RSS Rambo: Sid Harth
bademiyansubhanallah
Bhagwat
From Khajuria S Kant in Jammu
BJP is opposed to Sachar Committee recommendations. - Rajnath Singh
RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat affirmed that the terms “Hindu”
and “Hindutva” are an inseparable identity of Hindustan. Stating that
RSS is committed to the ideology of Hindutva, he made it clear that
there will be no compromise on this ideology.
He was speaking at the “National Remembrance Convention” on “J&K
national integration and the legacy of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee”
organised by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation. The event
was organised at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium in University of
Jammu to pay tributes to Dr Mookerjee on his 57th death anniversary.
Addressing the gathering he said the word Hindutva is the common
identity of the people living in India, the roots of which lie deep in
Sanatan Dharma.
Pointing towards the political parties he said they can have a
compulsion from the political point of view to rethink on the ideology
of Hindutva but RSS does not have any such compulsion. Describing
Hindutva and Bharatiya as two faces of the same coin, he said the
forces who rake up this issue are playing in the hands of those
elements who want to destroy India and erode its rich cultural base.
“The roots of our strength lie in Hindutva as it is the basis of our
cultural identity and existence”, he said, adding that the Sangh will
always stick to the ideology of Hindutva and those looking for options
other than “Bharat aur Bhartiyata” (India and Indianism) should look
at what is happening in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Tibet—the
parts of India that got separated earlier are now facing the identity
crisis. “What is happening in Pakistan should be an eye-opener,” he
said.
Further explaining Hindutva, he said: “When we say we are Hindus, we
are not referring to a particular religion, we are referring to
loyalty to a nation, which embraces one and all irrespective of the
fact what language they speak or which mode of worship they
practise.”
He said the principles of truth and non-violence are the fundamentals
of Hindutva and despite facing many odds we stuck to them. “If we want
to make India a model country we have to inculcate the qualities of
Syama Prasad Mookerjee in our people”, he added.
While ridiculing at the detractors of Hindutva who call it communal,
Shri Bhagwat said Hindutva believes in co-existence and welfare of
human beings as a whole, which no other philosophy teaches in the
world. This was because of India’s rich cultural heritage and value-
based philosophy that it remained the world leader for over 3000
years, he said. The same ideology was nurtured by Dr Mookerjee by
laying down his life on that day in 1953, he added. Instead of sending
the party activists on the front Shri Mookerjee himself led the
“Kashmir Chalo Andolan” in 1953, as he could not tolerate the divisive
tendencies of the then rulers in the state.
Paying rich tributes to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the Sarsanghachalak
said: “We have to carry forward his mission. He laid down his life to
oppose the discriminatory tendencies and the theory of two
constitutions, two flags and two heads of state within one nation.”
The debate commenced with the lecture of Brig. (Retd.) Suchet Singh
who linked the terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir with the
separatist forces acting to keep Kashmir disintegrated from the rest
of India. He raised the question on the need of the special status to
Jammu and Kashmir even when the Instrument of Accession signed by the
then Maharaja of the State was exactly similar to that signed by the
other princely states. He termed this special status an instrument of
discrimination exploited by the administrators of the state to
discriminate the regions of Jammu and Ladakh against Kashmir. He
pointed towards the discriminatory and dictatorial policies of the
government in the state, which have led to the identity crisis of
Kashmiri Pandits and described Article 370 as an element encouraging
the separatist powers in the state.
Thupstan Chhewang, president, UT Morcha, Ladakh, who presided over the
function, acknowledged the unity shown by the people of Jammu during
the Amarnath land protest and called it an inspiration for the Ladakhi
Buddhists for their struggle to preserve their identity. He raised a
question on the intentions of the people asking for autonomy, saying
that how can the people demanding an autonomous state accommodate
others in it? He stated that seeking the Union Territory status for
Ladakh is the ultimate goal of his struggle. He beseeched the
Government of India to learn from the examples established by US in
matters of handling terrorism.
BJP national president Shri Rajnath Singh, while paying his tributes
to Dr Mookerjee, maintained that the party will not distance itself
from the ideology of Hindutva. He said the word Hindutva has broader
connotations and all communities are respected in it, as it is the
ideology of co-existence. It's a way of life, the term is all
inclusive, Shri Singh stated.
Opposing the reservations in the name of religion, the BJP chief said
his party is totally against the implementation of Sachar Committee
recommendations. For taking such national stand BJP is branded as a
communal organisation by its detractors, he added. It’s a way of life,
the term is all inclusive,” Singh stated.
The BJP president said Article 370 is an obstruction in achieving the
national integrity and remarked that the Kashmir issue should be
handled strictly by the Centre and should not be allowed to set a
question mark on the unity and integrity of India.
He said the dream of Shri Mookerjee will be realised only when we come
up to his expectations.
bademiyansubhanallah
What makes Hinduism different?
By MSN Menon
As a religion composed by many rishis, there is nothing sacred about
the Hindu scriptures. A Hindu can accept them or reject them. Nothing
can be done against him’ if he rejects the Hindu scriptures. It was
death to one who rejected Christianity or Islam.
Because it concedes freedom of enquiry. Because it has separated
politics from religion.
Hinduism has evolved over millennia—in a period of ten thousand years.
We are proud of this long experience. Vedas could be 7000-8000 years
old.
Semitic faiths are historical. They are based on written records and
Jewish experience.
Hinduism is pluralistic. Semitic faiths are exclusivist. Krishna says
in the Gita: “All paths lead to me.” Yahweh tells the Jews: “Thou
shall have no other God before me.” Yahweh is a tribal war god, not a
universal god.
For more than a thousand years the Sword and the Cross ruled over the
Christian world. So did the Crescent and the sword. But Hindus. turned
away from politics, leaving it to the kings.
Hinduism was not “revealed”. It based on reason. It is philosophic.
People of the Semitic faiths say that their faiths were given to them
by the same god. If so, how is one to explain the differences? In any
case, the god of the Jews was a warrior, of the Christians a pacifist
and of the Muslims, again, a warrior. Lord Acton, historian, says:
“The Popes were not only murderous, but they made murder the legal
basis of Christianity.” This is what the religion of Jesus came to.
As a religion composed by many rishis, there is nothing sacred about
the Hindu scriptures. A Hindu can accept them or reject them. Nothing
can be done against him’ if he rejects the Hindu scriptures. It was
death to one who rejected Christianity or Islam.
What is more, while Hindus scriptures are guides, the scriptures of
the Semitic faiths are laws. They have to be obeyed.
Hindus do not have prophets. In fact, they have no intermediary
between them and God. But a prophet is central to Semitic faiths. Only
through the prophets can members of the Semitic faiths gain salvation.
Which explains why Christ and Mohammed have become more important to
their followers. It is not enough in Christianity and Islam if you are
a devotee of the God, you have to be also devotee of the prophets.
Hindus have a multiplicity of gods. But they are manifestations of the
Supreme God. This is no monotheism. There is no hierarchy among them.
The peoples of the Semitic faiths had many gods. They decided to
worship only one. This is also not monotheism. He was only a tribal
god, not a universal god. The fact is: in those days the concept of a
universal god was foreign to Europe and the middle East. All these
explain why there is a demand for a universal religion.
According to Ishal Upanishad, god is everywhere and this whole
universe is the abode of god. This is as near to the concept of a
universal god that the Hindus came to before they developed the
concept of Advaita.
Hinduism is a quest. It has no final answers. It never claims, as the
Semitic faiths, that it alone has the truth. Being exclusive, Semitic
faiths divide mankind. As against this, Hinduism unites mankind. It
has the concept of a human family. The Semitic faiths have none.
As all paths lead to God, Hinduism does not engage in proselytisation.
There is one more reason why Hindus do not convert. They believe that
salvation is possible only through personal effort, not by changing
one’s religion. This also explains why the Hindus do not have
congregational prayers.
So, Good Reader, anyone who talks of the unity of religions is trying
to delude you. It is a great fallacy to say that all religions are the
same. They are not. And in practice they are like chalk and cheese.
On the practice of Christianity, here is what Thomas Jefferson, author
of the “The Declaration of American Independence” had to say: “…
millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction
of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured and imprisoned”. This by a
religion of Jesus Christ!
Numbers: This is the game played today. Numbers bring in power.
Christianity and Islam are organised. Hinduism is not. Organisation
means power. As Hindus are not organised, they wield no power.
...and I am Sid Harth
bademiyansubhanallah
The savant of Chitrakoot
By Sangeet Verma
Chitrakoot is famous for its significant role in the exile of Sri
Rama. It was in these forests of Chitrakoot that Sri Rama spent a
large time of his exile. This made Chitrakoot a place of devotion and
faith for Hindus worldwide. However in recent years, apart from its
religious significance, life for the villagers in this holy place
gradually lost relevance with the teachings of Sri Rama. The dense
forests disappeared with time, agriculture lost its profitability and
governance was limited to tax collections and VIP visits. Poverty grew
with increasing unemployment and water shortage ruined agriculture.
Bandits controlled the area and spirituality shrunk to religious
shrines and temples. By the early seventies, Chitrakoot became a dry
and poverty-struck area with temples and shrines as the only source of
income.
It was in 1969 that Nanaji Deshmukh visited Chitrakoot. He was moved
to see the pathetic condition of the society in the karmabhoomi of Sri
Rama. He sat by the holy river Mandakini, and resolved to change the
picture of Chitrakoot. Nanaji gave up an illustrious political
carrier, politely refusing a ministerial birth offered by the then
Prime Minister Morarji Desai and announced his retirement from active
politics. He returned to Chitrakoot to lay down the foundation of
Deendayal Research Institute now famous as DRI. Named after the famous
thinker and organiser Deendayal Upadhyaya and designed to implement
development programmes through his vision of ‘Integral Humansim’, DRI
was aimed at rural development and research, targeting villages around
Chitrakoot. Nanaji laid down the objectives of DRI, aiming at complete
independence of villages and villagers in agriculture, water
resources, health, moral character, education and employment. His
vision was to design a system of development based on local knowledge
and technology and enhancing the same for the prosperity of the locals
rather than invite external investments. The challenges were massive
and the primary challenge was to win over the trust of the villagers
in order to prepare them for the change.
Work started with minimum resources and maximum efforts. The primary
focus was on making agriculture a profitable venture as Nanaji
believed that only prosperity can make a happy society. A meeting of
farmers from 19 villages was called and a decision to create local
dams to sustain rainwater was taken. Men, women and children
contributed to the call and before the rains could arrive, dams had
come up in every possible location. Interestingly, no cement, concrete
or iron was used for the purpose and only local stones and mud was
used. Many ‘leaders’ laughed at the idea and said that these dams will
not even stand the first rains. But they did, and are strongly
standing till date. The experiment has recharged the entire ground
water system around Chitrakoot and even in the months of May and June,
local wells carry 10-15 feet of water. Nanaji went further to launch
Krishi Vikas Kendras (KVKs) resource and research centres aimed at
transforming unprofitable landholdings of poor farmers into profitable
ones. The KVKs helped the poor farmers harvest rainwater, use latest
methods of agriculture and provided knowledge and resources for the
same. They also created Seed Villages in a cluster of villages and
Seed Clubs at village levels where farmers could get better seeds for
better yields in their own villages, rather than awaiting government
machinery to supply them. These villages are now not only meeting the
seeds requirements of their own village but also supplying the surplus
seeds to nearby villages that provide good income to the growers. The
members of the Seed Clubs exchange their seeds for food grains within
the village (for1 kg seed they take 1.25 kg food grain from farmers).
Nanaji’s focus on education was clear since the time he established
the first Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Gorakhpur in his days as a
Pracharak. In Chitrakoot, he has ensured that not only do the students
get good education to earn a happy living, the same education evolves
them as responsible citizens and integral components of a happy human
race and not just money making machines that work under the pressure
of a mad market frenzy. The pre-primary education begins at Nanhi
Duniya or the ‘little world’ where children in the age of 3 to 5 years
come not to study, but to experience nature. They play with everything
from colours, balloons to geographic models, maps and toys, and learn
by interaction rather than reading and writing. Nanhi Duniya is an
interactive world that teaches important lessons of the world to
toddlers while playing with nature. It has interactive and play-based
models and galleries on themes of geography, history, zoology, sports
and yoga, swimming, words and numbers, and art and creativity. Primary
education in Chitrakoot begins at Surendra Pal Vidyalaya where the
children study standard curriculum. The hostel accommodations here are
designed as family units. Ten students stay in a flat as a family,
with their responsibility assigned to an aged couple called Guru Mata-
Pita who ensure that the children get a family atmosphere and do not
feel isolated in a big world. They are also responsible for
inculcating cultural and moral values in these children. Each family
is provided with a cook. For post secondary education, Nanaji founded
the first rural university in India, the Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot
Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya. This university has state-of-the-art
courses and equipments, including a fully equipped Geographical
Information System Lab in its Geology department.
Nanaji believed that only a healthy society can be prosperous. Thus
came into existence the Aarogya Dhaam, a world class comprehensive
health care and research centre that focuses on serving through
naturopathy, yoga, and Ayurveda. The many components of Aarogya Dhaam
include the Aayurveda Sadan (meant for Ayurvedic treatments and
research), The Nidan Sadan (Out Patients Department), The Yoga Sadan
(for yogic cure and training), the Ras Shala (where locally grown
herbs are used for preparing ayuvedic medicines), Swasthya Kutir
(health cottages that offer five star facilities with programmes for
healthy physical, mental and emotional recovery), Matri Sadan
(maternity and paediatric unit), Swasthya Sadan (In Patients
Department), a fully furnished dental unit, Aahar Vihar Sadan
(canteen), a spawning herbal garden spreading many acres, and a large
library and documentation centre. Located on the hills of Chitrakoot
surrounded by forests and overlooking the holy Kamtanathji mountain,
this health centre with its lush green lawns, gushing waterfalls and
picturesque surroundings are a feast to the eye. It is clearly aimed
at handing over a suffering body to mother nature, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually and physically, helping it with the very
components derived from nature in the form of herbal medicines and
cure, thereby bringing a comprehensive recovery of the entire human
system that heals the mind, body, heart and soul, permanently. The DRI
has also developed and designed a pack of 34 local herbal medicines
that are derived from local knowledge and have been found to be very
effective in curing frequently occurring ailments and diseases. They
call it Dadi Maa Ka Batua. This kit has gained tremendous popularity
in the villages and has helped save the villagers from expensive
treatment and medicines. Adjacent to the Aarogya Dhaam is a well-
maintained and well-equipped Gau Shaala where cows of different Indian
breeds are kept and conservation of superior genetic germ plasm and
their propagation for milk production and agricultural needs is done,
specially for breeds which are in danger of extinction. The Gau Shaala
is also engaged in maintaining pure Indian breeds through artificial
insemination of cows and bullocks for better and quality milk
production in order to make the Indian cow an economically feasible,
useful and profitable option.
Nanaji’s commitment to Chitrakoot further extends to its people in
addressing their employment needs. His vision of providing local
options of livelihood with minimum investment and maximum profits
resulted in the institutionalisation of Udyamita Vidyapeeth, an
entrepreneurship development and research centre that works round the
clock for developing, training, and establishing low cost and high
income enterprises in the rural areas with the help of self-help
groups and individuals. At present this industrial training centre is
providing training on fruits and vegetable processing, dal poha and
lai production, oil expeller units, readymade garments, screen and
offset printing, MCR tiles, sakar blocks, processing of cereals and
pulses industry (PCPI), flour mills, cane and bamboo craft,
fabrication, computer training, bakery products, soap and detergent
production, hand made paper making, and radio electronics. Rural youth
from all over the region come here and get trained in the areas of
their individual interest. Training is provided in state-of-the-art
class rooms and laboratories that help them understand every aspect of
their future livelihood. They then go to their respective villages and
establish the ventures giving employment to themselves and many
others. The focus in designing all industrial solutions is keeping
them a low investment enterprise based on local raw materials in order
to ensure sustained supplies and profits.
A prosperous society is incomplete without its moral and cultural
values. DRI has set-up Ram Darshan, a unique interpretation centre of
the Ramayana, based on the life and teachings of Sri Rama. Through its
unmatched paintings, sculptures, collections and crafts, Ram Darshan
not only looks deeper into the meaning of Ramayana, it helps one
understand the universal acceptability of his teachings and their
relevance in today’s life and society. It is a mirror that tells us
where we went wrong, and how the course can be corrected. It is a
bridge that connects the islands of religion, knowledge, karma and
spirituality for the supreme benefit of a glorious society. In order
to ensure that his good work is sustainable, Nanaji, who is now 93,
has introduced Samaj Shilpi Dampattis, newly wed graduate couples who
have a commitment for community service, that live in the villages and
look after the work of DRI in a cluster of five villages. The couples
are responsible for overall implementation of the DRI programmes.
It is in Chitrakoot that Nanaji has shown the world that religion is
meant more for the benefit of society than individuals. He has proved
that pilgrimages like Chitrakoot should not just be places of worship,
but also icons of development and self reliance. He has shown that
ideals of Integral Humanism as propagated by thinkers like Pandit
Deendayal Upadhayaya, can be made a living reality. Gandhiji’s dream
of Gram Swaraj has finally been brought true, not by a congressman,
but by a swayamsewak. Last but not the least, Nanajii has shown this
generation what is meant by the life of a sage spent in penance.
(Comments welcome on vermas...@rediffmail.com)
fanabba
Jihad Watch, Sharia Watch and Taqiyya Watch
www.faithfreedom.org
www.islam-watch.org
www.jihadwatch.org
www.actforamerica.org
www.citizenwarrior.com
www.politicalislam.com
Al Ghazali, perhaps the greatest Muslim scholar and a Sufi wrote:
"One must go on jihad (i.e., warlike razzias or raids) at least once
a
year...one may use a catapult against them [non-Muslims] when they
are
in a fortress, even if among them are women and children. One may set
fire to them and/or drown them...If a person of the Ahl al-Kitab
[People of The Book - primarily Jews and Christians] is enslaved, his
marriage
is [automatically] revoked.One may cut down their trees...One must
destroy their useless books. Jihadists may take as booty whatever
they
decide...they may steal as much food as they need...
A NEW KORAN
Sharia (Islamic Law) advocates Islamic Supremacism and mandates the
subjugation, oppression and exploitation of non-Muslims and women. A
group of devout Muslims rejects the idea that Sharia is part of the
Religion of Islam. This group, which calls itself "Muslims Against
Sharia", has a web site: www.reformislam.org . This group is engaged
in producing a New Koran that omits the Sharia-related verses from the
Koran.
bademiyansubhanallah
Workers training camp for Vishwa Mangal Gau Gram Yatra in Bhopal
A plan for effective contact in villages
By Pramod Kumar
“Cow protection and cow-based farming have been the dreams of our
saints and the great personalities since centuries. The ultimate
objective of the Vishwa Mangal Gau Gram Yatra is to make these dreams
as the dreams of the masses and make them realistic. These dreams have
to be grown in the hearts of people so that the entire society can
stand with one voice to materialise them. This yatra should emerge to
such an extent that there should be no need for launching any such
agitation for this objective in future,” said RSS Sarkaryavah Shri
Bhaiyaji Joshi. He was addressing a gathering of prominent workers of
the Vishwa Mangal Gau Gram Yatra in Bhopal on June 21. The yatra will
begin from Kurukshetra on November 30 and will conclude on January 17
in Nagpur. More than 200 Prant level workers participated in the three-
day training camp that began on June 20.
Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi exhorted the workers to engage themselves in the
yatra with a conviction. “If we are able to develop one or two lakh
workers at the grassroot level through the 1,000 sub-yatras to be
conducted along with the main yatra in different parts of the country,
we should try to mould them as the full time workers who think only
for these two issues all the time. It is necessary that full time
workers for both rural development and cow protection are developed in
adequate number and they should successfully give a vision to the
urban people to move to the villages,” he added.
Shri Sitaram Kedilaya, Akhil Bharatiya Sewa Pramukh of the RSS,
appealed to the workers to establish effective contact in each and
every village of the country. “Scarcity of water, pollution, cow
slaughter, etc. are the problems that equally affect all—Hindus,
Muslims, Christians, etc. Therefore all people, sections and social,
religious, cultural organisations of the country have to be involved
in the yatra. Effective contact was established in about four lakh
villages during the birth centenary year of Shri Guruji. But this time
we have to establish this contact in all the villages of the country.
We wish to develop an atmosphere in which no farmer is forced to
commit suicide but all live with self-dependence,” he said stressing
the need to present scientific solutions to the problems of farmers
and the cow. “The cow will not be protected just by performing
aaratis, we shall have to start cow-based farming, industries, etc, at
the village level itself,” he said. He appealed to involve the women
also in the movement in large number. Shri Hukumachand Sanwala,
national vice president of the yatra, Shri Diwakar Shastri, general
secretary, Shri Shankarlal, national secretary, Shri Meghraj Jain,
national secretary and Shri Bhanwarlal Kothari, treasurer were also
present at the meeting.
bademiyansubhanallah
Debate
Atma Jyoti Ashram:
Wolf in sheep’s clothing
By Swami Devananda Saraswati
The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti
Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana
Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana
Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The
current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The
Ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.
This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign
seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity
is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is
nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support
the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu
teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their
charges.
In Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers, Sita Ram Goel describes
the Christian missionary strategists’ plan to infiltrate Hindu society
and gain the confidence of the people: “Christianity has to drop its
alien attire and get clothed in Hindu cultural forms. In short,
Christianity has to be presented as an indigenous faith. Christian
theology has to be conveyed through categories of Hindu philosophy;
Christian worship has to be conducted in the manner and with the
materials of Hindu puja. Christian sacraments have to sound like Hindu
samskaras; Christian churches have to copy the architecture of Hindu
temples; Christian hymns have to be set to Hindu music; Christian
themes and personalities have to be presented in styles of Hindu
painting; Christian missionaries have to dress and live like Hindu
sannyasins; Christian mission stations have to look like Hindu
Ashrams. And so on, the literature of Indigenisation goes into all
aspects of Christian thought, organisation and activity and tries to
discover how far and in what way they can be disguised in Hindu
forms.”
The late Sita Ram Goel wrote this in 1988, and he would not be
surprised to learn that Christian priests and monks in America have
adopted these very tactics to attract a whole generation of American
youth interested in Hindu spirituality, back to Christianity. The
leader in this movement today is Abbot George Burke of Atma Jyoti
Ashram in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. He is better known on the Internet
as Swami Nirmalananda Giri.
Isha Jyoti to Atma Jyoti
Atma Jyoti Ashram was originally called Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas
Ashram and was located at Borrego Springs, California. Fr. George
Burke is a Greek Orthodox Christian priest, and if reports are
correct, most or all of the community of brothers attached to him are
Christian priests.
On a visit to India, Fr. George met the Bengali saint Ananda Mai Ma.
She is said to have instructed him to remain in the Christian religion
and continue his Christian practices. This is not unusual advice from
a Hindu guru. In spite of their enlightenment, most are grossly
ignorant of Christianity’s ideology and imperial designs, its
triumphant, sectarian prayers and bloody rituals. Hindu gurus advise
their foreign followers to remain in the religion of their
forefathers, not realising the negative consequences of their
thoughtless words.
This kind of advice is irresponsible, especially when made to foreign
seekers who take the guru’s instruction as divine word. Christianity
is based on a false doctrine of vicarious salvation, and there is
nothing in Hindu scripture or the ancient Rishi tradition to support
the ill-conceived advice handed out to foreign seekers by Hindu
teachers who do not want to take spiritual responsibility for their
charges.
Ananda Mai’s alleged instruction suited Fr. George and his followers
and they quoted her later as their authority to don the ochre robes of
Hindu sannyasis and adopt the Sanskrit titles and names of Smartha
Dasnami monks. The fact that Ananda Mai Ma was not an initiated
Dasnami sannyasin and had no authority to give them ochre robes or
Dasnami titles did not deter them in the impersonation drama.
They continued to perform the bloody sacrifice of the Christian Mass
in secret, even as they presented themselves in public as simple,
unaffiliated Hindu monks. It was the old fraud of Robert de Nobili and
Henri Le Saux being repeated on an unsuspecting public, only this time
it was an American and not an Indian public being duped by persuasive
snake oil salesmen.
Om on Cross
At one point in their career, while still the Sri Isha Jyoti Sannyas
community in Borrego Springs, they were caught out in their charade by
none other than the Shaiva Siddhanta Church in Hawaii. The brothers
did carpentry for a living, being followers of the Carpenter, and one
of the items they produced for sale was a Roman cross with the sacred
Hindu word-symbol ‘Om’ nailed to its cross bars. They sent a sample to
Hinduism Today with the hope of attracting sales. They got instead a
negative response and a return of the obscene article. Hindus, even
modern American Hindu converts, are deeply offended by this kind of
syncretism and do not understand the appeal it has for New Agers and
gay Christian priests who flaunt it on their cassock fronts as a sign
of their radical universalism.
Catholic writer S. Kulandaiswami said vis-à-vis Fr. Bede Griffiths and
his bastardised Om-on-Cross iconography: “Ritual, rites, and
ceremonies in Hinduism have not been changed to suit the whims of
modern innovators. Griffiths, by superimposing the sacred word ‘Om’ on
a Cross, imagines he has created a new spiritual phenomenon. On the
contrary, he confuses and insults both Hinduism and Christianity. He
fails to realise that by such acts he is neither enriching
Christianity nor honouring Hinduism. One has to respect the unique
rites and rituals of each religion, which placed in another context,
will be meaningless and confusing.”
In a later debate published in the letters column of The Indian
Express, Chennai, in 1989, The Hindu correspondent S Venkatachalam
wrote: “It is highly outrageous and objectionable to compare … Hindu
leaders and religious heads with the Christian missionary
experimentalists like Bede Griffiths, Hans Staffner and the Christian
missionary Fr. Henri Le Saux, the so-called Abhishiktananda. Swami
Vivekananda, Gandhiji, Ramana Maharshi and Paramacharya of Kanchi
never resorted to such experimentation of a “cocktail religion” or
“masala and kichidi religion” by mixing religious symbols, donning the
dress of a Christian father or Muslim mullah, building church-like or
mosque-like temples, fabricating Bible or Quran-like Hindu shlokas, or
asserting that Rama or Krishna or Shiva is the only God and by
accepting Him alone one can get salvation.”
The Sri Isha (Jesus) Jyoti Sannyas Ashram brothers did not succeed in
pedalling their original handcrafted ‘Om-on-cross’ to the Hindus of
Hawaii then, but in their new incarnation as sadhus of Atma Jyoti
Ashram they have succeeded in getting advertising space in Hinduism
Today and the sponsorship of Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. Yet they
remain, so far as we know, Christian priests in orange robes with
false Sanskrit names and titles, the usual New Age bells and beads
added. They are quite a success in Christian duplicity, if not in true
Hindu spirituality.
The sponsorship of Ramana Ashram and the publication of the Atma Jyoti
Ashram brothers’ articles under assumed Hindu names in the Ramana
Ashram journal Mountain Path is not really surprising. Sri Ramana
Ashram is a family business headed by a hereditary trustee. The
current president is the Advaita Vedanta paralogist VS Ramanan. The
ashram was declared a non-Hindu institution in 1963.
Theosophists and Benedictines
Though Ramanan is the editor of Mountain Path as required by law, the
de facto editor is the Australian theosophist Christopher Quilkey, a
disciple of the anti-modernist French Sufi Rene Guenon. Quilkey is
assisted by the American Catholic Benedictine monk Brother Michael.
Brother Michael divides his time between Shanti Vanam near
Tiruchirappalli, the Benedictine hermitage of the notorious Christian
missionary Fr. Bede Griffiths, and Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai. He
is a Catholic priest and will say, Mass whenever and wherever the
Catholic spirit moves him, including Ramana Ashram and other places of
Hindu pilgrimage and worship. His other duty is to vet articles sent
to Mountain Path and forward them to Christopher Quilkey in Kodaikanal
for acceptance and publication. Ramanan shows little or no interest in
the articles selected for publication, and though the ashram follows
Vedic Brahminical traditions and can afford to employ a professional,
it is not able to find and keep a responsible and dedicated Hindu
editor for its magazine.
Ramanan appears to be in a state of denial regarding Christians in his
own ashram and missionaries in general. He writes, “There is no doubt
that Christianity has, over centuries been a proselytising religion
and some of the preachers had indulged in scurrilous propaganda
against Hindu beliefs and mores. But there is nothing to worry. The
worst is over and the Vedantic Truth is eternal and imperishable. I
know a number of Christian priests who revere Hinduism and Vedanta. It
is well known that Westerners are increasingly being drawn to Yoga and
Vedanta which Swami Vivekananda called the ‘Religion of the Future.’”
Nothing to worry, eh? The worst is over, eh? Either Ramanan is a fool
or he is in league with the Christian missionaries who publish in the
ashram journal.
The first articles to appear in Mountain Path by an Atma Jyoti Ashram
member were by a Catholic priest who resides in Tiruvannamalai and
calls himself Swami Sadasivananda Giri. The articles were inoffensive
enough, but because it was known to a number of sadhus and Ramana
Ashram devotees that the author was in fact a Christian priest
masquerading as a Hindu sannyasi, the matter was brought to the Ramana
Ashram president’s attention with the request that Sadasivananda be
identified by his real Christian name and titles to Mountain Path
readers.
The letter was ignored, and when the April-June 2009 issue of Mountain
Path appeared, it was discovered that not only did Swami
Sadasivananda’s article appear without proper identification, but an
article by Fr. George Burke, Greek Orthodox abbot of Atma Jyoti
Ashram, New Mexico, was also included under the name Swami
Nirmalananda Giri. The request to identify Christian contributors to
the journal was not only denied by the Ramana Ashram president
Ramanan, but a strong message of contempt and scorn for Hindu sannyas
traditions was given out by the Mountain Path editor and his dubious,
uncommitted assistants.
Infiltration by Impersonation The problem of Christian priests and
missionaries masquerading as Hindu sannyasis is an old one in India.
The impersonation drama was first carried out by Robert de Nobili in
Madurai in the 17th century.
It was continued and made notorious by Fr. Bede Griffiths (aka Swami
Dayananda) in the 20th century, though his collaborator, the French
Benedictine monk Fr. Henri Le Saux, was without doubt the most
successful Hindu sadhu impersonator. He is known to this day by his
assumed Sanskrit name Swami Abhishiktananda, and had none other than
the late Swami Chidananda Saraswati of Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh
as a patron.