The ratio in India is 7/10.
…and I am Sid Harth
Posted by:
navanavonmilita 12:38 PM
Admin Link: 17
Republicans will not be happy until 99 out of 100 Americans live in
poverty. That 1% corporate executive upper crust they so love to
protect needs to stay wealthy, but the 99% just take away from their
corporate bonuses. People that actually think Republicans grow
societal wealth are deluding themselves. It has been proven time and
again that middle class wages decrease when Republicans get in office.
Posted by:
agmca 12:37 PM
Admin Link: 16
Well we have untold illegal invaders sucking the government dry, a bad
economy, and a stupid President that thinks he can just spend his way
into re-election. Sounds about right.
Posted by:
dandydonmc 12:32 PM
Admin Link: 15
Maybe we need to stop trying to save the world and take care of our
own back yard first.
Posted by:
ajpaz56 12:32 PM
Admin Link: 14
America is collapsing. If we don´t react and demand solutions to our
politicians, we´re going to a new crash. American people, wake up.
Corporations are getting big profits meanwhile middle-classe is
condemned to misery and bankruptcy.
Posted by:
audacioushope 12:26 PM
Admin Link: 12
tomboi1978 12:23 PM—-lol…like those programs would take people out of
poverty, your ignorance on those programs and how much people actual
getting is showing greatly…
Posted by:
whereami10 12:26 PM
Admin Link: 11
KobBoris – Clinton did NOT write that legislation!! Sen. Gramm
REPUBLICAN wrote that legislation when the GOP was in control of
Congress, knowing they could override a veto – THE GOP DESTROYED US.
Posted by:
I182 12:24 PM
Admin Link: 10
Do you people have any clue how long it took FDR to get us out of the
Great Depression? Those of you who think somehow that Obama would
magically wave a wand and make it all better in 2 years, when it took
Bush’s 8 years to destroy us, have no common sense whatsoever.
Posted by:
I182 12:23 PM
Admin Link: 9
How about we count welfare, food stamps, the EIC, medicaid, school
lunches, etc as income and see how quick that poverty number drops
through the floor?
Posted by:
tomboi1978 12:23 PM
Admin Link: 8
Clinton opened the flood gates by stripping the Glass-Steagall act so
that Banks nd Wall st. can legally set up ponzi schemes to rob this
nations wealth and get paid enormous bonuses for doing so, than stole
from the taxpayers (thanks to Bush) for going broke when the house of
cards fell, and awarded themselves more bonuses. No wonder there are
more poor than ever before. And what the media does not tell you is
there are more wealthier billionaires than ever before.Lesson: Crime
pays nicely if you pay off the DNC and the GOP.
Posted by:
KobBoris 12:19 PM
Admin Link: 7
I’ll be voting for the Libertarian candidate in the next election. The
other guys have managed to completely decimate our great republic.
Posted by:
Fan of Jefferson 12:13 PM
Admin Link: 6
Folks, this data is for 2009. Which means the CAUSES of this increase
were in place BEFORE 2009. Poverty is a lagging indicator, not a
leading indicator, of economic health. But please, don’t let that stop
the Obama bashers from blaming him…………
Posted by:
SearamblerOne 12:09 PM
Admin Link: 5
From Hope to outright Despair. Mr. President, I know you mean well,
but you’re making things much worse.
Posted by:
Patrick1VA 11:59 AM
Admin Link: 4
Any increase in poverty is too high, but it’s funny how we are so
quick to help other countries but ignore the problems in our own
country….
Posted by:
whereami10 11:59 AM
Admin Link: 3
We all must agree that the progressive “trickle up poverty” plan is
succeeding
Posted by:
mdaok 11:52 AM
Admin Link: 2
Republicans: Lost jobs, Two Wars, foreclosures, deposit spending, lost
IRA’s and pensions, bank giveaway, high profits for oil companies and
banks, low pay and taxes for the poor, no health plan, no energy plan,
failed to prevent 9-11.Democrats: Still at war, still loosing jobs,
foreclosures, deposit spending, still loosing IRA’s and pensions, more
bank giveaways, profits continue for oil companies and banks, health
plan is a tax on the poor. Have you had enough or will you vote for
the deadwood that got us into this mess?
Posted by:
engpro 11:40 AM
…and I am Sid Harth
Caste system, Hindu Society, History, Hot Off The Presses, Indian
Economy, Indian Politis, Indian society, Major News, News, Views and
Reviews, Propaganda, Slums
16/09/2010
« Butler, Oops, Benedict Arnold, Oops, Pope Benedict XVI did it
navanavonmilita
This Blog
Linked From Here
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Saturday, April 17, 2010Indian Black Magic: Sid Harth
Indian Black Magic: Sid Harth
Indian Superstition: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/0bbe50a323c05335#
Kill Bill: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/f7b4e319f7a4fa28/ad4a6038f51d0cba?lnk=gst&q=Kill+Bill#ad4a6038f51d0cba
Of God, Godmen and Good men: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/beee6405766fa364#
INDIA PLAGUED BY DEEP SUPERSTITIONS - BLACK MAGIC & WITCHCRAFT
- a review of current witchcraft problems in India and how Sathya Sai
Baba aggravates the issue
LATEST ADDITION: CHILD SACRIFICES AND WITCH-KILLING IN INDIA
Black magic is a primitive superstition which is firmly supported by
the self-proclaimed avatar, Sathya Sai Baba. Seeing he and his
'teachings' are worshipped by Supreme Court judges, Prime Ministers
and Presidents of India, is it any wonder that this country cannot
remove the dreadful ignorance of so many of its citizens, as is
documented here? See for example Sai Baba's statements in his
published discourses from his series 'Sathya Sai Speaks' as follows:
Of course, there is magic in the world both white and black; but, the
manifestation of Divine Power must not be interpreted as magic. Can
the crow's egg and the cuckoo's egg be identified as belonging to one
class? http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/index.htm#sss Sathya Sai
Baba - Vol 10. p. 261 (click to view)
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/index.htm#sss All kinds of silly
stories were circulated when I was ill! Some people feared that when I
went to the South recently, some black magic was inflicted upon Me and
that the stroke was the consequence. Let Me tell you that nothing evil
can affect Me. Nothing. Sathya Sai Baba - Vol 3. p. 93 (click to
view)
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/index.htm#sss
In the above we see that Sathya Sai Baba sustains dangerous false
beliefs which in India can and do cause the worst kind of social ills,
including many horrific murders of suspected witches. The influence of
Sathya Sai Baba in India is also very considerable among the poor as
well as ruling classes. Many of his utterances provide persistent and
strong support for base superstitions - like the evil eye, black magic
and many other proven false beliefs. One superstitious practice of his
is the strict observation of (supposedly!) auspicious and inauspicious
times of the day for traveling or starting new projects! His
reinforcements to superstitious belief speak for themselves - at least
to those who are not given to believing anything that suits their
fancy or whatever they are told by this self-instated 'omniscient'
Incarnation of Godhood. Below I present independent documentation by
National Geographic Channel and the Mumbai High Court of some of the
current consequences of these primitive forms of ignorance.
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/index.htm#wit
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/index.htm#pet
Sathya Sai Baba is one of those many ignorami who sustain and spread
false beliefs about the powers of black magicians and witches (i.e.
female black magicians). He is on record in various books by devotees
of having told followers that they have been attacked by black
magicians, and that he has saved them from black magic! See some
examples of many, as follows: (all light blue text is direct
quotation)
The writer of the single most popular book about Sathya Sai Baba, 'Man
of Miracles' , Howard Murphet writes a long, involved account of how
the Norwegian Alf Tidemann-Johannessen in 1962 fell foul of black
magic and was 'saved' from it by Sathya Sai Baba. Alf Tidemann-
Johannessen was a magnate with a shipping firm in Bombay, and
unscrupulous competitors "engaged a black magician to work against
him" (p.165).
"But Alf's lawyer in Bombay, who was working on the company's
problems, soon caught a whiff of the black magic. He had known similar
cases before" A Parsi priest was consulted and Alf reportedly stated
to Murphet: "By many strange methods he began piloting me and my
business through the troubled waters stirred up by the black
magician." The magician was identified as an "evil-eyed old Indian
who, by clever ruses, had gained admittance to his private office"and
Alf confronted him. The black magician then decided to work for Alf,
"... if the latter paid him reasonably well. He would see to it that
all Alf's enemies were completely annihilated. 'Black magicians are
very powerful,' he announced, and added meaningly, 'they can even kill
a child in its mother's womb.' Alf had just received a cable that very
morning from Norway informing him that his wife had lost her child in
its seventh month. This must be more than coincidence, he thought" (p.
165)
Years later, in 1966 he came into contact with Sai Baba of Shirdi and
soon after, Sathya Sai Baba. He wanted to sell his business in Bombay.
Murphet reports that Sai Baba said: "I will help you find a reliable
buyer and obtain a good price." and also "Do you remember the black
magician? I helped you then." (p. 169) This again confirms that Sathya
Sai Baba actually believes in black magic!
It would not have seemed such a tremendous blessing and help if the 7-
month old foetus was killed, in the womb as Alf thought, by black
magic! However, some years later, Alf Tidemann-Johanessen caused a
stir for the members of the Norwegian Sai centre, informing a member
that he had been swindled by Sathya Sai Baba who he knew to be a fraud
and a bad person! He had provided a helicopter to Sai Baba for him to
give darshan from the air one of his birthday celebrations, which can
be seen on one of the Richard Bock films. He was even writing a book
against Sai Baba, which fact disturbed Sai followers in Norway. He
left Sai Baba completely some time before 1984. We in the Oslo group -
then all unable to accept the slightest criticism of Sai Baba -
decided that he must himself be a 'bad man' and he was not contacted
again! So much for misplaced faith in a Swami!
Howard Murphet has written many fanciful things which have contributed
vastly to the popularity of Sathya Sai Baba, but few of them surpass
his confused and speculative account of how Sathya Sai Baba's legs
were (apparently!) paralysed by a black magician. This is in his book
"Sai Baba Avatar - a new journey into power and glory" According to
Murphet, a yogi (whose name and location are not revealed) with strong
hypnotic powers which, among other things, he used to seduce women,
told a young American that he "could dominate a pupils' mind and will
absolutely - given time. A pupil so completely dominated could be sent
out to murder anyone the tantrist desired out of the way. The American
added it was known to several in the ashram that one pupil was being
trained, conditioned and overshadowed by the tantrist for the purpose
of killing Sai Baba. As the dark hates the light that overpowers it,
the black magician hated Baba who frustrated many of his
designs." (from Chapter 9 - 'The Lord's Legs'). Murphet connects this
yogi's murder plans - without evidence or cogent reasoning of any kind
- to the paralysis of Sathya Sai Baba's legs! According to Murphet,
Sai Baba eventually decided to cure himself of this paralysis as he
allegedly once did when he cured a week-long paralysis of the left
side of his body." All this is accepted as Murphet as Gospel, as usual
in his case, without a hint of critical thinking or questioning of any
of it.
One particular demon was most adamant. No blows or threats would make
it budge. Watching Swami from a distance, with hearts filled with
pity, we would curse the demon. Obviously, it was a stubborn demon. It
would go on shouting and heaping abuses. Swami looked fatigued after
all that beating. Lifting her up by the hair, Swami swung her round
and flung her to a distance as if she were a ball. Her body hit the
wall and came back and fell at his feet. Speechless with terror, we
clung to the wall. She had a very sturdy build. How was He able to
lift that weight? Didn't He (as Krishna) in the bygone days, lift up
the Govardhan mountain on His little finger? We were all intensely
watching Swami. His body was drenched in Sweat. He was sweating
profusely. His eyes were bloodshot and looked terrible. Holding her by
the hair again, He shouted "Will you leave at least now? Have you
learned your lesson?" "Alas! Enough! Don't beat me anymore. I will go
away. I won't come back again." Saying these words, quivering and
shaking, the demon ran away. From the centre of the woman's head,
Swami forcibly plucked out a few hairs. There was a sharp thorn-like
formation under those hairs. Swami beckoned to the husband of the
woman and showed it to him and said something to him in a low tone. He
then gave the order for her to be escorted inside. Swami was panting
for breath. His face still looked fierce. When we were peeping at Him
from a corner, He smiled at us. That was enough. Immediately, we
swarmed around Him. Meanwhile, the woman's husband came out, and Swami
told him, "It is not only a case of being possessed by a demon.
Someone cast an evil spell on her. "Black magic was used and a
magician was hired to do all sorts of pujas to make her lose her wits.
There is no need for fear now". The husband fell weeping at Swami's
feet. Later, Swami created a talisman and, inserting into that the
hairs He plucked. He closed it, and tied it around the woman's neck.
To our question, "Do demons really exist, Swami?" He gave the reply,
"Yes! Those who committed suicide, those killed in accidents, those
who met with an untimely death, all these will be roaming around like
ghosts. A demon cannot go near someone who is strong. It goes near the
weak and makes fools of them like this. Sometimes, a man remarries
when the first wife dies. The first wife, who died with desires
unfulfilled, 'possesses' the mind of the second wife and tortures her
like this. Sometimes, where a lot of property is involved would-be
heirs, to get that property, hire magicians to make the owner of the
property go mad. There are many reasons like this". He drove away
demons this way, physically, only for one year. Later, He just used to
give vibhuti prasadam and, with that, send the demons away. (Anyatha
Saranam Nasthi - Other than you refuge there is none by Smt.
Vijayakumari, Chennai 1999, p. 40-1)
The episode of the paralysis of his legs is also recorded - amid the
usual gushing and vastly exaggerated comments - by Diane Baskin in her
self-enhancing and Sai-praising book 'Divine Memories of Sathya Sai
Baba' (pps 108-110), which abounds in photos of herself with Sai Baba.
Baskin wrote: "Our servants told us that one of the many rumours
circulating was that swami had been poisoned, but the explanation that
Swami gave was never made public. Swami said that some very powerful
yogis were testing Him to determine of He really was the Avatar. They
were sending Him, what best could be compared to currents of very high
voltage, enough to kill a human being instantly. He could not return
the energy force to them because they would die; thus He accepted it,
adding that ultimately these yogis - by this act of His - would become
His devotees. After one week, Swami miraculously threw off the
paralysis as He had always done with any illness that beset Him."
Vague hearsay and the obviously embroidered account - with spiritual
'high voltages' that could kill a person instantly, with 'very
powerful yogis' who have, of course, never appeared on the scene as
his devotees, speulation of his miraculous 'throwing off' of paralysis
- is quite typical of hundred of accounts in books by devotees who
seek his blessings. As to self-healing, with him now staggering around
on a collapsed hip joint which he cannot cure, and evidently suffering
from disorientation and senile symptoms to conceal which cause the
ashram staff great difficulties, one can draw one's own conclusions!
In yet another highly overdone hagiographic account 'Lokanatha Sai' by
M.N. Leela, [signed in 1995 by Sathya Sai Baba and thus authenticated]
we find the following account which again proves that has been
spreading superstitions about black magic: "Swami called my mother and
others separately and said that a black magician had done havoc to my
father: on that Friday when my father went early morning with bailiff
and removed his shed put in our land at Guindy. He also said. "Dig the
spot where you find broken pots and remove the remains of goat and
chicken etc and throw them off. Now he is fully recovered, but the aim
of the sorcerer Is to drive him mad and ultimately kill him." (p. 151)
See scan of the excerpt and cover etc.
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/index.htm#sss
What is important to realise is that all these accounts are published
and approved by Sai Baba's own press - even signed by him -. This can
only add to the superstition about black magic which Sai Baba
promotes. His promises to protect devotees from such powers are also a
clever means of creating a strong dependency and thus underlying
anxiety - for if one questions him on this, then the implication is
that he may withdraw his protection due to lack of faith! This is a
key to the 'guru trap'. Sathya Sai Baba is widely known to instil fear
by various such subtle means in most of his followers, as anyone who
knows many of them well can attest.
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/SaiBaba/gurutrap.htm
Resumé: INDIAN WITCH HUNT (National Geographic documentary).
Witchcraft is still widely believed in and 'practiced' in many
backward parts of India. Jharkand in Ranchi has been dubbed 'the witch-
killing hub of India' by journalists where women suspected of
witchcraft are attacked and not seldom killed. Historians have
estimated that, in Europe until the 17th to 18th century, ca. 40,000
women were killed as witches, often by burning at the stake. (The
latest well-known witch trials in an industrialised or developed
Western country were those at Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.)
In Jharkand, five hundred cases of witch hunts were reported in the
1990s, and they continue to occur. The State ratified an Anti Witch-
hunting Law, resulting in 400 arrests since 2000. The journalist
Sohaila Kapur - author of "Witchcraft in Western India" followed one
headline-grabbing witchcraft killing for National Geographic TV
Channel. A teenager, Gurudas Mardi took the severed head of his aunt
Maina Mardi to the police station, having cut off her head while she
was grazing cattle in her field. The reason he gave was that his
eldest brother had contracted a fever and died within one day, his
father had died within three years and his elder brother was currently
ill in hospital with the same symptoms. Gurudas believed his brother
would be cured due to his having killed his aunt as a witch. However,
all agreed that Maina had long been as a mother to him. Gurudas was
condemned for murder and is currently serving in Ghatasila prison in
Jharkand.
There were 7 such cases in Jharkand in as many years. Most accused
'witches' are widows. Mostly, others benefit from their deaths or
banishment from their home and property. Part of the witchcraft
rationale is that, if prayers can heal at a distance, so can they also
harm from afar. The belief in black magic is backed up by
practitioners of it, such as - in this case - the Tantric 'guru' Baba
Ramashankar of the popular Kali temple at Kamakilija. National
Geographic filmed the 'guru' and three female disciples carrying our
sacrifice rituals so as to obtain magical powers, including biting the
head off a live chicken. The death spells they cast involved use of
snakes and scorpions too. The 'guru' stated that the spells can cause
love, hate and confusion.
Sohaila Kapur did a follow-up investigation on the deaths in the
family which Gurudas Mardi believed due to his aunt's witchcraft. His
remaining brother survived due to hospital treatment for TB. The
doctor testified that both the father had died from tuberculosis and
had infected Gurudas' two brothers.
Further, Sohaila Kapur filmed the local female witch doctor who
Gurudas' family had approached and who had pointed the finger at Maina
for witchcraft holding a trial in the village temple. While so doing
Kapur was approached by a distraught man whose mother was about to be
pointed out condemned as a witch by a same witch doctor in the village
temple. A big local landowner's daughter was ill and many medicines
had failed, so witchcraft was suspected. Because of the TV cameras,
the priest dared not to make the announcement that the person was a
witch and the villagers backed her up. Instead the witch doctor
directed for a tree to be blighted and predicted it would die within
two weeks. Of course, no effects on the tree were visible weeks
later.
The female victims of witch hunts invariably have to seek police
protection and mostly are ostracised and so driven by the villagers to
leave their homes and even give up their properties, their houses etc.
often being burned to the ground. The harrowing lives they then live
is seen clearly in the interviews in the documentary. Inspector Mishra
of Jharkand police, who had arrested Gurudas, blamed the widespread
ignorance and lack of medical information and care in the area for the
locals' reliance on witch-hunting. See also here.
The police authorities do not always take any action to protect
persons persecuted for witchcraft. This is shown by the petition (by
a person accused of witchcraft) in the High Court at Mumbai (below).
That this petition was deemed necessary (a tortuous and costly
procedure in India) and that it was subsequently dismissed in favour
of the police authoritiess' account, illustrates clearly the parlous
state of affairs in the Indian police system and judiciary! This is
the same judicial system that judged that Sathya Sai Baba had not
contravened the Gold Control Act on the grounds that he materialises
gold out of thin air! Further, the attempt by Hari Sampath (supported
by two of India's most famous lawyers) to get a Writ Petition against
Satyhya Sai Baba considered was refused on a technicality by his own
devotee judges in the Supreme Court (Click here and here)!
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/index.htm
TANTRIC MURDER
In many parts of northern India, tantrics play on people's fears and
superstitions to perpetrate such atrocities as child sacrifice.
Horror of India's child sacrifice
Deccan Herald- 17. 4.2006 By NAVDIP DHARIWAL
In India's remote northern villages it feels as if little has changed.
The communities remain forgotten and woefully undeveloped, with low
literacy and abject poverty.
They are conditions that for decades have bred superstition and a deep-
rooted belief in the occult.
The village of Barha in the state of Uttar Pradesh is only a three -
hour car drive from the capital Delhi. Yet here evil medieval
practices have made their ugly presence known. I was led by locals to
a house that is kept under lock and key. They refuse to enter it.
'Peering through the window bars you can see the eerie dark room
inside, with peeling posters of Hindu gods adorning the walls and
bundles of discarded bed clothes. In one comer is the evidence we had
come to find: blood - splattered walls and stained bricks.
It is the place where a little boy's life was ritually sacrificed.
Those who tortured and killed Akash Singh did so in a depraved belief
- that the boy's death would offer them a better life.
"The woman who did this was crazed," the villagers say. "Akash was
friends with all our children... We still cannot believe what happened
here."
Akash's distraught mother discovered her son's mutilated body.
The family was told he was lured away with sweets and begged his
captors to set him free.
"First they cut out his tongue," his grandmother Harpyari told me.
"then they cut off his nose, then his ears. They chopped off his
fingers. They killed him slowly. "The woman who abducted Akash lived
just a few doors away. She claimed to be suffering from terrible
nightmares and visions.
It was then she turned for guidance to a tantric, or holy man. It was
under his instruction that she brutally sacrificed the boy - offering
his blood and remains to the Hindu goddess of destruction.
There are temples across India that are devoted to the goddess.
Childless couples, the impoverished and sick visit to pray that she
can cure them.
Animal sacrifice is central to worship - but humans have not been
temple victims since ancient times.
We were met with a hostile reception at the temple in Meerut.
The high priest did not want us to see the ritual slaughter. Tantrics
like him clearly have an overwhelming grip on their followers.
Often they are profiting from people's fears. In extreme cases others
have instructed their followers to kill.
S Raju a journalist with a leading newspaper, has been reporting on
child sacrifice cases since 1997 in western Uttar Pradesh. He has
reported on 38 similar cases.
In one incident he says a tantric told a young man that if he hanged
and killed a small boy and lit a fire at his feet the smoke from the
ritual could be used to lure the pretty village girl he had his eye
on.
He has been campaigning for a crackdown on the practice of tantrics,
alarmed at what he has seen.
"The masses need to be educated and dissuaded from following these
men," he said. "They play on people's fears and superstitions - it is
crazy." We visited the jail where those accused of murdering Akash
were being held.
The prison warden told us of over 200 cases of child sacrifice in
these parts over the last seven years. '
He admitted many of the cases go unreported because the police are
reluctant to tarnish the image of their state. He told us incidents of
child sacrifice are often covered up.
Many of those killers are behind bars - but, chillingly, others
poisoned by the same sinister beliefs remain at large.
7-yr-old boy sacrificed in Orissa
Deccan Herald - 11. 7. 2006
PHULBAN1 (ORISSA),PTI: In a gruesome incident, a seven-year-old boy
was sacrificed by his own father before the village deity in
Kandhamal district on last Saturday, police said on Monday.
Kanhu Charan Pradhan, a tribal of Kadumaha village, who is believed to
be a practitioner of sorcery, had killed his son Surath to propitiate
the deity, superintendent of Police Basanta Kumar Sahu said.
Pradhan, who had been arrested and was being Interrogated, said he
first sacrificed a goat using a sword last Saturday in the presence
of Surath, his third -son.
After decapitating the goat, he turned his attention on the boy,
killing him on the spot and the blood was offered before the deity. .
», ,
The man appeared to be mentally unstable. The child body was dumped at
a nearby waterbody.
Tantrik held for eating corpse
Deccan Herald - 11. 4. 2006
A tantrik and his disciple were arrested In ]aunpur in UP on Monday
for digging up the body of an 18 - month • old boy arid eating it to
attain "supernatural powers, " reports PT1.
The two had admitted to exhuming the body and consuming it after
cutting off the head in order to attain supernatural powers. The head
of the child, who had died a week earlier due to some illness, was
found lying near the grave.
Blind faith Witch doctor drives family out of village
Deccan Herald - 6. 9. 2006
KOLKATA, DHNS: A witch doctor proposed and the villagers did not
oppose. Consequently, an entire family of 15 in a village not too far
from here was hounded out of their home on suspicion that they were
practising witchcraft and causing the deaths of humans and livestock.
The police, who had Initially offered them shelter at a local
government office, on Tuesday asked the 65-year-old Haridasi Sardar
and her family of 'witches' living in Nadia district to move
elsewhere.
According to reports Sardar, her four sons their wives and six
children, all residents of Balalghata village, were charged with
practising black magic and casting a spell on the village, resulting
in the deaths of several people and livestock.
The witch doctor, hired by the villagers to probe the deaths, ordered
their immediate expulsion from the village.
"We are engaged at present in talks with the village administration
for some alternative (to evicting the family)," said Nadia Additional
Superintendent of Police Subrata MItra. The police have already tried
twice to get them to be back Into their village, but have failed.
11 -year-old sacrificed
Times of India- 1.11.2006
An 11 -year-old boy was beheaded on the advice of an exorcist to
propitiate the gods to cure an ailing infant in Masaurhi sub-division
of Bihar's Patna district. Golu, son of Upendra Kumar, was sacrificed
allegedly by a villager Sitaram Mahto, on the suggestion of a woman
exorcist Kari Devi to propitiate the gods. The beheaded body was found
in Mahto's field.
Child sacrificed for cure
Deccan Herald - 1.11.2006 PATNA, PTI: An eleven year old boy was
beheaded on the advise of an exorcist to propitiate the gods to cure
an ailing infant, here, in Masaurhi sub-division, police sources said
on Tuesday.
Golu, son of Upendra Kumar, was sacrificed allegedly by a villager
Sitaram Mahto, on the suggestion of a woman exorcist Kari Devi on
October 23 to please the gods for the cure of his ailing-two-month-old
grandson, police said.
The beheaded body of the boy was recovered from the field of Sitaram
Mahto the next day following which the boy's family grew suspicious
about his role in the killing.
The sources said Jitendra, a grandson of Sitaram, lured Golu into a
trap by persuading him to accompany him to watch the immersion of
idols of Ganesha and Laxmi but instead of doing so, he took him to his
grandfather's farmland.
Reportedly, here the child was sacrificed with the help of other
family members.
Witch-hunt:2 killed
Deccan Herald - 8.12.2006 DH News Service
RANCH I: The Sonua police have implicated three persons in connection
with a witch-craft - related killing in which a 65-Old woman and her
daughter were killed at Kasarun village in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum
district on Tuesday night. Officer-ln-Charge of Sonua police station
said that the accused are at large now' However, raid is being carried
out to nab those responsible for the incident" he said.
According to police, the assailants identified as Nandu Hembrom,
Singrai Surin and Bandhu Melgandi, all the residents of Kasarun
village, barged into the house of a co-villager and accusing Somabari
Purty and her daughter Raimuni Purty (35) of practicing voodoo,
dragged them to a nearby field and killed them with sharp edged
weapons on Tuesday night.
Police said the assailants tried to kill Raimuni's son Sukhdev also
but he escaped somehow and informed the village headman about the
incident.
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/witch/childsacrifice.html
THE FUNDAMENTALIST 'GURU TRAP' EXPLOITATION
with Sathya Sai Baba and his devotional movement as an example
http://www.start.no/
This paper outlines part of a many-sided system of control over
persons exercised by gurus, swamis, godmen, masters, saints, avatars
or whatever otherworldly title certain individuals assume, with
special reference to Sathya Sai Baba. The main core of the system is
the same for nearly all gurus, both those who are well-intentioned and
honest as well as all of the deceitful and more or less fraudulent
ones. The same goes for their many techniques and refinements, though
the actual roles adopted and the social scenarios and personal stories
developed to back them up vary considerably. The likeness between all
these many competing masters and gurus, their teachings and methods of
instruction, are often so striking that there can be little doubt that
they draw upon a common culture which holds beliefs and skills which
serve to control and exploit people to the guru's advantage. This
culture has been developed and extended in certain religions over
millennia, most often originating in India, where the guru-chela
relationship is so ancient and widespread.
The "guru trap" is one of the most successful means of exploiting
people, often having a very positive face, behind which façade there
is almost always a concealed desire for power over others, fame, money
and the unhindered satisfaction of the guru's human desires. The same
themes are used to control and gain power over others, whether with
kind or selfish intent, but their presentation and use varies from the
simplistic to the very most sophisticated and subtle kinds of
brainwashing. There is no guarantee that an intellectual skeptic or a
scientist will see through the many-layered ideology and phenomena
which can be involved. An august line-up of scientists and other
intellectual workers have been drawn to many gurus. Fortunately, after
many years of adherence, some have disaffiliated themselves, having
gone through the charade and seen it for what it is.
THE BAIT IN THE TRAP
The guru-trap is always baited with the attraction of personal
spiritual development, transformational and transcendental experiences
and teachings beyond conventional education of any kind. It is
invariably presented as eternal (but hidden) wisdom direct from the
source of all knowledge, especially the kind of illumination that
cannot be conveyed by mere words and study. Insights handed down by
word-of-mouth via a guru figure have accumulated many methods of
control and manipulation of persons. These reach back to an ancient
Indian priesthood and the ideology entwined with esoteric texts
regarded as scriptures. This tradition does enable acolytes to
experience things they would otherwise very seldom do, and to attain
certain yogic or tantric powers of the mind and body. The master is a
person who knows how to treat each individual to advantage, to mould
each kind of psyche towards specified ends (often his own). The
student or disciple must thus - through protracted experience - become
free of all doubts about and full of respect for him or her. As one's
insight into the spiritual life apparently develops through the guru's
grace (i.e. His Grace, God's grace direct from - or via - the master)
- one should learn to worship him unreservedly. The techniques of
suggestion, psyche-manipulation, emotional-mental brainwashing,
hypnosis, and the use of rewards and punishments are part of the
master's armory. Knowledge of unusual states of mind and body are
employed, including what are called 'para-psychological' phenomena.
Such phenomena are reported so extremely widely throughout history and
human cultures - and especially within Hinduism - that they cannot be
denied as such, but the explanation of how the various states come
about may be quite non-mystical. Here I take no definitive standpoint
on this broad issue, but withhold judgement, while observing that the
latest genuinely scientific researches are beginning to explain the
most unusual states of mind, from waking visions (UFOs, abductions
etc.) to thought transference (also in dreams) and various unusual
healing phenomena.
AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY CULTS
However much they propound inclusivity of all people, religions, races
etc., these groups are always actually exclusive of those who do not
agree with them sufficiently, so dividing their world into 'us and
them'. Cult members often call one another 'brother' or 'sister',
which they do not extend to others! For example, in the Sai Baba
movement, non-adherents are excluded from the 'Sai family' of 'Sai
brothers' and 'Sai sisters'. The unavoidable inner tensions and
negative feelings within such authoritarian personality cults are
redirected outwards, projecting negative qualities onto
'nonbelievers'. The disaffected who may speak out critically are
mostly shunned, depersonalised and even demonised by the cult members.
The result of this is eventual withdrawal into a sectarian sense of
belonging and social cohesion in the face of the perceived outside
threat. The perception may be correct, as sects and cults are under
threat from the legal systems of the world, ordinary sensibilities and
not least, the disaffected who reject the authority and any misuse of
power by the guru and his supporters. Such misuses have been uncovered
in practically all known sects and cults historically, and continue to
be exposed in them in an ever more effective manner today.
Authoritarian power over the participants of groups of any size and
spread requires a hierarchy through which the guru can operate. There
always arises an inner circle and an outer one, whether formal with
the organised rankings of followers or by informal or 'unofficial'
rating as to who is most convinced, more active or important to the
status of the group. This frequently takes the shape of some kind of
'spiritual class system' with a top-down system decision-making and
communication. This is traditionally justified by the guru's wisdom in
choosing his lieutenants and leading disciples or representatives, a
wisdom which must never be questioned. To echo George Orwell, the
dominant attitude in the ashrams and the organisations in theory and
practice is, "All devotees are equal, but some are more equal than
others." This pseudo-equality is a strong feature of the Sathya Sai
Organisation, which has an unelected leadership (selected directly by
Sai Baba) and a semi-military discipline embodied in its published
rules and guarded and non-publicised inner directives. In his
authoritarian role of self-proclaimed mother and father of all beings,
Sai Baba insists that 'All are God', but says that only he is fully
aware of this. Hence, he accepts being worshipped (as God) and insists
on being obeyed implicitly in everything like the strictest of
parents!
FAME, MONEY & POWER-SEEKING GURUS
What can be observed of a great many self-proclaimed gurus and masters
of all kinds, unfortunately, is that they preach about how one should
act, but do not follow up in their own actions, or even do the exact
opposite. One consequence of this steel-hard perfectionism is well
known from world literature on many fundamentalist sects is that
followers never can maintain the standard set and so become enmeshed
in diverse levels of hypocrisy. Those gurus or 'masters' who collect a
following to teach and who require obedience to themselves are
suspect. The greater effort to enrol followers, the more suspect a
guru's motives will be. To convince followers while not doing what one
teaches oneself requires a great deal of charisma, a lot of convinced
helpers and a large measure of deceptive talk. They will claim to be
able to act as God, and so be unanswerable to anyone, but - still more
- that their acts are inscrutable and no one alive is in a position to
understand or challenge them.
For example, Sathya Sai Baba claims that he does many works of social
service which he does not actually do at all, but for which he alone
takes the credit. Like many other gurus before him, he claims that he
is free of all human limitations. Such gurus must be observed most
closely to see if they diverge in any way from their own teachings in
actual personal behaviour. Scrutiny can be most difficult as it will
mean penetrating through to their inner circle so as to get behind the
façade of cleverly organised appearances and the barrage of teaching/
propaganda. One would need to get to know their right-hand men to get
to the true facts in any matter. It is hard enough for the vast
majority of followers even to see beyond the many barriers set up by
the already-established inner circle of believers. The lower echelon
leaders and the rank-and-file followers are ill-informed, deceived and
deluded through subtle ideological and social brainwashing into a
protective gang for the guru. The larger the community and movement
grows, the easier it is to manipulate through hearsay and stories of
all kinds, as the majority are then easily kept at such a distance
that the are unable to check anything out personally.
THE NATURE OF THE GURU
What then can the nature of such a guru or master be? One will not
wish to deny that there are some who are selflessly engaged, who have
good intention and who have understood much through experience both
outward and inward. That they can be 'Perfect Masters of Wisdom' is
not accepted, as wisdom would have to include knowing the truth of the
universe and this is not known fully. I would require being able to
tell future events accurately and fully, yet no one has ever
convincingly been able to predict more than trivial happenings or
general trends with any accuracy or dependability, and especially not
over large spans of time.
However, science is revealing ever more about the cosmos, both its
physical and human aspects. The sciences have already reached far
beyond the knowledge of ancient 'seers' or 'sages' as to the
observable world and what causes what. As to truth, the theory of
relativity, which covers the entire universe and even human reality,
was never so much as dreamt of by any writer of any scripture, yet it
represents the closest to certain, universal knowledge so far
achieved. That a person can know the essential truth of all human life
and the cosmos cannot be proven scientifically or in any other
definitive way. What is not understood is termed 'God', or 'due to
divine power' etc., and is therefore subject to the machinations of
priest-craft or guru-craft. This cognitive difficulty arises also
because everything is also relative to the subject's position and
perspective, so claims as to matters beyond proper explanation will
always remain in the sphere of speculation and belief.
IMPRISONMENT BY ONE'S OWN COURT
The circle of admirers keep out all others, eventually depriving them
of contact with the world of normal people, when only those who
qualify as believers can be controlled and allowed near the guru. If
there is no 'court jester' immune from punitive exclusion or death,
how can the king know what is really being said? His precarious grip
on reality will blight his most ardent subjects. Normal conventions
and common sense are flouted in the court of the mighty, because the
God-king or dictator simply loses touch with with the populace, what
most people really think and feel.
The last person in the inner court of Sathya Sai Baba who could so
much as mildly contradict him died on March 9, 2000. He was the famous
and retired elderly journalist, V.K. Narasimhan. Even then, Sai Baba
lived in a world of vast imaginings, which Narasimhan, as editor of
the monthly journal "Sanathana Sarathi" (whose title implies that Sai
Baba is Lord Krishna), tried to tone down and make more sensible. But
the task was too great, for he could not censor everything, since Sai
Baba was set on crowing how the whole world loves him and will soon
come to his holy feet, nothing can harm his body or affect him and
many another preposterous boast. In absurd discourses, he explained
his former staggering (symptoms of his hip-joint degeneration) as
being due to the magnetic pull of the earth which was attracted to him
- the source of all magnetism in the whole universe. These discourses
seem to have slipped under the guard of his editors and were actually
published, which shows how far the rot had gone and how little aware
Sai Baba is of physics and the educated world's understanding. When
Sai Baba simply collapsed and had to have major hip surgery (from
which he is visibly not properly recovered), the reason for his
staggering could no longer be concealed. It must be highly embarassing
for anyone with even half an education who is associated with him.
Sai Baba's servitors turn themselves inside-out to conceal or explain
away his confused doing and sayings. When he collapsed after failing
to 'regurgitate' the annual 'golden Shiva lingam' in 2004 (as shown
most clearly on the BBC documentary The Secret Swami), his servitors
had to cart him off-stage. To save face it was announced that two more
gold lingams had materialised from Sai Baba's mouth. When he recovered
he announced ": "Out of the stomach emanated Shiva Lingas of the
weight of three tonnes. That's the reason why some strain on the face
and the body." This statement was captured on the BBC film and so
could not be covered up as usual.
Most so-called masters or gurus demand that their followers practise
self-sacrifice, do selfless service (which the guru also accepts and
expects to receive). Followers must free themselves from ego and all
worldly attachments. Yet the very person who preaches this can
invariably be seen by any observant (i.e. non-confused) person to have
the greatest attachment of anyone... narcissistic self-attachment.
Many gurus soon surround themselves with pomp and splendour. Sai Baba
takes this self-adulatory practice to new heights.
The guru has to insist on being the sole source of all decisions and
assumes total authority. It becomes a case of 'the emperor's new
clothes' and 'power corrupts'. The blind believer is a person who
cannot (and will not) see the guru's attachments for what they are,
rationalising them away by accepting the guru's and his warmest
supporters' far-fetched explanations for his aberrant behaviour. The
guru will usually take credit himself for all the service and
sacrifice of his followers in the worldly sphere, as their teacher,
their inspirer, without whom it will be claimed that they would never
have achieved anything. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, the
devotees become so dependent on the figurehead that they lose more and
more autonomy of mind and action. Unknowingly they become the very
'puppets on a string' that Sai Baba says everyone is! This con -
drawing everything to oneself - has been perfected by Sathya Sai Baba
par excellence, and on a scale that those who have not seen the sheer
extent of his influence will find hard to imagine. All the traits
described in the above are easily observable in his behaviour and
published discourses.
In his discourse, December 26, 2000, Sai Baba - defying the peace-and-
goodwill meaning of Christmas - angrily berated his critics, saying
that they were bought and how no one has done one thousandth of his
good works. How odd that one who proclaims himself God fully
incarnate, come to save the entire world within his own lifetime,
should feel the need to compare himself to politicians!
Links to articles related to the above:-
PERSONAL DISEMPOWERMENT IN WORSHIPPING GURUS - EXEMPLIFIED BY THE
SATHYA SAI BABA CULT (6 part series)
CLAIMS BY SATHYA SAI BABA OF PUTTAPARTHI, SOUTH INDIA
TAKE THE FIRST STEP, THEN WHAT?
RESEARCH INTO PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL ENTRAPMENT -
FROM EXPERIENCE - Techniques for entrapment & self-programming
http://home.chello.no/~reirob/SaiBaba/gurutrap.htm
September 20, 2005 at 12:18 pm
The Great Indian Witch-Hunt
Author Saakshi O. Juneja
Posted in
Government
India
Yesterday i saw the special screening of “The Great Indian Witch
Hunt“, an award winning documentary film hosted by noted playwright,
writer and actress Sohaila Kapur (sister of director Shekhar Kapur)
and directed by Filmmaker Rakhi Varma. It was part of the 12 episode
series “It happens only in India” launched by The National Geographic
channel from September 18, with each episode focusing on an aspect of
“real India” hitherto unexplored in detail.
Here is a report on the film :
“The great Indian witch hunt” explores possible causes of single and
widowed women accused of being witches and their ostracism from the
society sometimes with terrible consequences. Set in Jharkhand, this
episode concentrates on a gory end to a woman named Mania Mardi who is
killed by her nephew Gurudeo because he believed she was a witch who
had brought on the death of his father and brother.
In the early part of the narrative, Varma interviews so-called witches
who have been tortured by villagers and even forced to eat human
excreta. She focuses on the activities of Baba Ramashankar who claims
to have supernatural powers that can bring about the death and
destruction of anyone he should choose to cast his fury upon.
For the murder trial, Varma uses journalist and author Sohaila Kapoor
to conduct an on-camera inquiry of sorts that questions Gurudeo’s real
motives and arrives at the conclusion that he had wrongly assumed that
his relatives had died as a result of a spell. Medical records showed
they had contracted tuberculosis.
Witch hunting is a huge issue in many Indian states. The filmmaker
chose Jharkhand because of the 500 or more cases of witch hunting
reported there in the ’90s. The film unfolds a disturbing trend and
tries to find out the factual reasons that led to the killing of women
after branding them witches. In most cases, the brutal acts were the
fallout of property disputes or were instigated by witch doctors.
However the film fails to give its viewers any conclusive evidence
that ‘Black Magic’ really exists.
Ms. Verma concludes her story in a philosphical way by saying “Black
magic like miracles, falls in the realm of what cannot be proved…it’s
a matter of faith”.
The most horrific part of the film, according to me is the part
showcasing ‘Baba Ramashankar’s rituals’. In the middle of a full moon
night, Baba Ramashankar and his three women accomplices chant a heady
mantra. They are all witches, initiated into the art of using their
powers to save or to destroy through the benevolence of the one they
worship — the dain(witch). As the chanting reaches a crescendo, Baba
begins to dance around the fire with a live goat kid hanging by his
teeth. In the next scene, he has a chicken in his mouth, the neck of
which he snaps with his teeth. After some time, everyone appears to be
suspended in a psychological state that is far beyond the ordinary.
Then comes a sexual orgy. According to the Baba, sexual intercourse is
a necessaity inorder for him to complete his ritual and thereby please
his goddess who inturn gifts him his holy powers.
The film makes you realise that for these people ‘the belief in black
magic is far more than their belief in magic itself’.
More on the film and the director, here….
Some facts about Witch-hunt in India
In the interiors of states like Bihar and West Bengal, ‘witches’ or
‘dains’ and their children are still hunted and killed. Witch-hunting
is one of the least talked-about acts of violence. The murder of
individuals and entire families accused of witchcraft is common in
other states too, such as Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
From 1991 to 2000, over 522 cases of witch-hunting have been
registered in Bihar alone.
Main reasons for many of these accusations of witchcraft are socio-
economic factors such as land-grabbing, property disputes, personal
rivalry and resistance to sexual advances.
In many cases, a woman who inherits land from her deceased husband is
asked to disown the land by her husband’s family or other men. If she
resists, they approach the Ojhas (traditional village doctors) and
bribe them to brand her a witch.
The strategy of branding a woman a witch is also used against women
who spurn the sexual advances of the powerful men in the community.
The Free Legal Aid Committee (FLAC), based in the new state of
Jharkhand has started a campaign against witch-hunting. They provide,
egal support to the victims, awareness and legal literacy through
streetplays and publications, raising the issue at legal and human
rights fora, and the formulation of laws and amendments. Their efforts
prompted the state of Bihar to pass the Anti-Witch Hunting Act in
1999.
(Disclaimer – above information was obtained from here) Stop the witch-
hunt
Witch-hunting is still prevalent in some Indian states. FLAC runs a
campaign against this appalling practice and supports women accused of
practising witchcraft.
In the interiors of states like Bihar and West Bengal, 'witches' or
'dains' and their children are still hunted and killed. Witch-hunting
is one of the least talked-about acts of violence. The murder of
individuals and entire families accused of witchcraft is common in
other states too, such as Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. From 1991 to 2000, over 522 cases of
witch-hunting have been registered in Bihar alone.
The Free Legal Aid Committee (FLAC), based in the new state of
Jharkhand, first got involved in the case of Mani Kui of Karandih,
Jamshedpur, who had been attacked and badly wounded by a group of
people wh! o accused her of witchcraft. The mob also killed her
husband and son. FLAC decided to investigate the case, and initiated a
widespread discussion of the practice.
The NGO now runs a campaign against witch-hunting. It also provides
support to women accused of being witches, and their children.
FLAC has been successful in highlighting the fact that it is not
superstition that is at the root of many of these accusations of
witchcraft but socio-economic factors: land-grabbing, property
disputes, personal rivalry and resistance to sexual advances. In many
cases, a woman who inherits land from her deceased husband is asked to
disown the land by her husband's family or other men. If she resists,
they approach the Ojhas (traditional village doctors) and bribe them
to brand her a witch. G S Jaiswal of FLAC says, "It is difficult to
shake people's faith in witch-doctors." Lack of health facilitie! s
and legal support add to the problem. This strategy of branding a
woman a witch is also used against women who spurn the sexual advances
of the powerful men in the community.
FLAC's campaign against witch-hunting includes legal support to the
victims, awareness and legal literacy through streetplays and
publications, raising the issue at legal and human rights fora, and
the formulation of laws and amendments. They have produced two video
films on the subject of witch-hunting: Kya Mohia Ki Ma Dain Hai? (Is
Mohia's Mother a Witch?) and Akhir Kab Tak? (Till When Will This Go
On?). These efforts have prompted the state of Bihar to pass the Anti-
Witch Hunting Act 1999.
Legislation alone will not stop the practice. Change must come from
within the community. The campaign, however, is gathering momentum,
and attitudes are slowly changing.
Contact: ! G S Jaiswal / Prabha Jaiswal
Free Legal Aid Committee
Opp IV Phase Adarshnagar
Sonari North, Sonari
Jamshedpur - 831011
Jharkhand, India
Tel.: 91-657-220 949 (O)/232 828/237 172 (R)
Email: jai...@dte.vsnl.net.in
http://infochangeindia.org/20030205571/Women/Stories-of-change/Stop-the-witch-hunt.html
A very interesting article written by Brinda Karat, focuses on some of
the Issues In The Struggle Against Witch-Hunting.
http://sakshijuneja.com/blog/2005/09/20/the-great-indian-witch-hunt/
People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Vol. XXV No.
02
January 14, 2001
Some Issues In The Struggle
Against Witch-Hunting
Brinda Karat
SUBHADRA BASUMATAREY, a forty-five year-old woman who was declared a
witch by a female kabiraj (witch doctor), four months ago, still
cannot return to her village in the Goalpara district of Assam.
Subhadra, a member of the All-India Democratic Women’s Association,
had challenged the obscurantist practices of local kabirajs (also
known as ojhas ) for which she had incurred their wrath. Further, she
had demanded a share in her late father’s property, challenging her
step-brother’s claim to the whole property. The step-brother and the
kabirajs in the area developed a common interest in eliminating her,
so she was declared a witch, and accused of casting a spell on three
children in the village who had fallen sick.
One night a group of men, accompanied by the female kaviraj, abducted
Subhadra, took her to a lonely spot and asked her to sign a confession
that she was a witch. Subhadra, courageous woman that she is, refused
to sign. They then proceeded to break her right arm saying that this
was the punishment for not signing. When she still refused they broke
her ribs and she was left for dead Her husband found her and carried
her on his back to the main road, several kilometres away, and then to
the district hospital where he got her admitted. Later, he was given
shelter by her colleagues in the women’s organisation.
When the assailants heard that Subhadra had been saved, they
threatened to kill the women who had helped her, saying that anyone
who helped a witch deserved the same punishment. At that time, I
happened to be in Gauhati for a convention against globalisation and
its impact on women, when some of the women who had come to attend the
convention spoke about the attack. We rushed to the area. It is
difficult to describe the kind of tension that the women were living
under. Prajapati and the other women who had saved Subhadra had
received notices, supposedly from the local terrorist group, warning
them against sheltering Subhadra. Yet, not only were they looking
after the injured Subhadra, but had along with many adivasi comrades
of the Kisan Sabha, held meetings in the neighbouring villages
condemning the incident.
When we arrived, there were over a hundred women from the Bodo
community holding a meeting in the block office to condemn the attack.
The police had refused to register a case under Sec.307, attempt to
murder, but assured a women’s delegation later that they would do so.
The kaviraj has not yet been arrested.
But at least Subhadra could be saved. Laxmi Deb Burman could not. She
was a communist supporter and also an active worker of the AIDWA in
Tripura. A tea-garden worker, she was very popular in her village. In
September this year a colleague of Laxmi’s, living in the same
village, who had been running high fever for several days, died. Laxmi
had in fact been taking her to the local hospital for treatment, but
she succumbed to her illness. The following night a group of men known
to be involved with the NLFT, a terrorist group in Tripura, came to
Laxmi’s house which was in an isolated place, dragged her out, hacked
her to death and put up notices in the village that she had to be
killed because she was a "witch." They did not want to say that she
was killed for being a communist supporter -- so they said she was
killed for being a witch. Here also the murder led to widespread
protests.
A few months earlier, Lata Sahu a dalit woman in Raipur, Madhya
Pradesh, who had contested the polls against the wishes of landowning
castes, was condemned as a witch, stripped and beaten. Recently in the
Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, five adivasi women were branded
as witches and burned to death.
INCIDENTS INCREASING
Such cases occur with alarming frequency in many regions though it is
difficult to make reliable estimates since cases of witch killing are
not registered under a separate category. However available figures as
well as collations of press reports do indicate an increase :
- five such cases reported in Bihar within the month of September this
year,
- 167 such murders reported in the last two years in Andhra Pradesh,
over 50 in the last year in Assam, to cite a few examples.
Witch naming, hounding and punishing can include stripping and
parading the victim, tonsuring, blackening the face, slashing the
victim with knives or any other sharp instrument, beating, burning,
burying alive. Those declared 'witches' are usually women, although
according to one estimate in Bihar in thirty per cent of the cases,
men were the victims. There may be similar figures for other states
also.
What could be the reasons for the continuation if not increase in the
medieval practice of witch-hunting? Conventional middle-class thinking
attributes the continuation of witch hunting to the "backwardness and
ignorance of adivasi or dalit communities" in which most of these
cases occur. But, historically, there is nothing "tribal" about witch
hunting. The introduction of witch-hunting in adivasi communities was
itself linked to the colonial "civilising" project. Recently, the
former DG of the ASI, was quoted in an article in Frontline, as having
said that the larger view of shamanism, (the world of good and evil
spirits) held in adivasi communities was identified by the Europeans
with their own understanding of black magic and witchcraft. Earlier
women were regarded as healers, and granted powers -- a far cry from
witch-hunting.
If the concept of witches and the practice of witch-hunting was
introduced by the "educated and civilising power", today its
continuance can also be traced to powers and structures located, in
the main, outside the communities in which they occur. Looking at it
another way, it is no coincidence that the so-called tradition of
witch-hunting remains, while other traditions of today's marginalised
communities, which are far more advanced in their democratic content
than those practised by the upper caste , 'educated' people, are being
destroyed. Some examples are:
the more democratic codes governing marriage and divorce, and child
custody,
the attitude towards widows and single women, and children born out of
wedlock, etc.
The cultures of dominant classes and castes tolerate only those
cultures of others which coincide with their own views.
The ojhas, those believed to have supernatural powers, are often
supported by vested interests who want to perpetuate and manipulate
the popular belief in the supernatural powers of the ojha for their
own ends. This includes economic, political and social interests.
RIGHT TO PROPERTY
In a substantial number of reported cases, witch-hunting is resorted
to, so as to rob the woman of her property. In many adivasi
communities, women have greater though not equal rights to land.
Efforts to exercise those rights are thwarted by the method of
declaring the woman a witch and so rob her of her right to the land.
And it is not always the woman’s family which is necessarily involved.
Particularly where the woman is unprotected, a widow or a single
woman, there is no dearth of others who have an eye on the land, would
use the services of the ojhas.
For example, there are cases where such identification has been made
when upper castes want to grab the land distributed to dalit or tribal
families. Sometimes whole families are declared "witches’ and
eliminated. In other cases, individual financial disputes can also be
the reason for witch- naming. Political lobbies and vested interests
working with their own narrow agendas among tribal or dalit
communities, often use the ojha’s position to influence tribal
communities. It is in the interests of these very 'modern’ political
forces to preserve the position of the ojha. For example in Gujarat,
this section in the adivasi community is being assiduously wooed by
the Hindutva organisations, who see them as an easy conduit to
influence adivasi communities. Ironically, it is these same ojhas who
are being encouraged to introduce Hindu rituals among the adivasis. It
is not surprising to find that cultures which glorify sati, find it
easy to coexist with witch-hunting.
Preservation of caste structures and upper caste hegemony. also
underlies the identification of dalit women as witches. In many cases
where their caste supremecist positions have been challenged, upper
caste communities target the woman in the dalit family as a witch. In
the case of Lata Sahu who challenged the landed castes by defying
their order not to stand for elections, was declared a witch because
she directly challenged their political power. In this case however,
the agent for the identification as a witch happened to be a member of
her own caste .
On the other hand, in many areas of the north-east, the practice of
witchcraft is actively encouraged by terrorist groups who use this
tradition to command obedience, as also to eliminate opposition to
their activities from within their own communities. Laxmi Deb Burman’s
case mentioned earlier is such an example.
The current emphasis on ethnic identities by some political forces, to
the exclusion of democratic values, also means coexistence with
retrograde practices, such as witch-hunting, in the name of
preservation of ‘tribal" or oppressed caste "identities." That is why
there is not a single example of any such community-specific political
group ever fighting for reform within the community.
Further when the "jadutona" of the witch doctor fails to cure the
patient, a scapegoat has to be found and mostly it is the poorest and
most vulnerable women who are sacrificed. The target chosen in such
cases usually has little social support. Women in non-stereotypical
situations, lacking protection or support, single women, women without
children, widows and the disabled, are the most vulnerable. The hunt
is usually accompanied by a mob, whipped into hysteria by the ojha.
Such incidents also reinforce the fear and power of the ojha, which
suits the vested interests.
THE OUTSIDE POWER
There is yet another most powerful material force which helps the ojha
maintain his/her power—the World Bank ! This proposition is not so
far- fetched as it might seem. If the human race in its infancy had
propitiated the forces of nature due to a helplessness in the face of
its power, the kind of powerlessness generated due to the sweeping
forces of liberalisation and globalisation unleashed by the policies
of the ruling regime of the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO is also a
reality. Proliferating individual tragedies on a massive scale
triggered, not by unavoidable accidents, but by avoidable policies are
the context within which superstitions are created and strengthened in
India today. Such a social environment empowers unscrupulous elements
to exploit and manipulate people.
This is illustrated by the collapse of whatever existed in the name of
a health system, in the face of the aggressive privatisation policy
being followed by the central and most state governments. Hundreds and
thousands of families have lost members, mainly children, due to the
increased costs of medicines and health care. At any given time,
surveys of tribal and dalit families would show that at least one
member of the family is ill. In our work in the rural areas, one issue
which has come up repeatedly, is the increasing indebtedness of
families due to loans taken to meet recurring medical bills.
The sections worst-affected have been the adivasi-dominated areas in
remote and inaccessible parts of the country. Large-scale epidemics of
malaria, diarrhoea and other avoidable diseases, have taken a heavy
toll. In the absence of any medical support systems, adivasi
communities rely on the local ojha for magic spells to cure the sick,
and thereby the power of the ojha over the community increases. Thus
there is a direct inverse relation between the increasing ill-health
of India’s poor and the increase in superstitions and dependence on
ojhas. This is one of the major reasons why it is so difficult to
break the ojha’s hold over community belief.
There is thus a coalescing of many forces and factors. It is their
powerful presence, often backed by the state which drowns out the
voices and efforts of those who strive, like Subhadra and her
colleagues, to free their sisters and brothers from the power and
influence of the ojhas. They do so at great risk to their own lives.
Women’s organisations in India long ago rejected the narrow frameworks
of analysis which view developments impacting on women only within the
male-female equation. The practice of witch-hunting can be fought
effectively only by understanding and exposing the links between this
practice and its supporting structures.
http://pd.cpim.org/2001/jan14/jan14_brinda.htm
...and I am Sid Harth
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http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/17/pope-benedict-xvi-life-threatened/
17 September 2010 Last updated at 13:19 ET
Pope visit: Six men held over papal terror alert
Maximum security: Police outriders escorting the Popemobile A sixth
man has been arrested in London by police in relation to a potential
threat to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit.
His arrest, at 1345 BST, came after five men were seized at 0545 BST
after counter-terrorism officers received intelligence of a potential
threat.
All six, who were street cleaners, have been taken to a London police
station.
The BBC’s Danny Shaw said the arrests were carried out as a
precaution. Police are searching a number of premises.
At least five of the men were not British nationals.
The cleaners worked for Veolia Environment Services, a major contract
cleaning company that works for Westminster Council.
Papal Visit
Live: Pope visits the UK
In pictures
At a glance
Benedict’s big society
Armed officers arrested the first five men at the company’s Chiltern
Street depot, Paddington, as they were preparing to go on shift.
In a statement from Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police said that
the men had been arrested in a Terrorism Act 2000 operation, launched
by officers from the force’s Counter-Terrorism Command.
All six men were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation
or instigation of acts of terrorism.
They are 26, 27, 29, 36, 40 and 50 years old and most are understood
to be Algerian. Police are continuing to search eight residential
premises in north and east London and two business premises in central
London.
Officers have not found any hazardous items.
In the statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “Today’s arrests were
made after police received information following initial inquiries by
detectives.
POPE’S ITINERARY IN LONDON
Event with religious leaders at Twickenham Friday morning
Resting at Vatican residence, London
1600: Lambeth Palace for historic meeting with Archbishop of
Canterbury
1810: Evening prayer, Westminster Abbey
“Following today’s arrests policing arrangements for the papal visit
were reviewed and we are satisfied our current policing plan remains
appropriate. The itinerary has not changed. There is no change to the
UK threat level.”
The current official threat level in the UK is “severe”, which means
that security chiefs believe a terror attack is “highly likely”.
The BBC understands that the information acted on by the police was
received by Scotland Yard and did not involve intelligence gathered by
MI5, the domestic security service.
Pope ‘calm’
Reacting to the first five arrests, Father Federico Lombardi, the
Pope’s press spokesman, said the Vatican was “totally confident” in
Scotland Yard and the ability of its officers.
The papal team had no direct information about the police operation,
he said, adding that the Pope remained calm and had been welcomed
warmly everywhere he had gone.
“The police have already said that the information demonstrated that
there is no need to change the programme,” he said.
In a statement, Dr Leith Penny of Westminster City Council, said:
“Veolia and Westminster City Council work closely with the relevant
authorities to constantly ensure that all the people working on their
behalf are subject to right to work checks as prescribed by the Home
Office to assess their eligibility to work in the country.
“We are confident that these checks are robust and we will continue to
work with the police and other authorities during this investigation.”
Policing bill
The UK’s top police officers from England and Scotland spent months
planning the security arrangements for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to
the UK.
Those plans included threat assessments, standard arrangements
covering the safe transport of significant public figures and the
potential need to control crowds during the visit’s major events.
In all, the policing bill for the visit is expected to top £1m.
The BBC’s Emily Buchanan, who was with the Pope at his visit to an
assembly of children at a Catholic college in west London, described
the security around the Pope as “extremely high… with no lapses”.
17 September 2010 Last updated at 13:11 ET
Papal visit: Pope Benedict in London
Latest news
Live coverage In pictures
The Pope says that religion is ‘marginalised’ during his speech in
Westminster Hall
The Pope has warned that religion – and Christianity in particular –
is “being marginalised” around the world.
His comments came in his keynote speech to UK MPs, senior members of
British society, and religious leaders at Westminster Hall in central
London.
Pope Benedict XVI warned that there were some people who wanted to see
“the voice of religion be silenced”.
He called on those in attendance to seek ways to promote faith “at
every level of national life”.
BBC correspondent Peter Hunt described the speech as “a rallying call,
and a plea – for religion not to be squeezed out by secular society”.
The Pope was speaking as a sixth man was arrested as counter-terrorism
detectives investigate an alleged threat to Pope Benedict XVI’s
visit.
In his speech, the Pope said: “I cannot but voice my concern at the
increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of Christianity,
that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a
great emphasis on tolerance.
“There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be
silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.
“There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals
such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief
that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none.”
The Pope then visited Westminster Abbey for a celebration of evening
prayer.
‘Deep friendship’
Earlier, he met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at
Lambeth Palace.
Analysis
David Willey
BBC News, London
Pope Benedict concentrated on what unites Anglicans and Catholics, not
what still separates them.
He spoke of the deepening friendship at a personal level between these
two very eminent professional theologians who find much in common to
talk about at their periodic meetings.
The Pope also paid tribute to the 19th Century former Anglican priest
Cardinal John Henry Newman – who perfectly shared both church
cultures.
This is an important ecumenical gathering taking place more than 40
years after official talks began about possible reunification of the
two churches five centuries after Rome refused to recognise King Henry
VIII’s divorce.
Lambeth and the Vatican have had a bumpy relationship in recent years
as the Anglican Church first ordained women priests and is now
considering ordaining women bishops, but both sides are still keen to
go on talking.
It comes at a time when Anglican moves towards appointing women
bishops have unsettled relations with Rome.
But the Pope said he wanted to focus on the “deep friendship” between
the two churches rather than their differences.
The Lambeth Palace meeting marked the first time a Pope has met the
Archbishop at his official residence.
It was viewed as an important event more than 40 years after official
talks began about possible reunification of the two churches.
Divisions remain over Roman Catholic opposition to the ordination of
women priests. Meanwhile the Church of England’s General Synod left
the way open for appointing women bishops at its meeting in July.
The Vatican angered many supporters of women’s ordination by
describing it as a “grave crime” to be dealt with in the same process
as sex abuse, though it denied it was equating the two.
Dr Williams said in his opening remarks that the Pope was “most
welcome” at Lambeth Palace.
He then praised the pontiff’s “consistent and penetrating analysis of
the state of European society”.
As the Pope left Lambeth Palace to travel the short distance to
Westminster Hall in his Popemobile, thousands of people lined the
streets.
At one point he stopped the vehicle to bless a baby that was handed up
to him.
True happiness
Earlier, the Pope led an assembly of 4,000 Catholic school children in
west London.
He used his address at St Mary’s University College in Twickenham, to
say that the safety of children was vital in all schools, an apparent
reference to the Church’s child abuse scandal.
Pope’s visit
17 September: Meets Archbishop of Canterbury; Address at Westminster
Hall; Service at Westminster Abbey
18 September: Mass at Westminster Cathedral; Open-air vigil in Hyde
Park
19 September: Beatification Mass at Cofton Park Birmingham; Meets
bishops of England, Scotland and Wales; Leaves for Rome.
Tatchell heads anti-Pope protests
In pictures: Pope visits day two
He also warned against the limitations of celebrity and science.
The pontiff told the crowd young people were often encouraged to model
themselves on celebrities.
He said: “My question for you is this: What are the qualities you see
in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of
person would you really like to be?’
“I’m asking you not to be content with second-best.”
He went on to say having money or a successful career was not enough
to make people happy, but true happiness could be found in God.
Tight security surrounded the event, called The Big Assembly, and
monks and nuns who had waited in long queues were frisked by police.
Around 100 protesters against the Vatican’s record on gay rights,
equality and birth control had gathered ahead of his arrival, amid
tight security.
The Church saw it as an opportunity to celebrate the work of more than
2,000 Catholic schools across the UK, in partnership with the state.
But critics said it could fuel hostility to faith schools and serve as
a painful reminder of the child abuse scandal within the Catholic
Church.
16 September 2010 Last updated at 09:11 ET
Queen and Pope’s opening addresses in full
The Queen said the Pope’s presence reminded her of their common
Christian heritage Queen Elizabeth II has welcomed Pope Benedict XVI
on his state visit to the UK.
She greeted the Pope at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, at the start of
his four-day visit to Scotland and England.
Below are the full transcripts of their speeches.
Queen Elizabeth II
“Your Holiness, I am delighted to welcome you to the United Kingdom,
and particularly to Scotland, on your first visit as Pope.
I recall with great pleasure the memorable pastoral visit of the late
Pope John Paul II to this country in 1982.
I also have vivid memories of my four visits to the Vatican, and of
meeting some of your predecessors on other occasions.
I’m most grateful to them for receiving over the years a number of
members of my family with such warm hospitality.
Much has changed in the world during the nearly 30 years since Pope
John Paul’s visit.
In this country we deeply appreciate the involvement of the Holy See
in the dramatic improvement in the situation in Northern Ireland.
Elsewhere, the fall of totalitarian regimes across central and eastern
Europe has allowed greater freedom for hundreds of millions of people.
The Holy See continues to have an important role in international
issues, in support of peace and development, and in addressing common
problems like poverty and climate change.
Your Holiness, your presence here today reminds us of our common
Christian heritage. And of the Christian contribution to the
encouragement of world peace, and to the economic and social
development of the less prosperous countries of the world.
We are all aware of the special contribution of the Roman Catholic
church, particularly in its ministry to the poorest and most deprived
members of society, its care for the homeless and for the education
provided by its extensive network of schools.
Religion has always been a crucial element in national identity and
historical self-consciousness.
This has made the relationship between the different faiths a
fundamental factor in the necessary co-operation within and between
nation states.
It is, therefore, vital to encourage a greater mutual and respectful
understanding. We know from experience that through committed dialogue
old suspicions can be transcended and a greater mutual trust
established.
I know that reconciliation was a central theme in the life of Cardinal
John Henry Newman, for whom you will be holding a mass of
beatification on Sunday. A man who struggled with doubt and
uncertainty, his contribution to the understanding of Christianity
continues to influence many.
I’m pleased that your visit will deepen the relationship between the
Roman Catholic Church and the established Church of England and Church
of Scotland.
Your Holiness, in recent times you have said that religions can never
become vehicles of hatred. That never by invoking the name of God can
evil and violence be justified.
Today in this country we stand united in that conviction. We hold that
freedom to worship is at the core of our tolerant and democratic
society.
On behalf of the people of the United Kingdom I wish you a most
memorable and fruitful visit.”
Pope Benedict XVI
“Your Majesty, thank you for your gracious invitation to make an
official visit to the United Kingdom, and for your warm words of
greeting on behalf of the British people.
In thanking Your Majesty, allow me to extend my own greetings to all
the people of the United Kingdom, and to hold out a hand of friendship
to each one.
It is a great pleasure for me to start my journey by saluting the
members of the Royal Family, thanking in particular His Royal Highness
the Duke of Edinburgh for his kind welcome to me at Edinburgh
Airport.
I express my gratitude to Your Majesty’s present and previous
governments, and to all those who worked with them to make this
occasion possible, including Lord Patten and former Secretary of State
Murphy.
I would also like to acknowledge with deep appreciation the work of
the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See, which has
contributed greatly to strengthening the friendly relations existing
between the Holy See and the United Kingdom.
As I begin my visit to the United Kingdom in Scotland’s historic
capital city, I greet in a special way First Minister Salmond and the
representatives of the Scottish Parliament.
Just like the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies, may the Scottish
Parliament grow to be an expression of the fine traditions and
distinct culture of the Scots, and strive to serve their best
interests in a spirit of solidarity and concern for the common good.
The name of Holyrood House, Your Majesty’s official residence in
Scotland, recalls the “Holy Cross” and points to the deep Christian
roots that are still present in every layer of British life.
The monarchs of England and Scotland have been Christians from very
early times, and include outstanding saints like Edward the Confessor
and Margaret of Scotland.
As you know, many of them consciously exercised their sovereign duty
in the light of the Gospel, and in this way shaped the nation for good
at the deepest level.
As a result, the Christian message has been an integral part of the
language, thought and culture of the peoples of these islands for more
than a thousand years.
Your forefathers’ respect for truth and justice, for mercy and charity
come to you from a faith that remains a mighty force for good in your
kingdom, to the great benefit of Christians and non-Christians alike.
We find many examples of this force for good throughout Britain’s long
history.
Even in comparatively recent times, due to figures like William
Wilberforce and David Livingstone, Britain intervened directly to stop
the international slave trade.
Inspired by faith, women like Florence Nightingale served the poor and
the sick and set new standards in healthcare that were subsequently
copied everywhere.
John Henry Newman, whose beatification I will celebrate shortly, was
one of many British Christians of his age whose goodness, eloquence
and action were a credit to their countrymen and women.
These, and many people like them, were inspired by a deep faith born
and nurtured in these islands.
Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders
stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society
and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were
thought unfit to live.
I also recall the regime’s attitude to Christian pastors and religious
who spoke the truth in love, opposed the Nazis and paid for that
opposition with their lives.
As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the
twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God,
religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated
vision of man and of society and thus to a ‘reductive vision of the
person and his destiny’ (Caritas in Veritate, 29).
Sixty-five years ago, Britain played an essential role in forging the
post-war international consensus, which favoured the establishment of
the United Nations and ushered in a hitherto unknown period of peace
and prosperity in Europe.
In more recent years, the international community has followed closely
events in Northern Ireland which have led to the signing of the Good
Friday Agreement, and the devolution of powers to the Northern Ireland
Assembly.
Your Majesty´s government and the government of Ireland, together with
the political, religious and civil leaders of Northern Ireland, have
helped give birth to a peaceful resolution of the conflict there.
I encourage everyone involved to continue to walk courageously
together on the path marked out for them towards a just and lasting
peace.
Looking abroad, the United Kingdom remains a key figure politically
and economically on the international stage.
Your government and people are the shapers of ideas that still have an
impact far beyond the British Isles.
This places upon them a particular duty to act wisely for the common
good.
Similarly, because their opinions reach such a wide audience, the
British media have a graver responsibility than most and a greater
opportunity to promote the peace of nations, the integral development
of peoples and the spread of authentic human rights.
May all Britons continue to live by the values of honesty, respect and
fair-mindedness that have won them the esteem and admiration of many.
Today, the United Kingdom strives to be a modern and multicultural
society.
In this challenging enterprise, may it always maintain its respect for
those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive
forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate.
Let it not obscure the Christian foundation that underpins its
freedoms; and may that patrimony, which has always served the nation
well, constantly inform the example your government and people set
before the two billion members of the Commonwealth and the great
family of English-speaking nations throughout the world.
May God bless Your Majesty and all the people of your realm. Thank
you.”
Papal Visit
Latest
Live: Pope visits the UK
Latest text and video updates
In pictures At a glance Features
Benedict’s big society
Pilgrim memories and hopes
Strength of the Catholic Church
Historic event or to be avoided?
More features and analysis
The Pope’s opponents
Have immigrants saved the Church?
Background
Profile: Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict and john Paul Compared
UK Papal visit: Glossary of terms
…and I am Sid Harth
Pope Benedict XVI
News, Views and Reviews
Pope Benedict XVI
17/09/2010
« Of Myth and Truth
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/18/afghan-election-vote-buying-for-dummies/
Afghan Votes Come Cheap, and Often in Bulk
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: September 17, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — How much does it cost to buy an Afghan vote?
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Election workers carry voting material to remote mountainous villages
in Shotol, Afghanistan.
Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in
the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog »
Interactive Feature Some 30,000 American soldiers are taking part in
the Afghanistan surge. Here are the stories of the men and women of
First Battalion, 87th Infantry.
Nonetheless, prices are low. In northern Kunduz Province, Afghan votes
cost $15 each; in eastern Ghazni Province, a vote can be bought for
$18. In Kandahar, they sell their rights for as little as $1 a ballot.
More commonly, the price seems to hover in the $5 to $6 range, as
quoted to New York Times reporters in places like Helmand and Khost
Provinces.
Even by the standards of a country rated as one of the poorest in the
world, Afghans seem to be selling their votes cheap, and it is not so
surprising why.
Five dollars is a lot of money when more than half the population
lives on less than a dollar a day. Indeed, in many rural parts of the
country there is nothing in the way of a legitimate cash economy.
References are often heard to the Ten-Dollar-a-Day Taliban, occasional
laborers enlisted in cash-for-work projects like burying roadside
bombs.
Vote buying is much more common in this election than the last
national balloting here last year. The feeling, experts say, was that
last year’s election was stolen wholesale by supporters of President
Hamid Karzai, so there was little need for vote buying.
There may also have been less outright vote buying because it was most
likely that Mr. Karzai would have won even without election fraud, as
the incumbent and a member of the Pashtun ethnic group, the country’s
largest.
This time, many well-heeled Afghan independent candidates are looking
to buy their way into the lucrative sinecure of a seat in Parliament.
That not only comes with a healthy salary — about $2,200 a month gross
— but tremendous opportunities for graft.
And this time, a combination of voter apathy and disenchantment, far
greater insecurity and a fairly small number of votes needed to win
any individual seat have combined to, as an economist would put it,
create a market. In many places, as few as 2,500 votes are enough to
clinch the election.
And Osman Shenwari, 60, a malek, or village mayor, from the Spinghar
District of Nangarhar Province, says he knows one candidate in his
area who has already purchased 10,000 voter registration cards.
“The candidates send their representatives to every village and
district center to look for people who want to sell their voting
cards, and they pay 500 afghanis for each card,” he said. That’s about
$11 each.
In many places, so-called vote maleks organize the trade. These are
brokers who collect all the voter registration cards in a community,
and then peddle them to the highest bidder. Typically, the vote malek
keeps half of the money and the voters get half. “You should know that
our leaders are big-belly people,” said Mr. Shenwari, “and they care
about themselves more than anyone else.”
Of course, not every Afghan vote is for sale, and Mr. Shenwari is one
of those who disapprove of trafficking in votes. “I am telling you if
fraud takes place during the parliamentary elections this time, the
Taliban will definitely come back,” he said.
Hajji Fazal Rahman Jalal, 45, a tribal leader in the Andar District of
Ghazni, said: “I don’t think people in Ghazni Province will vote for
people who try to pay for their votes. The person who sells his vote
sells his own conscience.”
Such scruples did not seem to bother one candidate from Ghazni City
whom local elders accused of going door to door in villages offering
voters $5 apiece for their registration cards.
That would have been quite a bargain, because when an Afghan
translator who spoke Pashtun with a local accent called the candidate
and said he had 200 registration cards to sell on behalf of his
village, the candidate immediately offered him $15 each.
He wanted to know how many of the cards were for female voters; those
are more valuable because, out of respect for cultural sensitivities,
women’s registration cards do not bear photographs, so they are easy
for anyone to use. In many places, families do not allow women to
leave their homes, so the men of the family normally cast their votes
for them.
The translator asked for $25 each and the customary haggling ensued;
the candidate’s last price was $18 each, but only if the seller could
deliver the actual voters along with their registration cards to cast
ballots for him.
“O.K., come to my office and we will talk; I want to see the cards to
make sure the serial numbers are legitimate,” he said. “If the I.E.C.
sees any fake cards, they will invalidate my whole ballot box.” I.E.C.
stands for the Independent Election Commission.
There is also a market in fake voter registration cards, which are run
off in printers’ shops in Peshawar, across the border in Pakistan,
reportedly at 23 cents apiece.
Reports are that millions have flooded into the country, but the
election commission insists its officials will be able to spot the
fakes easily.
That makes the real cards much more valuable. Voters who are cynical
about the political process or intimidated by Taliban threats can sell
their cards without actually having to risk a trip to the polls.
The candidate’s campaign workers then use them on the “vote early and
often” Chicago model.
In theory, everyone who has voted has to have a finger marked with
indelible dye, but in practice that often does not happen — especially
in areas where the Taliban have threatened to amputate inky fingers,
which also happen to be areas that are too unsafe for election
monitors to go.
In Mr. Karzai’s presidential election, it was particularly in such
dangerous districts where huge numbers of votes were cast
fraudulently, which was easy to spot since the ballots cast sometimes
outnumbered the living. This time around the country is twice as
dangerous, but at least the vote crooks will have to pay for what they
steal.
Reporting was contributed by Afghan employees of The New York Times
from Kabul, Nangarhar, Khost, Kunduz, Helmand and Kandahar Provinces.
Five Thirty Eight
Nate Silver’s Political Calculus
September 17, 2010, 2:14 pm
Complex Formulas Governing the Afghan Elections
By RENARD SEXTON
On Saturday, Afghan voters will again head to the voting booth, this
time to elect members to the Afghan National Assembly, known as the
Wolesi Jirga. This election, the second in the history of the
legislative body, was initially scheduled for late May. It was
postponed, however, because of a lack of money, logistical challenges
and the continuing violence in the country.
While Afghanistan’s widespread security concerns, particularly in the
south and east, have dominated the election storyline – the
Independent Electoral Commission announced that at least 900 polling
stations will not open on Election Day, representing about 13.2
percent of the 6,835 total stations – the nation’s unique electoral
system will continue play an important role in the results of the
election.
In particular, the Afghan constitution requires that at least 68 of
the Wolesi Jirga’s members, about 27 percent, be women. And the
Independent Electoral Commission has decided that under the nation’s
Electoral Law, at least one member per province must be female.
Since Assembly members are allocated and elected by province, the
female quota is actually applied at the provincial, rather than
national level. There is also a nongeographic M.P. allocation of 10
for the Kuchi nomads, who are Pastun herders that migrate throughout
the year.
The percent of female legislators per province mandated by the
electoral commission therefore ranges from a low of 20 percent in five
lower middle-sized provinces to a high of 50 percent in the three
smallest Afghan provinces. The three largest provinces, Kabul, Hirat
and Nangerhar, are closer to the desired proportion, with 27 percent,
29 percent and 29 percent respectively.
Within an electoral constituency, Afghanistan uses a “single
nontransferable vote” system, an approach used by only a few other
nations – Japan and South Korea once used the system, while the upper
houses of Thailand and Indonesia continue to.
The single vote system gives each Afghan citizen one vote to use to
select one candidate from the often dozens, if not hundreds of
available candidates. For example, in Kabul, more than 650 people are
contending for the capital province’s 33 slots. Once all the votes
have been cast, the top 33 candidates will receive seats in
parliament. As a result, in places where there are a handful of
extremely well-known candidates and a large number of relatively
unknown competitors, the difference between winning a seat and losing
among the last few seats awarded may be just a few votes.
Here is where the female quota becomes particularly influential. In
the previous assembly election in 2005, in Herat Province, the
separation between Shahnaz Hemati (7,161 votes), and the next
finishing candidate, Sardar Ishaqzai, (6,829 votes) was just 332 votes
of the 474,541 valid votes cast – only .07 percentage points
separating the two. The Independent Electoral Commission mandate
requires that Herat elect five women among their 17 officials, meaning
that several male candidates on the cusp of victory were skipped over
to fill this quota. Indeed, between Ms. Hemati (who finished 14th) and
the next elected minister, Saadat Fatahi (4,514 votes, finishing
33rd), were 18 male candidates. The final two winning candidates were
elected with even lower vote totals, with Al-haj Rahima Jami receiving
4,105 vote (40th place) and Najla Dehqan Nizhad winning 3,580 votes
(47th place.)
The top finishing candidate in Herat in 2005, Fauzia Gailani, was
female, winning 16,885 votes, or 3.6 percent. Well covered by the
international media for her victory, she became known as a champion of
women’s rights in Afghanistan, particularly against child marriage,
something she experienced at the age of 13.
Unfortunately, Ms. Gailani has also become a symbol of the struggle
candidates face. In late August, five campaign workers for Ms.
Gailani’s re-election in Herat were kidnapped by an armed group; the
Taliban later claimed responsibility.
Renard Sexton can be contacted at sext...@gmail.com.
At War
Notes From the Front Lines
September 17, 2010, 1:36 pm
Afghan Elections: Kidnapping, Fraud, Warlords and Donkeys
By ROGENE FISHER JACQUETTE
The New York Times
Afghanistan is more dangerous than it has ever been during this war,
international groups say.Our colleagues Rod Nordland and Sharifullah
Sahak report on more election-related kidnappings ahead of Saturday’s
parliamentary elections. The Taliban claimed to have kidnapped 30
campaign workers, election officials and a candidate for Parliament.
Not all of the kidnappings have been confirmed by the government.
The Free and Fair Election Foundation, an Afghan monitoring
organization, said that 4 candidates and 20 of their supporters have
been killed so far during this summer’s campaign, and that there had
been 61 reports of election-related violence, most of it carried out
by insurgents. (The map at the top of this post illustrates the
worsening security situation in Afghan provinces.)
Alissa J. Rubin, The New York Times’s Kabul bureau chief, reports on
the security and fraud concerns ahead of Saturday’s vote. She writes
that local leaders in several large provinces said that Karzai and his
allies are looking to create a more “pliant” legislature by recruiting
specific candidates and backing their campaigns.
The Afpak Channel has an excellent roundup of perspectives on
Saturday’s vote that begins with an essay about the controlling
influence of Matiullah Khan in Oruzgan Province. Called Crais Sahib —
or “The Boss” — by many in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital, Mr.
Matiullah, Anand Gopal writes, will likely determine the winner of the
provincial parliamentary seat:
Whomever Matiullah decides to back for Saturday’s polls will almost
certainly win the seat, largely due to his power, prestige and ability
to spread dollars around. Some government insiders say that he is
backing Hajji Obaidullah. … This signals a larger trend in southern
Afghanistan, where a new class of power brokers has emerged since the
2005 polls. Abdul Razziq, the young Border Police commander from
Kandahar’s Spin Boldak, has extended his power and reach to the point
where he is second only to Ahmed Wali Karzai in Kandahar.
Also in the AfPak Channel roundup, Gerard Russell has a poignant post
about the mood among Afghans as Election Day approaches. He writes:
“Mayoos” is the word that my Afghan friends have used when I ask them
about the parliamentary elections: it means disappointed, or even
despairing. They do not need to read analysts’ reports to see that
Afghan democracy will not be enhanced on 18 September.
In today’s Christian Science Monitor, Anand Gopal points out that the
Taliban haven’t been responsible for all of the pre-election violence.
He writes that the campaign season has been compromised as much by
intercandidate violence and rivalries as it was by Taliban attacks and
intimidation.
In his report, Mr. Gopal quotes Hassan Haqiyar, an Afghan political
analyst and author, who said, “There are some candidates that have
ties to militias or warlords, who use guns to try to influence the
elections. … If you don’t have guns or money, it is hard to compete.”
Despite the reports of fraud, violence and intimidation, some Afghan
candidates and voters say they see a future in the country’s fledgling
democracy. In this video report, the BBC’s Lyse Doucet talks about a
new look and enthusiasm among young candidates and voters.
There is, however, one thing that remains as critical to Afghan
democracy as the stubborn optimism of young voters and competent
candidates: donkeys.
2 Readers’ Comments
1.brendancaron
vancouver, B.C.
September 17th, 2010 2:57 pm
Here’s hoping that the Afghans get themselves involved in this
election. Here’s hoping that the Parliament will help to strengthen
the peoples’ voice. Here’s hoping that the frauds that smeared the
last election don’t recur. Here’s hoping that the people of
Afghanistan take another baby step that will help them climb out of
the morass that they have lived with through these years of war and
internecine warfare.
Keep up the good fight for your rights.
All the best. God Bless.
2.The Cost of War Blog
New York, NY
September 17th, 2010 4:14 pm
more than anything, this election will test the international
community’s faith and patience in Afghanistan. if the vote is messy
again, one can only see the international community becoming
increasingly hopeless
http://costofwar.wordpress.com/
Recommended by 1
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Vote buying not peculiar To India: Dr. JP
Paying money for votes is not a phenomenon unique to India, said Lok
Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan and instanced how it was
widely prevalent in Britain of the 19th century.
Addressing a meeting of NRIs as part of ‘Rejuvenate India’ campaign
launched by People for Lok Satta at Dallas, Dr. JP referred to a
letter a British Member of Parliament wrote to his constituents 135
years ago. In that letter, preserved in the British archives to this
day, the MP said, “You know and I know that I bought your constituency
with 5000 pound sterling. You don’t know that I know that I will not
become your MP again because you have already sold your constituency
for 8000 pound sterling. You don’t know further that I bought another
constituency for 3000 pound sterling. In the process both of us have
gained. While you earned 3000 more pound sterling, I could save 2000
pound sterling.”
Pointing out that the problems India is facing are not unique, Dr. JP
said that all countries had faced similar problems but they overcame
because a sufficient number of thoughtful and committed people
understood them and strove indefatigably to address them. Pious dreams
do not bring about miracles. In Britain, Gladston who served as
Premier from 1868 to 1892, instead of lamenting over the state of
affairs, built institutions brick by brick and developed Britain into
a modern country.
Dr. JP said that the thinking, educated middle classes have to take
the lead to transform society since common people do not understand
the relationship between the vote in their hands and their own
welfare. They vote for the lesser evil after collecting money from
rival candidates while the middle classes exercise their franchise
swayed by primordial loyalties to religion and caste, region and
language. That was why the Lok Satta Party did not succeed although it
provided an ethical, alternative platform and fielded good candidates
in the 2009 general elections.
Dr. JP pointed out that as individuals we do not attach importance to
caste in basic issues. For instance, we send our children to schools
which have best teachers and not bother about their caste. Instead of
promoting such an ideal attitude in all matters basic to society,
political parties have been exploiting caste and religion, region and
language to serve their short-term interests.
On reservations in education and Government jobs for socially and
economically backward castes and sections, Dr. JP said the present
system served only a microscopic minority. The Government should
provided equal opportunities for growth to all by making available
quality education and skill enhancement.
In reply to a question, he underlined the need to build a system which
provided political opportunities to deprived sections, since no caste
has monopoly over intelligence and competence. He also suggested that
the first-past-the-post electoral system be replaced by proportional
representation to mitigate the ill effects of money power in elections
and to provide representation to all sections.
Lok Satta Party Tamilnadu President Mr.Vijay Anand also took part in
the meetings.
WORLD NEWS
APRIL 9, 2009.
Corruption Mars Image of Change in India Elections
New Class of Politicians Vows to Curb Graft, but Others Still Build
Support on Bribes; Rallies for Food, Liquor.Article Video Interactive
Graphics Comments (4) more in World ».EmailPrintSave This ↓ More.
By NIRAJ SHETH
NEW DELHI — A new class of Indian politicians wants to free its
country of rampant corruption, bribery and red tape. But as India
gears up for elections starting next week, the new entrants are facing
an early hurdle: fraud in the election process itself.
With 714 million registered voters, India is about to stage the
biggest democratic election in history, a monthlong affair that begins
April 16. Hundreds of political parties are competing, most with a
specific regional, ethnic or caste appeal.
Campaigning Against Corruption in India
2:13
Reform parties are trying to combat corruption among India’s
politicians. But in a country with a long history of political
bribery, these budding politicians are having trouble attracting
votes. WSJ’s Divya Gupta reports
Yet many candidates are flouting ethics and financing laws, spending
millions to bribe voters with cash and gifts, say people who have
followed the campaigns. The size of their war chests could dictate
results at the polls.
Corruption and criminality can be found across the spectrum. In the
current Parliament, 128 members representing 18 parties out of a total
of 545 legislators have criminal charges lodged against them. Of
those, 84 are for allegations of murder and 28 for theft and
extortion.
Lok Satta, a change-oriented party, is campaigning on promises to
fight corruption and institute a code of conduct for legislators. But
in the city of Hyderabad, party candidate Atluri Subhashini, isn’t
getting much attention.
Last week she met with families in the city’s Khairatabad slums,
trailed by no more than 50 supporters. Two blocks away, candidate
Daanam Nagendra, of the Indian National Congress party that runs the
national government, held a parade that drew more than 1,000 people.
View Interactive
Political Chronology
See a timeline of major Indian political events and parliament terms
in the past 20 years.
“We are finding it very hard to translate public support into
electoral victories,” says Lok Satta party president Jayaprakash
Narayan. “Without buying the vote or distributing liquor, your chances
are slim.”
In a survey by the Centre for Media Studies, one-fifth of voters
nationally said politicians or party workers offered them money to
vote in the past 10 years. In some states, nearly half said they have
been bribed. Out of the $2 billion the government and Indian parties
are expected to spend on this year’s elections, one-quarter will be
for illicit activities, the New Delhi think tank estimated.
The poor are often targets. Parties give cash bonuses or free lunches
to voters to boost rally attendance, observers say. After rallies,
party workers often distribute liquor as a reward for coming, say
people who have attended.
India’s change-minded parties are promising to fix such campaign
practices. Last month, the Professionals Party of India, boasting a
middle-class following, planned to run 100 candidates nationwide to
battle corruption. It’s now down to two. The party says protecting a
squeaky-clean reputation means it can’t spend as much as its
opponents, and so has had a hard time even finding candidates.
“It’s a humble start,” says party founder R.V. Krishnan. “But I don’t
think the PPI is attracting the kind of candidates we need.”
View Interactive
Power Players
See the Indian politicians who will define the outcome of the largest
electoral vote in history.
Leaders of established parties have spoken out against payouts.
“Neither do we encourage it nor do we approve it,” says Ravi Shankar
Prasad, a spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party — India’s second-
largest party after the Congress party. A Congress representative
didn’t return calls seeking comment.
In the coming election, the new politicians had hoped to rally India’s
educated middle class, which is tired of widespread corruption and
still stinging from the memory of last year’s Mumbai terrorist attacks
that they blame partly on political failure.
This year, 110 of India’s 545 constituencies are in cities, according
to the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.
That’s up from 74 urban districts in 2004 — a jump that shows the
increasing political heft of India’s middle class.
Still, much of the middle class isn’t registered to vote. Those who
are often view new entrants with suspicion.
Special Coverage: India Elections
See news, analysis and opinion from The Wall Street Journal on India’s
elections.
“I would not vote for them,” says Rajat Kumar, a 33-year-old in
Gurgaon, a Delhi suburb, who runs the India office of a European
outsourcing firm. “You can’t talk about removing corruption without
removing the causes that create corruption.”
Those causes include poor pay that make low-level bureaucrats depend
on bribes to make ends meet, he says, adding that he will evaluate
parties on their plans to lift India’s masses out of poverty.
Last week, Andhra Pradesh state police seized $600,000 in cash they
said was aimed at voters. In nearby Karnataka, the election commission
logged 500 cases where liquor, cash and goods aimed at voters were
seized, said the state’s chief election officer.
—Divya Gupta in Hyderabad contributed to this article.
Write to Niraj Sheth at niraj...@wsj.com
Discuss: There are 4 comments
524 days ago..MADHAVI BHASIN wrote:
I agree that popular support in India does not result in electoral
gains. There is another brand of candidates, intellectuals contesting
as independents, who have impressive credentials but there is little
hope that they can win any seats. Mira Sanyal, Country Head of ABN
Amro Bank, GR Gopinath, CMd of Deccan Express Logistics and Mallika
Sarabai being a few among them. These independent candidates perhaps
fall outside the ‘institutionalized corruption’ upheld by India’s
political parties.
519 days ago..Arun Karthikeyan wrote:
That individuals with criminal cases pending against them are allowed
to contest elections is a shame. It is hardly surprising that those
are the same people we expect to vote in a legislation barring such
candidates. How can the gridlock be broken?
Even more surprising is that a majority of the middle class is not
registered to vote. But systemic change is slow and one can hope that
the efforts of party’s like the PPI and independent candidates will be
the seeds of that very change.
507 days ago..MISSING_SN replied:
1. Criminal cases PENDING against someone does not make that person
criminal.
2. Independent candidates are running their campaigns to possibly win
a seat and form coalition
3. I agree that change is slow, but you have to take baby steps first
before you learn to run. correct?
505 days ago..KIRAN VOLETI wrote:
This is ridiculous. Meera Sanyal is not a great professional. ABN Amro
bank follows some of the most unethical business practices. She has no
moral right to talk about morality!
India government accused of vote buying
July 18, 2008
The governing party of India has been accused of wholesale vote buying
in order to stay in power during a battle for control of parliament.
An expected no-confidence motion has all India’s political parties
scrambling for allies, no matter the cost, The Times of London
reported Friday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently met with
India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani while an MP reportedly said the
ruling government was offering to pay up to 250 million rupees ($6
million) for each vote, the report said.
The political crisis was initiated when the Congress Party negotiated
a nuclear deal with the United States that would allow importation of
American nuclear fuel and technology. In response, the Communist Party
left the coalition, leading many to expect a vote of no confidence and
possibly a general election next November.
Other parties have also allegedly been involved in vote buying
schemes.
“There are many like me who have been approached but no one has the
spirit to come out in the open and put before the public what is
happening in these dark corridors of power,” said Akshay Pratap Singh,
a Samajwadi Party MP, alleging that he had been offered money to vote
against the government.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
UPI-1-20080718-14172100-bc-india-votebuying.xml
Bibliographic information
Title
Elections for sale: the causes and consequences of vote buying
Author Frederic Charles Schaffer
Editor Frederic Charles Schaffer
Publisher Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2007
ISBN 9715505252, 9789715505253
Length 234 pages
…and I am Sid Harth
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News, Views and Reviews
18/09/2010
« Afghan Election Masquerade
Afghan Election Masquerade
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/17/afghan-election-masquerade/
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
Afghanistan braces for violent polling day
By Tim Gaynor and Hamid Shalizi
KABUL | Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:29pm EDT
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan braced for a day of violence Saturday as
voters headed to the polls for a parliamentary election that is a
crucial test of government credibility and the strength of its
security forces.
The Taliban has vowed to disrupt the poll and urged potential voters
to stay at home — even as the government called on Afghans to come out
to polling stations for what is their second chance to choose their
own parliament.
“We should try to do our best under the current circumstances. It is
very important that the Afghan people come out and vote,” Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected last year in a poll marred
by fraud accusations, told reporters.
It will not be clear for several weeks at least who among the almost
2,500 candidates have won the 249 seats on offer in the wolesi jirga,
or lower house of parliament. Preliminary results from Saturday’s
voting will not be known until October 8 at the earliest, with final
results not expected before October 30.
Election observers expect thousands of complaints from losing
candidates, with Afghanistan’s own poll watchdog expecting a
“disputatious” election, which could delay the process further.
Almost 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police are providing security for
the poll, backed up by some 150,000 foreign troops.
Kabul so far has been quiet since a heavy clampdown was imposed
Friday.
A wave of abductions spread across much of the rest of the country
Friday however, with 23 kidnappings of people working on the
elections, including two candidates.
STRATEGY REVIEW
Significant security failures would be a major setback, with
Washington watching closely before U.S. President Barack Obama
conducts a war strategy review in December likely to examine the pace
and scale of U.S. troop withdrawals.
Observers fear security worries could lead to a low voter turnout, as
it did last year when the Taliban staged dozens of attacks but failed
to disrupt the process entirely.
However, voter turnout was very low last year in the south and east
where Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s main ethnic group, dominate and where
the Taliban has its strongest support.
Corruption and fraud are also serious concerns after a deeply flawed
presidential ballot last year. A third of votes cast for Karzai were
thrown out as fake. Even though he is not standing, Saturday’s vote is
seen as a test of Karzai’s credibility.
Washington believes corruption weakens the central government and its
ability to build up institutions like the Afghan security forces,
which in turn determines when Western troops in Afghanistan will be
able to leave.
Voter turnout may also be hit by cynicism and disillusionment.
Billions of dollars in foreign aid cash have flowed into Afghanistan
over the past nine years but, for many people, have brought no real
improvement in their lives.
(Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Paul Tait)
Factbox: Key facts and figures about Afghanistan
KABUL | Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:35am EDT
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghans vote in parliamentary elections on Saturday
for 249 seats in the country’s wolesi jirga, or lower house of
parliament.
Following are key facts and figures about Afghanistan:
PROFILE
* Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia which shares
borders with Iran, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan.
* Hamid Karzai has led the country since 2001, when U.S.-backed Afghan
militia ended the five-year rule of the austere Islamist Taliban
movement. He was re-elected for a second term in October 2009 after a
highly contested vote which was mired in allegations of fraud.
* Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its
population is almost 30 million. Life expectancy for both men and
women is about 45 years.
* Some 42 percent of Afghans are Pashtun and 27 percent are Tajik.
Hazaras and Uzbeks each account for 9 percent.
* There are two national languages, Pashto and Dari. Pashto, the
language of the Pashtuns, is spoken in many parts of the south and
east. Dari, a Persian language, is spoken mainly in the north and
center.
* Only 28 percent of Afghans are literate.
SECURITY AND VIOLENCE
* Violence has surged to the highest levels since U.S. and Afghan
forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001, as tens of thousands of
additional foreign troops, mainly Americans, have been deployed in
response to an escalating Taliban insurgency.
* So far this year, more than 500 foreign troops have been killed in
Afghanistan, compared with 521 in the whole of 2009, the deadliest
year of the war so far.
* Last month a United Nations report said the number of civilians
killed in the war rose by 31 percent in the first half of 2010, with
1,271 civilians killed in conflict-related incidents.
* The violence, which was previously concentrated in Taliban
strongholds in southern and eastern Afghanistan, has since spread to
the north and west of the country.
* A total of 2,072 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan
since the war started in November 2001.
* The United States has lost 1,278 service members, Britain 335 and
other NATO contributors 459, according to the iCasualties website
(www.iCasualties.org).
INTERNATIONAL FORCES
* There are nearly 150,000 foreign troops from 47 countries working
under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF),
established in December 2001.
* The United States has by far the most troops, with about 100,000 of
the total, triple the number when U.S. President Barack Obama took
office last year.
* Other NATO allies have about 50,000 troops. Some are withdrawing,
including the Netherlands and Canada with about 3,200 troops.
* Britain, with 9,500 troops, is the second-largest ISAF contributor.
Germany is next with 4,590 and France with 3,750, according to the
most recent NATO figures.
* Obama will conduct a war strategy review in December. He plans to
begin a gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops from July 2011 if conditions
at the time allow.
ECONOMY
* According to the United Nations Human Development rankings for 2009,
Afghanistan is ranked 181st out of 182 countries.
* Devastated by 30 years of conflict, Afghanistan’s economy is
dependent on foreign aid. International donors contribute seventy
percent of the government’s operating budget, which itself has been
dwarfed by billions in aid spent directly by the donor states.
* Afghanistan’s economic growth has also been stunted by high levels
of corruption, which prevents aid from reaching ordinary Afghans.
* Public sector corruption in Afghanistan is seen as more rampant than
any other country except Somalia, according to Transparency
International.
DRUGS
* Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the world’s opium, a thick paste
from poppy used to make heroin, according to the latest U.N. Office on
Drugs and Crime report.
* Helmand province in southern Afghanistan produces most of
Afghanistan’s opium poppy crop.
* About two thirds of the opium is turned into heroin before it leaves
Afghanistan and goes on to feed some 15 million addicts, mainly in
Russia, Iran and Europe.
* Opium cultivation in Afghanistan is directly linked to the Taliban
insurgency. Since 2005, the Taliban have made up to $160 million a
year from taxing cultivation and trade of the crop.
Sources: NATO, U.S. Forces, Reuters reports, U.N., World Bank,
iCasualties.org; CIA World Fact Book, Transparency International.
(Compiled by Golnar Motevalli and Tim Gaynor; Editing by Paul Tait)
Next Afghan vote “not perfect” but better: U.N. envoy
1 / 2 Afghan workers load ballot boxes onto a truck to send to the
small towns and villages of Herat province in Enjil village, south
Herat, western Afghanistan September 14, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Raheb Homavandi
KABUL | Tue Sep 14, 2010 2:29pm EDT
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s forthcoming election will not be
perfect but will be better than a fraud-marred presidential vote last
year, the top United Nations diplomat in the country said Tuesday.
Saturday’s parliamentary election is seen as a test of stability in
Afghanistan, where violence is at its worst since the Taliban were
ousted in 2001, before President Barack Obama conducts a war strategy
review in December.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the voting, and poor security and
fraud have been major concerns in the run-up.
Tuesday, electoral officials and observers said thousands of fake
voter registration cards had been found across Afghanistan and they
urged the government to act to prevent widespread fraud.
President Hamid Karzai won the election last year despite having a
third of the votes cast for him thrown out as fake.
“These elections, we can say already in advance, are not going to be
perfect,” U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura told a news conference in
Kabul. “But based on … the preparations by Afghan authorities, we are
feeling that they are going to be much better than the previous ones.”
Afghans face a field of almost 2,500 candidates from which to choose
249 members of the country’s wolesi jirga, or lower house of
parliament. The vote will coincide with surging violence. Military and
civilian casualties are at record levels.
Four candidates have been killed, according to the United Nations and
government officials, and the Taliban have urged Afghans to shun the
voting.
“Security is the biggest concern before these elections … Let us
remember we are not in Switzerland, we are in Afghanistan at the most
critical period of the conflict,” de Mistura said.
“The biggest test will be the courage and determination of the Afghan
people on the 18th of September, to show … in spite of the security
situation …. their willingness to participate (in) the future of their
own country,” he said.
Karzai’s office said Monday that Afghan security forces, backed by
almost 150,000 foreign troops, are “completely prepared” to secure the
election.
(Writing by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Paul Tait and Mark Heinrich)
Analysis: Why can’t Afghanistan tackle corruption?
Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a meeting with Senator
John Kerry at the Presidential Palace in Kabul August 20, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Yuri Cortez/Pool
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL | Wed Sep 8, 2010 6:13am EDT
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai might talk tough about
dealing with endemic corruption that has weakened his country for so
long, but tangible results have been hard to find.
Words, unlike votes, are cheap in Afghanistan, it seems.
In the past three months alone there have been accusations of
interference in the work of Afghanistan’s major crime taskforce and
corruption watchdog, senior officials on the payroll of the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency and graft on a huge scale at the country’s
top private bank.
“It is a government similar to a corporation, where people are after
making themselves rich,” said Waheed Mozhdah, a veteran Afghan
political analyst.
Corruption costs Afghans $2.5 billion a year, the United Nations has
estimated, with European lawmakers also saying graft stops billions of
aid dollars from reaching ordinary Afghans.
Mozhdah told Reuters a big part of the problem is that Karzai,
consummate politician that he is, has no real power base.
That means the man who won last year’s presidential vote must tread
carefully for fear of alienating the political, ethnic and even tribal
powerbrokers whose loyalty keeps him in office, effectively painting
himself into a corner.
One of the biggest concerns from last year’s presidential vote — won
by Karzai despite having a third of his votes thrown out as fake — is
the number of electoral promises he was forced to make to keep some of
his more colorful backers happy.
Rights groups, for example, have criticized Karzai’s decision to
appoint former militia chief General Abdul Rashid Dostum as his chief
of staff. Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek and former communist general, helped
swing last year’s election Karzai’s way, returning from exile days
before the vote to rally support.
Dostum has denied accusations of human rights abuses, which include
questions over how 2,000 Taliban fighters suffocated to death in cargo
containers after they surrendered to him.
ONLY SOMALIA IS MORE CORRUPT
Observers and analysts like Mozhdah fear the same pattern has emerged
this year. Even though he is not running in this month’s parliamentary
elections, Karzai must keep as many people as possible happy, or risk
facing a hostile legislature that could block policies and cabinet
appointments.
It is little wonder that Afghanistan ranked 179th out of 180 on
Transparency International’s 2009 list of the world’s most corrupt
countries, ahead of only Somalia. Corruption and cronyism are among
the most common complaints of ordinary Afghans.
Washington fears widespread graft is boosting the Taliban-led
insurgency and complicating efforts to strengthen central government
control so U.S. and other foreign troops can begin withdrawing from
July 2011.
Karzai promised that fighting graft would be his top priority when he
was sworn in for a second five-year term, echoing demands from U.S.
counterpart Barack Obama, but frustration is growing 10 months after
Karzai took his oath.
It didn’t help when Karzai was seen to intervene and order the release
of Mohammed Zia Salehi, a senior National Security Council official
arrested in July as part of a corruption investigation. U.S. media
later reported Salehi was on the CIA’s payroll, which Karzai denies.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Another big problem for the president is his family, typified by the
crisis at the Kabulbank, Afghanistan’s largest private financial
institution. The crisis was sparked by unproven media allegations that
the bank’s top two directors had been forced to resign and the
chairman ordered to hand over $160 million worth of luxury villas
bought with bank funds in Dubai.
The central bank has denied it has taken over Kabulbank and assured
depositors their money is safe, but the crisis turned violent on
Wednesday when angry customers were beaten by security forces as they
scrambled to withdraw savings.
Karzai’s family is at the center of the scandal. His brother, Mahmoud
Karzai, is a major shareholder at the bank. Mohammad Haseen, the
brother of First Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim, is among major
shareholders who have had assets frozen.
Some Afghans blame Karzai for the bank’s troubles.
“If you can run the government properly, do so. If not, just resign,
go away,” one angry customer named Rahim said outside a Kabulbank
branch.
And then there is Karzai’s half brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, a leader
in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban and one of the
centers of Afghanistan’s illegal opium trade. He has been accused of
amassing a fortune from drugs, intimidating rivals and of having links
with the CIA, charges he denies.
Karzai says he is trying to tackle corruption, that most of the graft
is in big contracts awarded by foreign firms and that the issue has
been blown out of proportion by the Western media.
Mohammad Yasin Usmani, chief of his graft watchdog, says 400 members
of the judiciary have been purged under new reforms.
“One only has to pay a visit to the prisons to find out what has
happened with regard to the campaign,” Usmani said.
Karzai alone can’t be blamed for allowing corruption. Commanders in
the NATO-led force of almost 150,000 troops admit they have also made
mistakes.
“I think inadvertently we have sometimes been photographed shaking
hands in places with people who the local community probably don’t
have as much respect for,” said Lieutenant General Nick Parker, deputy
commander of the NATO-led force.
…and I am Sid Harth
Conflict, History, Hot Off The Presses, News, Views and Reviews,
Religious fundamentalism, Terrorism
17/09/2010
« VHP Hindu Hoodlums Roast
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/18/child-molesting-hindus/
Delhi driver drugs, rapes, films employer’s children
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 18, 2010
First Published: 01:34 IST(18/9/2010)
Last Updated: 10:06 IST(18/9/2010)
102 Comments
Three siblings — a 12-year-old girl and her 10- and seven-year-old
brothers — were drugged, raped and forced to indulge in incest
repeatedly by the man entrusted by their widowed mother to keep them
safe — their school cab driver. Lalit Ratawal (38) and five of his
associates had been raping
related stories
Class IX student’s home was crime den and sodomizing the children for
18 months in central Delhi’s Prasad Nagar. They also filmed the act
and threatened the children into silence. Four of the associates are
teens, including a Class 9 student of the same school the siblings
attended.
The mother, who keeps tenants to make a living, made the discovery 25
days ago when she noticed injection marks on her daughter’s arms.
“There were round, black marks. When I asked her where they came from,
she told me everything. She said she was afraid the driver would hurt
me,” she said.
When the mother confronted Ratawal, he threatened to kill her. On
Thursday, she told one of her tenants, who told a neighbour, and the
neighbour in turn informed the police. The police took more than 24
hours to register a case.
“The family’s tenant approached me last evening. I rushed to Prasad
Nagar Police Station and met the SHO but was told the case would be
registered only after I brought the children there next morning,” the
neighbour said on Friday.
According to the police, Ratawal would pick the children up from their
house and take them to the house of the Class 9 student, whose parents
are both teachers and hence, seldom home at that time of the day. His
associates would be waiting for him there. On occasion, Ratawal would
take the children — studying in classes VII, V and III — to his home
when his own two children and wife were away.
“They’d inject the siblings with sedatives or force them to swallow
pills. They would then push them to have sex with each other before
raping them. Sometimes, the children were also forced to snort smack,”
an investigating officer said.
The police said Ratawal was so organised, he would not abuse all three
children on the same day. He spaced out the heinous acts so their
mother and teachers would not be alerted by prolonged absences from
school.
“Ratawal has been arrested on charges of raping the girl child and
further investigation is underway,” said Jaspal Singh, DCP (central).
Showing 1-5 of 102 comments
dsil 20 minutes ago
I hope the media won’t haunt the kids and mother. For heaven sake
leave them alone they are already traumatized and does not need
further trauma from media
kumar 21 minutes ago
I am crying for those innocent children. I am so angry and just want
to kill the driver just now!
Ranjit 24 minutes ago
severest punishment needed. press should protect childrens identity.
Agha Ata 30 minutes ago
When a mentally sick person also has criminal tendencies, this is the
result. He must be locked up and treated..
Delhites 33 minutes ago
If this man gets out of the police custody with a smile on his face,
then I think Delhi police and judicial system of India should leave
their posts or kill themselves because they don’t deserve to be seated
on such positions.
Nivedita Barotra 7 hours ago
this guy should be given slow painful death cinsidering what he has
done to the children’s psyche…. what the kids must be going through,
their whole life would be messed up…. kill this SOB
7 people liked this.
Hindustni 6 hours ago in reply to Nivedita Barotra
Court should order the punishment without any long trial to cut body
parts of these animals day by day and do not provide any medication.
TV channel show them 24/7 till their death. This is the only way to
stop these acts
2 people liked this.
Insaan 8 hours ago
fuch him by horses and dogs and stone to death on the raod, so that
every body should teach the lesson
Flag 6 people liked this. Like ReplyReply
Ds 9 hours ago
No judgment is required. Simply lynch that driver and cane those
scoundrels like dogs and skin them alive. And put a tight slap on the
face of the mother of the poor kids. What that lady was doing for so
long? She should not give birth of children if she can’t give them
time.
6 people liked this.
Indian-to-the-core 11 hours ago
Let every reader of these columns know it. If this driver was some
Salman Ali, these comments would have been full of nothing but hatred
against his community and religion. Let every reader know that
whenever I see this kind of news, I look for the name of criminal
first. When it is some other name, it gives me a sense of relief that
there will be no such comments now. Needless to say any such news,
whosoever may be criminals and the victims, hurts me badly. I hope HT
lets these comments printed in full.
6 people liked this.
Class IX student’s home was crime den
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 18, 2010
First Published: 01:21 IST(18/9/2010)
Last Updated: 01:23 IST(18/9/2010)
6 Comments
It was the house of a Class IX student that became the safe haven for
a paedophile cab driver and four teenaged boys who allegedly sexually
exploited three children — two boys aged 7 and 10 years and a 12-year-
old girl in central Delhi. The police said the main accused, Lalit
Ratawal (38), took
related stories
Driver drugs, rapes, films employer’s children advantage of the fact
that the children did not have a father. The police said the class IX
student who used to take the same cab was made a part of the heinous
act when the accused realised that he had the same inclination. The
student got three other friends to join him.
The accused would plan the act in such a manner which ensured that
none of the three children missed classes for a long time.
As the class IX student and his friends are juveniles, no case can be
registered against them.
“Both the parents of the Class IX student are teachers and were not
present at home during the day. Ratawal along with this student and
his three friends would then take the sibling to his house, sedate
them and then sexually exploit them,” said Jaspal Singh, deputy
commissioner of police (central).
The police said the mother became suspicious when she saw her children
often in a “dazed and incoherent state”.
“The mother told us that she had even informed the principal of the
school but no action was taken,” said a senior police officer. The
officiating principal of the school where the girl studies said that
she joined a fortnight ago and has not received any such report.
The mother, a widow, lives off rent that she earns from three rooms.
“The accused was aware that the children did not have a father and
took advantage of this. He is married and has two children and lives
in the same area,” said the officer.
Earlier, all the three children used to go the same school but six
months ago the mother shifted the girl to another school.
The police said they have seized the mobile phone of all the four
accused to gather more evidence.
Showing 1-5 of 6 comments
anuj 3 hours ago
Barbarious act…..it was really easy for 38 year old man to misguide
teenagers and involve them in his criminal acts…..this incident would
lead to severe drop in trust in society…Indian middle class is already
facing whole lot of problems for bringing up their children as
responsible citizens……incidents like these further underline the
importance of our old social structure where mother is always
entrusted with upbringing of children…but growing economical pressures
has disturbed that set up and has lead to increase in crimes……culprits
would get punished but it would have lasting effect on the psychology
of the victims……..how would they recover is a big question!!
nisha 4 hours ago
kamino ko beech chorahey p tango sabke samne muh kal karke goli mar do…
tbhi crime kuch kam hoga..jb logo m dar banega….
Ram 9 hours ago
Agreed…but please don’t Talibanise every punishment, or otherwise
punishment will lose its purpose.
Sumitap90pp 6 hours ago in reply to Ram
Incidents like these need to be Talibanized. Simple punishment servers
no purpose. Chop their hands and lash them as it happens in Iran and
other places.
RobinHood 9 hours ago
Shoot those basturds who did this. Even those teenage boys also who
exploited the three . The girl should be need justice. But our law is
in the pocket of Politics & rich persons. Raesoo ki begdi huii
auladee. Kill them in front of public.
1 person liked this.
Sallo ko kat ke chorahey par latka do..
…and I am Sid Harth
News, Views and Reviews
18/09/2010
« Autumn Leaves, Summer Haystacks
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
Pope, Oops, Pedofiles did it
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/18/pope-oops-pedofiles-did-it/
Pope meets with clergy abuse victims as thousands protest
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 18, 2010 2:01 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Advocacy group praises “courage” of victims who met with the
pontiff
Thousands of protesters demonstrate against Pope Benedict’s visit
Pope Benedict is on his second day in London and third in Britain
He held a Mass at Westminster Cathedral and plans a prayer vigil at
Hyde Park
As a sex abuse scandal rocked the Roman Catholic Church, what did Pope
Benedict XVI — then a cardinal and Vatican official — know, and when?
Watch the investigation “What the Pope Knew,” September 25 & 26 at 8
p.m. ET on CNN U.S. and on September 25 at 7 p.m. CET and September 26
at 8 a.m. HK on CNN International.
London, England (CNN) — Pope Benedict XVI met with five clergy abuse
victims while on his official visit to the United Kingdom, the
Catholic Communications Network said Saturday, the same day the pope
expressed his “deep sorrow” for the scandal that has rocked the
Catholic Church.
But his acknowledgement of the abuse suffered by children within the
church — the first time he has publicly addressed the issue during his
four-day trip to Britain — was not enough to dissuade thousands of
protesters from expressing their anger on the streets of London.
Thousands gathered Saturday near Hyde Park, the site of an afternoon
prayer vigil led by the pope for the beatification of British Cardinal
John Henry Newman, a Catholic convert who died in 1890 and is credited
with helping rebuild Britain’s Catholic community.
A wide variety of sometimes expletive-laced signs could be seen
dotting the crowd of demonstrators, which included atheists, clergy
abuse victims and gay rights campaigners. One poster accused the pope
of being the boss of the “world’s largest sex gang.” Another sign
asked if he “fancied the baby Jesus.”
Are you there? Share pics, video
The protests came hours after the pope addressed the abuse scandal
during Mass at Westminster Cathedral.
“I think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children,
especially within the church and by her ministers,” he said. “Above
all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these
unspeakable crimes, along with my hope that the power of Christ’s
grace, his sacrifice of reconciliation, will bring deep healing and
peace to their lives.
Has pope done enough to punish guilty priests?
Video: Pope’s UK visit proving controversial “I also acknowledge with
you the shame and humiliation which all of us have suffered because of
these sins; and I invite you to offer it to the Lord with trust that
this chastisement will contribute to the healing of victims, the
purification of the church, and the renewal of her age-old commitment
to the education and care of young people.
“I express my gratitude for the efforts being made to address this
problem responsibly, and I ask all of you to show your concern for the
victims and solidarity with your priests.”
Later Saturday, the pope met with victims of clerical sexual abuse,
according to the Catholic Communications Network, the media office of
the Bishops’ Conference. Three of the victims were from Yorkshire, one
from London and one from Scotland, CCN said. The pope is also expected
to meet Saturday with people involved in the National Catholic
Safeguarding Commission at St. Peter’s Residential Home in Vauxhall,
London.
A board member of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests, expressed hope that the outcome of the victims’ meeting will
be positive.
“We hope each of these brave individuals feels better as a result of
the meeting, both now and years from now,” Mark Serrano wrote in a
statement. “It takes real courage to disclose your pain to others,
especially those in authority. We hope the risk these victims have
taken will prove to be fruitful, for them, for other victims and for
children being molested today and in the future.”
But Serrano also echoed other SNAP members’ statements made earlier in
the day that the pope needs to take action against abuse, not just
make apologies for it.
“Today’s meeting is more of the same from the Pope: all talk, no
action,” he wrote. “With literally the stroke of a pen, of course, he
could radically change deeply-rooted, centuries-old destructive
patterns of recklessness, callousness and deceit within the Catholic
hierarchy that have directly led to hundreds of thousands of trusting
children and vulnerable adults being raped, sodomized and fondled by
clerics. But he refuses.”
The Mass at Westminster Cathedral came on the second day of the pope’s
visit to London, and the third day of his visit to the United Kingdom.
Crowds lined the street outside the cathedral, the mother church for
Catholics in England and Wales. Afterward, the pope greeted a crowd of
2,500 children gathered in the cathedral’s piazza; later, he was due
to visit the residents of a Catholic care home.
The pope spent Thursday in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland, and
planned to travel to Birmingham, England, on Sunday.
Six men remained in custody Saturday after their arrests a day earlier
on terrorism charges — incidents that prompted officials to review the
pope’s security arrangements.
Some news reports said the arrests involved a potential threat to the
pope, but the Metropolitan Police declined to say whether the case was
directly linked to the pontiff’s visit.
Five of the men are street cleaners who were arrested before dawn on
suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of
terrorism. They appeared to be Algerian, a high-ranking source
familiar with the investigation said, adding that some or all of them
were probably in the country illegally.
A sixth man was arrested later in the day by counterterrorism
detectives investigating the possible plot against the pope, police
said.
All were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows police to
hold them without charge for 28 days.
Police said Saturday that their searches in the case were complete.
The arrests did not lead to any changes in the pope’s schedule, which
on Friday included events rich in history and symbolism. He met
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at his residence, Lambeth
Palace — the first time a pope has ever visited there.
Benedict then spoke to members of the British Parliament at
Westminster Hall, which dates to 1097 and is the oldest building in
the parliamentary complex. It was there in 1535 that Thomas More, a
Catholic, was convicted of treason and sentenced to death for refusing
to accept King Henry VIII’s marriage annulment and repudiate the pope
after Henry broke with the Vatican and created the Anglican Church.
The pontiff stressed to the political audience that reason and faith
can and should co-exist.
“Religion,” he said, “is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a
vital contributor to the national conversation.”
Later, at nearby Westminster Abbey, an Anglican church, the pope
prayed alongside the archbishop of Canterbury at the tomb of Edward
the Confessor, the English king who built the abbey and was buried
there after his death in 1066. He spoke once again about the
commitment to unity among Christian churches while noting the
obstacles.
CNN’s Melissa Gray, Carol Jordan and David Wilkinson contributed to
this report.
…and I am Sid Harth
Conflict, News, Views and Reviews
18/09/2010
« Child Molesting Hindus
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/19/delhi-terrorist-attack/
Jama Masjid Delhi
19 September 2010 Last updated at 04:15 ET
Tourists shot near Delhi mosque
The Jama Masjid mosque is a popular tourist destination Two foreign
tourists have been injured after gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on
a bus in the Indian capital, Delhi, police say.
The incident took place near the Jama Masjid mosque, a popular tourist
destination.
Local television reports said the injured tourists were Taiwanese.
There have been concerns over the security situation in the city,
which is due to host the Commonwealth Games next month.
Police, who have launched a search for the gunmen, said the attack
happened near gate number three of the historic mosque but gave no
further details.
A doctor from the nearby Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Hospital told the
Agence France-Presse news agency that both the injured were men, and
that one had been shot in the stomach.
Terrorist attacks
Security in Delhi has been tightened ahead of the the Commonwealth
Games, which run from 3-14 October.
The country has suffered a number of serious militant attacks in the
past few years.
In November 2008, at least 170 people were killed in co-ordinated
attacks in Mumbai.
More recently, 17 people were killed in a blast at a bakery full of
tourists and students in Pune in February.
Earlier on Sunday, Australia said it would send a team to the Games
despite a warning from a private firm of consultants over the threats
posed by failings in the city’s public transport network.
“Delhi is a densely populated city and the opportunity for a terrorist
strike in the city’s choking traffic and crowds is obvious,”
consultant Roger Henning told Australian News Limited newspapers.
Two foreigners wounded in Delhi shooting
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Two foreigners were wounded when gunmen opened
fire near the main mosque in the Indian capital but it was unclear if
this was a militant attack, police said on Sunday.
The incident comes only two weeks before the opening of the
Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and security has been tightened in the
capital, with authorities mindful of militant attacks in Indian cities
over recent years in which dozens have been killed.
The condition of the two wounded tourists was not immediately known.
CNN-IBN television reported that the foreigners were Taiwanese, but
police could not confirm their nationality.
“There was some firing outside gate number 3 of Jama Masjid (Delhi’s
main mosque),” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told Reuters. “We
can’t say (whether it was a militant attack).”
“Two foreigners have been injured. A few rounds have been fired by
unidentified gunmen.”
There have been some militant attacks in India this year.
In February, a powerful blast ripped through a restaurant in the
western city of Pune, killing 17 people. India has blamed the Indian
Mujahideen, a homegrown militant group with links to militants in
Pakistan, for the Pune attack.
India remains jittery about a perceived threat of Islamist attacks
from Pakistani territory. It accuses its neighbour of failing to act
against militant groups that have threatened to disrupt the
Commonwealth Games.
Peace talks between longtime rivals India and Pakistan were halted
after the 2008 Mumbai attacks by Pakistani-based militant group
Lashkar-e-Taiba that killed 166 people.
(Reporting by Alistair Scrutton and Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Alex
Richardson)
…and I am Sid Harth
Conflict, Hindu Society, History, Hot Off The Presses, Indian society,
News, Views and Reviews, Propaganda, Religious fundamentalism,
Terrorism
19/09/2010
« Autumn: Heaven on the Earth, Oops, USA
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
Hinduism Forum »
SOME POINTS ON RAJDEEP SARDESAI'S OPEN LETTER TO...
SOME POINTS ON RAJDEEP SARDESAI'S OPEN LETTER TO...
Author Message
Dr. Jai Maharaj... Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:00 pm
Guest
Forwarded message from Ashok Chowgule
Some points on Rajdeep Sardesai's open letter to Uddhav Thackeray
Friday, February 12, 2010
In an open letter to Uddhav Thackeray, on the Shiv Sena severe
criticism of Shahrukh Khan, Rajdeep Sardesai writes: "Sharukh is no
surprise since the Sena has always been uncomfortable with the Indian
Muslim identity."
Clearly the secularists cannot view ANY issue except on communal
terms. There are some Muslims who are members of the Shiv Sena and
also who support the Shiv Sena. I guess, accoroding to Rajdeepji,
they are really not true Muslims. And what about Muslims who have
also criticised Shahrukhji on this issue? I guess, they too are not
true Muslims.
Rajdeepji also writes: "You've called Sharukh a traitor for wishing
to choose Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. "
This is an utter and blatant lie. But then to show one's so-called
secular credentials it is necessary to resort to lies. Without which
one cannot make any case.
Rajdeepji knows (or should know) that Shahrukh was termed a traitor
by Shiv Sena because he said that Pakistan is a GREAT neighbour.
Now, one can say that Shiv Sena is wrong on this issue. But bring
out his statement out in the public, rather than tell les.
Furthermore, Shajrukhji should be asked why he did not choose any
Paksitani players himself.
Rajdeepji would like Uddahvji to focus on some important issues. For
example, he writes: "Farmer suicides still continue, the after-
effects of drought are still being faced in several districts, but
the focus is now squarely on finding high profile hate figures."
I am sure if Rajdeepji devotes the resources of his channel on these
important issues, instead of giving a minute-by-minute report on the
travel programme of Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai, the people of this
country would be eternally grateful to him.
Rajdeepji writes: "The Congress-NCP government in the state has been
thoroughly incompetent: the last decade has seen Maharashtra decline
on most social and economic parameters."
I do not watch Rajdeepji's channel. Has he highlighted this issue of
incompetence in any meaningful manner?
A general question. Has Rajdeepji written an open letter to Digvijay
Singh on the latter's visit to Azamgarh in UP, which is well-known to
be a hotbed of creators of terrorists in India? He will probably
write a letter in open praise of Digvijayji.
The open letter is available at:
<a href="http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/61523/an-open-
letter-to-uddhav-thackeray.html">http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/
rajdeepsardesai/1/61523/an-open-letter-to-uddhav-thackeray.html</a>
Religion Forum Index »
Hinduism Forum »
FOOD FOR SOUL
FOOD FOR SOUL
Author Message
Dr. Jai Maharaj Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:14 pm
Guest
Forwarded message from "akash singh" <a
href="mahara...@yahoo.com"mahara...@yahoo.com</a>
[ From: "akash singh" <mahara...@yahoo.com>
[ Subject: Fwd: Food for soul
[ Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2003
Pranam,
There is this lady called yamuna harshavardhan from
chennai (where else !!!) who writes an article on
msn.co.in called "food for soul". Primarily it is an
agency for christian propaganda. For all it counts she
herself could be christian. Read through here articles
here on
<a href="http://server1.msn.co.in/foodforsoul/foodindex.asp">http://
server1.msn.co.in/foodforsoul/foodindex.asp</a>
Namaste,
Akash
amuna Harsha <a
href="yamuna...@hotmail.com">yamuna...@hotmail.com wrote:</a>
Quote:
Pranam Mr. Akash
With Best Wishes
Yamuna
End of forwarded message from "akash singh" <mahara...@yahoo.com>
Jai Maharaj
<a href="http://www.mantra.com/jai">http://www.mantra.com/jai</a>
Om Shanti
Panchaang for 3 Chaitr 5105, Tuesday, March 23, 2004:
Shubhanu Nama Samvatsare Uttarayane Moksh Ritau
Meen Mase Shukl Pakshe Mangal Vasara Yuktayam
Ashvini-Bharani Nakshatr Vaidhruti Yog
Gar-Vanij Karan Tritiya-Chaturthi Yam Tithau
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
Dr. Jai Maharaj Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:15 pm
Guest
Forwarded message from "Ashok Chowgule"
[ From: "Ashok Chowgule" <ash...@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bademiyansubhanallah
From: bademiyansubhanallah <elcidha...@gmail.com>
Access contact information!
Employment History
President
Vishwa Hindu Parishad
President
VHP-America
Senior Member
VHP-America
President
Maharashtra
President
Goa Pranth
Board Memberships and Affiliations
Certifications
Education
Biography
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamWarWithinIslam_1.aspx?Ar - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/10/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule,Vice-President, VHP
From: Ashok Chowgule
To: Sultan Shahin Edi...@NewAgeIslam.com
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?Artic - [Cached
Version]
Last Visited: 12/10/2008
Ashok Chowgule
www.sprisminvest.com/CompanyProfile/corporateinner.aspx - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 2/5/2009 Last Visited: 2/5/2009
Ashok V Chowgule
www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=NEWS& - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 10/30/2003 Last Visited: 12/10/2007
Ashok Chowgule
Deceased Graham Stewart Staines (hereinafter referred to as
'Staines')
as an Australian National whose tryst with Mayurbhanj in Orissa began
in the year 1965 when he made rendezvous with its District
Headquarter
at Baripada for treatment and eradication of Leprosy amongst the poor
and did an excellent job in the field.He became the honorary
Secretary
of Baripada Leprosy Home.He was also the Secretary of the Evangelical
Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM).As a missionary, he was
preaching Gospel and spreading the tenets of Christianity in jungle
camps held in different tribal belts in the district of Mayurbhanj
and
Keonjhar.
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamRadicalIslamismAndJihad_ - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/29/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, VHP
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
conoship.com/uk/press/page55.htm - [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/6/2006 Last Visited: 9/8/2007
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.
Ashok Chowgule: in shipbuilding for the long haul.
The industrial and shipping group was started by Chowgule & Co
executive director Ashok Chowgule's grandfather with a small
manufacturing business.
Today, the group is involved in industrial explosives, salt and
gases,
as well as brewing, marketing agencies and machine fabrication.Its
iron-ore mining generates around three million tonnes of exports per
year, some two million tonnes to Japan and one million tonnes to
China.All are free-onboard (FOB) contracts.
Involved in the business are the Chowgule brothers, Ashok and group
chief executive Vijay, and their first cousins.Ashok and Vijay's
father is now 91 years old but is described as being "still not
exactly retired".
Ashok says India's manufacturing strength is not appreciated given
its
educated workforce, industrial knowledge and strong, commercial and
legal infrastructure, 'which, he claims, makes it relatively easy to
operate in the country.
Things happen slowly in India but those who get into shipbuilding,
given the environmental-impact hoops they have to go through, are
serious players and will be there for the long term, says Ashok
Chowgule.
www.hinduvoice.net/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?flavor=archive - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 5/24/2007 Last Visited: 5/24/2007
On 5/22/07, Ashok Chowgule
www.letindiadevelop.org/resources.html - [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/24/2006 Last Visited: 5/18/2009
by Ashok Chowgule in association with Hindu Vivek Kendra
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamDebate_1.aspx?ArticleID= - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 7/14/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule has posted an 18 month old off-topic article in this
dicussion of the veil. While sanghis and VHP-ites write frequently in
Muslim oriented outlets, Muslim community leaders, including even the
editor of Milli Gazette, cannot get their letters published in
newspapers such as the Pioneer!
7/15/2009 9:50:11 AM Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu
Paris
Ashok Chowgule
toSultan ShahinEdi...@NewAgeIslam.com
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?Artic - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/1/2001 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule
With reference to the enclosed article.
Ashok Chowgule, Vive President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
10/31/2009 1:42:21 AM
11-20 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
www.conoship.com/uk/press/page54.htm - [Cached Version]
Published on: 9/8/2007 Last Visited: 9/8/2007
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.But first,
cargo has to be generated.
Chowgule Group is widely known for its iron-ore mining activities and
bulker fleet but it is now playing a key role in the country's rise
to
prominence on the international shipbuilding scene.
Early last year, Chowgule secured contracts for six multipurpose
cargoships (Multi Purpose Cargos) from a joint venture involving
Navigia, the Dutch affiliate of Germany's Rudolf Schoning, and
Hamburg
based Apollo Shipping.
All this is a huge leap from Chowgule building inland barges for the
domestic market.Its sights are now set on constructing coastal
vessels
for the group's own use and eventually containerships and products
tankers.
Chowgule's international presence has been achieved by becoming an
associate member of the Groningen, Holland-based Conoship marketing
and design organization.
Conoship is assisting Chowgule develop its Loutulim and Rassaim yards
in the state of Goa and has put it in touch with equipment suppliers,
including hatch-cover and main engine manufacturers.It has also
organised the design house in Holland for the Multi Purpose Cargo
production drawings.
Also, Conoship helped educate Chowgule in how ships of this size are
produced in Holland.New computer numerical control (CNC) cutting
equipment was purchased from Australia based on broad specifications
outlined by Conoship.The 20 identical Multi Purpose Cargo's of 4,450
dwt have an aggregate price of around $120m based on an average of
$6m
per unit.
Ashok Chowgule, the group's shipyard division executive director,
says
the origins of the shipyard business can be traced back to the
family's iron-ore mining activities and its building and repair of
mechanized barges for hauling the ore by river to ports.
Grab and suction dredgers, deep-sea fishing trawlers, tugs, hopper
barges and coastal ships have all been produced over the years - more
than 100 so far in total.But Ashok Chowgule says that for a long time
it remained a relatively small production, partly because of India's
environmental regulations preventing the establishment of large
private-sector shipyards.When circumstances changed in the 1990s,
Chowgule started investing and within the space of 18 months built
around 23 inland barges totaling roughly 55,000 dwt.
Infrastructure improvements have in recent years included upgrading
Rassaim from repair to newbuildings, concreting areas of the yards
and
currently converting workshops for fabrication usage.Also, new
covered
areas are manufacturing hatch covers designed by Roden Staal, which
will also be present to supervise final construction and fitting.
Currently, the Chowgule yards employ around 45 people in
administration, accounts, commercial and technical roles, while
around
500 to 600 workers are subcontracted in depending on requirements.
"We have invested in getting them trained for the requirements of a
modern yard," insisted Ashok Chowgule.He claims that as regards
steelwork, standards are already 99% of those found inEurope.The
quality of machinery installation is less clear, although still
"good"
with the help of sup- pliers.
Much depends on improving management skills and giving them the
"right
tools to do the job" adds Chowgule.
There are no European managers employed at the yards but overseas
consultants are used regularly.
Ashok Chowgule concedes that India has benefited from the general
overspill of work from full yards in China.One obvious advantage,
however, is labour costs being a fraction of competitors in the West.
Typical yard pay is about EUR 0.50 ($0.60) per hour, as compared with
EUR 20 in Holland.
Conoship introduced owners to Goa, where Ashok Chowgule says it did
not take long to convince them of its potential.The initial contact
with Conoship took a long time but it did not take long to persuade
them to work together. . Holland was targeted as a partner because of
its excellent track record in building smaller cargoships.
The shipyard chief hopes that within the next few months, when
Chowgule is scheduled to deliver the first Multi Purpose Cargos, it
can prove it has fast-tracked in achieving European levels of
workmanship.
Its 20-strong series of Multi Purpose Cargos is scheduled for
completion between January 2007 and December 2009.Ashok Chowgule
believes that because of investments in the yards, the last may even
be a few months early.
...
Yards in the global market as reliable suppliers of cargoships of up
to 6,000 dwt, says Ashok Chowgule.They will focus on building
containerships and possibly products tankers once the Multi Purpose
Cargos are delivered.
"At the moment we aren't actively in those markets because we want to
concentrate our energies in making the yards efficiently" he said.
We have introduced many new things and know it will take a lot of
effort and a certain amount of time.
He estimates the Multi Purpose Cargos are costing between 5% and 7%
below European prices.
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?Artic - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/28/2009 Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Objective Condition/Matter is the primary source for the idea, It can
lead Buddha to go to jungle in search for Nirvana, conditions could
lead a small time thief Ajmal Kassab to come to India along with his
compatriots on a so-called Jihad mission and kill innocent civilians,
Conditions is the First and foremost factor that it can give a super
constitutional authority to Mr Chowgule to put to test any Muslim
citizen in India for trustworthiness, religious beliefs etc.
Instead of welcoming this great moment and great efforts on the part
of two dignitaries, who are an authority in their respective field,
Mr. Chowgule has targeted the integrity of Malauna, who really don't
need any certificate from anyone, including Sang Parivar and its
progenies to prove his credentials.
If Ajma Kassab and Ashok Chowgule are the faces of same coin, so
please don't be surprised if you may come to know, Afghan Jihadi-Anti
War Forces are two sides of the same coin.
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, VHP
From: Ashok Chowgule
...
Ashok Chowgule, Vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
9/30/2009 5:43:48 AM
www.hvk.org/specialarts/ichr/articles/0009.html - [Cached Version]
Published on: 7/8/1998 Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Posted By Ashok V. Chowgule (asho...@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleListWithGroup.asp - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 12/10/2008 Last Visited: 4/7/2009
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamLetters.aspx?GroupID=43 - [Cached
Version]
Last Visited: 12/9/2009
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
Ashok Chowgule, Vice President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
www.hvk.org/ram/a3.html - [Cached Version]
Published on: 3/23/2007 Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Ashok Chowgule President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra
The Ram Janmabhoomi issue has revolutionised the politics of the
country.A fragmented Hindu samaj has been united to an extent unheard
of in recent times.
www.hvk.org/ram/a4.html - [Cached Version]
Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Ashok Chowgule President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra.
www.hvk.org/Publications/ludden.html - [Cached Version]
Published on: 8/7/2006 Last Visited: 3/23/2007
Ashok Chowgule, President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra, India
www.conoship.com/content/view/62/59/text/javascript/tex - [Cached
Version]
Last Visited: 9/27/2008
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.
...
Ashok Chowgule: in shipbuilding for the long haul.
Ashok Chowgule
The industrial and shipping group was started by Chowgule & Co
executive director Ashok Chowgule's grandfather with a small
manufacturing business.
Involved in the business are the Chowgule brothers, Ashok and group
chief executive Vijay, and their first cousins.Ashok and Vijay's
father is now 91 years old but is described as being "still not
exactly retired".
Ashok says India's manufacturing strength is not appreciated given
its
educated workforce, industrial knowledge and strong, commercial and
legal infrastructure, 'which, he claims, makes it relatively easy to
operate in the country.
Things happen slowly in India but those who get into shipbuilding,
given the environmental-impact hoops they have to go through, are
serious players and will be there for the long term, says Ashok
Chowgule.
"Desaffronization" or Apology? - [Cached Version]
Published on: 1/30/1995 Last Visited: 7/7/2004
Ashok Chowgule, President of Maharashtra State unit of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad in his book Christianity in India - The Hindutva
Perspective has narrated the acts of atrocities by the Catholic
Church
on the Hindus.
21-30 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
9. Are Indian tribals Hindus? - [Cached Version]
Last Visited: 3/10/2009
But there is also, mostly in the BJP, a strong no-nonsense wing of
businessmen, more or less the old (pro-Western, anti-socialist)
Swatantra Party constituency, which has no patience with such
sentimentalism, and refuses to "turn India into a conservation site".
116 Thus, the VHP president for the Mumbai region, Ashok Chowgule,
owned (until 1998, when he sold it) a company which furnished cement
to the Narmada Dam.
A Factual Response to the Hate Attack on the India... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 4/24/2006 Last Visited: 5/18/2009
At the time, the President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP),
Maharashtra Pranth, Ashok Chowgule commented as follows:
To this, Ashok Chowgule responded as follows:
[107] This section draws extensively from "An analysis of the
report :
'The Foreign Exchange of Hate - IDRF and the American funding of
Hindutva' " prepared by Ashok Chowgule in association with Hindu
Vivek
Kendra (<a href="http://www.hvk.org">http://www.hvk.org</a>)
A Factual Response to the Hate Attack on the India... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 4/24/2006 Last Visited: 12/25/2008
Ashok Chowgule is an industrialist, managing sections of the family
business, a well-known, successful, and respected business house. The
group is headquartered in Goa. The family has set up schools and a
college in Goa, operations in which Ashok takes keen interest.
Ashok completed his schooling in Belgaum, India after which he went
on
to graduate in Economics and Statistics from Bristol University in
the
U. K., and completed his business studies at the Case Western
University in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon returning home, he has looked
after the finance and administration of the business group, and
lately
has been supervising the shipbuilding component of the family
business.
As a part of his social responsibilities, he has been actively
involved in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad since 1991, and at present is
the President of the Maharashtra State unit of the organisation. He
has written several articles and books on the socio-political issues
of Hindutva. Ashok and Hindu Vivek Kendra (HVK) have also recently
published an analysis and of the Sabrang/FOIL Report titled "An
Analysis Of The Report 'The Foreign Exchange Of Hate."
A Tribute to Hinduism - [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/30/2000 Last Visited: 7/10/2006
By Ashok Chowgule
(Ashok Chowgule, President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra).
AWAAZ - South Asia Watch - [Cached Version]
Last Visited: 8/17/2008
But VHP's Ashok Chowgule said in an interview: "We deny all the
allegations.
But Ashok Chowgule, a senior member of the VHP (World Council of
Hindu
Churches), a prominent affiliate of the RSS, said: "We deny all of
the
allegations.
Adelaide IMC: newswire/8876 - [Cached Version]
Published on: 9/9/2004 Last Visited: 8/13/2005
Ashok Chowgule, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Maharashtra
region, counters in an email statement that 'if this provocation
argument has to be accepted, then we have to accept that the
terrorist
attacks of September 11 on the USA was entirely justified because the
terrorists have said that they have been provoked by the policy of
the
USA'.
Ashok Chowgule | Rating of NGOs | www.karmayog.org - [Cached Version]
Published on: 6/2/2007 Last Visited: 11/25/2008
Ashok Chowgule asho...@chowgulegoa.com
Assocham -- Managing Comittee Members - [Cached Version]
Published on: 6/12/2000 Last Visited: 2/2/2001
Mr. Ashok V. Chowgule Director Chowgule & Co.Ltd.Bakhtawar 4th Floor,
Nariman Point MUMBAI - 400 021
BJP FRIENDS - Old Article - [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/17/1996 Last Visited: 2/16/2009
Ashok Chowgule
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue To Hold... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 10/12/2004 Last Visited: 10/23/2005
BANGALORE INITIATIVE FOR RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE (BIRD) & THE CAREY
SOCIETY
(United Theological College) have jointly arranged a talk by Mr.
Ashok
Chowgule, President, Maharashtra unit of the VHP, on "The Hindu view
on Religious Conversions", followed by an interactive session, at
5.30
p.m., Thursday, 5 August 2005, at the United Theological College, 63
Millers Road.
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate - [Cached Version]
Published on: 3/8/2004 Last Visited: 11/7/2009
But VHP's Ashok Chowgule said in an interview: "We deny all the
allegations.
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate - [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/26/2004 Last Visited: 11/7/2009
But Ashok Chowgule, a senior member of the VHP (World Council of
Hindu
Churches), a prominent affiliate of the RSS, said: "We deny all of
the
allegations.
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate - [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/12/2006 Last Visited: 2/7/2010
Ashok Chowgule, the suave spokesman for Hindutva gave us a hint of
the
post script even as IDRF kept insisting carefully that it has no
connections with the RSS.
Ultimately, did Ashok Chowgule, Vinod prakash, Narayanan Komerath,
Ramesh Rao Yvette Rosser and Belu Mehra and lesser planets,
asteroirds
and others who pulled their weight behind the 200 page report support
the emergence of an ugly world ? Legally no.
ChaloMumbai.Com - The Complete Digital Guide to the... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 3/3/2002 Last Visited: 3/3/2002
For a man who almost brought Mumbai to a halt on March 1, Ashok
Chowgule, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Mahrashtra is
a picture of peace.Seated in his high-rise apartment at Peddar Road,
which is painted white and has huge paintings adorning the walls,
Chowgule said that the Ayodhya mission is not the culmination of
failed talks with the Muslims but with so-called secularists.
At what point did the dialogue with the Muslim leadership fail?Why
such haste in the plans?It is not failed talks with Muslims that has
created this situation but the failure of talks with those who call
themselves secularists that has made us more steadfast in our aim.And
we had explained our plans in great details earlier.After the 100-day
maha yajna ends on March 15, we will claim what is ours at Ayodhya.
ChaloMumbai.Com - The Complete Digital Guide to the... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 3/14/2002 Last Visited: 3/14/2002
Ashok Chowgule, the state unit president of the organisation is out
of
India, according to the organisation's activists.
VHP are expected to offer what they call 'nam smaran' pujas in
temples
like the Sanyas Ashram, Khar.The pujas involve chanting of Lord
Rama's
name.
Chowgule Steamship taps into coastal trade | Conoship... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 12/29/2008 Last Visited: 1/8/2010
Yard boss Ashok Chowgule says Indian coastal shipping is still
undeveloped and presents revenue-earning opportunities.
Ashok Chowgule: in shipbuilding for the long haul.
Ashok Chowgule
The industrial and shipping group was started by Chowgule & Co
executive director Ashok Chowgule's grandfather with a small
manufacturing business. ...
Involved in the business are the Chowgule brothers, Ashok and group
chief executive Vijay, and their first cousins. Ashok and Vijay's
father is now 91 years old but is described as being "still not
exactly retired".
Ashok says India's manufacturing strength is not appreciated given
its
educated workforce, industrial knowledge and strong, commercial and
legal infrastructure, 'which, he claims, makes it relatively easy to
operate in the country.
Things happen slowly in India but those who get into shipbuilding,
given the environmental-impact hoops they have to go through, are
serious players and will be there for the long term, says Ashok
Chowgule.
Companies & Industry - [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/1/2005 Last Visited: 10/31/2005
All vessels are of 4450 DWT capacity which will be delivered in next
three years," Chowgule and Company Ltd Executive Director Ashok V
Chowgule said.
With this new orders, Chowgule's shipbuilding division is marking
change in its profile by building cargo ships, he said.At present,
the
company is focussing on iron ore barges, passenger vessels, deep sea
refrigerated fishing trawlers, grab and cutter suction dredgers,
tugs,
twin hull catamarans and floating restaurants.
"The shipyard will not be accepting any fresh orders as the capacity
is full.It is planning to upgrade its capacity to construct 8 vessels
against existing capacity of three years per year," he said.
Chowgule said the company would invest Rs 40 crore to upgrade the
existing facilities by inducting advanced machines.
"It has already invested Rs 10 crore and has installed CNC Plasma
cutting machine which can cut steel plates of 12 metres," he said.
The shipyard, located at Loutulim (Goa), has a good water front, two
construction bays, full fledged workshop, outfitting jetty and
sufficient skid for pre-fabrication facility.
Commenting on the possibilities of acquiring minor shipbuilding
facilities, Chowgule said that the company is now more focussing on
organic growth and would concentrate on ensuring quality of
construction and punctuality in deliveries.
Cybernoon.com - [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/6/2004 Last Visited: 4/7/2004
I discovered that the person was Mr. Ashok Chowgule, the President of
the VHP in Maharashtra and Goa.He obviously felt that I needed to
know
more about the plight of the Hindu pandits in Kashmir who had been
mercilessly driven out of their homeland to languish in camps across
Jammu and Delhi.
I am grateful to Mr. Ashok Chowgule for sending me the book first and
then the film narrating the tales of terror and horror amongst the
survivors who are living in makeshift tents for the last twelve years
with nowhere to go in their own country and no one to listen to their
tales of horror and anguish.
Differences between people and the need to value the... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 5/1/1999 Last Visited: 1/15/2005
Says Ashok Chowgule, spokesperson of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
Mumbai, "Conversion is an attack on the Hindu ethos."Ask Immanuel
Kingsley of the Pentecostal group, House of Prayer, and he will tell
you with terrifying certainty, "We are not intolerant but we love
people and want to take them to Jesus so they will not perish in
hell."
Fundamentalist political parties such as the Shiv Sena are
challenging
all forms of freedom of expression.
Divyabhoomi - an encyclopaedia of Indian Culture - [Cached Version]
Published on: 3/6/2003 Last Visited: 3/6/2003
Ashok V Chowgule Ashok Chowgule is an industrialist and the Executive
Director of Chowgule and Company Limited.With degrees in engineering
and business management from England and the United States of
America,
he has been Managing Director, Narmada Cement, the country's first
large private sector cement plant, until recently a Chowgule group
company.He has been instrumental in achieving a sustained growth for
the group over the past few decades.A keen student of Indian culture,
he is the president of the Maharashtra and Goa Pranth of the Vishva
Hindu Parishad.
Nanik Rupani The Chairman of Priyadarshni Academy, Nanik Rupani is a
self-made, first-generation entrepreneur with interests in industries
as diverse as telecommunications, information technology, electronics
and finance.A humanist and a patron of Indian art and culture, he has
been instrumental in promoting and encouraging several deserving
organisations, programmes and individuals aimed at bettering the
human
condition as well as art and culture.The Academy recognises persons
who have contributed exceptionally to society and presents awards
every year.He is a director on the board of many leading institutions
and companies and a philanthropist.
Jayraj Salgaokar Publisher and Managing Director of Sumangal
Publishing that brings out India's largest selling publication,
Kalnirnay, Jayraj Salgaokar has played a key role in making his brand
a household name not just in India but in Indian homes across the
world.Kalnirnay today is as successful a product as it is an
advertising vehicle.He reads widely on Indian culture and is a
connoisseur of performing art and Marathi literature.He writes and
lectures on mass communication, printing technology and management at
institutions and universities.
41-50 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
Freeindiamedia.com, Express your impartial, radical,... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/29/2003 Last Visited: 5/28/2006
In the words of the President of Maharashtra VHP, Ashok Chowgule,
"The
Ram Janmabhoomi issue has revolutionised the politics of the country.
GOANEWS - BY SANDESH PRABHUDESAI - [Cached Version]
Published on: 10/11/2000 Last Visited: 8/21/2003
"The final decision would be taken at the Dharm Sansad, based on a
concrete proposal which would be discussed at the Goa meeting",
informed Ashok Chowgule, the VHP president for Goa and Maharashtra,
who is also a leading mine owner here.
In fact Goa's all the three leading industrial houses have come
together to organise the meeting at Ramnathi temple with Shivanand
Salgaoncar heading the reception committee while Shrinivas Dempo
heading the organising committee.
As half of the ongoing work of carving of pillars for the Ram temple
at Ayodhya and Rajasthan would be completed by next year, Chowgule
says the process to decide about the construction date should also
begin.
"It cannot be at any other place than where the Babri masjid was
situated", he asserts, adding that seeking permission of the central
government to begin the construction work would also be one of the
main issues to be discussed at the Ramnathi meeting.
Stating that the VHP has its own agenda than the Bharatiya Janata
Party, Chowgule also informed that the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini
would not be involved in the meeting officially but only its
activists.
...
Equally topping the agenda of the meeting is the issue of religious
conversions allegedly carried out by the Roman Catholic Church and
alleged terrorist activities at the behest of the Baptist churches in
the North Eastern region, informs Chowgule.
The meeting, he said, would also discuss the threat caused to
Haridwar
and Ganga due to the Tehri dam and a grand ceremony to be organised
next year on the occasion of completion of 50 years of the Somnath
temple.
Objecting strongly to the statement made by Pope John Paul II that
mankind can get salvation only through Jesus Christ, Chowgule also
demanded a reaction from the Indian church whether they have a
different viewpoint on it.
Justifying the demand made by the RSS for a swadeshi church, he also
reiterated the VHP stand that Hinduism is the real nationalism in
India and those who believe in Hindu civilisation can only be called
the nationalists."I am not saying that Indian Christians are anti-
nationals", he added.
Expressing fear over Pope's call to dedicate the new millennium to
convert whole Asia into Christianity, he said the margadarshak mandal
would deliberate upon how to counter the threat of religious
conversions and save Hinduism in the Asian region.
Goan Voice UK: Newsletter. Issue 2006-46. Nov. 16, 2006 - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/16/2006 Last Visited: 2/7/2010
Goa's Chowgule Group is mulling an entry into building ships for
overseas markets, Ashok Chowgule, the group's shipyard-division
executive director revealed during a visit this week to London. They
are currently building ships at their Loutolim and Rassaim yards in
the state of Goa
ITI-GOA-photogallery - [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/11/2006 Last Visited: 11/6/2009
Chowgule seen 'inking' the M.O.A.
State Director & Shri. Ashok Chowgule, Exec. Dir., M/s. Chowgule
Shipyard Pvt. Ltd., Vasco exchanging the M.O.A. documents State
Director giving a listening ear to our Hon'Minister, Shri.
Iraq\'s maritime industry expects boost with Gulf... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 11/6/2004 Last Visited: 4/10/2006
Ashok Chowgule, chairman and managing director of Chowgule and Co. in
India, as a Gulf Maritime participant, agreed.
?We specialize in building barges and other carriers for many years
in
India.Gulf Maritime, we are confident, will give us the opportunity
to
tap the increased demand for the same in this region,?Chowgule said.
MiddleEastEvents.com - The rebuilding of Iraq to fuel... - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 9/11/2003 Last Visited: 9/5/2006
Mr. Ashok Chowgule, Chairman and Managing Director of Chowgule and
Co.
from India, a participant at Gulf Maritime readily confirms this
trend.
Navhind Times on the Web: Openspace - [Cached Version]
Published on: 8/30/2003 Last Visited: 9/4/2003
The President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Goa and Maharashtra) Ashok
Chowgule asks in an interview with Umesh Mahambre why no Christian
organisations are protesting when the churches in UK and US disallow
yoga classes inside their premisesThe VHP welcomed the Tamil Nadu
legislation banning religious conversions, saying it should be
adopted
by all states.Isn't it an anti-constitutional demand?
‘RSS-VHP Serve Their Political Agenda'
The activities of Graham Staines - Christian Aggression - [Cached
Version]
Published on: 10/30/2003 Last Visited: 4/1/2008
Ashok Chowgule
Deceased Graham Stewart Staines (hereinafter referred to as
'Staines')
as an Australian National whose tryst with Mayurbhanj in Orissa began
in the year 1965 when he made rendezvous with its District
Headquarter
at Baripada for treatment and eradication of Leprosy amongst the poor
and did an excellent job in the field.He became the honorary
Secretary
of Baripada Leprosy Home.He was also the Secretary of the Evangelical
Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM).As a missionary, he was
preaching Gospel and spreading the tenets of Christianity in jungle
camps held in different tribal belts in the district of Mayurbhanj
and
Keonjhar.
The zealots who would inherit - [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/16/1999 Last Visited: 5/1/2002
From: Ashok ChowgulePresident,
Vishva Hindu Parishad - [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/5/2002 Last Visited: 6/29/2006
SECULARIST ANGST - ASHOK CHOWGULEVishva Hindu Parishad
51-53 of 53 online sources for Ashok Chowgule
nude police -- nude police - [Cached Version]
Published on: 1/12/2001 Last Visited: 7/2/2006
NEWS : Police question Husain over nude painting Posted By Ashok V
Chowgule (asho...@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in) Sat, 18 Jan 97 22:30:33 EST
Messages sorted by: [ author ] [ date ][ subject ][ thread ...
‘I want what is mine’ - [Cached Version]
Published on: 7/27/2001 Last Visited: 4/14/2002
‘I want what is mine' Ashok Chowgule, explains the logic behind the
VHP's agenda
For a man who almost brought Mumbai to a halt on March 1, Ashok
Chowgule, Maharashtra president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP),
is
a picture of peace.Seated in his high-rise apartment at Peddar Road,
which is painted white and has huge paintings adorning the walls,
Chowgule said that the Ayodhya mission is not the culmination of
failed talks with the Muslims but with so-called secularists.
At what point did the dialogue with the Muslim leadership fail?Why
such haste in the plans?
It is not failed talks with Muslims that has created this situation
but the failure of talks with those who call themselves secularists
that has made us more steadfast in our aim.And we had explained our
plans in great detail earlier.After the 100-day maha yagna ends on
March 15, we will claim what is ours at Ayodhya.
‘I’m happy organisers had sense’ - [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/19/2007 Last Visited: 2/19/2007
When contacted, VHP president Ashok Chougule said, "I am happy the
organisers had some sense in them."
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=39038676
...More to follow about this Hindu rascal
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
navanavonmilita
navanavonmilita
http://cogitoergosum.co.cc/2010/09/20/hindu-child-slavery-and-prostitution/
Examining sex work in a hypocritical society
Monday, September 20, 2010 19:48 IST
XThere is no apparent reason why British MP Mike Weatherley’s wife
Carla (from whom he separated in February) did not feel privileged
enough to disassociate herself from her past. Till recently, she
belonged to the upper crust of society and had all the trappings of
power and pelf. By logic, she should have long forgotten her past in
Brazil as a professional sex worker and reinvented herself in any
which way. All the overpowering reasons of poverty and involuntary
submission that drive a woman towards prostitution were absent in her
case. And yet, there she was, working – and enjoying her work – in
London. She seemed to be doing her business by choice, visibly taking
pride in belonging to what ranks first among the oldest professions.
Carla was being true to herself and for that sole reason deserves the
respect of society which is filled, top to bottom, with hypocrites.
It is human nature to be a part of the system and hide what is
socially unacceptable. Do prostitutes exist for themselves or are they
there because the society at large, made of respectable folks, needs
them?
The argument against legalising prostitution in India – specifically
brothels – stems from the premise that it will corrupt the morals in
society. If you look around, not legalising prostitution has not saved
society in any way. The biggest scams happen right under our noses,
masked under the façade of respectability.
Instead of taking responsibility for the truth as it exists, the
society of respectable people prefers prostitution to stand condemned
and restricted to the gutters. This way, we the masses, our leaders
and celebrities, can deny it exists. (One of the great ironies of
traditional religious carnivals in Pune during June-July and
September, when thousands of rural folk arrive in the city from
neighbouring districts, is a dramatic rise in the footfalls in red
light areas.)
In this age and time in India, when sexual promiscuity is beginning to
explode, would society prefer its men – and therefore, its women – to
suffer the serious health risks associated with unregulated
prostitution? In its own selfish interest, society stands obligated to
do whatever is necessary for improving the lives of prostitutes and
provide them with legal and health benefits, not as an act of charity
but for the well-being of a mature society itself.
Estimates about the number of prostitutes in India range from 2.3-7
million. Unicef estimates that at least a million child prostitutes
exist in Asia, with the highest numbers in India, Thailand, Taiwan and
the Philippines. The World Health Organisation says that more than 50%
of Mumbai’s sex workers are infected with HIV.
In modern day India, we are living in the midst of slaves-for-sex and
the slave trade. Most of the prostitutes who have been forced to waste
their lives in “servicing” society want to give their children a
better future. The least that society can do for them is recognise
them as legitimate workers and give them the benefit of labour laws.
It is pertinent to pay heed to the Supreme Court’s observations in
December, 2009, when a two-member bench asked the central government
to consider legalising prostitution if it was unable to curb it.
Justices Dalveer Bhandari and AK Patnaik asked: “When you say it is
the world’s oldest profession and when you are not able to curb it by
laws, why don’t you legalise it? You can then monitor the trade,
rehabilitate and provide medical aid to those involved.”
Cops involved in child prostitution: activists
TNN, Jul 15, 2004, 12.01am IST
MUMBAI: Though the city police have launched a drive to curb child
prostitution in Mumbai, social activists alleged that it cannot
flourish without the connivance of policemen.
Social activist Anson Thomas, who has accompanied the police in at
least 14 raids at brothels in Nagpada and D B Marg areas, alleged that
some constables and sub-inspectors are known for taking bribes
directly from minors.
“I have seen constables accepting bribes from child prostitutes near
GPOin south Mumbai,” he said. Priti Patkar, who works for the NGO
Prerana, said there was a need to sensitise officers at police
stations on the child prostitution menace.
However, she lauded the steps taken by police chief A N Roy to start a
study circle at the police headquarters where two officers from each
police station interact with NGOs and officers from social service
branch regularly.
“The purpose is to sensitise the staff about issues related to child
prostitution and train them in tackling the menace. The officers are
also taught proper procedure to ensure that the minors rescued do not
land back in the brothels,” said Patkar.
In many cases, the police rescued minors, but subsequently declared
them as ‘majors’ before releasing them. A few years ago, DCP Rajnish
Seth had introduced a procedure that every rescued minor should be
produced before the Child Welfare Committee, which could then carry
out tests to determine her age. But this procedure seems to have been
discontinued at many police stations. Said Seth, “The procedure, if
properly followed, would ensure that the girls do not return to the
profession and are rehabilitated by the NGOs.”
Sources said that inmany cases, the raids were merely an eyewash as
within a few hours, the minors were back in the brothels. This has
happened in a Nagpada brothel, from where three minors were rescued
earlier this year.
The girls were released by the cops and not produced before a juvenile
court. Senior inspector Kalander Sheikh of Nagpada police station
faced an inquiry in this connection and was transferred.
Another example is that of Jamuna Mansion, a building next toD BMarg
police station. There have been at least four raids on it in the last
five years. But every time the brothel-keepers returned within a
month, back in business under a different name.
Said deputy police commissioner (enforcement) Pradnya Saravade, “This
is a major problem where the offenders change names and restart child
prostitution rackets. We are, therefore, building a separate database
of such criminals which will include their photographs.”
The police are also thinking of taking action against the offenders
under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), as they
view such rackets as an organised crime.
Though the conviction rate in child prostitution cases is just 2%,
police chief A N Roy has now adopted a three-pronged strategy to curb
the menace.
According to him, every offender will be asked to sign a ‘good
behaviour’ bond, which is a court affidavit stating that the person
would not repeat the offence. Second, they would be included in a
special police record and their movements would be tracked regularly.
Third, the police would seal the premises where the rackets are
operated.
Meanwhile, Anand Shetty, Maharashtra Hotel and Restaurant Ladies
Employees’ Union president, has written a letter to state home
minister R R Patil demanding action against the policemen at D B Marg
police station.
“Most of the policemen are hand in glove with the prostitutes and have
been collecting bribes for the past several months,” he said. A senior
officer at D B Marg police station denied the charge.
More than one lakh residents of red-light areas planned to go on a
dharna at August Kranti Maidan on August 9 to raise the issue of
police connivance, said Shetty.
(This is the second in the series on prostitution rackets in Mumbai)
Child Prostitution in India
“Child prostitution is the ultimate denial of the rights of the
child.”
(Dr Jon E Rhode, UNICEF representative in India).
India’s 944 580 000 inhabitants live in an area of 3 287 590 km², with
an expectation that the
population will reach 1 billion in May. Almost a quarter of this total
are under 18 years of age.
25% of the population live in urban areas and this is estimated to be
growing annually at just
over 1%. Over population and lack of education in nutrition and health
contribute to the deaths
of around 11 000 children each day. In 1951, 164 million Indians were
living in poverty
compared to 312 million in 1993-94.
There are estimated to be over 900 000 sex workers in India. 30% are
believed to be children.
Recent reports estimate that the number of children involved in
prostitution is increasing at 8
to10% per annum.
About 15% of the prostitutes in Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Madras,
Calcutta, Hyderabad and
Bangalore are children. It is estimated that 30%of the prostitutes in
these six cities are under 20
years of age. Nearly half of them became commercial sex workers when
they were minors.
Conservative estimates state that around 300 000 children in India are
suffering commercial
sexual abuse, which includes working in pornography.
In one study of 456 sex workers in Mumbai who had been ‘rescued’ by
police in February 1996, a
fifth were under 18 years and two-thirds were under 20. The main
obstacle in the cracking down
on child prostitution for the police is the issue of rehabilitation
and where to place and reintegrate all the children that they rescue.
ROOTS:
The problem of child prostitution in India is more complicated than in
other Third World
countries where it is directly related to sex tourism. In India,
sexual exploitation of children has
its roots in traditional practices, beliefs and gender discrimination.
According to some research, child prostitution is socially acceptable
in some sections of Indian
society through the practice of Devdasi. Young girls are given to the
‘gods’ and they become a
religious prostitute. There are believed to be around 3 300 devdasis
in Belguam area alone.
Devdasi is banned by the Prohibition of Dedication Act of 1982.
Parents or guardians dedicating
their girls are liable to five years in jail and a Rs5 000
(approximately £71) fine.
AGE: According to a madam in Kamatipura, the average age of girls
supplied to the brothels in the last two years has decreased from 14
and 16 years to 10 and 14 years. A girl between 10 and 12 years
fetches the highest price.
AIDS: The fear of HIV/AIDS has increased the demand for virgins and
children. Clients mistakenly
believe that children have fewer chances of contracting the disease.
Similarly there is the myth
that a man can rid himself of sexually transmitted diseases if he
sleeps with a virgin.
Recent Indian Government statistics put the number of people infected
with HIV at 3.5million,
indicating approximately three out of every 100 Indians are now
infected with the virus which
leads to AIDS. Almost 9 out of 10 of those people are below 45 years
old.
TRAFFICKING: About 7,000 sex workers cross over from Nepal into India
every year. 66% of the girls are from families where the annual income
is about Rs5 000. They may be sold by their parents, deceived with
promises of marriage or a lucrative job or kidnapped and sold to
brothel owners. Between 40 – 50% are believed to be under 18, the age
of consent in India, some are as young as 9 or 10 years old.
RURAL ISSUE: Child sex workers are not confined to big cities. A
survey in Bihar revealed that roadside brothels for truck drivers in
the Aurangabad and Sasaram districts offered the services of sex
workers aged between 6 and 18 years.
CASE EXAMPLES
• Meena was married off at 12. Soon after she was taken to Delhi by
her husband, where
she found out that he was a pimp. In the last three years, she has
serviced up to six clients
a night. The major part of her earnings goes to pay rent on the little
room, the rest goes to
her husband.
• Rita was sold at 9 years old. She washed and cooked for a madam in
Delhi for a few
months until a client wanted a virgin. Two years later, she barely
talks to anyone and
spends most of her spare time painting flowers.
• Maya, 10, was taken to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh by her aunt who
was paid Rs 3 000. When she refused to have sex with a client, she was
locked in a room for 2 days, scared with snakes and beaten
unconscious. When she came around she was raped by the client. Maya
has liveds in the red-light area of Mumbai. Her two year old spends
the night in a crèche run by a social service organisation. When he
was only a few months old, she used to drug him and put him under her
working cot.
…and I am Sid Harth
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20/09/2010
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