American Indologist and scholar of Hinduism Wendy Doniger commented on the Gita, “The Bhagavad Gîtâ is not as nice a book as some Americans think. Throughout the Mahâbhârata … Krishna goads human beings into all sorts of murderous and self-destructive behaviours such as war…. The Gîtâ is a dishonest book; it justifies war. ..I’m a pacifist. I don’t believe in ‘good’ wars.”
It is a common strategy of many Christian missionaries, secular scholars and pseudo ,mystic new age writers today to become a part of the Hindu crowd, read a few of their scriptures, distort them out of context or induce some non-scriptural and imaginative terms, highlight them as “scriptural” and then demean the scriptures.
They exploit the tolerance of the Hindus, the acceptance that they show to the world and respect to all the cultures and traditions and then sow in their minds, the seeds of hatred via divide and rule. Wendy Doniger, as it is clear, has not read the Mahabharata where the Kauravas harass the Pandavas since their childhood. In one instance, Duryodhan offered a poisoned sweet-dish to Bhima. Other cases include burning of Pandavas’ shelter, physically abusing Draupadi who was the Princess of the Hastinapur and initiate ‘adharmic’ ways to fight in the battlefield, e.g Killing Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu. Mahabharat not only teaches how families can face destruction over material wealth but also how brothers can turn into enemies and how an entire society gets destroyed when women are not respected. In many parts of the society, killing in self-defence is not a crime.
The divine song, i.e the Bhagavad-Gita teaches how one needs to detach himself of his feelings and emotions to see the truth and Krishna only advocates to fight for “Dharma”. Having explained the universal truth, in verse 6.36, 18.6, 18.63, he tells Arjun to do as he wishes. Thus, when Wendy Donger says that “Gita is dishonest book, it justifies war”, she clearly presents her lack of comprehension or willingness to read further. Mahabharat was not a “good war”, but a “dharmic one” and dharma may not be good for a dharmic person everytime.
A police inspector may find it hard to arrest his own son. In every family, parents teach their son to protect his sister. In every nation, the soldiers are taught to protect their country and do their duty irrespective of who the enemy is. If Wendy Doniger’s words are taken seriously, then a brother protecting his sister or a soldier protecting his country would be engaging in “dishonesty”. Wendy Doniger, with her limited frame of understanding, clearly fails to recognize the difference between “good and dharmic”.
The language of the pseudo-intellectuals on the surface is truth, knowledge and objectivity, but beneath one can observe over the time as to how cleverly they manipulate their subjects, instil inferiority complexes, psychological slavery, abuse the Hindu literature and hate for those who do not follow their own biased worldviews.
In India, the mainstream Gurus support and respect each other. They promote the Indian culture, Vedic wisdom and Yoga but do not hold any personal grudges or abuse each other. Recently, when Baba Ramdev was hospitalised, Sri Sri Ravishankar and many other gurus went to see him and wished him speedy recovery. The Hindu Gurus like Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar etc. have not only opened drinking water facilities for the people, but also treatment centres where Indians can be cured for free. On the contrary, the missionaries and proponents of other cults who project themselves as experts on the Hindu scriptures can be often found abusing the Hindu gurus, weaving their own fantasy bubbles and subsequently writing in demeaning and delusional ways about Hinduism.
So called scholar Robert E. Wilkinson, in his cleverly deceptive blog ‘Movement for the Restoration of Vedic Wisdom’, seems to demonstrate in his persistent string of attacks on individuals and groups promoting Hinduism, that he and his group rather are the only people who understand Sri Aurobindo and Sanatan Dharma and that most others are opposing the rise of India and Dharma. There is no information on any Vedic literature in this blog and there is absolutely no authentic Vedic wisdom. Majority of his articles constitute a battery of assaults on Lord Buddha, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Deepak Chopra, David Frawley, the Auroville/Aurobindo organization, etc. By distorting the meaning of ‘Avatar’ to fit his own agenda, he further glorifies “Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet” as the chosen avatar to redeem Hinduism, who has in fact been questioned on such claims by the Hindu society and the Aurobindo organization at large.
He often presents a smokescreen of fancy terminologies ripped off from Aurobindo’s works and some exotic, magic formula of numbers 3, 6 and 9 and tries to use that to prove that Aurobindo, Mother and Thea (the other name of Patrizia Norelli-his guru) are all connected avatars. Through all his contrived theories and by distorting Aurobindo’s quotes he tries to prove that Patrizia Norelli is not only an evolved yogic-seer but also the chosen avatar who seems to have descended on earth with the special mission of saving Sanatan Dharma. He further reiterates that all his theories are confirmed by verses from Rig Veda and other Hindu scriptures and keeps quoting from them to make his theories look intelligent. He states –
“Since the manifestation of the Avatars is determined by their inherent association with the Time-Spirit, their three-staged descent upon the earth occurs within an exquisite Geometry of Time that cannot possibly be concocted. It can only be arranged by the Supermind and thus becomes the basis of their objective cosmic credentials. One of the most fascinating examples of this Supramental formula, which may be found in the original Temple architecture, is the way it appears in the dates of births of the members of the Solar Line. As revealed below, these numbers appear in the exact order of the actual descent.
Sri Aurobindo was born in 1872: 1+8+7+2 = 18 = 9
The Mother was born in 1878 1+8+7+8 =24 = 6
Thea, ???, was born in 1938: 1+9+3+8 = 21 = 3
We could go on and on with these objective proofs. The 3, 9, and 6, have a correspondence with the Gunas: Rajas, Sattva and Tamas or as they are known in cosmological terms, Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. These energy flows are also expressed as the Speaker, the Voice and the Word. Notably, each member of the Solar Line was born in the sign of one of the Three Gunas: Sri Aurobindo, a Leo – Fixed Guna, the Mother, a Pisces – a Mutable Guna, and the Third, a Capricorn, a Cardinal Guna. We even see these numbers expressed in their names: Aurobindo has 9 letters, Mother has 6, and ??? (Thea) as it is properly written has 3.”
Mr. Wilkinson doesn’t understand that it is the Puranas which speak about the avatars and not the Vedas. Vedas do not consist of stories, prophetic messages or premonitions, but pure scientific and philosophical concepts which are metaphorically personified as cryptic riddles. He also presents his ignorance and amusing imagination when he adds the numbers in the date of births of Aurobindo, The Mother and Thea, forgetting that the years in the dates are “relative” to the Christian calendar which assumes the world was created in 4004 B.C and hence is not Vedic. Thus, again we see a shining instance where new-age cults interpret something imaginative, calling it Vedic that too by superimposing on it an Abrahamic framework.
Ignorance alone blinds the pseudo intellectuals to understand why christians celebrate christmas on 25th December only and why Hindus celebrate Diwali, Holi etc on different dates every year. Sathya Sai Baba died at 85 solar years. If it is mapped to lunar years, it becomes “96 years”.
Patrizia Norelli, the teacher of Mr.Wilkinson, in her defence on why she is being rejected and opposed by everyone and why she is not being accepted as the “third” in the solar line of avatars claims:
“In every Age of Vishnu the hostile force that must be dealt with will always be an agent of the status quo since every appearance of Vishnu’s emanations introduces a new level of consciousness and a progress up the ladder of evolution. Thus, it necessarily stands that the third ‘integer’ and its representative will be the most combated, because without that Third there is no dynamism… Supermind carries the process to greater heights by updating the Line of Ten Avatars in that today’s applications are far more precise and verifiable. Thus the incarnated members of the Solar Line, by their birthdates and hence the zodiacal signs in which they were born, present us with both the number-powers of the Avatar’s Formula as well as the three gunas, rajas-Capricorn (3), sattwa-Leo (9), tamas-Pisces (6). Note that Rajas-3’s elimination is imperative when the objective is to cling to the dual power-base. As such, the renewing thrust of Rajas is entirely missing, resulting necessarily in stagnation. We may thereby state that the simplest way to recognise asuric forces in the Ages of Vishnu is when they are seen to channel their energies to the elimination of the Third at all costs.
Once the three are involved through actual births (otherwise how could the Formula become operational?) to truly make this 9th/10th manifestation of Vishnu different from all his other appearances in previous Ages, a fourth element is demanded. This fourth stage is where time and space become integrated; it is the mysterious ‘conquest’ of the Aryan Warrior in the Rig Veda, the formula of which is revealed in the text.”
One who understands the difference between the Shrutis and Smritis, the Vedas and the Puranas, would understand how Patrizia Norelli has distorted the Vedic teachings to some future predictions to satisfy her obsession with cosmological events and with her inflated ego of being “third” in the solar line which she confirms by her own concocted theories. She reduces Vedic terminologies and the three Gunas, i.e Rajas, Tamas and Sattwa, to some trite formula. She talks about a “new level of consciousness” but fails to understand that the Vishnu avatars arrive only for reviving Sanatan Dharma and the spirit of the Veda and not for self-glorification, for self-broadcast or for name and fame. They come for the upliftment of humanity and not to identify some absurd formulae to predict the nature of the inconceivable Brahman.
The people in Satyuga were known to have an impeccable memory, superlative thinking power, mental capacity, intuitive and intellectual in nature with objectivity to see the truth. Whereas, in Kaliyuga, people are known to have deteriorating powers of discrimination and poor memory that abounds in intellectual stagnation, inability to understand simple concepts and unwillingness to read or comprehend.
Moreover the cult of Patrizia Norelli and her followers are more dangerous to the Hindu society than anti-hindu fundamentalists as they parade the elite intellectual arena as accomplished scholars who have come to teach us Hindu wisdom, when in fact and undercover they hijack Hindu literature, distort it, create their own new-age theories and then promote themselves as evolved seers and avatars. Moreover, when they are not accepted by the mainstream intelligentsia either as worthy scholars or as avatars, they launch bitter and hostile attacks on all individuals and groups who have been well accepted as proponents of Hinduism. Is this how one would expect objective scholars or avatars to behave? The work of an avatar in every age is to take Sanatan Dharma to higher levels and an avatar never fails. If miss Patrizia Norelli was an avatar or third descendent of the solar line, would she be more concerned about spreading Vedic knowledge or more interested in promoting herself as an evolved seer? Vedic seers from the ancient history of India were never interested in broadcasting themselves as special entities, let alone making themselves known.
Their whole life was a selfless dedication to Sanatan Dharma. But what we have today are self-obsessed and self-styled seers such as Patrizia Norelli and her parasitical devotees who suffer from heightened narcissism and attention seeking. When they don’t get the acknowledgement or attention that they desperately seek they spiral into fanatical attacks of other well-respected individuals and groups. Such fascism and extremism can never be expected of avatars or seers of an evolved consciousness.
One can see how the English-educated fraternity and missionary cults that consider themselves superior to Indic teachers and Indigenous gurus of India, use the vedic wisdom and the Hindu practices to make monetary profits at the expense of Hinduism by demeaning the Hindu Gurus, distorting the Vedas and not giving proper credit where it is due.
Today, many Christian missionaries in disguise of promoting Vedic Wisdom make monetary profits at the expense of Hinduism by demeaning Hindu Gurus and promoting their own agendas. In the west today, the yoga practices are termed as “New Age” practices by those who can’t see or don’t want to see Yoga’s integral connection with Hinduism. New terms like “Christian Yoga” have evolved and many percieve Yoga as just a physical exercise. Yoga, which is a Sanskrit term, refers to the mental and physical unification i.e silencing of the mind and control of the physical body, raising of one’s individual consciousness to unite with the supreme consciousness which is denoted as Brahman.
Such a practice also involves questioning one’s own beliefs through a philosophical enquiry, objective in approach or detachment i.e Jnana Yoga. But in Abrahamic religions any spirit of questioning is suppressed and one has to blindly believe in a male-centric god with a particular name as given in the “book” who has set for humanity a set of DOs and DONTs. Therefore, the terms like Christian Yoga are nothing but mere oxymorons.
Click here to read PART 2
Paulette Hadnagy says
Whether it is the Congress in power, or the BJP (Murli Manohar Joshi was the HRD minister under whose jurisdiction is Auroville) the Government of India has always funded my research through the due Auroville channels. Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Auroville are above political parties. And in reply to the latest slanderous statement by Jason Wilkinson, the illustrious Aurobindonian and Vedic scholar whom Jason has trashed, Kireet Joshi, before settling back in Pondicherry after over a 30 years leave due to his national and international commitments, was the special counsellor of education of Narendra Modi (who too became an international celebrity, everybody knows for what reasons). For six years Kireet was the Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, as long as the BJP was in power; he was substituted by Karan Singh when the Congress took over. Karan Singh (his personal path is Kashmir Shivaism but he honours all paths) is considered by many the embodiment of the true Indian spirit; he has recently released a splendid DVD that fully supports this view. Given their Chairmen position, I have been interacting with both. I am particularly close to Kireet, whom I know for the past 25 years. Kireet was the one who asked for the compilation and exhibition I prepared on Matrimandir during the Mother’s years, under the BJP tenure. He was also the one who instructed the officers of the Auroville Foundation, when he was the Chairman, to delete automatically whatever came from Patrizia Norelli & Co. Just to set things straight.
And in case you are not aware, on January 1st, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee used to salute the New Year with messages from Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda…
*
All I have been writing doesn’t come from the head. It is the outcome of my 38 years interaction with Indian souls, of which the last 26 years without ever quitting India.
There is no religious divide in Pondicherry, where the three major faiths are represented: Hindu, Christian, Muslim. People live peacefully together. I know Muslim shopkeepers since almost four decades; I feel so sorry for what they must go through, I feel their pain…
The founder of the Auroville Archives is a general from Punjab and a war hero; he was jailed six months by the Chinese. This general has authored books on Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. His wife, a doctor in the Army, told me that her best friend, in her youth, was a Muslim girl; even at the university they were together. Her own brother was the general n.1 in the Indian army. Their daughter is a close friend of Murli Manohar Joshi, they attended the university together. Not once I heard from this couple, whom I know for the past 26 years, a single remark on Mohamed or Islam! Not once I heard a remark on Mohamed or Islam either from the founder of the Centre of Indian Studies in Auroville, brought up at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, with the Mother. Sri Aurobindo read all that her father (a professor of psychology at Delhi university, and the foremost Jungian in India) wrote; he is the one who, among others, first wrote on “integral psychology”, with Sri Aurobindo’s blessings. [This is how the “integral” business commenced. Everyone today uses this term, another slogan is “human unity” – both having hardly anything in common with the specific Aurobindonian sense.]
*
At Shankar Mutt I am the only Western disciple of the pontiff, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi; Balaswami too, Sri Vijayendra, has a Western disciple: the princess Irene of Greece. The Mutt is where I turn, searching for an India that is no more. Once somebody asked Periaval’s blessing for the translation in English of the Ramayana. He replied, “Why do you bother about Westerners? Look at what Hindus have done with it!” [as it was translated to me.]
Girdhar writes, “But in the case of Hinduism, what you see today i.e superficiality and how most of the hindus (reciever) behave is hardly what the Vedas and the Upanishad (source) teach. The medium consists of both corrupt and genuine gurus. The genuine gurus are hushed by the local media, termed as dhongi babas and mocked. Most of the hindus today have not read Gita let alone the Vedas. So there is a gross disconnect between the source and the reciever in the case of Hinduism. Thus you cannot relate the modern superficial happenings to Hinduism. Moreover, hinduism is not what Patrizia norelli or her minions like Robert Wilkinson promote.”
The boat is sinking. As soon as I leave Shankar Mutt I can hardly find any India, to the extent that, watching the Westernisation of the country in the most gross (and obsolete) forms, I understand certain extreme reactions, which I would otherwise condemn. But it is certainly not by the virulent language in this forum that Indians can be helped to find the way back to the soul and genius of the nation. The language is that of the yogis, and the way too.
Waiting for a new Avatar to manifest…
Paulette
Jason Kay says
“He had presented me with a book which I refused to read… and more…”
yeh you are the objective researcher who refuses to read books and evens burns them ,This also proves that you are a hindu hater because Francios Guatier has always given the hindu side of the story which has always been ignored like you have been doing yourself ..
..I personally dont care about the indian government regardless if its run by the congress or the BJP because both are useless especially the congress so they are not some sort of authority or endorsement to someones importance unless they are corrupt and manipulative..
instead of giving us another long boring lecture tinged with your ego again and then making false accustions against people for being extremists i will ask you again to reply to those quotes from the koran which you have been requested a hundred times already..
Paulette Hadnagy says
In reply to Girdhar, this is part of the new foreword I wrote for the reprint of “Avatarhood — Human and Divine”:
In the chapter on the Gnostic Being in “The Life Divine”, Sri Aurobindo writes that the Vedantic “liberation signifies an emergence into the true spiritual nature of being where all action is the automatic self-expression of that truth and there can be nothing else.” Further expounding on the subject, he sharply differentiates between the authentic spiritual life leading to gnostic individuality, and living according to ethical and moral codes. Thus, he writes, “…ethics, virtue, merit, punya, to do otherwise is sin, demerit, p?pa. Ethical mind declares a law of love, a law of justice, a law of truth, laws without number, difficult to observe, difficult to reconcile”. Furthermore, “All ethics is a construction of good in a Nature which has been smitten with evil by the powers of darkness born of the Ignorance, even as it is expressed in the ancient legend of the Vedanta. But where all is self-determined by truth of consciousness and truth of being, there can be no standard, no struggle to observe it, no virtue or merit, no sin or demerit of the nature. The power of love, of truth, of right will be there, not as a law mentally constructed but as the very substance and constitution of the nature and, by the integration of the being, necessarily also the very stuff and constituting nature of the action. To grow into this nature of our true being, a nature of spiritual truth and oneness, is the liberation attained by an evolution of the spiritual being: the gnostic evolution gives us the complete dynamism of that return to ourselves.”
Fostering the unfolding of the divine svadharma and svabhava of the Gnostic being and society: this is the call and urge of our times. The unfathomable and, at a superficial glance, the paradoxical nature of Avatarhood needs to be approached in the light of a truly Vedantic spirit, where everything and everyone is the Self, the One in All and All in One. Each and every being is, in essence, divine and even the trivial actions of daily life spring from the same One Source. Spiritual rebirth, the birth of a new humanity today, involves the realization of the unity of spirit and matter, a union of heaven and earth. A true synthesis beyond the play of opposites, everlasting oneness, is the dawning new consciousness awaiting us.
Whatever one’s background and approach, ultimately the only way to access the Avatar’s unfathomable mystery is with a truly Vedantic spirit, as Sri Aurobindo points out in Essays on the Gita. Anything else falls short. Without it, that is, unless we introject the Vedantic consciousness that all is One, Avatarhood would remain an-ever elusive enigma. Yet I realize that accepting this perspective, too, is a matter of personal evolution and nothing can be enforced, with or without Vedanta.
Paulette
Jason Kay says
Sri Aurobindo and the Gita
Keynote address delivered by Michel Danino at a seminar on ‘Relevance of Bhagavad Gita in the New Millennium’ on January 12, 2000, at Kottayam’s Mahatma Gandhi University. This seminar was part of Vivekananda Jayanthi and National Youth Day celebrations, as a valediction of the Vandematharam programme of the Department of Culture, Government of India, and was organized by the Mahatma Gandhi University unit of the Bharateeya Vichara Kendram.)
Of all Indian scriptures, the Bhagavat Gita has likely been the one most commented on. India’s sages, yogis, philosophers, thinkers have, as a rule, regarded it a sacred duty to add theirs to the long list of commentaries on these eighteen brief chapters from the Mahabharata—a mere 700 slokas which have left the deepest of imprints on the Indian psyche for so many centuries.
Sri Aurobindo was no exception to the rule. But before writing his famous Essays on the Gita in his monthly Arya between 1916 and 1920, he had had a long acquaintance with the Song of the Lord. That was no mere intellectual or philosophical inquiry, for, in the true tradition of yoga, Sri Aurobindo always was an experimenter before anything else—he even rejected the label of “philosopher” : “[Modern] philosophy,” he said, “I consider only intellectual and therefore of secondary value. Experience and formulation of experience I consider as the true aim of philosophy.”[1]
From his return from England to India in 1893, at the age of twenty, and until 1905, Sri Aurobindo worked in the Baroda State Service. That left him enough leisure to immerse himself in Sanskrit scriptures, since, having had a completely Western education, he wanted to rediscover his roots. Among his favourites were the two Epics, the Upanishads, and Kalidas. He translated large portions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata into English, though only a few survived his later tribulations. Romesh Chandra Dutt, whose own adaptations of the Epics were popular in those days, asked to see Sri Aurobindo’s translations at Baroda, and remarked that had he seen them earlier, he would never have published his own..[2]
In that very first study of the Gita before he was even thirty, the one thing that struck Sri Aurobindo was its bold “gospel of action”.[3] and its stress on the Kshatriya’s “duty to protect the world from the reign of injustice,”[4] a virile and distinctive Indian message as he immediately saw :
“The Christian and Buddhistic doctrine of turning the other cheek to the smiter,” he scribbled in his notebooks, “is as dangerous as it is impracticable. [It is] a radically false moral distinction and the lip profession of an ideal which mankind has never been able or willing to carry into practice. The disinterested and desireless pursuit of duty is a gospel worthy of the strongest manhood ; that of the cheek turned to the smiter is a gospel for cowards and weaklings. Babes and sucklings may practise it, because they must, but with others it is a hypocrisy.”[5]
The Gita and the Nationalists
The Gita’s stress on true manhood and “desireless duty” or nishkama karma was to be Sri Aurobindo’s prime inspiration during his revolutionary days. It is little known that Sri Aurobindo was, in 1906, the first Indian to openly call for complete independence from the British Empire,[6] at a time when the Congress Moderates were busy praising the “providential character” of British rule in India and swearing their “unswerving allegiance to the British crown.” Through the pages of the English daily Bande Mataram and in his speeches, Sri Aurobindo exhorted his countrymen to find in themselves the strength to stand up to their colonial masters. He soon became the leader in Bengal of those whom the Moderates contemptuously called the “Extremists.” In April 1908, a few days before his arrest in the Alipore Bomb Case, he wrote :
A certain class of minds shrink from aggressiveness as if it were a sin. Their temperament forbids them to feel the delight of battle and they look on what they cannot understand as something monstrous and sinful. “Heal hate by love, drive out injustice by justice, slay sin by righteousness” is their cry. Love is a sacred name, but it is easier to speak of love than to love…. The Gita is the best answer to those who shrink from battle as a sin and aggression as a lowering of morality.[7]
Clearly, Sri Aurobindo anticipated here the rise of non-violence as a creed ; but he took Sri Krishna’s admonition of Arjuna literally and, like Swami Vivekananda, put his faith in strength, not in ahimsa. Shortly after his release from jail the following year, Sri Aurobindo developed this point in a speech on the Gita at Khulna :
The virtue of the Brahmin is a great virtue : You shall not kill. This is what Ahimsa means. [But] if the virtue of Ahimsa comes to the Kshatriya, if you say “I will not kill,” there is no one to protect the country. The happiness of the people will be broken down. Injustice and lawlessness will reign. The virtue becomes a source of misery, and you become instrumental in bringing misery and conflict to the people.[8]
The teaching of the Gita, he said in his concluding words, “means perfection of action. It makes man great. It gives him the utter strength, the utter bliss which is the goal of life in the world.”[9]
Indeed, the revolutionaries in Bengal and Maharashtra drew such inspiration from the Gita that the colonial authorities came to regard it as a “gospel of terrorism,” and it became one of the most sought-after pieces of evidence in police raids ; it is also one of the chief influences cited in the 1918 Rowlatt Sedition Committee Report, side by side with Swami Vivekananda’s works.[10] Sri Aurobindo himself is said to have given initiation to several revolutionaries by making them swear on the Gita that they would do everything to liberate India from the foreign yoke..[11] But in the columns of the Karmayogin, he took objection to this summary characterization of the Gita :
We strongly protest against the brand of suspicion that has been sought to be placed in many quarters on the teaching and possession of the Gita—our chief national heritage, our hope for the future, our great force for the purification of the moral weaknesses that stain and hamper our people..[12]
The Yoga of the Gita
Though he drew strength from the Gita, Sri Aurobindo knew better than to see in it “a mere gospel of war and heroic action, a Nietzschean creed of power and high-browed strength, of Hebraic or old Teutonic hardness.”[13] During his year-long solitary imprisonment in the Alipore jail, he intensively practised the yoga spelt out by Sri Krishna. Soon after his unexpected acquittal in May 1909, in his famous speech at Uttarpara he recounted something of his experience :
He placed the Gita in my hands. His strength entered into me and I was able to do the Sadhana of the Gita. I was not only to understand intellectually but to realise what Sri Krishna demanded of Arjuna and what He demands of those who aspire to do his work..[14]
To “realize,” let us note again. And what he first realized was the divine Oneness described in the Gita : “The man whose self is in Yoga, sees the self in all beings and all beings in the self, he is equal-visioned everywhere. He who sees Me everywhere and sees all in Me, to him I do not get lost, nor does he get lost to Me.” (VI.29, 30) In Sri Aurobindo’s words :
I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned ; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay on the coarse blankets that were given me for a couch and felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me, the arms of my Friend and Lover…. I looked at the prisoners in the jail, the thieves, the murderers, the swindlers, and as I looked at them I saw Vasudeva, it was Narayana whom I found in these darkened souls and misused bodies.
When the case opened … I was followed by the same insight. He said to me, “When you were cast into jail, did not your heart fail and did you not cry out to me, where is Thy protection ? Look now at the Magistrate, look now at the Prosecuting Counsel.” I looked and it was not the Magistrate whom I saw, it was Vasudeva, it was Narayana who was sitting there on the bench. I looked at the Prosecuting Counsel and it was not the Counsel for the prosecution that I saw ; it was Sri Krishna who sat there and smiled. “Now do you fear ?” He said, “I am in all men and I overrule their actions and their words.”[15]
Such was the supreme experience Sri Aurobindo received in jail, which never left him afterwards. And such is the supreme paradox of the Gita, that we must act and act boldly and sometimes fiercely, knowing and seeing all the while that all is He, that there is nothing in this entire universe that is not essentially the Divine. I stress the word “essentially,” because there lies, according to Sri Aurobindo, the key to the apparent paradox : all is essentially divine, but until it is manifestly so, this creation will remain a Kurukshetra and it will be our duty to fight for the truth. For the Gita is not concerned with our shallow and too often hypocritical “human rights” ; it deals rather with our human duties : we are human beings only if we are prepared to fight for the truth, not otherwise.
In his Essays, Sri Aurobindo expounded at length, and never in a dry metaphysical manner, every aspect of the Gita, ethical and spiritual : its stress on action, its karma yoga based on true equality, non-attachment and renunciation of the ego, culminating in the abandonment of all dharmas, its broad synthesis of Vedanta, Sankhya, Jñana, Bhakti and even Tantra, its deep insights into the workings of Nature, into human nature with its divine as well as diabolical possibilities, its call to go beyond morality and the three gunas to the supreme truth…. I cannot even outline here these profound expositions which go to the roots of almost every problem of life and yoga which Indian thought and practice has faced. But, at the cost of incompleteness, there is one core teaching of the Gita we need to look into, one that Sri Aurobindo lays particular stress on, and the very one that had inspired him during his revolutionary days—that is, the problem of action and the use of force to defend dharma.
The Gita, the Gospel of Strength, and Non-Violence
It is customary nowadays to hear that Hinduism is at bottom a “message of tolerance and non-violence”—that has become a kind of slogan which our politicians and media people alike are fond of mouthing without even stopping to think about it. Let us for now pass over the question of tolerance, except to recall these words of Sri Krishna : “Even those who sacrifice to other godheads with devotion and faith, they also sacrifice to Me…. I am equal in all existences, none is dear to Me, none hated” (9.23, 29)—this, along with the famous Vedic affirmation about the many names of the One Existent, contains much more than what is ordinarily meant by “tolerance,” and it is an assurance we are not likely to encounter in any Scripture of the three Semitic religions.
But let us rather dwell on the point of non-violence. Our first observation is that, unlike Buddhism or Jainism, Hinduism never made a universal doctrine of ahimsa, which remained limited to the Brahmin’s dharma, even then with qualifications. True, we have in the Mahabharata the maxim ahimsa paramo dharmah, “ahimsa is the highest law,” but that is never intended for the Kshatriya. There is even a very sensible observation made to the Brahmin Kausika : “When the earth is ploughed, numberless creatures lurking in the ground are destroyed…. Fish preys upon fish, various animals prey upon other species, and some species even prey upon themselves…. The earth and the air all swarm with living organisms which are unconsciously destroyed by men from mere ignorance. Ahimsa was ordained of old by men who were ignorant of the true facts. There is not a man on the face of the earth who is free from the sin of doing injury to creatures.”[16] Then there is the humorous episode in the Devi Bhagavata (skanda 4), in which Brihaspati (in the guise of Sukracharya) preaches ahimsa paramo dharmah to the Asuras and enjoins them “not to injure even those who come to kill you”—but this he preaches to the Asuras so as to disarm them, not to the Devas ! Finally, let us note that even Jainism, which made the maxim one of its central teachings, allows monks to attain liberation by fasting to death—an undeniable act of himsa. There is clearly nothing absolute about the much-abused saying.
There is also nothing non-violent about the wars in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, about some of the Veda’s fierce gods, or Durga’s and Kali’s pitiless destruction of Asuras. Sanskrit texts, as also the Sangam literature and folk legends, resound with heroes and heroic deeds, and Sri Krishna echoes them when he declares : “I am the strength of the mighty” (10.36).
As was his wont, Sri Aurobindo faced this central problem squarely :
Unless we have the honesty and courage to look existence straight in the face, we shall never arrive at any effective solution of its discords and oppositions. We must see first what life and the world are…. Our very bodily life is a constant dying and being reborn, the body itself a beleaguered city attacked by assailing, protected by defending forces whose business is to devour each other….War and destruction are not only a universal principle of our life here in its purely material aspects, but also of our mental and moral existence…. It is impossible, at least as men and things are, to advance, to grow, to fulfil and still to observe really and utterly that principle of harmlessness which is yet placed before us as the highest and best law of conduct.[17]
Significantly, this passage from his Essays was published in the December 1916 issue of the Arya, in the middle of the First World War, but also when Mahatma Gandhi had joined the national movement and started propagating his doctrine of ahimsa. Sri Aurobindo continues :
This world of our battle and labour is a fierce dangerous destructive devouring world in which life exists precariously and the soul and body of man move among enormous perils, a world in which by every step forward, whether we will it or no, something is crushed and broken, in which every breath of life is a breath too of death. To put away the responsibility for all that seems to us evil or terrible on the shoulders of a semi-omnipotent Devil, or to put it aside as part of Nature, making an unbridgeable opposition between world-nature and God-Nature, as if Nature were independent of God, or to throw the responsibility on man and his sins, as if he had a preponderant voice in the making of this world or could create anything against the will of God, are clumsily comfortable devices in which the religious thought of India has never taken refuge. We have to look courageously in the face of the reality and see that it is God and none else who has made this world in his being and that so he has made it. We have to see that Nature devouring her children, Time eating up the lives of creatures, Death universal and ineluctable and the violence of the Rudra forces in man and Nature are also the supreme Godhead in one of his cosmic figures.[18]
In these days when, again, easy and noisy slogans have taken the place of thinking and discerning, and when we are constantly told that “All religions are the same and speak the same truth,” mark how Sri Aurobindo never fails to point out the distinctive traits and contributions of the Indian genius :
It is only a few religions which have had the courage to say without any reserve, like the Indian, that this enigmatic World-Power is one Deity, one Trinity, to lift up the image of the Force that acts in the world in the figure not only of the beneficent Durga, but of the terrible Kali in her blood-stained dance of destruction and to say, “This too is the Mother ; this also know to be God ; this too, if thou hast the strength, adore.” And it is significant that the religion which has had this unflinching honesty and tremendous courage, has succeeded in creating a profound and widespread spirituality such as no other can parallel. For truth is the foundation of real spirituality and courage is its soul.[19]
Bracing words these, but lest one might imagine that Sri Aurobindo is advocating some blood-thirsty cult, let me add this conclusion of his :
A day may come, must surely come, we will say, when humanity will be ready spiritually, morally, socially for the reign of universal peace ; meanwhile the aspect of battle and the nature and function of man as a fighter have to be accepted and accounted for by any practical philosophy and religion.[20]
Examples from India’s Recent History
Note the word “practical.” It should now be clear that Sri Aurobindo radically differed from the Mahatma on the practice of non-violence, and as this difference is glossed over in conventional scholarship, I think we should examine it, since such differences, far from being awkward, are in fact fecund if faced honestly. It is true that in April 1907, Sri Aurobindo had exposed in a series of brilliant articles in the Bande Mataram his “Doctrine of Passive Resistance” intended to become a mass movement against British rule, and that the series, which was read throughout the country in those days, seems to have influenced Gandhi on his return from Africa. But Sri Aurobindo never made a cult of ideology either, and in those same articles he had also spelt out the limits of non-cooperation and passive resistance, which he saw as the only practicable policy of the day in the face of the rulers’ crushing military superiority and the Congress Moderates’ lack of support for the ideal of independence :
Every great yajña has its Rakshasas who strive to baffle the sacrifice…. Passive resistance is an attempt to meet such disturbers by peaceful and self-contained brahmatejas ; but even the greatest Rishis of old could not, when the Rakshasas were fierce and determined, keep up the sacrifice without calling in the bow of the Kshatriya. We should have the bow of the Kshatriya ready for use, though in the background. Politics is especially the business of the Kshatriya, and without Kshatriya strength at its back, all political struggle is unavailing.[21]
Nevertheless, considerable similarities in the practical aspects of the two leaders’ policies prompted some scholars to paint them with the same brush. When, at the time of Independence, a biographer of his fell victim to such facile parallels, Sri Aurobindo protested in the following note (written in the third person) :
In some quarters there is the idea that Sri Aurobindo’s political standpoint was entirely pacifist, that he was opposed in principle and in practice to all violence and that he denounced terrorism, insurrection, etc., as entirely forbidden by the spirit and letter of the Hindu religion. It is even suggested that he was a forerunner of the gospel of Ahimsa. This is quite incorrect. Sri Aurobindo is neither an impotent moralist nor a weak pacifist.
The rule of confining political action to passive resistance was adopted as the best policy for the National Movement at that stage and not as a part of a gospel of Non-violence or pacifist idealism. Peace is a part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis ; without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality. If it is attempted on any other basis (moral principle or gospel of Ahimsa or any other), it will fail and even may leave things worse than before…. Sri Aurobindo’s position and practice in this matter was the same as Tilak’s and that of other Nationalist leaders who were by no means Pacifists or worshippers of Ahimsa.[22]
It may appear hard to accept that the gospel of Ahimsa “may leave things worse than before.” But can we for a moment picture what would have happened if, in the middle of the Second World War, with much of Europe including France under German occupation, Britain had given way to the Nazi wave ? And yet that is exactly what the Mahatma exhorted the British to do in his famous 1940 open letter “to every Briton,” in which he called for the British to lay down their arms “because war is bad in essence,” “to fight Nazism without arms or … with non-violent arms,” and to “invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take … possession of your beautiful island.”[23] No doubt Hitler would have been delighted had Britain followed such advice, just as Duryodhana would have been highly pleased to see Arjuna lay down his bow. But in both cases, what would have been the result for mankind ?
By contrast, in September 1940, Sri Aurobindo sent the Governor of Madras a contribution and a message in support of the Allies during the War :
We feel that not only is this a battle waged in just self-defence and in defence of the nations threatened with the world-domination of Germany and the Nazi system of life, but that it is a defence of civilisation and its highest attained social, cultural and spiritual values and of the whole future of humanity. To this cause our support and sympathy will be unswerving whatever may happen…[24]
Or let us consider the case of the 1942 Cripps mission. Harried by Germany, increasingly pressured by the U.S.A., a proud and reluctant Churchill, who had sworn ever to protect the Empire, was compelled to present to India on a gold platter an offer of dominion status, so as to secure her support during the war. (That was the third such offer since the start of the War, but in more explicit terms than ever.) In spite of messages from Sri Aurobindo to the Congress urging them to accept the proposal which amounted to virtual independence at the end of the War, and although others (including Nehru and Rajagopalachari) favoured it, Gandhi told Sri Aurobindo’s messenger he found it unacceptable, once again “because of his opposition to war.”[25] (Churchill also, I should add, forbade Sir Stafford Cripps to show the slightest flexibility.) The result of Gandhi’s dogmatic stand on the evil nature of war—a dogma Sri Krishna rebuffs in the Gita—was to be tragic for India. It not only meant an unnecessary postponement of Independence, but it made India’s bloody vivisection unavoidable, even as the Mahatma promised it would happen only “over his dead body” ; it also meant three wars with our neighbour and the continuing war of attrition and terrorism in Kashmir.
In his History of the Freedom Movement in India, the distinguished historian R. C. Majumdar was forced to reject “the generally accepted view which gave Mahatma Gandhi the ‘sole credit for the freedom of India’.[26] He noted :
It has been my painful duty to show that … the popular image of Gandhi cannot be reconciled with what he actually was…. It will also be seen that the current estimate of the degree or extent of his success bears no relation to actual facts.[27]
Today we find that more and more scholars are rallying to those views and, while giving due respect to the Mahatma, are beginning to whisper that his rigid insistence on an impracticable non-violence may have cost the country dear.[28] Such a reassessment can only be healthy, for there is nothing more debilitating than to draw a righteous veil over errors of the past.
Still, we should note that Gandhi did try to understand Sri Aurobindo’s viewpoint ; in 1924, for instance, he sent his son Devadas to Pondicherry to sound him on non-violence. Sri Aurobindo simply replied, “Suppose there is an invasion of India by the Afghans, how are you going to meet it with non-violence ?”[29] We all know what happened when Kashmir was invaded immediately after Independence, or when Chinese troops poured into India in 1962, or even last year when Pakistani troops occupied peaks in Kargil. And I am afraid there are more Kargils to come. It is a moot point what the Mahatma’s advice would be in such cases : to lay down arms and meet the enemy with non-violence ?
The following words of Sri Aurobindo, written in December 1916 in his Essays on the Gita, appear prophetic in retrospect :
We will use only soul-force and never destroy by war or any even defensive employment of physical violence ? Good, though until soul-force is effective, the Asuric force in men and nations tramples down, breaks, slaughters, burns, pollutes, as we see it doing today, but then at its ease and unhindered, and you have perhaps caused as much destruction of life by your abstinence as others by resort to violence…[30]
Non-Violence and Shakti
If, therefore, we mean the Gita’s teaching to be a practical one, which is what Sri Aurobindo did, we have to reject non-violence as a creed—it may remain an individual’s choice, for every individual is free to follow his preferred path, but anyone who has to wage a battle for dharma or for the truth—which comes to the same thing—will find a better ally in the use of shakti which the Gita advocates. Arjuna is of course something of all of us, the symbol of “the struggling human soul,” in Sri Aurobindo’s words, and Kurukshetra is the “battle of life,” even of our humdrum everyday life if we take the trouble of living for a purpose. Resist a corrupt official and a Kurukshetra opens in front of you ; let a women’s group take on liquor barons and you can hear the twang of the Gandiva ; if a few villagers or tribals oppose a timber mafia, you will see a hundred Kauravas rise ; or simply try to keep your street clean and learn what ghoram karma is all about !
Now, a frequent misconception is that if we reject non-violence, we must fall into violence—there is no alternative beyond those two opposite poles. That is a terrible and costly confusion, which the Gita goes to great pains to dispel : between blind, asuric violence and noble but impotent non-violence, there is conscious, detached shakti, which can remain powerfully still or also wage war, as circumstances demand. True, in the world’s history, most aggressive expansions, especially the Christian and Islamic, followed the asuric path and washed the earth with blood—there is at least one notable exception, though, and that is India, whose sole weapon of conquest was always her culture. Yet she was by no means non-violent. Alexander was confronted by Paurava’s armies ; the Pratihara empire, the last Hindu empire of Northwest India, checked the progress of Islam into India for three centuries ; we know well enough the great deeds of a Shivaji or a Lakshmibai and countless other heroes of this land, including those who fought and often died for India’s freedom. Sri Krishna’s injunctions as to the Kshatriya’s dharma were therefore no dead letter in India’s past.
As to the present, it is a frequently heard complaint that Mahatma Gandhi’s teaching of non-violence is no longer followed in India ; but it rather seems to me that it has penetrated the collective Indian consciousness deep enough to make it wince at the very thought of force and put a brake on its use even when and where it is patently needed. Certainly no other country would have tolerated with so little reaction the amount of aggression India has suffered since Independence, and at what terrible cost.
India’s one tragedy is that she has not had the courage to put to effective use the elements of strength in her heritage. The Gita provides a telling case in point. Here is a brief and accessible text, with nothing esoteric to it, which has evoked the admiration of countless thinkers outside India, from Emerson to Aldous Huxley and André Malraux, here is the best possible guide of ethics (though not merely that), which disentangles with miraculous ease some of the most knotty questions humanity has asked—and, except for a course or two of philosophy, our schools and colleges will not teach it to our children. And why not ? Because, so far as I have been able to make out, it is a “religious” text. A more thoughtless aberration would be hard to come by, and I wonder how those who drafted India’s education policy arrogated the right to deprive young Indians of their heritage. No, the Gita is not a “religious” or even a “Hindu” scripture, it belongs to all humanity and its very text repeatedly makes this universality plain :
“I am the path and goal,” says Sri Krishna, “the upholder, the master, the witness, the house and country, the refuge, the benignant friend ; I the birth and status and destruction of apparent existence, I the imperishable seed of all and their eternal resting-place…. I am the silence of things secret and the knowledge of the knower…. Nothing moving or unmoving, animate or inanimate in the world can be without me.” (9.18, 10.38, 10.39)
Is this a sectarian declaration ? Moreover, the Gita is about dharma and dharma is not religion, it is ethics in the deepest sense. If we decide that education is only intended to prepare children for getting jobs and has nothing to do with making better human beings out of them, then we admit that there is no more meaning to a man’s life than to an ant’s. The Gita’s message is a practical tool : it gives a purpose in life, and a purpose is something practical ; it gives strength, and strength is something practical ; it gives self-confidence, elevation in thought, a broader view of life, a deeper understanding of human nature, and those are all practical things. I believe India would be in a better shape today had the Gita not been kept out of sight and hearing of young Indians, except for some abstract study of the Sankhya philosophy or a few slokas for burials and other ceremonies. Was Sri Aurobindo’s depiction of the Gita as “our chief national heritage, our hope for the future” just so many empty words ?
Permit me to quote Swami Vivekananda too, in whose name we are gathered today. Speaking in Calcutta to a few young aspirants, he said :
In order to remove this delusion which had overtaken Arjuna, what did the Bhagavan say ? As I always preach that you should … draw [a man’s] attention to the omnipotent power that is in him, in the same way does the Bhagavan speak to Arjuna : “Thou art that Atman imperishable, beyond all evil… Yield not to unmanliness.” If you, my sons, can proclaim this message to the world, “Yield not to unmanliness,” then all this disease, grief, sin and sorrow will vanish from the face of the earth in three days…. Proclaim to the whole world with trumpet voice, “There is no sin in thee, there is no misery in thee ; thou art the reservoir of omnipotent power. Arise, awake, and manifest the divinity within !”[31]
Because they insisted on building a new, rejuvenated India on the great truths of her ancient heritage and not on the fleeting destructive values of the West, neither Sri Aurobindo nor Swami Vivekananda are in favour with current thinking, if it can be called that. In fact, today they would probably be labelled “revivalists” by our hypnotized intelligentsia, and they would certainly find themselves swimming against the cheerless tide, at loggerheads with almost every direction the country has taken since Independence, and with the educational system in particular. They would never have imagined that education in free India could have rejected anything having to do with Indian culture, preferring to go on with Macaulay’s denationalizing methods. Is Indian culture then something so shameful, so ignoble that it has to be concealed from our children, except in the privacy of the home ? Well, perhaps it is after all, but if it is, let us have the courage to declare so openly and have done with it rather than brandish it just to attract foreign tourists to a few temples and ruins.
I cannot resist the temptation of mentioning a case in point : it is significant that none of our successive education ministers thought it worthwhile to give Swami Vivekananda’s or Sri Aurobindo’s names to just one out of the 216 universities spread over the country ; Mahatma Gandhi has two universities in his name, one of which is of course this one here ; Dr. Ambedkar has six, Jawaharlal Nehru three, and a number of much lesser Indians have one. But no “Swami Vivekananda University,” no “Sri Aurobindo University”—Swami Vivekananda who shook India awake, Sri Aurobindo who in 1906 became the first principal of the newly opened Bengal National College, Sri Aurobindo the Nationalist leader, the editor and chief writer of Bande Mataram and Karmayogin, Sri Aurobindo who laid the foundations for an original Indian perspective in so many fields of yoga, thought, action, and life.
This omission may be a small thing in itself, but it is revealing of the unease the establishment feels towards these awkward personalities. Which Indian student ever learns anything of substance about Swami Vivekananda or Sri Aurobindo ? Either we find them worthy of being taught to our children for their greater benefit as human beings, in which case we should roll up our sleeves and set to work, or there is no point in making them objects of hollow praise as is too often the case.
Sri Aurobindo had and still has a message for his country, and a practical one, for he was no effete dreamer. Whether calling for India’s independence, supporting the Allies, urging acceptance of Cripps’ proposal, he practised what he called “spiritual realism.”[32] It is India’s misfortune that he was not heard, and her continuing misfortune that he and Swami Vivekananda are shoved aside like museum pieces.
Of course, it would be a mistake to equate Sri Aurobindo’ entire teaching and yoga with the Gita. As he said,
I regard the spiritual history of mankind and especially of India as a constant development of a divine purpose, not a book that is closed and the lines of which have to be constantly repeated. Even the Upanishads and the Gita were not final though everything may be there in seed….[33]
But in all his actions, Sri Aurobindo faithfully followed the spirit of the Gita. His life is, in my opinion, the best commentary on the great Scripture.
“If one is among the … seekers of [the] Truth,” he once wrote to a disciple, “one has to take sides for the Truth, to stand against the forces that attack it and seek to stifle it. Arjuna wanted not to stand for either side, to refuse any action of hostility even against assailants ; Sri Krishna, who insisted so much on samata, strongly rebuked his attitude and insisted equally on his fighting the adversary. ‘Have samata,’ he said, ‘and seeing clearly the Truth, fight.’ … It is a spiritual battle inward and outward ; by neutrality and compromise or even passivity one may allow the enemy force to pass and crush down the Truth and its children.”[34]
References
N.B. : In references to Sri Aurobindo’s works (‘Centenary Edition,’ Pondicherry : Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1972), the first number refers to the volume, the second to the page number.
Sri Aurobindo’s India’s Rebirth (3rd ed., 2000; also in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Oriya, Tamil and Gujarati translations) is co-published and distributed by:
Mira Aditi
62 ‘Sriranga’, 2nd Main, 1st Cross
T. K. Layout, Saraswatipuram
Mysore – 570 009, India
[1] Evening Talks recorded by A. B. Purani (Pondicherry : Sri Aurobindo Society, 1982), p. 105
[2] Mother’s Chronicles—Book Five : Mira Meets the Revolutionary by Sujata Nahar (Mysore : Mira Aditi, 1997), p. 97
[3] Notes on the Mahabharata, 3.169.
[4] Ibid., 3.178.
[5]Ibid.
[6] See India’s Rebirth (Mysore : Mira Aditi, 3rd edition, 2000), p. 19.
[7] FrIbid., p. 46.
[8] Karmayogin, June 25, 1909, 2.427.
[9] Ibid., 2.430.
[10]See Sedition Committee 1918 Report under Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rowlatt (reprinted Calcutta : New Age Publishers, 1973), p. 17 & 23.
[11] R. C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India (Calcutta : Firmal KLM, vol. 3, 1988), vol. I p. 408.
[12] Karmayogin, 12 January 1910, 2.401.
[13] Essays on the Gita, 13.52-53.
[14] Uttarpara Speech, 30 May 1909, 2.3.
[15] Ibid., 2.4-5.
[16] Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Ch. 207, adapted from K. M. Ganguli’s translation (Delhi : Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000), vol. I p. 431-432.
[17] Essays on the Gita, 13.38-39.
[18] Ibid., 13.367-368
[19] Ibid., 13.42.
[20] Ibid., 13.45.
[21] Bande Mataram, 23 April 1907, 1.122.
[22] On Himself, 26.22.
[23] Amrita Bazar Patrika, “Method of Non-violence—Mahatma Gandhi’s appeal to every Briton,” July 4, 1940. See a longer extract and Sri Aurobindo’s reaction to the open letter in India’s Rebirth, p. 227.
[24] On Himself, 26.393.
[25] See India’s Rebirth, p. 235-236.
[26] R. C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India, vol. 3, p. xiii.
[27] Ibid., p. xviii.
[28] See for instance N. S. Rajaram, Gandhi, Khilafat and the National Movement (Bangalore : Sahitya Sindhu Prakashana, 1999).
[29] Evening Talks, p. 53
[30] Essays on the Gita, 13.39.
[31] The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (Almora : Advaita Ashrama, 1948), vol. IV, p. 105-106.
[32] The Human Cycle, 15:228
[33] On Himself, 26.125.
[34] Letters on Yoga, 23.665-666.
Jason Kay says
“I know Muslim shopkeepers since almost four decades; I feel so sorry for what they must go through, I feel their pain” What pain due to what ? and what about the pain of hindus especially the ones who been kicked of kashmir and are in refugee camps.Hindus cant even visit their holy places in kashmir where temples have been destroyed and they cant go even to amarnath without army protection.So what about them ? oh yeh i forgot you are a hindu hater
Jason Kay says
Girdhar, Have noticed that Paulette Hindu hater Hadnagy who makes a point that Arovillians are told to keep away from politics seems to be very aware of politics especially the anti hindu side of it..
Paulette Hadnagy says
To Girdhar and Duart in particular, but also to those who cannot understand why in Auroville we don’t even debate on Muslims, politics etc., these are the last two quotes, from Sri Aurobindo, by which I conclude the reprint of “Avatarhood”:
REALISTIC ADWAITA AND GNOSTIC EVOLUTION
There is possible a realistic as well as an illusionist Adwaita. The philosophy of The Life Divine is such a realistic Adwaita. The world is a manifestation of the Real and therefore is itself real. The reality is the infinite and eternal Divine, infinite and eternal Being, Consciousness-Force and Bliss. This Divine by his power has created the world or rather manifested it in his own infinite Being. But here in the material world or at its basis he has hidden himself in what seem to be his opposites, Non-Being, Inconscience and Insentience. This is what we nowadays call the Inconscient which seems to have created the material universe by its inconscient Energy; but this is only an appearance, for we find in the end that all the dispositions of the world can only have been arranged by the working of a supreme secret intelligence. The Being which is hidden in what seems to be an inconscient void emerges in the world first in Matter, then in Life, then in Mind and finally as the Spirit. The apparently inconscient Energy which creates is in fact the Consciousness-Force of the Divine and its aspect of consciousness, secret in Matter, begins to emerge in Life, finds something more of itself in Mind and finds its true self in a spiritual consciousness and finally a supramental consciousness through which we become aware of the Reality, enter into it and unite ourselves with it. This is what we call evolution which is an evolution of consciousness and an evolution of the Spirit in things and only outwardly an evolution of species. Thus also, the delight of existence emerges from the original insentience first in the contrary forms of pleasure and pain and then has to find itself in the bliss of the Spirit or as it is called in the Upanishads, the bliss of the Brahman. That is the central idea in the explanation of the universe put forward in The Life Divine.
Letters on Himself and the Ashram, CWSA 35, 91-2
All the character of the life and action of the gnostic being would arise self-determined out of this nature of his gnostic individuality. There could be in it no separate problem of an ethical or any similar content, any conflict of good and evil. There could indeed be no problem at all, for problems are the creations of mental ignorance seeking for knowledge and they cannot exist in a consciousness in which knowledge arises self-born and the act is self-born out of the knowledge, out of a pre-existent truth of being conscious and self-aware. An essential and universal spiritual truth of being manifesting itself, freely fulfilling itself in its own nature and self-effectuating consciousness, a truth of being one in all even in an infinite diversity of its truth and making all to be felt as one, would also be in its very nature an essential and universal good manifesting itself, fulfilling itself in its own nature and self-effectuating consciousness, a truth of good one in all and for all even in an infinite diversity of its good. The purity of the eternal Self-existence would pour itself into all the activities, making and keeping all things pure; there could be no ignorance leading to wrong will and falsehood of the steps, no separative egoism inflicting by its ignorance and separate contrary will harm on oneself or harm on others, self-driven to a wrong dealing with one’s own soul, mind, life or body or a wrong dealing with the soul, mind, life, body of others, which is the practical sense of all human evil. To rise beyond virtue and sin, good and evil is an essential part of the Vedantic idea of liberation, and there is in this correlation a self-evident sequence. For liberation signifies an emergence into the true spiritual nature of being where all action is the automatic self-expression of that truth and there can be nothing else. In the imperfection and conflict of our members there is an effort to arrive at a right standard of conduct and to observe it; that is ethics, virtue, merit, punya, to do otherwise is sin, demerit, p?pa. Ethical mind declares a law of love, a law of justice, a law of truth, laws without number, difficult to observe, difficult to reconcile. But if oneness with others, oneness with truth is already the essence of the realised spiritual nature, there is no need of a law of truth or of love,—the law, the standard has to be imposed on us now because there is in our natural being an opposite force of separateness, a possibility of antagonism, a force of discord, ill-will, strife. All ethics is a construction of good in a Nature which has been smitten with evil by the powers of darkness born of the Ignorance, even as it is expressed in the ancient legend of the Vedanta. But where all is self-determined by truth of consciousness and truth of being, there can be no standard, no struggle to observe it, no virtue or merit, no sin or demerit of the nature. The power of love, of truth, of right will be there, not as a law mentally constructed but as the very substance and constitution of the nature and, by the integration of the being, necessarily also the very stuff and constituting nature of the action. To grow into this nature of our true being, a nature of spiritual truth and oneness, is the liberation attained by an evolution of the spiritual being: the gnostic evolution gives us the complete dynamism of that return to ourselves. Once that is done, the need of standards of virtue, dharmas, disappears; there is the law and self-order of the liberty of the Spirit, there can be no imposed or constructed law of conduct, dharma. All becomes a self-flow of spiritual self-nature, Swadharma of Swabhava.
The Life Divine, SABCL:19, 996-8
Jason Kay says
“To Girdhar and Duart in particular, but also to those who cannot understand why in Auroville we don’t even debate on Muslims, politics etc.,”
nobody here is talking about the average muslim .You and your colleagues have been writing on mohammed in your books so on that basis you been asked on those quotes from the koran and hadiths which you are so scared to answer but then you think you have the right to attack hindus and then talk about the vedas..If you cant even talk about the koran but instead give excuses for the atrocities its inspired its followers to do on other human beings especially the hindus who you hate and attack then you definitely have no right to talk about Hinduism and its scriptures.
Paulette Hadnagy says
Recently Danino has given a speech in Auroville. I was immediately taken over, not just by his knowledge, but by his personality too: gentle, simple, humble, loving, unassuming, a true embodiment of the psychic being…
I had posted in this blog much of the material, quoting from the nationalist Aurobindo Ghose, which I have used for the Centenary Exhibition, but it disappeared almost immediately. I thought that it was felt too extreme and it had been censored…
Happy to find many of those quotes in Danino’s speech, he is fantastic!
By the way, Swami Vivekananda’s younger brother was involved in the Bande Matarm case… While Sister Nivedita quit the Ramakrishna Mission to be free to pursue her nationalist activities without embarrassing the monks…
Paulette
Paulette Hadnagy says
Kireet Joshi is not an Aurovilian, and not our colleague. I have listed one page with the spectacular services he has rendered to the nation. Having been, among others, the registrar of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram schools (kindergarten to college), special counselor of education from Indira Gandhi to Modi, writing projects or founding universities etc., besides writing papers and books on Integral Yoga and the Vedas, he has also been writing in the field of education. This is his svadharma — not mine.
I am a researcher on Integral Yoga and Yoga. I have listed the themes I research and made clear that religion, under whatever form, is not my field of interest. The last time I was involved with religion was at the university, over forty years ago, when I was about to do research on the Christian heretical sects, but then I dropped this too.
You have hijacked this forum, made the author of the original article withdraw, the acolytes of Patrizia Norelli are coming forward. Still you go on and on, endlessly, with Mohamed and Islam, which have nothing to do with the purpose of the article. It is an obsession. I had enough of the Catholic Church, I have not come to India looking for the anti-Muslim church.
Write your own article and get the comments you want.
Moreover I find quite distasteful that a Westerner who, from what you write, has no clue about the Indian society, and no understanding about the broadness of vision and acceptance that true Hindus have, keeps meddling into their affairs with the typically Western fanaticism. You may no longer be a Christian but your fundamentalism reminds me of the bleakest years under pope Pius XII. Hands off!
By the way, you are the twin-soul of Robert Wilkinson. To read one is to read the other. If you were not so einflated your true place would be at PN’s feet, you are 100% her type.
Good luck! Shrink your ego and join the PN’s club.You will certainly be appreciated there. A twin-soul is Bob’s ultimate felicity.
Paulette
Paulette
Jason Kay says
Paulette Hindu hater Hadnagy, I dont care if Kireet Joshi is an Aurovilian or Reptilian because the article is about the Max muller syndrome where the norelli cult is just one example of that mentality but by reading all your replies proves you suffer from the syndrome the most more then even the norellis..Everything you been talking about on this thread is about yourself and your books .. now because you have been caught out again you are twisting things which proves you are a fraud .You are the one who was boasting about the greatness of mohammed and islam which i dont care about but then you should have some intellectual integrity and answer on the quotes from the koran ..So dont make pathetic excuses and start attacking people when everyone he can clearly see you are a Hindu hater
David says
Dear Jason
Now you are witnessing Paulette Hadnagys true behaviour.She’s part of the Auroville dictatorship that announces what books should be read or not and then burned if they dont fit into the criteria of their agenda .This is not Santhana Dharma but this behaviour is of Christian bigots who burned down the Ancient Library of Alexandria. She’s only interested in her own fame and recognition .Many good people have been run out of Auroville because of people like her.Auroville is doomed by the people who have abused their power and the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for their own personal petty agendas..
Jason Kay says
@David, She has exposed herself.
Robert E. Wilkinson says
Response to Sameer Thakkar’s ‘Max-Muller Syndrome: Distorting Hinduism’
By Robert E Wilkinson
Debate and discussion of spiritual and esoteric philosophy is a time honored and established tradition in India and throughout the world. Its goal is to question, dispute, and continually challenge established dogma in order to arrive at a greater, more current, and integral truth. As someone who regularly participates in these debates and discussions I am used to the rough and tumble dialogue that arises from people with strongly held opinions and beliefs, but Sameer Thakkar’s article goes beyond the bounds of intelligent discourse into fear mongering, misrepresentation, and lies. Instead of responding to issues of knowledge made in my original article, Sathya Sai Baba: the Counterfeit Avatar, Thakkar has introduced passages from my older articles, quoted completely out of context, in order to make Thea (Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet) and not me, the true focus of his attack. Why he would wish to do this becomes evident as we examine his claims.
Beginning with the title of his article, ‘The Max-Muller Syndrome: Distorting Hinduism’ Thakkar seeks to invoke the spectre of a colonial Christian missionary agent bent on the abuse and distortion of the Hindu religion. But curiously he makes no mention of Max Muller in his article. He immediately shifts his attention to a woman, Wendy Doniger, the controversial writer and Indologist who, according to Thakkar, is out to distort and demean the Hindu scriptures. He compares Ms. Doniger’s scholarly work to that of Christian missionaries and pseudo-mystics who wish to ‘exploit the tolerance of Hindus, deceive, manipulate, instill inferiority complexes, psychological slavery, hate, and the abuse of Hindu literature’. His attempts to cultivate an attitude of fear and distrust of foreigners was at first confusing but in the pages that followed It becomes clear that his intention is to associate in his reader’s mind Doniger’s unspeakable treason to Hinduism with another foreign woman, Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet who he also wishes to demonize. While this may serve to inflame his readers, it is a specious comparison made by someone with no appreciation of the profound differences in consciousness that distinguish a scholar from a sage, let alone the quality of their work. But in either case Thakker, is plainly threatened by ideas and interpretations that run counter to his own rigid dogma and has an abhorrent distrust of foreigners and women in particular especially those in positions of authority.
Contrary to Thakkar’s backward beliefs, Hinduism is not a rigid monolithic system. It is a multi-faceted, constantly evolving, many staged quest of the human spirit seeking new and more complete aspects of the Divine consciousness. ‘It rejects nothing’, said Sri Aurobindo, ‘but insists on testing and experiencing everything and when tested and experienced turning it to the soul’s uses.’ This process is the very heart of Yoga and an indispensable necessity of the evolution. Indeed the whole edifice of Hinduism was built on the sacrifice, testing, realization, and experience of impeccable souls like Shankara, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Paramahansa Yogananda, Ram Chandra and more recently Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea. Each of these great realizers have produced numerous volumes of written works describing their discoveries and new application of their knowledge. What, we might ask, has Sameer Thakkar produced?
It is clear however, especially with regard to Vedic knowledge, that there is more to be done. The evolution continues and there are many more discoveries to be made, as Sri Aurobindo explains:
‘…because we do not understand the Vedas three-fourths of the Upanishads are a sealed book to us. Even of the little we think we can understand, much has been insecurely grasped and superficially comprehended…. For want of this key profound scholars have fumbled and for want of this guidance great thinkers gone astray.’ Sri Aurobindo, India’s Rebirth
For those of us who have bothered to study Thea’s works on the Veda and applied her incomparable knowledge to our own lived experience, it becomes self-evident that her cosmological discoveries will be the crown jewel of future spiritual realizations. She has unveiled that ‘Key’ to the mysteries of the Veda and opened the door to its greatest treasures. Because of this she speaks with the same confident authority and power as Swami Vivekananda did when he was challenged by a Madras pundit objecting to something he said that went beyond the teachings of Shankara. Vivekananda shot back, saying to the pundit, ‘Shankara does not say so, but I, Vivekananda say so’. Sri Aurobindo later pointed out that, ‘…what to the ordinary eye may seem as the Himalaya of egotism is not what it seems. It is the truth of Vivekananda’s spiritual experience, and the attitude of the fighter who as the representative of something great cannot allow himself to be put down or belittled.’
Religious fundamentalists like Sameer Thakkar who live in fear and suspicion, nursing old hatreds and prejudice find this kind of authority both threatening and infuriating. They believe that by attacking a Sage with accusations and ridicule they can undermine their authority and somehow elevate themselves. Producing nothing of their own, they find a kind of perverse power in the suppression, distortion and destruction of the achievements of others. Over the years I have come to think of these kinds of people as living reflections of our own darkness and negativity to be given no quarter and no basis for existence. Like the legendary vampires they hide in the shadows where they can wreak their havoc unobserved, but drag them out into the light of day and they will sputter and spit and burst into flames.
Moving on to Thakkar’s charges that my articles constitute a battery of assault on Lord Buddha, Sathya Sai Baba, Ken Wilber, Deepak Chopra, and David Frawley, it is evident from his comments that he has not bothered to read any of them. What we see instead throughout Thakkar’s article are unfounded accusations and innuendos that seek to discredit anything I might write and excusing anyone from actually reading it. But for those who insist on facts and want to make up their own minds about Thakkar’s veracity, here are the links to the articles on Deepak Chopra, Sathya Sai Baba, and David Frawley. Read them and draw your own conclusions. I will be happy to respond to any serious questions about their knowledge content. Contrary to Thakkar’s accusation I have written nothing that can be construed as an attack on the Buddha and my conversations with Ken Wilber took place on the pages of his own magazine, ‘Quest’. It was hardly an assault but rather a discussion of Wilber’s misunderstanding of Sri Aurobindo and his epochal work.
The Error of the Buddha – http://www.quantumyoga.org/ErroroftheBuddha.html
Sathya Sai Baba: the Counterfeit Avatar – http://www.rigvedacos.blogspot.com/
Reply to David Frawley’s “Call for the Intellectual Kshatriya” – http://www.quantumyoga.org/David-Frawley.html
Perhaps one of the most glaring examples of Thakkar’s limited knowledge is his treatment of a passage from one of my postings about the objective cosmic credentials of the Avatars. His complete lack of understanding of what was written about Time and Number is a perfect example of how certain higher truths can appear unintelligible to the uninitiated. Most scholars familiar with the writings of Plato and Pythagoras are aware of their profound discoveries in Number theory. ‘Numbers’, said Plato, ‘are the highest degree of knowledge’. Pythagoras went a step further saying that ‘Numbers constitute the true nature of things and set a limit to the limitless’. Thakkar, on the other hand, ridicules this knowledge as ‘exotic magic formulas of numbers, contrived theories and fancy terminologies ripped off from Sri Aurobindo’s work, designed to make his [rw’s] theories look intelligent’, and he makes this appalling statement with such unabashed authority. He appears to have no understanding whatever of the deeper function of number and their relation to the very structure of creation. Like Pythagoras and Plato before them, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother both acknowledged the symbol powers of Number and their relation to Sacred Geometry and Vedic Architecture. The basis of their Supramental Formula; the numbers 3-6-9, were also discussed by the scientific genius Nicola Tesla who once wrote, ‘If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the universe.’
When you weigh the wisdom of Plato, Pythagoras, Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Nicola Tesla against Thakkar’s statement that the numbers 9-6-3 are ‘nothing but an absurd formulae to predict the nature of the inconceivable Brahman’, you may begin to understand the depths of his ignorance. He has been through no initiation, engaged in no practice of yoga and yet he considers himself a credible authority equal to the greatest souls in human history.
Throughout the pages of his article Sameer Thakkar has viciously attacked and slandered Ms. Norelli-Bachelet and her work. I will not address his comments as she is quite capable of responding to this and has done so herself. Her reply may be found on: http://circumsolatious.blogspot.com in a posting entitled ‘An Interview with Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet regarding accusations that she is ‘Distorting Hinduism’
Finally I would like to comment on Mr. Thakkar’s unsupported and erroneous claims about Sai Baba’s age and the reputed prediction of his own death. Any astrologer worthy of the name can look at Sai Baba’s true horoscope based on the date of birth in his original school records (October 4th, 1929) and see the correspondences to his actual life. In astrology this process is known as ‘rectification’. In his true horoscope Baba had the planet Saturn at 24 degrees Sagittarius, a placement that indicates a problem with the bones of the hip and thigh, the part of the body ruled by Sagittarius. It is well known that Baba had a serious hip injury on August 9, 1988 when he slipped on the soap in his bathroom. On that day, the transiting planets Saturn and Uranus were both conjunct Baba’s natal Saturn, an event that only happens once every 28 and 84 years respectively. On June 4th, 2003 Baba fell in his bathroom once again, this time breaking his hip in three places and requiring a surgical hip replacement. Once again, transiting Saturn and the progressed position of Uranus were in a malefic aspect to his Natal Saturn indicating further problems with the bones and hip. When you can see these kinds of events (not one but both) within the context of measurable astrological transits, there can be no question that October 4th, 1929 was Baba’s actual birthday. You see none of these indications in a chart dated November 23, 1926. In addition you can also see the deaths of Baba’s siblings in the October chart as well as his own death in 2011 when Pluto, the planet of Death progressed into an exact conjunction with his natal Sun. Thakkar will no doubt dismiss this as simply another contrived theory but it clearly and scientifically establishes Sai Baba’s age at 81 instead of 85 and refutes the mind-boggling claim in a recent Chakra News article that his 85 solar years map out at 96 lunar years fulfilling Baba’s prediction of his own death.
I could go on and on pointing out the errors and inconsistencies in Mr. Thakkar’s article but I believe that I have given his readers more than enough information to expose his hidden agenda and counter his lies and misrepresentations. His article does not rise to the level of even mediocre scholarship. It is rather a fundamentalist tantrum, a disrespectful rant, full of denial, ignorant opinions, faulty logic, and unexamined prejudices. He offers no knowledge, no facts, no clarity yet he expects his readers to accept him as a credible scholar. This evidently is what now passes for the new level of philosophical spiritual discourse. When opinion is taken for wisdom and sensationalism poses as scholarship, when religious pathology becomes the accepted norm, and psychological projection is welcomed as objectivity, when slander and ridicule become the new standard of journalistic integrity, you may know without the slightest doubt that a great reckoning is at hand.
July 2, 2011
Notes:
For those who may be unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding Sai Baba’s age I am including the relevant passages from my article, ‘Sathya Sai Baba: the Counterfeit Avatar’. A copy of his original school records may be found at: http://77.170.120.22/ex-baba/engels/articles/schoolrecord.html
‘…After predicting that he would live for 96 years as his present avatar, Sai Baba died in April, 2011 at 81 years of age. This was the last of a mind boggling web of lies spun by Sai Baba to convince his followers that he was the living embodiment of Vishnu and the Avatar of the Age…
Sai Baba never missed an opportunity for self-aggrandizement. He took great delight at playing an Avatar, appropriating their sacred symbols such as Kalki’s White Horse and Shesha, the Aeonic serpent which he had made into a bed. But his most outrageous stunt by far was deceitfully insinuating himself into one of the most important events in Indian spiritual history. On 24 November, 1926, after a lifetime of yoga, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother sent word to their sadhaks asking them to assemble in the upper verandah of the Library House in their Ashram in Pondicherry to hear about something of supreme importance that had happened in the history of the Earth and Universe. On what was later to become known as ‘Victory Day’ or the day of Siddhi, Sri Aurobindo announced that Krishna, the Overmental Godhead had descended into the physical, meaning Sri Aurobindo himself. As the Mother explained, ‘…Krishna consented to descend into Sri Aurobindo’s body – to be FIXED there. Then I saw him – I saw him with my own eyes (inner eyes, of course), join himself to Sri Aurobindo’.
With the integration of the Overmental consciousness begun by the 8th Avatar Krishna, Sri Aurobindo could now retire to his rooms and begin the establishment of the Supramental Consciousness-Force. This event marked the true beginning of his mission, the platform from where he could carry the evolution to greater heights. Sri Aurobindo’s Siddhi Day coincides with the close of the Age of Pisces and the beginning of the Aquarian Age that year. It was a victory for the whole world, because without it transpiring right on time, the Avatar could not have begun his transformative mission to bring down the Supermind. Upon learning of this momentous event many years later, Sai Baba changed the date of his birth from 4 October, 1929 to 23 November, 1926 and claimed that Sri Aurobindo was obviously referring to Baba who was supposedly born on the previous day (Nov. 23), and that he (Sri Aurobindo) had taken voluntary retirement after handing the reins over to the new God incarnate. While his followers continue to insist that November, 23, 1926 was Baba’s true birthday, a horoscope cast for 4 October, 1929, the birth date on Baba’s original school records, removes all doubt by indicating his passing in 2011 when Pluto, the planet of death, moved by progression into a conjunction with his natal Sun.’
The supporting charts mentioned in the article above may be found at:
http://www.quantumyoga.org/images/SaiBabaHip1.jpg
http://www.quantumyoga.org/images/SaiBabaHip2.jpg
http://www.quantumyoga.org/images/SaiBabaDeath.jpg
Paulette Hadnagy says
Dear David,
How nice to hear from you again, after eight interminable years. It’s true that we have never met, but I got the picture. Are you the same David so close to PN in 2003, in fact the closest one, one of her rare Ashram inmates? When you and your pals, the MAC coordinators, threatened me with a court case? Then, from what I was told, something happened and you were no longer there, but now you are back? While Robert Wilkinson only comes and goes? Mine are old news, kindly update the bhakti I am.
Please welcome as a new recruit Jason Kay, he fits under 100% your schemes. Moreover he has abruptly shifted camps and now begs to be integrated in PN ranks. The only problem is that he despises everybody, even the BJP and its scholars, as I had guessed, reminding me of the reasons behind Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. In the West the incendiary writings of a foreigner in so explosive matters would be considered those of a provocateur agent, and this is how I look at him. Moreover when he tries to involve at any cost a foreigner Aurovilian, and having failed his mission he retaliates with defamation and character assassination. As you people are already in trouble maybe it is not so advisable to enrol a provocateur agent, after all; but it is a pity, he so nicely fits the clan!
What he does with Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s writings on Mohamed, and those of the nationalist Sri Aurobindo on the Muslim issue, along with his reproach to Swami Vivekananda for not questioning Sri Ramakrishna’s visions and similar trifles remind me of the Mother’s word: it is infinitely easier for a humble Indian peasant to be aware of the Divine, than for all the intellectuals of Europe put together. But of course, this is not the concern of you people.
Amen.
Paulette
P.S. You will certainly appreciate the fact that anyone not crusading against Mohamed and Islam, and who on top even acknowledges the freedom of Islam believers (as that of all others), is a leftist and a Marxist. The list is long, from whom should I commence? Let’s go in chronological order. These are some of the names that come to my mind: Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita, Annie Beasant and the Theosophical Society, Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, Ramana Maharshi, the three Kanci Shankaracaryas, Bede Griffiths, the Dalai Lama, Karan Singh, Kireet Joshi, Mata Amritanandamayi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar… and so on… And let’s not forget the pope and the various imams, all are joining together – of course, to destroy the true and only Hindus, what else? And if the Wikipedia is correct, the whole Sang Parivar, plus the Shiv Sena too have joined the Infidels – they too are anti-Hindu!
Thus our Wagnerian hero, invested by a sacred mission, vibhuti-like, towering over such a miserable lot launches his war cry: “Crush the Infidels! Who doesn’t join me will roast at hell!” Shobanallah! [a favourite exclamation of Sri Aurobindo, a well-known renegade and anti-Hindu traitor. His tongue will be cut and taken in procession; and afterwards his head, complete with beard and moustache and Muslim cap, will be chopped too and taken in procession.]
PS 2. I wrote the first postscriptum to convince you beyond all doubts that the most auspicious event that may ever happen is to enroll Jason Wilkinson — pardon, Kay — as a devoted disciples of PN. She will certainly turn him supramental, if he only consents to surrender entirely to her will. But keep it secret, the anti-Hindu front must not know!
PS 3. Do you know how, in my own experience, I recognize a true Guru? From his/her laughter. Which all of you are desperately missing.
Jason Kay says
wow amazing im so impressed…actually not really..U again fail to digress the thread to avoid the samething again..Whats your view on this following verses on the koran..Thanks
The Quran:
Quran (2:191-193) – “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]…and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.” There is a good case to be made that the textual context of this particular passage is defensive war, even if the historical context was not. However, there are also two worrisome pieces to this verse. The first is that the killing of others is authorized in the event of “persecution” (a qualification that is ambiguous at best). The second is that fighting may persist until “religion is for Allah.” The example set by Muhammad is not reassuring.
Quran (2:244) – “Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things.”
Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.” Not only does this verse establish that violence can be virtuous, but it also contradicts the myth that fighting is intended only in self-defense, since the audience was obviously not under attack at the time. From the Hadith, we know that Muhammad was actually trying to motivate his people into raiding caravans with this verse.
Quran (3:56) – “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”
Quran (3:151) – “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”. This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be ‘joining companions to Allah’).
Quran (4:74) – “Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle, as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah. Here is the theological basis for today’s suicide bombers.
Quran (4:76) – “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…”
Quran (4:89) – “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks.”
Quran (4:95) – “Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward,-” This passage criticizes “peaceful” Muslims who do not join in the violence, letting them know that they are less worthy in Allah’s eyes. It also demolishes the modern myth that “Jihad” doesn’t mean holy war in the Quran, but rather a spiritual struggle. Not only is the Arabic word used in this passage, but it is clearly not referring to anything spiritual, since the physically disabled are given exemption. (The Hadith reveals the context of the passage to be in response to a blind man’s protest that he is unable to engage in Jihad and this is reflected in other translations of the verse).
Quran (4:104) – “And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain…” Is pursuing an injured and retreating enemy really an act of self-defense?
Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle.
Quran (8:15) – “O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them. (16)Whoso on that day turneth his back to them, unless maneuvering for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey’s end.”
Quran (8:39) – “And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah” From the historical context we know that the “persecution” spoken of here was simply the refusal by the Meccans to allow Muhammad to enter their city and perform the Haj. Other Muslims were able to travel there, just not as an armed group, since Muhammad declared war on Mecca prior to his eviction. The Meccans were also acting in defense of their religion, since it was Muhammad’s intention to destroy their idols and establish Islam by force (which he later did). Hence the critical part of this verse is to fight until “religion is only for Allah.” According to Ibn Ishaq (324), Muhammad justified the violence further by explaining that “Allah must have no rivals.”
Quran (8:57) – “If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember.”
Quran (8:59-60) – “And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah’s Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy.”
Quran (8:65) – “O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight…”
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.” According to this verse, the best way of staying safe from Muslim violence is to convert to Islam. Prayer (salat) and the poor tax (zakat) are among the religions Five Pillars.
Quran (9:14) – “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace…”
Quran (9:20) – “Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah’s way are of much greater worth in Allah’s sight. These are they who are triumphant.” The “striving” spoken of here is Jihad.
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” “People of the Book” refers to Christians and Jews. This was one of the final “revelations” from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad’s companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in just the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.
Quran (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!”
Quran (9:38-39) – “O ye who believe! what is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place.” This is a warning to those who refuse to fight, that they will be punished with Hell.
Quran (9:41) – “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” See also the verse that follows (9:42) – “If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee, but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them” This contradicts the myth that Muslims are to fight only in self-defense, since the wording implies that battle will be waged a long distance from home (in another country and on Christian soil, in this case, according to the historians).
Quran (9:73) – “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.” Dehumanizing those who reject Islam, by reminding Muslims that they are merely firewood for Hell, makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today’s devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.
Quran (9:88) – “But the Messenger, and those who believe with him, strive and fight with their wealth and their persons: for them are (all) good things: and it is they who will prosper.”
Quran (9:111) – “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Quran: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.”
Quran (9:123) – “O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”
Quran (18:65-81) – This parable lays the theological groundwork for honor killings, in which a family member is murdered because they brought shame to the family, either through apostasy or perceived moral indiscretion. The story, which is not found in any Jewish or Christian source, tells of Moses encountering a man with “special knowledge” who does things which don’t seem to make sense on the surface, but are then justified according to later explanation. One such action is to murder a youth for no apparent reason (74). However, the wise man later explains that it was feared that the boy would “grieve” his parents by “disobedience and ingratitude.” He was killed so that Allah could provide them a ‘better’ son.
Quran (21:44) – “We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?”
Quran (25:52) – “Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness…” “Strive against” is Jihad – obviously not in the personal context. It’s also significant to point out that this is a Meccan verse.
Quran (33:60-62) – “If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter.” This passage sanctions the slaughter (rendered “merciless” and “horrible murder” in other translations) against three groups: Hypocrites (Muslims who refuse to “fight in the way of Allah” (3:167) and hence don’t act as Muslims should), those with “diseased hearts” (which include Jews and Christians 5:51-52), and “alarmists” or “agitators who include those who merely speak out against Islam, according to Muhammad’s biographers. It is worth noting that the victims are to be sought out by Muslims, which is what today’s terrorists do. If this passage is meant merely to apply to the city of Medina, then it is unclear why it is included in Allah’s eternal word to Muslim generations.
Quran (47:3-4) – “Those who reject Allah follow vanities, while those who believe follow the truth from their lord. Thus does Allah set forth form men their lessons by similtudes. Therefore when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,” Those who reject Allah are to be subdued in battle. The verse goes on to say the only reason Allah doesn’t do the dirty work himself is in order to to test the faithfulness of Muslims. Those who kill pass the test. “But if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Quran (47:35) – “Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost (Shakir: “have the upper hand”) for Allah is with you,” This very important verse asserts that the Religion of Peace is not to grant peace to the broader society until Islamic rule has been established.
Quran (48:17) – “There is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). And whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will He punish with a painful doom.” Contemporary apologists sometimes claim that Jihad means ‘spiritual struggle.’ Is so, then why are the blind, lame and sick exempted?
Quran (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves” Islam is not about treating everyone equally. There are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status.
Quran (61:4) – “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way” Religion of Peace, indeed! This is followed by (61:9): “He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist.”
Quran (61:10-12) – “O ye who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty?- That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons: That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity.” This verse was given in battle. It uses the Arabic word, Jihad.
Quran (66:9) – “O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey’s end.” The root word of “Jihad” is used again here. The context is clearly holy war, and the scope of violence is broadened to include “hypocrites” – those who call themselves Muslims but do not act as such.
From the Hadith:
Bukhari (52:177) – Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”
Bukhari (52:256) – The Prophet… was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).” In this command, Muhammad establishes that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This provides justification for the many Islamic terror bombings.
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Abu Dawud (14:2526) – The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, “There is no god but Allah” and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist)
Abu Dawud (14:2527) – The Prophet said: Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious
Muslim (1:33) – the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah
Muslim (1:149) – “Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause…”
Muslim (20:4645) – “…He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa’id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!”
Muslim (20:4696) – “the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: ‘One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihid died the death of a hypocrite.’”
Muslim (19:4321-4323) – Three separate hadith in which Muhammad shrugs over the news that innocent children were killed in a raid by his men against unbelievers. His response: “They are of them (meaning the enemy).”
Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, “Kill any Jew who falls under your power.” Ashraf was a poet, killed by Muhammad’s men because he insulted Islam. Here, Muhammad widens the scope of his orders to kill. An innocent Jewish businessman was then slain by his Muslim partner, merely for being non-Muslim.
Tabari 9:69 “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” The words of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.
Ibn Ishaq: 327 – “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”
Ibn Ishaq: 990 – Lest anyone think that cutting off someone’s head while screaming ‘Allah Akbar!’ is a modern custom, here is an account of that very practice under Muhammad, who seems to approve.
Ibn Ishaq: 992 – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.” Muhammad’s instructions to his men prior to a military raid.
Sameer Thakkar says
@Robert Wilkinson : You seemed to have written your so called response to Max-Muller Syndrome quite in haste before the second part of the original article even got published on this fine website.
Anyways, I was in splits reading your “response” to me. It made me visualise of a 3rd grade teenager trying to abuse the teacher from behind. Lets scrutinize your statements —
1. “His attempts to cultivate an attitude of fear and distrust of foreigners was at first confusing but in the pages that followed ”
-> I never stated “foreigners”. If you have the guts, then quote the excerpt where I stated “foreigners”!!
I guess with promoting the distortion of Hinduism, your eyes are getting distorted and rusty too. David Frawley is one the finest example of the one of most reputed “foreigners” who is revered as Pandit Vamdev. Pseudo intellectuals and missionaries can be Indian by nationality too!
Hence your ‘foreigner’ accusation stand refuted. An overwheming feeling of pride must be hovering your brain. Isn’t it?
2. “But in either case Thakker, is plainly threatened by ideas and interpretations that run counter to his own rigid dogma and has an abhorrent distrust of foreigners and women in particular especially those in positions of authority. ”
-> Scizophrenia is a disease they say. This website alone is filled with plenty of knowledgable women who seem to have power! I respect their knowledge and passion to stand up for Hinduism and promote the core Hindu foundation!
3. “Contrary to Thakkar’s backward beliefs, Hinduism is not a rigid monolithic system.”
-> Philosophical enquiry and questioning are not termed as ‘beliefs’. Only a missionary with a dirty upbringing in a belief system can judge others to be like him. I only questioned in my article (part1) to the childish disney land that Patricia Norelli and her disciples have created in the name of Hinduism.
You have not replied to any of the subtantial matter in my post but only attacked me like you do to others revealing your ignorance, frustration and desperation to get some attention and used the quotes of Aurobindo and scientists out of context. Well, It doesn’t bother me at all!
Randomness in the universe, the nature of prime numbers go beyond any formulae and the universe encompasses everything i.e randomness, the fibonacci series, the nature of prime numbers and hence from a mathematical point of view too it is inconcievable. What we know of the universe comes under the boundary of “observable”. While dealing with 3,6,9 Norelli seems to have ignored the nature of yugas as well and that the avatars have sanskrit names and not english or christian!
So try to find a substantial reply instead of throwing tantrums.
4. For those of us who have bothered to study Thea’s works on the Veda and applied her incomparable knowledge to our own lived experience, it becomes self-evident that her cosmological discoveries will be the crown jewel of future spiritual realizations. She has unveiled that ‘Key’ to the mysteries of the Veda and opened the door to its greatest treasures.
-> Thea’s work on Veda is like a child trying to figure out “where the star falls”. Bhrama, the abode of Vishnu, where this universe came from, its size and mass are indeed inconcievable e.g Rigvedic hymn of creation. The concept of maya alone tells one cannot really predict the state of universe in the next moment. There is no secret “key” for maya and PN in her puny comprehension reduced the spirtuality and science of the vedas to some fantacy and unscientific assumptions!
Even the final avatar will be coming for the restablishment of Dharma or righteousness and not to achieve name or fame to write a book on a “secret key” to the mysteries of the Veda. Further, PN is quite attached to the name and fame and her obession to ignorant talks. The Vedas and the Gita teach detachment to experience ultimate reality and to achieve complete knowledge and for the establishment of Dharma.
“Greed, lust, anger etc” are the demonic qualities in a human being as mentioned in Bhagvad-Gita Chapter 16. Her obsession to portray herself as an avatar and achieve some status, name and fame under the name of Hinduism is nothing but laughable
5. “Religious fundamentalists like Sameer Thakkar who live in fear and suspicion, nursing old hatreds and prejudice find this kind of authority both threatening and infuriating. They believe that by attacking a Sage with accusations and ridicule they can undermine their authority and somehow elevate themselves.”
-> Well you keep distorting Hinduism further and further don’t you?
Hinduism is not a religion like christianity!
Its a further proof of your limited upbringing and the belief system that you practiced before distorting Hinduism that you think Hinduism is a religion and those who protect Hinduism are “religious fundamentalists”. Try to understand the difference between religion and dharma. That would be you homework for the coming week!
Stop singing PN’s name and read the primary work of Hinduism first! Judging the primary scriptures through the “attachment” to the secondary opinions like that of distortionists like Norelli goes even further below than the category of “blind belief”!
Regarding numbers, again, you do not realize that you make yourself sound even more foolish by talking about the numbers as comprehended by Norelli and her “Barbie Doll” logic. Infinity cannot be visualized! Try to understand that first and how small Patrizia Norelli makes herself by talking about the numbers. Try to gain some knowledge about “P & NP”, the nature of speed of light, random numbers, prime numbers, fibonacci series, the complex numbers etc. That would be your homework for the next 10 years!
Numbers indeed constitute knowledge. Beyond finite lies infinite where mathematical fallacies begin. Similarly, Beyond physics lies metaphysics.
People like Tesla were scientists not Gods! By blindly believing in their work you seem to abuse your own intellect and reduced them to some religious figures. Scientists can be both right and wrong in their predictions! Earlier scientists predicted that the universe would contract and the everything would recede at a slower rate. But now the reality has taken them aback where the observations clearly tell that everything is receding away faster! Further, the quantum theory today is shaking the whole foundation of modern science!
Perhaps, you’d like to read the “Tao of Physics” by Capra for some more basic knowledge!
6. “When you weigh the wisdom of Plato, Pythagoras, Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Nicola Tesla against Thakkar’s statement that the numbers 9-6-3 are ‘nothing but an absurd formulae to predict the nature of the inconceivable Brahman’, you may begin to understand the depths of his ignorance.”
-> In my article only you’d find a reply to your childish rants. Its quite expected of your highly scrutinizing eyes to ignore the substance and go straight for the ill-equipped teenaged talks.
7. “But curiously he makes no mention of Max Muller in his article.”
-> We just can’t wait for the second part of the article, can we? 🙂 So much patience that your master Norelli has taught you??
Anyways, do give the link to this website in your blog.
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Paulette Hadnagy says
This is Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s view, posted in the internet by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram:
http://www.sriaurobindoashram.com/Content.aspx?ContentURL=_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-08%20Insights/Religion%20And%20Philanthrophy/-00%20index.htm
Religion and Spiritual Life
The Ashram is not a religious association. Those who are here come from all religions and some are of no religion. There is no creed or set of dogmas, no governing religious body; there are only the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and certain psychological practices of concentration and meditation, etc., for the enlarging of the consciousness, receptivity to the Truth, mastery over the desires, the discovery of the divine self and consciousness concealed within each human being, a higher evolution of the nature. (1934)
– Sri Aurobindo
(Teaching : 6)
The Ashram has nothing to do with Hindu religion or culture or any religion or nationality. The Truth of the Divine which is the spiritual reality behind all religions and the descent of the supramental which is not known to any religion are the sole things which will be the foundation of the work of the future.
– Sri Aurobindo
(SABCL 22:139)
I may say that it is far from my purpose to propagate any religion, new or old, for humanity in the future. A way to be opened that is still blocked, not a religion to be founded, is my conception of the matter. (18 August 1935)
– Sri Aurobindo
I see no reason for us to worship the gods, great or small. Our adoration ought to go only to the Supreme Lord, who is one in all beings and things. (6 November 1961)
– The Mother
Those who still believe in gods can certainly continue to worship them if they feel like it — but they must know that this creed and this worship have nothing to do with the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and no connection whatsoever with the Supramental Realisation. (October 1964)
– The Mother
And then there was this particularly: no new religions, no dogmas, no fixed teachings. One must avoid, one must avoid at all cost the thing becoming a new religion. Because as soon as it is formulated in a way that is elegant and imposing and has a force, it would be the end. (23 November 1968)
– The Mother
Why do men cling to a religion? Religions are based on creeds which are spiritual experiences brought down to a level where they become more easy to grasp, but at the cost of their integral purity and truth. The time of religions is over. We have entered the age of universal spirituality, of spiritual experience in its initial purity.
– The Mother
******
Politics
The Ashram is not a political institution; all association with political activities is renounced by those who live here. All propaganda, religious, political or social, has to be eschewed by the inmates. (1934)
– Sri Aurobindo
What is called politics is too rajasic, unsound and muddles with all sorts of egoistic motives. Our way is the pressure of the Spirit upon the earth-consciousness to change.
– Sri Aurobindo
Our aim is to bring down a higher Truth, but that Truth must be able to live by its own strength and not depend on the victory of one or other of the forces of the Ignorance. That is the reason why we are not to mix in political o social controversies and struggles; it would simply keep down our endeavour to a lower level and prevent the Truth from descending which is none of these things but has quite different law and basis.
– Sri Aurobindo
No, it [politics] is not given as a work to anybody. People go on with that because it is a mental interest or habit they do not like giving up, it is like the vital habit or tea-drinking or anything else of the kind. Politics is not only not given as a work but the discussion of politics is discouraged as much as possible.
– Sri Aurobindo
We are not here to do politics but to serve the Divine.
-The Mother
Sri Aurobindo withdrew from politics; and, in his Ashram, a most important rule is that one must abstain from all politics – not because Sri Aurobindo did not concern himself with the happenings of the world, but because politics, as it is practised, is a low and ugly thing, wholly dominated by falsehood, deceit, injustice, misuse of power and violence; because to succeed in politics one has to cultivate in oneself hypocrisy, duplicity and unscrupulous ambition.
The indispensable basis of our Yoga is sincerity, honesty, unselfishness, disinterested consecration to the work to be done, nobility of character and straightforwardness. They who do not practise these elementary virtues are not Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and have not place in the Ashram. That is why I refuse to answer imbecile and groundless accusations against the Ashram emanating from perverse and evil-intentioned minds.
Sri Aurobindo always loved deeply his Motherland. But he wished her to be great, noble, pure and worthy of her big mission in the world. He refused to let her sink to the sordid and vulgar level of blind self-interests and ignorant prejudices. This is why, in full conformity to his will, we lift high the standard of truth, progress and transformation of mankind, without caring for those who, through ignorance, stupidity, envy or bad will, seek to soil it and drag it down into the mud. We carry it very high so that all who have a soul may see it and gather round it. (25 April 1054)
-The Mother
We do not fight against any creed, any religion.
We do not fight against any form of government.
We do not fight against any social class.
We do not fight against any nation or civilisation.
We are fighting division, unconsciousness, ignorance, inertia and falsehood.
We are endeavouring to establish upon earth union, knowledge, consciousness, Truth, and we fight whatever opposes the advent of this new creation of Light, Peace, Truth and Love. (16 February 1965)
-The Mother
Jason Kay says
Can you answer the following thanks
The Quran:
Quran (2:191-193) – “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]…and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.” There is a good case to be made that the textual context of this particular passage is defensive war, even if the historical context was not. However, there are also two worrisome pieces to this verse. The first is that the killing of others is authorized in the event of “persecution” (a qualification that is ambiguous at best). The second is that fighting may persist until “religion is for Allah.” The example set by Muhammad is not reassuring.
Quran (2:244) – “Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things.”
Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.” Not only does this verse establish that violence can be virtuous, but it also contradicts the myth that fighting is intended only in self-defense, since the audience was obviously not under attack at the time. From the Hadith, we know that Muhammad was actually trying to motivate his people into raiding caravans with this verse.
Quran (3:56) – “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”
Quran (3:151) – “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”. This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be ‘joining companions to Allah’).
Quran (4:74) – “Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle, as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah. Here is the theological basis for today’s suicide bombers.
Quran (4:76) – “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…”
Quran (4:89) – “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks.”
Quran (4:95) – “Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward,-” This passage criticizes “peaceful” Muslims who do not join in the violence, letting them know that they are less worthy in Allah’s eyes. It also demolishes the modern myth that “Jihad” doesn’t mean holy war in the Quran, but rather a spiritual struggle. Not only is the Arabic word used in this passage, but it is clearly not referring to anything spiritual, since the physically disabled are given exemption. (The Hadith reveals the context of the passage to be in response to a blind man’s protest that he is unable to engage in Jihad and this is reflected in other translations of the verse).
Quran (4:104) – “And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain…” Is pursuing an injured and retreating enemy really an act of self-defense?
Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle.
Quran (8:15) – “O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them. (16)Whoso on that day turneth his back to them, unless maneuvering for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey’s end.”
Quran (8:39) – “And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah” From the historical context we know that the “persecution” spoken of here was simply the refusal by the Meccans to allow Muhammad to enter their city and perform the Haj. Other Muslims were able to travel there, just not as an armed group, since Muhammad declared war on Mecca prior to his eviction. The Meccans were also acting in defense of their religion, since it was Muhammad’s intention to destroy their idols and establish Islam by force (which he later did). Hence the critical part of this verse is to fight until “religion is only for Allah.” According to Ibn Ishaq (324), Muhammad justified the violence further by explaining that “Allah must have no rivals.”
Quran (8:57) – “If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember.”
Quran (8:59-60) – “And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah’s Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy.”
Quran (8:65) – “O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight…”
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.” According to this verse, the best way of staying safe from Muslim violence is to convert to Islam. Prayer (salat) and the poor tax (zakat) are among the religions Five Pillars.
Quran (9:14) – “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace…”
Quran (9:20) – “Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah’s way are of much greater worth in Allah’s sight. These are they who are triumphant.” The “striving” spoken of here is Jihad.
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” “People of the Book” refers to Christians and Jews. This was one of the final “revelations” from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad’s companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in just the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.
Quran (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!”
Quran (9:38-39) – “O ye who believe! what is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place.” This is a warning to those who refuse to fight, that they will be punished with Hell.
Quran (9:41) – “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” See also the verse that follows (9:42) – “If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee, but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them” This contradicts the myth that Muslims are to fight only in self-defense, since the wording implies that battle will be waged a long distance from home (in another country and on Christian soil, in this case, according to the historians).
Quran (9:73) – “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.” Dehumanizing those who reject Islam, by reminding Muslims that they are merely firewood for Hell, makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today’s devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.
Quran (9:88) – “But the Messenger, and those who believe with him, strive and fight with their wealth and their persons: for them are (all) good things: and it is they who will prosper.”
Quran (9:111) – “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Quran: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.”
Quran (9:123) – “O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”
Quran (18:65-81) – This parable lays the theological groundwork for honor killings, in which a family member is murdered because they brought shame to the family, either through apostasy or perceived moral indiscretion. The story, which is not found in any Jewish or Christian source, tells of Moses encountering a man with “special knowledge” who does things which don’t seem to make sense on the surface, but are then justified according to later explanation. One such action is to murder a youth for no apparent reason (74). However, the wise man later explains that it was feared that the boy would “grieve” his parents by “disobedience and ingratitude.” He was killed so that Allah could provide them a ‘better’ son.
Quran (21:44) – “We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?”
Quran (25:52) – “Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness…” “Strive against” is Jihad – obviously not in the personal context. It’s also significant to point out that this is a Meccan verse.
Quran (33:60-62) – “If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter.” This passage sanctions the slaughter (rendered “merciless” and “horrible murder” in other translations) against three groups: Hypocrites (Muslims who refuse to “fight in the way of Allah” (3:167) and hence don’t act as Muslims should), those with “diseased hearts” (which include Jews and Christians 5:51-52), and “alarmists” or “agitators who include those who merely speak out against Islam, according to Muhammad’s biographers. It is worth noting that the victims are to be sought out by Muslims, which is what today’s terrorists do. If this passage is meant merely to apply to the city of Medina, then it is unclear why it is included in Allah’s eternal word to Muslim generations.
Quran (47:3-4) – “Those who reject Allah follow vanities, while those who believe follow the truth from their lord. Thus does Allah set forth form men their lessons by similtudes. Therefore when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,” Those who reject Allah are to be subdued in battle. The verse goes on to say the only reason Allah doesn’t do the dirty work himself is in order to to test the faithfulness of Muslims. Those who kill pass the test. “But if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Quran (47:35) – “Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost (Shakir: “have the upper hand”) for Allah is with you,” This very important verse asserts that the Religion of Peace is not to grant peace to the broader society until Islamic rule has been established.
Quran (48:17) – “There is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). And whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will He punish with a painful doom.” Contemporary apologists sometimes claim that Jihad means ‘spiritual struggle.’ Is so, then why are the blind, lame and sick exempted?
Quran (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves” Islam is not about treating everyone equally. There are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status.
Quran (61:4) – “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way” Religion of Peace, indeed! This is followed by (61:9): “He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist.”
Quran (61:10-12) – “O ye who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty?- That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons: That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity.” This verse was given in battle. It uses the Arabic word, Jihad.
Quran (66:9) – “O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey’s end.” The root word of “Jihad” is used again here. The context is clearly holy war, and the scope of violence is broadened to include “hypocrites” – those who call themselves Muslims but do not act as such.
From the Hadith:
Bukhari (52:177) – Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”
Bukhari (52:256) – The Prophet… was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).” In this command, Muhammad establishes that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This provides justification for the many Islamic terror bombings.
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Abu Dawud (14:2526) – The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, “There is no god but Allah” and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist)
Abu Dawud (14:2527) – The Prophet said: Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious
Muslim (1:33) – the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah
Muslim (1:149) – “Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause…”
Muslim (20:4645) – “…He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa’id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!”
Muslim (20:4696) – “the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: ‘One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihid died the death of a hypocrite.’”
Muslim (19:4321-4323) – Three separate hadith in which Muhammad shrugs over the news that innocent children were killed in a raid by his men against unbelievers. His response: “They are of them (meaning the enemy).”
Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, “Kill any Jew who falls under your power.” Ashraf was a poet, killed by Muhammad’s men because he insulted Islam. Here, Muhammad widens the scope of his orders to kill. An innocent Jewish businessman was then slain by his Muslim partner, merely for being non-Muslim.
Tabari 9:69 “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” The words of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.
Ibn Ishaq: 327 – “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”
Ibn Ishaq: 990 – Lest anyone think that cutting off someone’s head while screaming ‘Allah Akbar!’ is a modern custom, here is an account of that very practice under Muhammad, who seems to approve.
Ibn Ishaq: 992 – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.” Muhammad’s instructions to his men prior to a military raid.
Jason Kay says
Paulette Hindu Hater Hadnagy, I personally dont care what Aurobindos instructions for the ashram were because every Hindu knows very well what he stood for and that was Hinduism and its civilisation.. And also Aurobindo or the mother are not higher than Hindu Dharma and its Vedas..You should be grateful that you are living on the hospitality of Hindus because sooner or later when they all find out you are a Hindu hater you will be packed off from India for good..As you dont really know who i am you so you dont have no idea what mess you have put Auroville and yourself into till everything is revealed..Just enjoy the show till the mystery unfolds as karma has a very strange way of catching up with people at perfect divine timing and then you will know the truth about everything…
duart maclean says
The biggest threat to India is not the Muslims, rather it’s Indians. It’s the Indians who have bought into the western creed and value system, hook, line and sinker. They are the materialists who control so much of the media and the governing Congress Party. They are the so-called intellectuals who ridicule India’s traditions, particularly her spiritual/religious traditions. The Muslims are more of an external challenge, but these asuric sycophants are like a cancer. They will destroy India from within.
Paulette Hadnagy says
This selection from Sri Aurobindo’s writings was published in “Auroville Today”, a monthly magazine covering up life in Auroville, in August 2004. The August issues are published as special celebrations of Sri Aurobindo’s birthday. That year the editors selected as special theme “Sri Aurobindo on Islam and other religions”. A photograph was also featured, with the caption “Temples in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, built during the Bundela dynasty in an attempt to create a synthesis between Hindu and Muslim cultures.” Below is the complete article, reproduced as it is, without any introductory comment. Does Sri Aurobindo need any?
Sri Aurobindo on Islam and other religions
“A great thing would be done if all these God-visions could embrace and cast themselves into each other; but intellectual dogma and cult egoism stand in the way
The Mogul empire was a great and magnificent construction and an immense amount of political genius and talent was employed in its creation and maintenance. It was as splendid, powerful and beneficent and, it may be added, in spite of Aurangzeb’s fanatical zeal, infinitely more liberal and tolerant in religion than any mediaeval or contemporary European kingdom or empire and India under its rule stood high in military and political strength, economic opulence and the brilliance of its art and culture.
(The Renaissance in India, p.443)
The Rajputs maintained their independence until the time of Akbar and his successors and it was in the end partly with the aid of Rajput princes acting as their generals and ministers that the Moguls completed their sway over the east and the south. And this was again possible because-a fact too often forgotten – the Mussulman domination ceased very rapidly to be a foreign rule. The vast mass of the Mussulmans in the country were and are Indians by race, only a very small admixture of Pathan, Turkish and Mogul blood took place, and even the foreign kings and nobles became almost immediately wholly Indian in mind, life and interest.
(The Renaissance in India , p.441)
[We] do not understand Hindu nationalism as a possibility under modern conditions. Hindu nationalism had a meaning in the time of Shivaji and Ramdas, when the object of national revival was to overthrow a Mahomedan domination which, once tending to Indian unity and toleration, had become oppressive and disruptive. . . . But under modern conditions India can only exist as a whole.
(Karmayogin, 1997 edition, p.304)
…a word too may be said about Indo-Muslim architecture. I am not concerned to defend any claim for the purely indigenous origin of its features. It seems to me that here the Indian mind has taken in much from the Arab and Persian imagination and in certain mosques and tombs I seem to find an impress of the robust and bold Afghan and Moghul temperament.; but it remains clear enough that it is still on the whole a typically Indian creation with the peculiar Indian gift. The richness of decorative skill and imagination has been turned to the uses of another style, but it is the same skill which we find in the northern Hindu temples, and in the ground we see, however toned down, something sometimes of the old epic mass and power, but more often that lyric grace which we see developing before the Mahomedan advent in the indigenous sculpture.
(The Renaissance in India , p.282)
Mahomed’s mission was necessary, else we might have ended by thinking, in the exaggeration of our efforts at self-purification, that earth was meant only for the monk and the city created as a vestibule for the desert.
(Essays Divine and Human, p.444)
It became . . . an established rule for the learner to observe strict reserve as to the inner experiences of Yoga and for the developed Yogin as far as possible to conceal himself. This has not prevented treatises and manuals from being published dealing with thephysical or with the moral and intellectual sides of Yoga. Nor has it prevented great spirits who have gained their Yoga not by the ordinary careful and scientific methods but by their own strength and the special grace of God, from revealing themselves and their spiritual knowledge to mankind and in their intense love for humanity imparting something of their power to the world. Such were Buddha, Christ, Mahomed, Chaitanya, such have been Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.
(Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, p.13-14)
Each religion has helped mankind. Paganism increased in man the light of beauty, the largeness and height of his life, his aim at a many-sided perfection; Christianity gave him some vision of divine love and charity; Buddhism has shown him a noble way to be wiser, gentler, purer, Judaism and Islam how to be religiously faithful in action and zealously devoted to God; Hinduism has opened to him the largest and profoundest spiritual possibilities. A great thing would be done if all these God-visions could embrace and cast themselves into each other; but intellectual dogma and cult egoism stand in the way.
(Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, p.211)
All fanaticism is false, because it is a contradiction of the very nature of God and of Truth. Truth cannot be shut up in a single book, Bible or Veda or Koran, or in a single religion. The Divine Being is eternal and universal and infinite and cannot be the sole property of the Mussulmans or of the Semitic religions only, – those that happened to be in a line from the Bible and to have Jewish or Arabian prophets for their founders. Hindus and Confucians and Taoists and all others have as much right to enter into relation with God and find the Truth in their own way. All religions have some truth in them, but none has the whole truth; all are created in time and finally decline and perish. Mahomed himself never pretended that the Koran was the last message of God and there would be no other. God and Truth outlast these religions and manifest themselves anew in whatever way or form the Divine Wisdom chooses.
(On Himself, p.483.)
. . . Nor does spirituality mean the moulding of the whole type of the national being to suit the limited dogmas, forms, tenets of a particular religion, as was often enough attempted by the old societies, an idea which still persists in many minds by the power of old mental habit and association; clearly such an attempt would be impossible, even if it were desirable, in a country full of the most diverse religious opinions and harbouring too three such distinct general forms as Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, to say nothing of the numerous special forms to which each of these has given birth. Spirituality is much wider than any particular religion, and in the larger ideas of it that are now coming on us even the greatest religion becomes no more than a broad sect or branch of the one universal religion, by which we shall understand in the future man’s seeking for the eternal, the divine, the greater self, the source of unity and his attempt to arrive at some equation, some increasing approximation of the values of human life with the eternal and the divine values.
(The Renaissance in India , p.33.)
If we are to make our society perfect and the nation is to live again, then we must revert to the earlier and fuller truth. We must not make life a waiting for renunciation, but renunciation a preparation for life; instead of running from God in the town to God in the forest, we must rather plunge into the mountain solitude in our own souls for knowledge & joy & spiritual energy to sustain any part that may be given to us by the master of the Lila. If we get that strength, any society we build up must be full of the instinct of immortal life and move inevitably towards perfection. As to the precise way in which society will be reconstructed, we have hardly yet knowledge enough to solve the problem. We ought to know before we act, but we are rather eager to act violently in the light of any dim ray of knowledge that may surprise our unreflecting intellects, and although God often uses our haste for great and beneficial purposes, yet that way of doing things is not the best either for a man or a nation. One thing seems to me clear that the future will deny that principle of individual selfishness and collective self-interest on which European society has hitherto been based and our renovated systems will be based on the renunciation of individual selfishness and the organisation of brotherhood, – principles common to Christianity, Mahomedanism and Hinduism.
(Essays Divine and Human, p. 58.)
Girdhar says
@Paulette : You seem be quoting totally out of context. On one hand you are totally incapable to express any views on Mughal and Quranic atrocities and on the other you are posting words out of context from Aurobindo’s work! Its not quantum physics to understand how naive your posts are becoming ….
You posted “The Mogul empire was a great and magnificent construction and an immense amount of political genius and talent was employed in its creation and maintenance. It was as splendid, powerful and beneficent and, it may be added, in spite of Aurangzeb’s fanatical zeal, infinitely more liberal and tolerant in religion than any mediaeval or contemporary European kingdom or empire and India under its rule stood high in military and political strength, economic opulence and the brilliance of its art and culture”
Here’s the ebook of “Renaissance in India” : http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/downloadpdf.php?id=35
Below is the complete paragraph —
**********
The real problem introduced by the Mussulman conquest
was not that of subjection to a foreign rule and the ability to
recover freedom, but the struggle between two civilisations, one
ancient and indigenous, the other mediaeval and brought in
from outside. That which rendered the problem insoluble was
the attachment of each to a powerful religion,
but obstinately faithful in its discipline to its own principle
and standing on the defence behind a barrier of social forms.
There were two conceivable solutions, the rise of a greater
spiritual principle and formation which could reconcile the two
or a political patriotism surmounting the religious struggle and
uniting the two communities. The first was impossible in that
age. Akbar attempted it on the Mussulman side, but his religion
Indian Polity – 4
443
was an intellectual and political rather than a spiritual creation
and had never any chance of assent from the strongly religious
mind of the two communities. Nanak attempted it from the
Hindu side, but his religion, universal in principle, became a
sect in practice. Akbar attempted also to create a common
political patriotism, but this endeavour too was foredoomed to
failure. An autocratic empire built on the Central Asian principle
could not create the desired spirit by calling in the administrative
ability of the two communities in the person of great men and
princes and nobles to a common service in the creation of a
united imperial India: the living assent of the people was needed
and that remained passive for want of awakening political ideals
and institutions. The Mogul empire was a great and magnificent
construction and an immense amount of political genius and
talent was employed in its creation and maintenance. It was
as splendid, powerful and beneficent and, it may be added,
in spite of Aurangzeb’s fanatical zeal, infinitely more liberal
and tolerant in religion than any mediaeval or contemporary
European kingdom or empire and India under its rule stood
high in military and political strength, economic opulence and
the brilliance of its art and culture. But it failed like the empires
before it, more disastrously even, and in the same way, crumbling
not by external attack but by internal disintegration. A military
and administrative centralised empire could not effect India’s
living political unity. And although a new life seemed about
to rise in the regional peoples, the chance was cut short by
the intrusion of the European nations and their seizure of
the opportunity created by the failure of the Peshwas and the
desperate confusion of the succeeding anarchy and decadence.
****************
If your eyes are working properly, then you’ll see clearly that he states Islam as
1. “the militant and aggressive” one. He states characterises Hinduism as “spiritually tolerant indeed and flexible”.
2. He comments on Akbar’s religion (Islam) : “His religion was an intellectual and political rather than a spiritual creation”
Moreover, Islam indeed is a magnificent construction. But in what context?
Aurobindo doesn’t say that it is “a magnificent religion or a spiritual creation”. Islam is more like an organization, an army whose subjects are brainwashed and remain loyal to Islam. They cannot digest any sort of criticism and quran teaches to kill kafirs and those who malign Islam. Hence inflexible. But they could not affect India! As you can see Aurobindo states – “A military and administrative centralised empire could not effect India’s
living political unity.”
Its simple English! Similarly you need to reread on what you are posting. Its totally out of context!!! You can continue infesting this website with Aurobindo’s work that too quoted out of context. You are doing nothing intellectual but exposing yourself more and more here as to how unintellectual and unspiritual you are. Hypocrisy and lack of objectivity and incapability to understand the primary works further can be seen from your posts clearly. If you have any wisdom left, you’d stop. You are not only maligning Aurobindo by quoting him out-of-context, but failing to form any primary opinions and exposing your lack of intellect!!
You are simply stooping low to the highly degraded level of patrizia Norelli!
Paulette Hadnagy says
Girdhar,
I have reproduced the compilation (not written by me) as it is posted in the Auroville website. Personally I agree with you, it should have been posted in its entirety; maybe there were space constraints. But even so this doesn’t change that these are Sri Aurobindo’s words, and that whether quoted alone or with the rests they stand, and there is nothing detrimental in both ways, in any sense.
Why don’t you rather look at what Jason Kay posts, without references, from a Purani’s notes taken as Sri Aurobindo’s written words, and in spite of the disciple specifying this? On top cutting down words and lines, and for no apparent reason? Already before to rectify that statement, showing that Purani could not record things properly, I had to quote Nirodbaran! If you read Purani’s writings you will find that more than once Sri Aurobindo appears to contradict himself (on Ramana Maharshi, as an example). For this reason I don’t trust oral recordings; even if the disciple is a nice person I avoid them as much as possible. But if for some reason I have to quote them, I always mention that it is only an oral recording, and in Purani’s case I add his own note.
The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is very strict on such matters. Volume 13 of the Mother’s Centenary Edition, dedicated to the Ashram, Auroville and India, has diacritical marks to specify the origin. By the way, it may be interesting for you to read this volume, in the light of the present discussion. It would help you understand many things, without offence.
Back to my quoting Sri Aurobindo, I had asked Jason Kay to wait, explaining that I was preparing a compilation from Sri Aurobindo’s words. But not even this he respected! To clear Sri Aurobindo I was forced to come up as fast as possible with what was immediately downloadable from the internet. Last night I have even reproduced the Sri Aurobindo Ashram’s posting without the references, having no time to search for them!!! By the way, in a previous posting exclusively on Sri Aurobindo all the references are SACBL (Centenary Edition, under the Mother’s supervision). One by mistake appears as CWSA (125 Anniversary Edition, when the Mother was no longer in the body); when I read it in the blog I I was unable to correct the mistake. Just to let you know.
Paulette
Girdhar says
@Paullete : If you are trying to treat me as an arms chair judge (which I have not intention to be one) to judge between you and Jason, then here’s n objective analysis —
1. Any question asked to you is replied by you in the same predictable and absurd reply : “Aurobindo said this and that….aurobindo ashram doesn’t allow this….not politics….I have spent 40+ years in India….I have done this and that….my family history is this and that”. My dear, what is being asked to you is NOT, read clearly, NOT aurobondo’s views, or your family history, your work, your company, your friends circle, what pair of socks or garment you wore, your daily diet, what you do for living, which music you prefer, which pizza you like, your views on Bhangra etc.
The question that people are asking you are simple:
1. Your views on Quran
2. Your Views on Muslim atrocities
3. Your views on goat killing emasse and if you condemn it or not?
4. Your views on Islam treatin women as half of men. You condemn it or not?
5. Your views on Islam treating menstruating women as unclean and untouchable. You condemn it or not?
Read PROPERLY, the question says “your views” and not “aurobindo’s views”. On the other hand, what Jason is posting is not hard to verify. He is not hiding under “secondary opinions” or reducing Aurobndo to some religious figure like you or trying to hide behind his name when asked a direct question! It exposes your lack of intellect and your own primary outlook.
Aurobindo’s own words from pg 442-443 which you posted “out of context”, refutes your utopia and imagination of “all religions as equal and comprising of love, respect and tolerance”. You stand refuted by Aurobindo himself in the primary debate between you and Jason which was about “All religion as same/equal and comprising of love/respect/tolerance etc”.
By quoting page 442-443, you put your foot in mouth! And now you are making silly excuses like “maybe there were space constraints’, ‘Why don’t you rather look at what Jason Kay posts’.
Take my advice, and read the primary works now….Bhagvada-Gita would be a good start followed by other Upanishads! 🙂
Paulette Hadnagy says
Girdhar,
I am not looking for ombudsmen. In Integral Yoga the only judge is the psychic being, and there are no intermediaries between one’s psychic being and the Divine. I have only been trying to explain:
1) I kept deliberately referring to other gurus, to avoid the [fundamentalists’] trap of enforcing one’s guru views down the throat of all others.
2) I was forced to quote Sri Aurobindo only because of Jason’s insistence – on top, severely misquoting him.
3) As Jason insisted in interpreting Sri Aurobindo the way he wished, I asked him to wait, I was compiling, to begin with, from Bande Mataram, the Foundations of Indian Culture, scattered writing on nationalism etc.
4) But he went on misinterpreting Sri Aurobindo, so I posted whatever texts I could readily get. Besides the CWSA mistake (instead of SABCL), I have just discovered that I had posted in this blog a much longer version of the quote you contest, but with the wrong reference: Bande Mataram, instead of the Foundations of India Culture! I downloaded all these quotes at the same time, checking them in the respective volumes; but having no time to list them in separate files, at 2 in the night, I inverted the reference. And there may be eventually more: the page corresponds, but eventually not the volume.
If I spent days writing and quoting it was in the vain attempt to articulate the various reasons for which I have never been involved in any debate, in Auroville as at the Ashram, on Islam or other religions. Of course I can see that there are monstrous things, but don’t forget that as a former student of history, in Italy, I had already listed on my own what the Catholic Church did; and unfortunately the list would not only apply to Islam and Christianity – which is one reason for which to even mention the name religion, in Auroville, people feel revolted.
Had the debate continued according to the original article I would have never been entangled in such dispute. Can’t you understand this, we have nothing to do with such things, we have come to try to build something else. Please read the Mother’s volume 13!
As for the Gita, not only samadhishta (forget the supermind) is the goal of my life, but the two chapters on the Aryan fighter, in Sri Aurobindo’s “Essays on the Gita”, are my inspiration. No one else in Auroville picks us such fights. I have been consistently warned to ignore altogether Patrizia Norelli (I am so dumb that I had tried to dialogue with her too!), the same way I have been warned not to write anything on this blog either.
At last, I got it.
Paulette
Paulette Hadnagy says
I have been trying to post the following, but in the meantime I had to reply to Girdhar. I apologize for the forced description of the Auroville Foundation and its Act, alongside certain manifestations, but the last message by Jason, following one on yesterday, compels me to this very last exercise, before finally withdrawing and resume my own work:
“Paulette Hindu Hater Hadnagy, I personally dont care what Aurobindos instructions for the ashram were because every Hindu knows very well what he stood for and that was Hinduism and its civilisation.. And also Aurobindo or the mother are not higher than Hindu Dharma and its Vedas..You should be grateful that you are living on the hospitality of Hindus because sooner or later when they all find out you are a Hindu hater you will be packed off from India for good..As you dont really know who i am you so you dont have no idea what mess you have put Auroville and yourself into till everything is revealed..Just enjoy the show till the mystery unfolds as karma has a very strange way of catching up with people at perfect divine timing and then you will know the truth about everything…”
??? I will stop wasting my time, having every possible attempt failed, to make understand:
1) The Guru may eventually be wrong on side-issues, but when it comes to his/her own specific path his/her authority over the sadhak is indisputable. This is called surrender. Surrender, in Yoga, is the shortcut to Self-realisation.
2) Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s written statements prove that no religion, past or new, is permitted with their sadhaks, and have consistently explained the reasons.
3) Also, they have consistently acknowledged the value and role each religion has played in history.
4) Sri Aurobindo in particular has taken the trouble to explain at length his views. Given the sensitivity of the issue, Sri Aurobindo has been keen in entering into details regarding the Muslims’ religion, while calling all his life for the peaceful coexistence of the Hindu and Muslim religions. He also made clear that his own sadhaks strive for something far beyond and in no way have to be caught in religious or political disputes, both being incompatible with Yoga and the supramental Yoga.
5) The Mother further specified:
“We do not fight against any creed, any religion.
We do not fight against any form of government.”
***
The Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville have a long history of reincarnated Sri Aurobindos and Mothers, and of deranged people too. The newcomer process of someone hailing from Kodaikanal (PN’s abode!) was rescinded, following the complaint of several Aurovilians, because the guy, who had applied to become an Aurovilian, was going around telling everybody that Auroville is a fascist organisation. He was surprised that the Government of India had been funding my research and publication work, adding that he did not give a dam about what the Mother’s instruction for Auroville are, to abide by the Mother’s instructions further proves that fascism in Auroville is rampant. This gentleman was successively requested by the financial officer of the Auroville Foundation (appointed for this post by the Government of India, permanently, whatever the ruling party is), in whose office I had met him, and in front of whom he had refused my compilation “The Auroville Foundation Act and the Mother’s guidelines” (financed directly by the Auroville Foundation, and for long time also posted in their website), to apologize with me. But in the meantime his admission to Auroville process had been rescinded and he disappeared. Reading the most disconcerting things that Jason is capable of writing I start wondering whether he and the other (who at first sight looked as an intelligent, educated person, that’s how at first he gets people listening) are one and same. Maybe not. Another one had already been sent away from Auroville on certain inglorious accounts; his next move was to try to promote hatred between the Sri Aurobindo Ashram inmates, having already been unmasked there too.
We may not be great yogis and certainly the Aurovilians are far from what the Mother expects us to be. But this is part of the process. What sadhana is about, otherwise? One thing is clear though, for all of us: no religions – and respect for all religions. Those among us who have been studying Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s teachings – and there are quite a few – are fully aware on what grounds this is to be applied, by Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s will. The Kodaikanal guy went around trying to instigate the Aurovilians against each other, calling us fascists also because of the sin of trying to abide by the Mother’s guidelines (the much imperfect way we can). Is it a surprise that the next step is to be threatened, the way Jason does, “…As you dont really know who i am you so you dont have no idea what mess you have put Auroville and yourself into till everything is revealed…” etc. labelling as anti-Hindu me, the Aurobindonian and Vedic scholar Kireet Joshi (appointed for six years by the Government of India as Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, throughout the BJP tenure – besides his one page long of other qualifications), Auroville and, it follows, anyone abiding by Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s instructions?
Jason Kay goes much further. Yesterday, Wednesday 6 July, he posted:
“I personally dont care about the indian government regardless if its run by the congress or the BJP because both are useless especially the congress so they are not some sort of authority or endorsement to someones importance unless they are corrupt and manipulative.”
If a Western Aurovilian were writing this (and in the internet, which anyone all over the world can access!!!) he would get a quit notice. In Auroville we already had quit notices. The first one was because of having taken aerial photographs, violating national security norms. After some twenty years the GOI has not yet lifted the ban of this Aurovilian, a French engineer who had been living peacefully here for years. Another quit notice was avoided after a long bargain with Delhi. Targeted was another early Aurovilians, who amongst others had been in charge for years of the schooling system of Auroville, and whose scholarly wife, besides publishing books, translates the “Mother’s Agenda” into Hindi. His sin was having proposed that Auroville should be granted an above nationalities status, same as the Vatican city, in abeyance to the Mother’s claim that Auroville, universal town of human unity, is above nationalities. This was explained and the issue dropped, thanks to the mediating role of Kireet Joshi. Another Aurovilian, who before joining Auroville had occupied a most prominent position at the American Embassy and who, because of this, had to settle repeated quit notices, after going to the USA was no longer admitted back to India.
There are rules that no one can infringe, and which are also legitimate, any sensible person understands this. A foremost rule, set by the Mother, is not to interfere with the politics of the country hosting Auroville. When Francois Gautier received his warning from the Working Committee it was also addressed to every other Aurovilian, present, past and future.
One reason, in Auroville, not to discuss religions, any religion, is that we have left religion behind, we have come for something else, whether Indians, Westerners, Asians, or Africans. To abide by Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s injunctions is not fascism, nor are we (or Sri Aurobindo and the Mother) anti-Hindu (or anti-Muslim, anti-Christian, anti-Jain, anti-Buddhist, anti-Sikh etc.). It is simply the natural outcome of evolution, when the yogic pursuit takes over – if this is one’s call, one’s adhikara and svabhava, while at the same time fully respecting all other spiritual pursuit, through religion too, if this helps people.
If someone in Auroville were publicizing inflammatory writings like Mr. Jason Kay publicizes, whatever the religion may be, and on top, even trashes the Government of India and the two major parties, the Congress and the BJP, responsible of appointing directly, without any external interference, the two constitutionary body listed in the Auroville Foundation Act, composed of eminent personalities and well wishers – the Governing Board, exclusively Indian; and the International Advisory Council, as the name implies, multinational – such person would be immediately reported to the Working Committee (the third constitutionary body, elected by the Aurovilians among themselves). And if even so such person doesn’t stop, the Working Committee will have to inform the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, and the person will be made to leave. The Secretary is the executive power of the Governing Board acting on behalf of the Government of India. He also keeps the register with all the names that the Working Committee recommends as Aurovilians; in the case of Westerners, he is the one recommending, or withholding, the visa. The father of the Auroville Foundation Act, passed by Parliament, and made effective in 1988 when the body of the Auroville Foundation was finally put in place, is none else than Kireet Joshi himself.
In passing the Auroville Foundation Act Auroville has been declared an “institution of national importance.” One doesn’t fool around with the Government of India, who for decades has been generously subsidizing Auroville, via the Human Resources Department minister. Whether it was the Congress or the BJP Auroville has always been under the tutelage of the Government of India, above parties and creeds. It is Jason Kay’s trashing of the Indian Governement and the two major parties that most alarms me, because… The world knows who has assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, for what reasons, and from what organisation, trashing that too, the fanatic walked out…
Having been forced to write all this, there is no point in continuing a discussion that has reached levels that not even during the constant bombardment by Patrizia Norelli & disciples no one here could ever fathom. You are playing with fire, there is nothing more I can do. May India fulfill its mission of guru to the world: the India of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekanda, of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, of Ramana Maharshi, of the Shanakracaryas, of Mata Amritanandamayi and so many other glorious souls of Bharat Mata.
Bande Mataram!
Paulette
Sameer Thakkar says
@Robert Wilkinson : You seemed to have written your so called response to Max-Muller Syndrome quite in haste before the second part of the original article even got published on this fine website.
Anyways, I was in splits reading your “response” to me. It made me visualise of a 3rd grade teenager trying to abuse the teacher from behind. Lets scrutinize your statements —
1. “His attempts to cultivate an attitude of fear and distrust of foreigners was at first confusing but in the pages that followed ”
-> I never stated “foreigners”. If you have the guts, then quote the excerpt where I stated “foreigners”!!
I guess with promoting the distortion of Hinduism, your eyes are getting distorted and rusty too. David Frawley is one the finest example of the one of most reputed “foreigners” who is revered as Pandit Vamdev. Pseudo intellectuals and missionaries can be Indian by nationality too!
Hence your ‘foreigner’ accusation stand refuted. An overwheming feeling of pride must be hovering your brain. Isn’t it?
2. “But in either case Thakker, is plainly threatened by ideas and interpretations that run counter to his own rigid dogma and has an abhorrent distrust of foreigners and women in particular especially those in positions of authority. ”
-> Scizophrenia is a disease they say. This website alone is filled with plenty of knowledgable women who seem to have power! I respect their knowledge and passion to stand up for Hinduism and promote the core Hindu foundation!
3. “Contrary to Thakkar’s backward beliefs, Hinduism is not a rigid monolithic system.”
-> Philosophical enquiry and questioning are not termed as ‘beliefs’. Only a missionary with a dirty upbringing in a belief system can judge others to be like him. I only questioned in my article (part1) to the childish disney land that Patricia Norelli and her disciples have created in the name of Hinduism.
You have not replied to any of the subtantial matter in my post but only attacked me like you do to others revealing your ignorance, frustration and desperation to get some attention and used the quotes of Aurobindo and scientists out of context. Well, It doesn’t bother me at all!
Randomness in the universe, the nature of prime numbers go beyond any formulae and the universe encompasses everything i.e randomness, the fibonacci series, the nature of prime numbers and hence from a mathematical point of view too it is inconcievable. What we know of the universe comes under the boundary of “observable”. While dealing with 3,6,9 Norelli seems to have ignored the nature of yugas as well and that the avatars have sanskrit names and not english or christian!
So try to find a substantial reply instead of throwing tantrums.
4. For those of us who have bothered to study Thea’s works on the Veda and applied her incomparable knowledge to our own lived experience, it becomes self-evident that her cosmological discoveries will be the crown jewel of future spiritual realizations. She has unveiled that ‘Key’ to the mysteries of the Veda and opened the door to its greatest treasures.
-> Thea’s work on Veda is like a child trying to figure out “where the star falls”. Bhrama, the abode of Vishnu, where this universe came from, its size and mass are indeed inconcievable e.g Rigvedic hymn of creation. The concept of maya alone tells one cannot really predict the state of universe in the next moment. There is no secret “key” for maya and PN in her puny comprehension reduced the spirtuality and science of the vedas to some fantacy and unscientific assumptions!
Even the final avatar will be coming for the restablishment of Dharma or righteousness and not to achieve name or fame to write a book on a “secret key” to the mysteries of the Veda. Further, PN is quite attached to the name and fame and her obession to ignorant talks. The Vedas and the Gita teach detachment to experience ultimate reality and to achieve complete knowledge and for the establishment of Dharma.
“Greed, lust, anger etc” are the demonic qualities in a human being as mentioned in Bhagvad-Gita Chapter 16. Her obsession to portray herself as an avatar and achieve some status, name and fame under the name of Hinduism is nothing but laughable
5. “Religious fundamentalists like Sameer Thakkar who live in fear and suspicion, nursing old hatreds and prejudice find this kind of authority both threatening and infuriating. They believe that by attacking a Sage with accusations and ridicule they can undermine their authority and somehow elevate themselves.”
-> Well you keep distorting Hinduism further and further don’t you?
Hinduism is not a religion like christianity!
Its a further proof of your limited upbringing and the belief system that you practiced before distorting Hinduism that you think Hinduism is a religion and those who protect Hinduism are “religious fundamentalists”. Try to understand the difference between religion and dharma. That would be you homework for the coming week!
Stop singing PN’s name and read the primary work of Hinduism first! Judging the primary scriptures through the “attachment” to the secondary opinions like that of distortionists like Norelli goes even further below than the category of “blind belief”!
Regarding numbers, again, you do not realize that you make yourself sound even more foolish by talking about the numbers as comprehended by Norelli and her “Barbie Doll” logic. Infinity cannot be visualized! Try to understand that first and how small Patrizia Norelli makes herself by talking about the numbers. Try to gain some knowledge about “P & NP”, the nature of speed of light, random numbers, prime numbers, fibonacci series, the complex numbers etc. That would be your homework for the next 10 years!
Numbers indeed constitute knowledge. Beyond finite lies infinite where mathematical fallacies begin. Similarly, Beyond physics lies metaphysics.
People like Tesla were scientists not Gods! By blindly believing in their work you seem to abuse your own intellect and reduced them to some religious figures. Scientists can be both right and wrong in their predictions! Earlier scientists predicted that the universe would contract and the everything would recede at a slower rate. But now the reality has taken them aback where the observations clearly tell that everything is receding away faster! Further, the quantum theory today is shaking the whole foundation of modern science!
Perhaps, you’d like to read the “Tao of Physics” by Capra for some more basic knowledge!
6. “When you weigh the wisdom of Plato, Pythagoras, Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Nicola Tesla against Thakkar’s statement that the numbers 9-6-3 are ‘nothing but an absurd formulae to predict the nature of the inconceivable Brahman’, you may begin to understand the depths of his ignorance.”
-> In my article only you’d find a reply to your childish rants. Its quite expected of your highly scrutinizing eyes to ignore the substance and go straight for the ill-equipped teenaged talks.
7. “But curiously he makes no mention of Max Muller in his article.”
-> We just can’t wait for the second part of the article, can we? 🙂 So much patience that your master Norelli has taught you??
Anyways, do give the link to this website in your blog.
??????? ???? ||
Hari om
Barbara says
Does anyone remember what the Mother said: ‘ACTS, NOT WORDS’
Gia says
This is total nonsense! Aurobindo’s vision was to taken Sanathan Dharma which is nothing but “HINDUISM” to higher levels. All you people at Auroville are doing exactly the opposite. You’ll are reducing Hinduism to a religion which Aurobindo NEVER did. More than that, you all (Norelli, Robert, Paulette and others at Auroville) seem to somehow consider yourselves more superior to local Indians and Hindus and act like you’ll have come to show us a new world order and teach us a better way of being and that too by plagiarizing from “Hindu” scriptures and making yourselves popular by selling concepts from “Hindu” spirituality. This is exactly the same arrogant attitude the britishers had when they first invaded india, thinking they had something great to teach us. And now you Auroville people are doing the same in the name of ‘sanatan dharma’! If Aurobindo was alive he would shut down Auroville and throw all you traitors out! shame on you’ll!
Gia says
And one more important thing. ALL of Aurobindo’s books are expositions on the Rig Veda, the Upanishads, the Gita and other “Hindu” scriptures. He never created any new theory. He only interpreted the information provided in the Vedic literature! Now you smartasses who think you’ll are so clever, I want you to come and prove that his books- Life Divine, Supramental Manifestation and every other book of his has nothing to do with Hinduism. Come and try. I challenge every one of you new age junkies who have the audacity to separate Hinduism from its Vedic literature to also try and separate Aurobindo’s books from its core foundation which is -HINDUISM.
Gia says
And for those cherry-picking Aurovillians who want to make up your own own agendas and your own nonsensical theories and do away with the word ‘Hindu’– read what AUROBINDO says on the HINDU RELIGION and HINDUISM:
“We speak often of the Hindu religion, of the Sanatana Dharma, but few of us really know what that religion is. Other religions are preponderatingly religions of faith and profession, but the Sanatana Dharma is life itself; it is a thing that has not so much to be believed as lived. This is the dharma that for the salvation of humanity was cherished in the seclusion of this peninsula from of old. It is to give this religion that India is
rising….. ”
“Then a thing happened suddenly and in a moment I was hurried away to the seclusion of a solitary cell. What happened to me during that period I am not impelled to say, but only this that day after day, He showed me His wonders and made me realise the utter truth of the Hindu religion. I had had many doubts before. I was brought up in England amongst foreign ideas and an atmosphere entirely foreign. About many things in Hinduism I had once been inclined to believe that it was all imagination; that there was much of dream in it, much that was delusion and maya. But now day after day I realised in the mind, I realised in the heart, I realised in the body the truths of the Hindu religion. They became living experiences to me, and things were opened to me which no material science could explain. When I first approached Him, it was not entirely in the spirit of the Bhakta, it was not entirely in the spirit of the Jnani.”
“…When I approached God at that time, I hardly had a living faith in Him. The agnostic was in me, the atheist was in me, the sceptic was in me and I was not absolutely sure that there was a God at all. I did not feel His presence. Yet something drew me to the truth of the Vedas, the truth of the Gita, the truth of the Hindu religion. I felt there must be a mighty truth somewhere in this Yoga, a mighty truth in this religion based on the Vedanta.”
“The second message came and it said, “Something has been shown to you in this year of seclusion,
something about which you had your doubts and it is the truth of the Hindu religion. It is this religion that I am raising up before the world, it is this that I have perfected and developed through the rishis, saints and
avatars, and now it is going forth to do my work among the nations. I am raising up this nation to send forth my word. This is the Sanatana Dharma, this is the eternal religion which you did not really know before, but which I have now revealed to you. The agnostic and the sceptic in you have been answered, for I have given you proofs within and without you, physical and subjective, which have satisfied you. When you go forth, speak to your nation always this word that it is for the Sanatana Dharma that they arise, it is for the world and not for themselves that they arise. I am giving them freedom for the service of the world.”
“This then is what I have to say to you. The name of your society is “Society for the Protection of Religion”.
Well, the protection of the religion, the protection and upraising before the world of the Hindu religion,
that is the work before us. But what is the Hindu religion? What is this religion which we call Sanatana, eternal? It is the Hindu religion only because the Hindu nation has kept it, because in this peninsula it grew up in the seclusion of the sea and the Himalayas, because in this sacred and ancient land it was given
as a charge to the Aryan race to preserve through the ages. But it is not circumscribed by the confines of a single country, it does not belong peculiarly and for ever to a bounded part of the world. That which we call the Hindu religion is really the eternal religion, because it is the universal religion which embraces all others.
If a religion is not universal, it cannot be eternal. A narrow religion, a sectarian religion, an exclusive religion can live only for a limited time and a limited purpose. This is the one religion that can triumph
over materialism by including and anticipating the discoveries of science and the speculations of philosophy. It is the one religion which impresses on mankind the closeness of God to us and embraces in its compass all the possible means by which man can approach God. It is the one religion which insists every moment on the truth which all religions acknowledge, that He is in all men and all things and that in Him we move and have our being. It is the one religion which enables us not only to understand and believe this truth but to realise it with every part of our being. It is the one religion which shows the world what the world is, that it is the lila of Vasudeva. It is the one religion which shows us how we can best play our part in that lila, its subtlest laws and its noblest rules. It is the one religion which does not separate life in any smallest detail from religion,which knows what immortality is and has utterly removed from us the reality of death. This is the word that has been put into my mouth to speak to you today. What I intended to speak has been put away from me, and beyond what is given to me I have nothing to say. It is only the word that is put into me that I can speak to you.That word is now finished.”
(Excerpted from the text published in the Bengalee, an English-language newspaper of Calcutta,
on 1 June; thoroughly revised by Sri Aurobindo and republished in the Karmayogin on 19 and 26 June,1909)
Gia says
It cannot be more clear that when Aurobindo spoke of the Hindu Religion he was not speaking of religion in terms of the dogmatic doctrines of Islam or Christianity, or reducing it to that.
And..
VEDAS, GITA, UPANISHADS—> SANATAN DHARMA = HINDUISM. You CANNOT SEPARATE THEM.
Jason Kay says
The Indians themselves in India who are brainwashed by the the Indian state with its version of secularism which really means anti Hinduism are the worst of the Hindu haters who are a product from the same British education system left over from the british and which was further manipulated by Indian Marxists who are in positions in government running educational and cultural institutions and who have been for the last 60 years distorting and manipulating india’s history and the Hindu scriptures to suit their own agenda.So its not surprising just like the church was paying Max Muller to distort the Vedas we also have the anti hindu government giving grants to fraudsters like Paullete Hadnagy..The Indian government has given many grants to many anti hindu scholars like Romilla Thaper and others with Marxist backgrounds and who have done immense damage to by distorting indian history and Hinduism by to white wash Muslim atrocities against Hindus by actually blaming Hindus themselves.
Anti Hindu Marxist historians whitewash Indian history of Islamic atrocities
http://islamicterrorism.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/anti-hindu-marxist-historians-whitewash-indian-history-of-islamic-atrocities/
That’s why I purposely brought in islam because I knew very well the typical reaction of anti hindus where they go out of their way to justify islam and its atrocities on India.This is what Paullete Hadnagy is trying to do and that’s why she went into a frenzy when Aurobindos quotes scrutinising islam were brought out into the open because that’s exactly what he thought and its no distortion because at that time India was getting torn apart due to islamic separatism .Girdhar caught her out when he presented the rest of Aurobindos paragraph on the Moguls which Paullete made moronic excuses to get out of it..
Whenever anyone comes across the anti hindu Indians or westerners they should do the same experiment bring up the quotes from the koran and the hadiths .Then watch the the fireworks when they go on a defensive to the extremes of stupidity which Paullete Hadnagy has shown and done.She even brought in how she feels the pain of local muslim shopkeepers which has nothing to do with the thread..And when these anti hindus cant prove anything in their defence then that’s why they start the well known false accusations ‘that you must be an extremist or an RSS person or the same as the ones who killed Mahatma Gandhi ‘blah blah blah crap’
And all this just to avoid the facts thrown at them . that’s why she’s desperately trying to make Aurobindo look ‘secular’ in the anti hindu template created by the Indian state by misquoting him or trying to deny he even said those things about Islam or Christianity by attacking the people he was with .This is all in attempt to de-Hinduize Aurobindo and to break him off from Hinduism so he can be recreated as some new prophet and Saviour of some new cult religion of a pseudo universal religion which has nothing to do with the Hindu religion which he loved so much and wanted to expand around the world to save it from self destruction .
Unfortunately for the anti hindu establishment and the AuroVillains from the neo colony Auroville many Hindus are not that naïve or can be manipulated any more because they have reawakened..
Sameer Thakkar says
@Robert Wilkinson : You seemed to have written your so called response to Max-Muller Syndrome quite in haste before the second part of the original article even got published on this fine website.
Anyways, I was in splits reading your “response” to me. It made me visualise of a 3rd grade teenager trying to abuse the teacher from behind. Lets scrutinize your statements —
1. “His attempts to cultivate an attitude of fear and distrust of foreigners was at first confusing but in the pages that followed ”
-> I never stated “foreigners”. If you have the guts, then quote the excerpt where I stated “foreigners”!!
I guess with promoting the distortion of Hinduism, your eyes are getting distorted and rusty too. David Frawley is one the finest example of the one of most reputed “foreigners” who is revered as Pandit Vamdev. Pseudo intellectuals and missionaries can be Indian by nationality too!
Hence your ‘foreigner’ accusation stand refuted. An overwheming feeling of pride must be hovering your brain. Isn’t it?
2. “But in either case Thakker, is plainly threatened by ideas and interpretations that run counter to his own rigid dogma and has an abhorrent distrust of foreigners and women in particular especially those in positions of authority. ”
-> Scizophrenia is a disease they say. This website alone is filled with plenty of knowledgable women who seem to have power! I respect their knowledge and passion to stand up for Hinduism and promote the core Hindu foundation!
3. “Contrary to Thakkar’s backward beliefs, Hinduism is not a rigid monolithic system.”
-> Philosophical enquiry and questioning are not termed as ‘beliefs’. Only a missionary with a dirty upbringing in a belief system can judge others to be like him. I only questioned in my article (part1) to the childish disney land that Patricia Norelli and her disciples have created in the name of Hinduism.
You have not replied to any of the subtantial matter in my post but only attacked me like you do to others revealing your ignorance, frustration and desperation to get some attention and used the quotes of Aurobindo and scientists out of context. Well, It doesn’t bother me at all!
Randomness in the universe, the nature of prime numbers go beyond any formulae and the universe encompasses everything i.e randomness, the fibonacci series, the nature of prime numbers and hence from a mathematical point of view too it is inconcievable. What we know of the universe comes under the boundary of “observable”. While dealing with 3,6,9 Norelli seems to have ignored the nature of yugas as well and that the avatars have sanskrit names and not english or christian!
So try to find a substantial reply instead of throwing tantrums.
4. For those of us who have bothered to study Thea’s works on the Veda and applied her incomparable knowledge to our own lived experience, it becomes self-evident that her cosmological discoveries will be the crown jewel of future spiritual realizations. She has unveiled that ‘Key’ to the mysteries of the Veda and opened the door to its greatest treasures.
-> Thea’s work on Veda is like a child trying to figure out “where the star falls”. Bhrama, the abode of Vishnu, where this universe came from, its size and mass are indeed inconcievable e.g Rigvedic hymn of creation. The concept of maya alone tells one cannot really predict the state of universe in the next moment. There is no secret “key” for maya and PN in her puny comprehension reduced the spirtuality and science of the vedas to some fantacy and unscientific assumptions!
Even the final avatar will be coming for the restablishment of Dharma or righteousness and not to achieve name or fame to write a book on a “secret key” to the mysteries of the Veda. Further, PN is quite attached to the name and fame and her obession to ignorant talks. The Vedas and the Gita teach detachment to experience ultimate reality and to achieve complete knowledge and for the establishment of Dharma.
“Greed, lust, anger etc” are the demonic qualities in a human being as mentioned in Bhagvad-Gita Chapter 16. Her obsession to portray herself as an avatar and achieve some status, name and fame under the name of Hinduism is nothing but laughable
5. “Religious fundamentalists like Sameer Thakkar who live in fear and suspicion, nursing old hatreds and prejudice find this kind of authority both threatening and infuriating. They believe that by attacking a Sage with accusations and ridicule they can undermine their authority and somehow elevate themselves.”
-> Well you keep distorting Hinduism further and further don’t you?
Hinduism is not a religion like christianity!
Its a further proof of your limited upbringing and the belief system that you practiced before distorting Hinduism that you think Hinduism is a religion and those who protect Hinduism are “religious fundamentalists”. Try to understand the difference between religion and dharma. That would be you homework for the coming week!
Stop singing PN’s name and read the primary work of Hinduism first! Judging the primary scriptures through the “attachment” to the secondary opinions like that of distortionists like Norelli goes even further below than the category of “blind belief”!
Regarding numbers, again, you do not realize that you make yourself sound even more foolish by talking about the numbers as comprehended by Norelli and her “Barbie Doll” logic. Infinity cannot be visualized! Try to understand that first and how small Patrizia Norelli makes herself by talking about the numbers. Try to gain some knowledge about “P & NP”, the nature of speed of light, random numbers, prime numbers, fibonacci series, the complex numbers etc. That would be your homework for the next 10 years!
Numbers indeed constitute knowledge. Beyond finite lies infinite where mathematical fallacies begin. Similarly, Beyond physics lies metaphysics.
People like Tesla were scientists not Gods! By blindly believing in their work you seem to abuse your own intellect and reduced them to some religious figures. Scientists can be both right and wrong in their predictions! Earlier scientists predicted that the universe would contract and the everything would recede at a slower rate. But now the reality has taken them aback where the observations clearly tell that everything is receding away faster! Further, the quantum theory today is shaking the whole foundation of modern science!
Perhaps, you’d like to read the “Tao of Physics” by Capra for some more basic knowledge!
6. “When you weigh the wisdom of Plato, Pythagoras, Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Nicola Tesla against Thakkar’s statement that the numbers 9-6-3 are ‘nothing but an absurd formulae to predict the nature of the inconceivable Brahman’, you may begin to understand the depths of his ignorance.”
-> In my article only you’d find a reply to your childish rants. Its quite expected of your highly scrutinizing eyes to ignore the substance and go straight for the ill-equipped teenaged talks.
7. “But curiously he makes no mention of Max Muller in his article.”
-> We just can’t wait for the second part of the article, can we? 🙂 So much patience that your master Norelli has taught you??
Anyways, do give the link to this website in your blog.
??????? ???? ||
Hari Om
Barbara says
“Truth is a difficult and strenuous conquest. One must be a real warrior who fears nothing, neither enemies nor death, for with or against everybody, with or without a body, the struggle continues and will end by Victory.” The Mother
Sonali Tripathi says
Brilliant posts, Sameer, Jason, Gia!
Jason has rightly said
“Unfortunately for the anti hindu establishment and the AuroVillains from the neo colony Auroville many Hindus are not that naïve or can be manipulated any more because they have reawakened..”
Paulette Hadnagy says
“Unfortunately for the anti hindu establishment and the AuroVillains…” As soon as I read “AuroVillains” I knew who the provocateur agent is: Satya, son of Brahmins, with whom I broke all relationship in 1985, after I was forced to send the police to get back my fridge and the trunk containing my passport; the owner had refused to give them back to me because Satya had left without paying the rent for months.
Afterwards Satya posted an article on the Auroville News dedicated to the “AuroVillains”, as ferocious as his present writings. The reasons for him going to live close to the Auroville beach are known to quite a few Aurovilians – guess what – and have certainly nothing to do with his quoting Danino and Francois Gautier and other paraphernalia.
I was a close friend of his wife, who went back to Italy long ago. I know what she and her daughter went through, by the hand of Satya and his brother. I sheltered wife and daughter repeatedly in my place in Auroville. For the sake of my friend, whom I knew since 1976, I will not enter into gruesome details, including the attempted suicide of the girl, who looked after her afterwards, and for what reasons. When I met her, after an accident that has left her crippled for life, she was a wreck in every sense.
I am not pointing the finger at the RSS, as “Jason Kay” pretends. No one from the RSS would use the arguments he has used regarding Sri Ramakrishna, plus Swami Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Mutt not investigating the Master’s visions. No one from the RSS would have persistently ignored my referring to the Kancipuram Sankaracaryas and how they relate to the Muslim world. No one from the RSS would have fooled around with Sri Aurobindo’s texts and pretend to ignore the sense, even if feeling uncomfortable. No one from the RSS would deny the instructions that Sri Aurobindo (and the Mother) have given to their sadhaks, and which the Sri Aurobindo Ashram has posted in the internet verbatim. No one from the RSS would indulge in lurid slander and character assassination; not just of an Aurovilian researcher and the Aurovilians, but even of a prominent member such as Kireet Joshi: all of us called anti-Hindu! Up to the final apotheosis, the anti-Hindu government (Congress and BJP!) financing anti-Hindu Marxist fraudulent researchers!
If I were to make public Satya’s life and actions you would know what kind of force he represents, and why this provocateur agent hates me, Auroville, anyone protecting Auroville, down to the Congress and the BJP government.
I had quoted deliberately from the Wikipedia that extract on Hindutva to make you aware that I knew that all of you had crossed that border too. The assassin of Mahatma Gandhi too had walked out from the RSS, it did not suit his blood-thirsty ideology! And, afterwards, he murdered Gandhi.
Let’s turn table. What’s your stand – on Hindutva?
““RSS, one of the main votaries of Hindutva has stated that it believes in a cultural connotation of the term Hindu. “The term Hindu in the conviction as well as in the constitution of the RSS is a cultural and civilizational concept and not a political or religious dogma. The term as a cultural concept will include and did always include all including Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Muslims, Christians and Parsis. The cultural nationality of India, in the conviction of the RSS, is Hindu and it was inclusive of all who are born and who have adopted Bharat as their Motherland, including Muslims, Christians and Parsis. The answering association submit that it is not just a matter of RSS conviction, but a fact borne out by history that the Muslims, Christians and Parsis too are Hindus by culture although as religions they are not so.”
…
The votaries of Hindutva believe that the way Muslims and Hindus have treated each other in the past is a one-way compromise and they intend on making society more balanced and fair towards the majority Hindu population. The BJP has also invited Muslims to be a part of this new society and work with the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs for a better India. Even more militant parties such as the Shiv Sena have invited Muslims to join and the party leader declared after the Babri Mosque incident,
“We must look after the Muslims and treat them as part of us.”
Where is Hindutva in your writings? What have you done with its call for cultural oneness and integration of the Muslim too, in the new society? I don’t want your reply. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. Ask your very selves: what have you done, you, anti-Hindu haters?
And having destroyed what had promised to be a lively debate, now enjoy Patrizia Norelli! You have called for it!
Now you know. Farewell.
Paulette
Jason Kay says
Paulette are you mentally stable ? Again you go completely of the topic .Now its about some guy who ran off with your fridge and trunk and then the RSS with their oversized khaki shorts or the Shiv sena..Im not interested in ‘Hindutva’ but only the truth …Ive asked you a thousand times what is your view on those quotes from the koran and thats its and lets keep to that instead of talking about your neighbours washing line drying out a pair of swimming trunks..
The Quran:
Quran (2:191-193) – “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]…and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.” There is a good case to be made that the textual context of this particular passage is defensive war, even if the historical context was not. However, there are also two worrisome pieces to this verse. The first is that the killing of others is authorized in the event of “persecution” (a qualification that is ambiguous at best). The second is that fighting may persist until “religion is for Allah.” The example set by Muhammad is not reassuring.
Quran (2:244) – “Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things.”
Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.” Not only does this verse establish that violence can be virtuous, but it also contradicts the myth that fighting is intended only in self-defense, since the audience was obviously not under attack at the time. From the Hadith, we know that Muhammad was actually trying to motivate his people into raiding caravans with this verse.
Quran (3:56) – “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”
Quran (3:151) – “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”. This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be ‘joining companions to Allah’).
Quran (4:74) – “Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle, as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah. Here is the theological basis for today’s suicide bombers.
Quran (4:76) – “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…”
Quran (4:89) – “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks.”
Quran (4:95) – “Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward,-” This passage criticizes “peaceful” Muslims who do not join in the violence, letting them know that they are less worthy in Allah’s eyes. It also demolishes the modern myth that “Jihad” doesn’t mean holy war in the Quran, but rather a spiritual struggle. Not only is the Arabic word used in this passage, but it is clearly not referring to anything spiritual, since the physically disabled are given exemption. (The Hadith reveals the context of the passage to be in response to a blind man’s protest that he is unable to engage in Jihad and this is reflected in other translations of the verse).
Quran (4:104) – “And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain…” Is pursuing an injured and retreating enemy really an act of self-defense?
Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle.
Quran (8:15) – “O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them. (16)Whoso on that day turneth his back to them, unless maneuvering for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey’s end.”
Quran (8:39) – “And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah” From the historical context we know that the “persecution” spoken of here was simply the refusal by the Meccans to allow Muhammad to enter their city and perform the Haj. Other Muslims were able to travel there, just not as an armed group, since Muhammad declared war on Mecca prior to his eviction. The Meccans were also acting in defense of their religion, since it was Muhammad’s intention to destroy their idols and establish Islam by force (which he later did). Hence the critical part of this verse is to fight until “religion is only for Allah.” According to Ibn Ishaq (324), Muhammad justified the violence further by explaining that “Allah must have no rivals.”
Quran (8:57) – “If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember.”
Quran (8:59-60) – “And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah’s Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy.”
Quran (8:65) – “O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight…”
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.” According to this verse, the best way of staying safe from Muslim violence is to convert to Islam. Prayer (salat) and the poor tax (zakat) are among the religions Five Pillars.
Quran (9:14) – “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace…”
Quran (9:20) – “Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah’s way are of much greater worth in Allah’s sight. These are they who are triumphant.” The “striving” spoken of here is Jihad.
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” “People of the Book” refers to Christians and Jews. This was one of the final “revelations” from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad’s companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in just the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.
Quran (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!”
Quran (9:38-39) – “O ye who believe! what is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place.” This is a warning to those who refuse to fight, that they will be punished with Hell.
Quran (9:41) – “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” See also the verse that follows (9:42) – “If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee, but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them” This contradicts the myth that Muslims are to fight only in self-defense, since the wording implies that battle will be waged a long distance from home (in another country and on Christian soil, in this case, according to the historians).
Quran (9:73) – “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.” Dehumanizing those who reject Islam, by reminding Muslims that they are merely firewood for Hell, makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today’s devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.
Quran (9:88) – “But the Messenger, and those who believe with him, strive and fight with their wealth and their persons: for them are (all) good things: and it is they who will prosper.”
Quran (9:111) – “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Quran: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.”
Quran (9:123) – “O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”
Quran (18:65-81) – This parable lays the theological groundwork for honor killings, in which a family member is murdered because they brought shame to the family, either through apostasy or perceived moral indiscretion. The story, which is not found in any Jewish or Christian source, tells of Moses encountering a man with “special knowledge” who does things which don’t seem to make sense on the surface, but are then justified according to later explanation. One such action is to murder a youth for no apparent reason (74). However, the wise man later explains that it was feared that the boy would “grieve” his parents by “disobedience and ingratitude.” He was killed so that Allah could provide them a ‘better’ son.
Quran (21:44) – “We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?”
Quran (25:52) – “Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness…” “Strive against” is Jihad – obviously not in the personal context. It’s also significant to point out that this is a Meccan verse.
Quran (33:60-62) – “If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter.” This passage sanctions the slaughter (rendered “merciless” and “horrible murder” in other translations) against three groups: Hypocrites (Muslims who refuse to “fight in the way of Allah” (3:167) and hence don’t act as Muslims should), those with “diseased hearts” (which include Jews and Christians 5:51-52), and “alarmists” or “agitators who include those who merely speak out against Islam, according to Muhammad’s biographers. It is worth noting that the victims are to be sought out by Muslims, which is what today’s terrorists do. If this passage is meant merely to apply to the city of Medina, then it is unclear why it is included in Allah’s eternal word to Muslim generations.
Quran (47:3-4) – “Those who reject Allah follow vanities, while those who believe follow the truth from their lord. Thus does Allah set forth form men their lessons by similtudes. Therefore when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,” Those who reject Allah are to be subdued in battle. The verse goes on to say the only reason Allah doesn’t do the dirty work himself is in order to to test the faithfulness of Muslims. Those who kill pass the test. “But if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Quran (47:35) – “Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost (Shakir: “have the upper hand”) for Allah is with you,” This very important verse asserts that the Religion of Peace is not to grant peace to the broader society until Islamic rule has been established.
Quran (48:17) – “There is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). And whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will He punish with a painful doom.” Contemporary apologists sometimes claim that Jihad means ‘spiritual struggle.’ Is so, then why are the blind, lame and sick exempted?
Quran (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves” Islam is not about treating everyone equally. There are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status.
Quran (61:4) – “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way” Religion of Peace, indeed! This is followed by (61:9): “He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist.”
Quran (61:10-12) – “O ye who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty?- That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons: That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity.” This verse was given in battle. It uses the Arabic word, Jihad.
Quran (66:9) – “O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey’s end.” The root word of “Jihad” is used again here. The context is clearly holy war, and the scope of violence is broadened to include “hypocrites” – those who call themselves Muslims but do not act as such.
From the Hadith:
Bukhari (52:177) – Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”
Bukhari (52:256) – The Prophet… was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).” In this command, Muhammad establishes that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This provides justification for the many Islamic terror bombings.
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Abu Dawud (14:2526) – The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, “There is no god but Allah” and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist)
Abu Dawud (14:2527) – The Prophet said: Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious
Muslim (1:33) – the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah
Muslim (1:149) – “Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause…”
Muslim (20:4645) – “…He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa’id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!”
Muslim (20:4696) – “the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: ‘One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihid died the death of a hypocrite.’”
Muslim (19:4321-4323) – Three separate hadith in which Muhammad shrugs over the news that innocent children were killed in a raid by his men against unbelievers. His response: “They are of them (meaning the enemy).”
Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, “Kill any Jew who falls under your power.” Ashraf was a poet, killed by Muhammad’s men because he insulted Islam. Here, Muhammad widens the scope of his orders to kill. An innocent Jewish businessman was then slain by his Muslim partner, merely for being non-Muslim.
Tabari 9:69 “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” The words of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.
Ibn Ishaq: 327 – “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”
Ibn Ishaq: 990 – Lest anyone think that cutting off someone’s head while screaming ‘Allah Akbar!’ is a modern custom, here is an account of that very practice under Muhammad, who seems to approve.
Ibn Ishaq: 992 – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.” Muhammad’s instructions to his men prior to a military raid.
David says
Dear Jason,
Its becoming obvious that Paulette Hadnagy suffers from schizophrenia.This poor Satya she mentioned was actually set up by Paulette and her friends from Auroville .Only to get him evicted like they had done with Patrizia Norelli.Its just a dictatorship which Paulette is part of and is chief manipulator of the truth.Take note.
Jason Kay says
@David, Shes far more worse than first predicted but then that can also be said about the Norelli cult you seem to be defending which im also taking note
Paulette Hadnagy says
Jason,
To my knowledge, no one else has used the term AuroVillain but Satya, seemingly your twin soul. Otherwise, how did you get it? Close friend? Telepathy? Vijnana? Satya was not evicted from Auroville; he left on his own with his wife (who worked at the Matrimandir construction, David rejoice!), without grudges, much before becoming what he is. PN never had any business whatsoever here, she is just ignored. David is delusional, poor one. Doesn’t even know what he is blabbering.
David,
be sure that one problem Satya will never have is to be associated with PN. By the way, as schizophrenia inspires you, have you recovered from your breakdown, when you were so tightly associated to PN, at whose “ashram” you lived? I know only about two Davids around the ‘supramental’ ‘Avatar’ (she kicked off the other one); or are you a third one I don’t know about? Now listen. Do you know who once was in the young Shankaracarya’s room (Sri Vijayendra Saraswthi Swamigal), with Irene (princess of Greece and Denmark; the queen of Spain is her sister), and myself? The David that PN kicked out in 2003! The first time that the old Shankaracarya saw this David, His Holiness commented, “He looks like one of us!” And infinitely more…….. So, this is the guy that PN the goddess has kicked out. And it is also how I know so well, in all details, how things go, in “Skandashram”!!! Including the reasons for the breakdown that David (you?), leading the MAC coordinators, had. By the way, to diminish the other David, PN used to call him Robert (he and Wilkinson resemble each other), and other nasty things. I also know how she treats people and make them work, that the psychic being is never mentioned there (of course!!!), and much more, I got the full picture. No baloneys with me, no matter how much you bark and bark.
*
My reply on the Muslim question is very simple. Thanks to you people I have read for the first time, in the Wikipedia, what Hindutva is and I am fascinated. If no politics are involved, I fully subscribe to their vision (of the BJP’s in particular, is this why Jason trashes it?) of a new society where all religions, including Islam and Christianity, are part of the same one cultural body – while at the same time acknowledging and respecting the different religious paths of each and all, Muslims and Christians too, as Hindutva says. This is Hinduism, which is also the way all the great yogis I have mentioned teach us. You people don’t accept the ideology of Hindutva, so you are anti-Hindus. Fullstop.
By the way, I was delighted to read in the Wikipedia, “The supporters of Hindutva have a positive outlook towards the Dalit community, which they aim to bring to leadership positions in their organizations”. Simply marvellous, no need for a Marxist revolution!
And to make things even more astounding, also from the Wikipedia, “Followers of Hindutva have questioned differential religious laws in India which allows polygamy and triple talaq among Muslims and thereby compromises on the status of Muslim women and “marginalizes” them.[12]The passing of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 by Rajiv Gandhi government to dilute the secular judgment of Supreme Court under pressure from the conservative Muslims was opposed by Hindutva organisations. The new act, in tune with the Shariat, denied even utterly destitute Muslim divorcees the right to alimony from their former husbands.”
If this is what Hindutva is about, showing how much Muslims are cared of, and not only they, Dalits too, W Hindutva. No wonder that Gandhi’s assassin walked out from the RSS. Nor do you have any place there either, as your writings have widely proved. No wonder also that when I mention the Kanchi Shankaracaryas you remain mute: they are linked to the Sang Parivar, and are also part of the ongoing interfaith dialogue! Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, the present pontiff, even tried to settle the Ayodhia dispute!
You are both: anti-Yoga, and anti-Hindu. The most sacrilegious type.
Paulette
Jason Kay says
yes whatever..Again you go into something totally irrelevant .I dont care about Shankaracarya’ and princess of Greece and Denmark and the queen of spain the bjp and the congress and ‘U’ having a cup of tea together and eating pakoras.I dont care about the hindutva people either like i dont care about who assassinated Gandhi or not am i asking you about the muslims in india so i dont know why you keep on going off the subject.. As you have been trying to give the impression you are some great scholar and expert on all religions and aurobindo then you have to answer to the same quotes from koran and how that applies to non muslims .
so heres the quotes again..
The Quran:
Quran (2:191-193) – “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]…and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.” There is a good case to be made that the textual context of this particular passage is defensive war, even if the historical context was not. However, there are also two worrisome pieces to this verse. The first is that the killing of others is authorized in the event of “persecution” (a qualification that is ambiguous at best). The second is that fighting may persist until “religion is for Allah.” The example set by Muhammad is not reassuring.
Quran (2:244) – “Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things.”
Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.” Not only does this verse establish that violence can be virtuous, but it also contradicts the myth that fighting is intended only in self-defense, since the audience was obviously not under attack at the time. From the Hadith, we know that Muhammad was actually trying to motivate his people into raiding caravans with this verse.
Quran (3:56) – “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”
Quran (3:151) – “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”. This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be ‘joining companions to Allah’).
Quran (4:74) – “Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle, as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah. Here is the theological basis for today’s suicide bombers.
Quran (4:76) – “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…”
Quran (4:89) – “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks.”
Quran (4:95) – “Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward,-” This passage criticizes “peaceful” Muslims who do not join in the violence, letting them know that they are less worthy in Allah’s eyes. It also demolishes the modern myth that “Jihad” doesn’t mean holy war in the Quran, but rather a spiritual struggle. Not only is the Arabic word used in this passage, but it is clearly not referring to anything spiritual, since the physically disabled are given exemption. (The Hadith reveals the context of the passage to be in response to a blind man’s protest that he is unable to engage in Jihad and this is reflected in other translations of the verse).
Quran (4:104) – “And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain…” Is pursuing an injured and retreating enemy really an act of self-defense?
Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle.
Quran (8:15) – “O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them. (16)Whoso on that day turneth his back to them, unless maneuvering for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey’s end.”
Quran (8:39) – “And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah” From the historical context we know that the “persecution” spoken of here was simply the refusal by the Meccans to allow Muhammad to enter their city and perform the Haj. Other Muslims were able to travel there, just not as an armed group, since Muhammad declared war on Mecca prior to his eviction. The Meccans were also acting in defense of their religion, since it was Muhammad’s intention to destroy their idols and establish Islam by force (which he later did). Hence the critical part of this verse is to fight until “religion is only for Allah.” According to Ibn Ishaq (324), Muhammad justified the violence further by explaining that “Allah must have no rivals.”
Quran (8:57) – “If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember.”
Quran (8:59-60) – “And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah’s Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy.”
Quran (8:65) – “O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight…”
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.” According to this verse, the best way of staying safe from Muslim violence is to convert to Islam. Prayer (salat) and the poor tax (zakat) are among the religions Five Pillars.
Quran (9:14) – “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace…”
Quran (9:20) – “Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah’s way are of much greater worth in Allah’s sight. These are they who are triumphant.” The “striving” spoken of here is Jihad.
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” “People of the Book” refers to Christians and Jews. This was one of the final “revelations” from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad’s companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in just the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.
Quran (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!”
Quran (9:38-39) – “O ye who believe! what is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place.” This is a warning to those who refuse to fight, that they will be punished with Hell.
Quran (9:41) – “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” See also the verse that follows (9:42) – “If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee, but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them” This contradicts the myth that Muslims are to fight only in self-defense, since the wording implies that battle will be waged a long distance from home (in another country and on Christian soil, in this case, according to the historians).
Quran (9:73) – “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.” Dehumanizing those who reject Islam, by reminding Muslims that they are merely firewood for Hell, makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today’s devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.
Quran (9:88) – “But the Messenger, and those who believe with him, strive and fight with their wealth and their persons: for them are (all) good things: and it is they who will prosper.”
Quran (9:111) – “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Quran: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.”
Quran (9:123) – “O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”
Quran (18:65-81) – This parable lays the theological groundwork for honor killings, in which a family member is murdered because they brought shame to the family, either through apostasy or perceived moral indiscretion. The story, which is not found in any Jewish or Christian source, tells of Moses encountering a man with “special knowledge” who does things which don’t seem to make sense on the surface, but are then justified according to later explanation. One such action is to murder a youth for no apparent reason (74). However, the wise man later explains that it was feared that the boy would “grieve” his parents by “disobedience and ingratitude.” He was killed so that Allah could provide them a ‘better’ son.
Quran (21:44) – “We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?”
Quran (25:52) – “Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness…” “Strive against” is Jihad – obviously not in the personal context. It’s also significant to point out that this is a Meccan verse.
Quran (33:60-62) – “If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter.” This passage sanctions the slaughter (rendered “merciless” and “horrible murder” in other translations) against three groups: Hypocrites (Muslims who refuse to “fight in the way of Allah” (3:167) and hence don’t act as Muslims should), those with “diseased hearts” (which include Jews and Christians 5:51-52), and “alarmists” or “agitators who include those who merely speak out against Islam, according to Muhammad’s biographers. It is worth noting that the victims are to be sought out by Muslims, which is what today’s terrorists do. If this passage is meant merely to apply to the city of Medina, then it is unclear why it is included in Allah’s eternal word to Muslim generations.
Quran (47:3-4) – “Those who reject Allah follow vanities, while those who believe follow the truth from their lord. Thus does Allah set forth form men their lessons by similtudes. Therefore when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,” Those who reject Allah are to be subdued in battle. The verse goes on to say the only reason Allah doesn’t do the dirty work himself is in order to to test the faithfulness of Muslims. Those who kill pass the test. “But if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Quran (47:35) – “Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost (Shakir: “have the upper hand”) for Allah is with you,” This very important verse asserts that the Religion of Peace is not to grant peace to the broader society until Islamic rule has been established.
Quran (48:17) – “There is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). And whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will He punish with a painful doom.” Contemporary apologists sometimes claim that Jihad means ‘spiritual struggle.’ Is so, then why are the blind, lame and sick exempted?
Quran (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves” Islam is not about treating everyone equally. There are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status.
Quran (61:4) – “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way” Religion of Peace, indeed! This is followed by (61:9): “He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist.”
Quran (61:10-12) – “O ye who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty?- That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons: That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity.” This verse was given in battle. It uses the Arabic word, Jihad.
Quran (66:9) – “O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey’s end.” The root word of “Jihad” is used again here. The context is clearly holy war, and the scope of violence is broadened to include “hypocrites” – those who call themselves Muslims but do not act as such.
From the Hadith:
Bukhari (52:177) – Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”
Bukhari (52:256) – The Prophet… was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).” In this command, Muhammad establishes that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This provides justification for the many Islamic terror bombings.
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Abu Dawud (14:2526) – The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, “There is no god but Allah” and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist)
Abu Dawud (14:2527) – The Prophet said: Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious
Muslim (1:33) – the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah
Muslim (1:149) – “Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause…”
Muslim (20:4645) – “…He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa’id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!”
Muslim (20:4696) – “the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: ‘One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihid died the death of a hypocrite.’”
Muslim (19:4321-4323) – Three separate hadith in which Muhammad shrugs over the news that innocent children were killed in a raid by his men against unbelievers. His response: “They are of them (meaning the enemy).”
Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, “Kill any Jew who falls under your power.” Ashraf was a poet, killed by Muhammad’s men because he insulted Islam. Here, Muhammad widens the scope of his orders to kill. An innocent Jewish businessman was then slain by his Muslim partner, merely for being non-Muslim.
Tabari 9:69 “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” The words of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.
Ibn Ishaq: 327 – “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”
Ibn Ishaq: 990 – Lest anyone think that cutting off someone’s head while screaming ‘Allah Akbar!’ is a modern custom, here is an account of that very practice under Muhammad, who seems to approve.
Ibn Ishaq: 992 – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.” Muhammad’s instructions to his men prior to a military raid.
Paulette Hadnagy says
From “Meeting with Perfection” by Dr. T.M.P. Mahadevan
Her Majesty Queen Frederika, Queen Mother of Greece, and her daughter. H.R.H. Princess Irene, had been practicing meditation for sometime and they were acquainted with Advaita Vedanta through the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi. They had come to India earlier on a State visit along with the late Majesty King Paul; but then they did not have the opportunity or time to get to know closely the spiritual side of India. Then Queen-Mother and the Princess expressed a wish to meet His Holiness on their next visit to India. It was in accordance with this wish of their that they came to India in November-December 1966, and met His Holiness. The meetings took place in Kalahasti on the 4th and 5th of December, 1966.
Her Majesty Queen Frederika, Queen Mother of Greece and Her Royal Highness Princess Irene came as seekers of truth; and they thought it supremely worthwhile to undertake this long journey and were richly rewarded. The following is the gist of the interview – the questions asked by the Royalty and the instructions given by His Holiness.
Q. Your Holiness! I am able to meditate with a measure of success while awake. But, the meditative experience does not come in dreams. What should be done to retain this attitude in the dreams also?
A. One need not worry about the kind of dreams one has. One who practices meditation in the waking stage, may not, when he goes to the dream stage, experience the meditative attitude. The dreams may related to non-spiritual phenomena. But the spiritual seeker should be troubled over these. He should not think that such dreams constitute an impediment to his spiritual life. To think so, and to be troubled mentally would be an obstacle. What the seeker should be careful about is the waking life. He should devote as much of it as possible to the spiritual quest. If his endeavors in the waking state are in the direction of the Spirit, then gradually in the dreams also one’s spiritual nature will be reflected. It is not dreams that effect waking life; it is the other way about. One who is fair skinned in waking life usually dreams of himself as having fair skin. If he has dark skin, in dream also he has a similar complexion. Thus, it is the experiences of waking state hat get reflected in dreams, although the odd and queer forms. So, if the aspirant is vigilant in his waking state, and strives constantly to remember the Self, gradually in dream also the same attitude will get reflected. If he succeeds in rendering his waking life free from violent passions and base desires, in course of time his dreams also will become placid and full of peace.
Q. Will Your Holiness be pleased to prescribe a technique by which the concentration and equanimity of the mind may be facilitated?
A. Normally one breathes through one of the two nostrils, right or left. It is possible to change the breathing is through the right nostril, and if it is to be changed to the left, what one should do is to put pressure on the right side of the body, which could be done by resting the right palm on the ground and making the body lean on that arm. For a change from the left to the right, the pressure should be put on the left side. Before the actual change takes place, the breathing would be through both the nostrils for a short time, say two seconds This is what may be called equalised breathing, its period will become longer and longer. And, the equalised breathing will facilitate the gaining of mental balance and equanimity. The more one practices this, the greater will be the progress in achieving the balance of mind, and the ability to remain unperturbed.
Q. If the surroundings are not salutary, if there are people who are hostile to one’s life, if everywhere one sees evil and wickedness, what should one do?
A. One may be surrounded by wicked people who are treacherous and evil in their ways. But one should not be impatient with them; or show hatred towards them. On the contrary, one should have sympathy and compassion for them. No person is wicked by nature, but circumstances and upbringing make him so. There is no reason, therefore, to hate him so. There is no reason, therefore, to hate him for what he has been made into. And also, an aspirant should not have hatred for anyone. He should reason thus: Since the wicked person is so because of circumstances and upbringing, he is to be pitied rather than hated. What would I do if someone whom I hold dear, say, my son, turns to evil ways? I would strive to correct him through love. Even so should I treat the stranger. In fact, there is no stranger for a truth seeker; for all are kindred. What would be my plight if I had been born and bred in those evil circumstances? I too would be behaving in a wicked way. So, let me see the same Self in the wicked man. Let me not hate him.”
Q. What is the distinction between the savikalpa and nirvikalpa stages in samadhi? And, what is sahaja samadhi?
A. Savikalpa and nirvikalpa are stages in the path of concentration and meditation. In what is known as savikalpa-samadhi the mind is steady without any distraction, contemplating its object wholly absorbed therein. In nirvikalpa samadhi which is the goal of yoga, the mind ceases to function, and vanishes once for all, leaving the self to shine forth alone. In Advaita too the path of meditation is recognised; but here the object of meditation is distinctionless Brahman. What is called sahaja-samadhi is realised through the path of inquiry. It is the natural state of Self-realization, and one of utter unconcern for the fleeting phenomena.
Q. What should be leader do in regard to customs, usages, etc.? Even after he finds them to be not of any benefit for himself, should he follow them?
A. Those who are the leaders of a group, society, or state should not neglect the established religious customs and usages. For themselves, they may not be in need of church-ceremonies, for instance. Their advance in spirituality may not require these. But if they began to neglect them, the people for whom the rituals are really helpful will also start neglecting them. This would be setting bad example. In the words of Bhagavad-Gita: “The wise one should not unsettle the minds of those who are ignorant, and are attached to action. On the contrary, he should encourage them to perform what they should perform, by himself doing the appropriate actions well and with diligence.” It is a duty cast upon the leaders and those that are at the top to lead the people from the people from where they are, and not refrain from participation in the traditional ways of worship.
Recording the indelible impressions of the interviews and the unique blessing gained by the darsana of His Holiness, Her Majesty has observed thus:
“The two days we spend in his company will never be forgotten. There was pure spirituality. What strange fate has brought us close to him!”
Expanding the same impression, and reminiscing on what has been aptly described as the meeting with Perfection, Her Royal Highness said:
“Since some time now I find myself in a situation where there are no more questions to ask (except for details). Yet identification with the Self is far from constant. Nevertheless the practice of application will also contribute in making it more permanent so that there is really no problem. Then I believe that Fate brings things when time is ripe. And what came as Fate’s great gift was his meeting with Perfection whose blessings is more that I am able to cherish without being deeply moved.
“The greatness of His blessing was so immense that this human container was incapable of holding it without its overflowing which resulted as tears. Tears of utter fulfillment which washed away the container, causing it to dissolve, for a while, into the Reality He symbolizes.”
Exactly two years later, Her Majesty, the Queen-Mother and Princess Irene came again to meet His Holiness – this time Her Majesty’s niece and nephew also came with them, Princess Dorothea and Prince Karl. The interviews with His Holiness took place at Masulipatnam on the 6th, 7th and 8th of December, 1968. In all, the Royal visitors spent more than eight hours with His Holiness, drinking deeply of his wisdom and experience, and basking in the full effulgence of his spiritual magnificence. From the moment of their arrival in Madras on the 3rd, to that of their departure from Madras, after the Masulipatnam visit, on the 11th for Bombay en route to Europe, they had but one thought – the thought about His Holiness. Each of them considered the meeting with him the most precious gift of Providence in their lives. They received the benign grace of the Great Master in abundant measure.
The Royal visitors had meetings with the Master both severally and together. It was a remarkable experience to watch, on the one hand, the visiting guests addressing His Holiness with questions that revealed great depth of sincerity and keenness of spiritual seeking and, on the other hand, the Master giving precise instructions and most lucid exposition on points which would help in the progress of the one’s inward quest. The outer world rarely figured in the conversation. The inward life was what the Royalty was primarily concerned with; and they were convinced that they had come to the most authentic source for light and guidance.
To those members of the Royal party who had lately begun the practice of meditation, His Holiness gave detailed instruction as to the technique that they could adopt. Each session of meditation could be divided into two halved roughly. During the first half, controlled breathing could be practised. After taking in a deep breath, the breath is to be retained as long as it is possible to do it conveniently and without strain. If for instance one could retain the breath for an optimum measure of 100 seconds, let one practice the breath-retention only for 50 seconds. After the retention, one should breathe out as slowly as possible. This is to be repeated during the first Half of the mediation-session. Each time the breath is retained, one could devote the first few moments to the thought of the all-pervading Divinity which is the ground of the universe and of one’s being. The advice was also given to increase slightly the daily mediation period. If, for instance, one devoted two half-hour sessions to meditation, one in the morning and one in the evening, one could add a third session lasting for a quarter-hour.
The master enquired of Princess Irene about the progress she had made in her spiritual life. She said that she had found in the practice of music a means for divine communion, and asked if she could pursue this particular mode of approach. His Holiness gave her instructions as to how through devotion to music she could develop the consciousness of the inner Spirit. Devotion to music and meditation could go hand in hand and help each other.
Her Majesty Queen Fredrika asked about certain supernormal manifestations that appear while one progresses in the path of meditation. His Holiness said that one should not attach much importance to them and that one should not forget the goal of meditation which is enlightenment.
A question was put in regard to what one should do for retaining higher consciousness in the last moments of one’s life. After recalling a few instances of persons who were in full possession of their faculties and passed away in peace, His Holiness observed that what really mattered was not how one passed away, but how one lived in the present. One should endeavour to lead the life divine as much as possible, without worrying about one’s possible condition in the last moments. If, besides practicing meditation, etc., during one’s life which should be sufficient one also wishes for a peaceful end in complete possession of one’s faculties, one should cultivate pranayama and other techniques of Yoga. But this is not necessary after all, and does not contribute much to one’s spiritual life.
Her Majesty the Queen Mother said: “Some of us who have adopted vegetarian food habits are asked by friends in the West to state the reason for such adoption. If we give the reason as the desire to avoid causing pain to animal life, they ask if vegetarianism does to involve inflicting pain in the vegetable world.” His Holiness explained clearly and in detail the basis of vegetarianism: “The ideal life of complete compassion and non-violence is possible only for a few. It would involve subsistence on fruits and leaves that fall from trees and plants. In the case of others they can only be gradual approach towards that idea. The rule is: if it is possible to live by causing less injury to other lives, it is wrong to inflict more violence. It is on this principle that vegetarian diet is greatly to be preferred to meat-eating. In the first place, when vegetables are plucked, the plant are not destroyed, whereas meat cannot be had without killing the animal to which it belongs. Secondly, animals are more sensitive than plants; they have a greater number of, and keener, sense-faculties than the latter. In fact, there is not much difference in this regard between an animals and us, humans. The feeling of pain is almost the same; the suffering is of the same degree. The plants do not suffer to the same extent. Plucking vegetables or leaves is comparable to the clipping of nails and the cutting of hair. Thirdly, intrinsically there is not much to choose between cannibalism and eating of animal-meat. The arguments against the one hold good equally against the other. If the civilized people who are meat-eaters are against cannibalism, it is more on grounds of sentiment. It is clear that meat-eating causes more suffering than living vegetables. And, every effort for reducing the quantum of suffering commendable.”
The doubt was expressed by one of the members of the Royal party whether humanity had not missed the chance of turning of spiritual values at the end of the last World War. His Holiness replied saying that no such generalized statement could be made about mankind as a whole. What is important is that individuals should be intent on inward progress. If they evolve spirituality, the world will improve. It is not to become great that one should aim at, but to become good; for, to be good is to be truly great.
Prior to leaving Masulipatnam on the 8th of December 1968, Her Majesty and party took leave of His Holiness after about an hour of sitting in his benign presence. Little was spoken during this session. In his own characteristic manner, the Great Master blessed the Royal devotees; and they dragged themselves away, unwilling to leave.
The spirit of humility and ardent quest for the highest values was reflected in the reply that Her Majesty gave to the Chairman of the Municipal Council of Masulipatnam who met her in the special railway coach and entreated her to agree to a civic reception: “Thank you; but we have come all the way from Europe, not as members of Royalty but as humble devotees seeking the blessing and guidance of His Holiness.”
© Copyright Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham
[Submitted, as reply, by Paulette]
Jason Kay says
so heres the quotes again for you to answer..
The Quran:
Quran (2:191-193) – “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]…and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.” There is a good case to be made that the textual context of this particular passage is defensive war, even if the historical context was not. However, there are also two worrisome pieces to this verse. The first is that the killing of others is authorized in the event of “persecution” (a qualification that is ambiguous at best). The second is that fighting may persist until “religion is for Allah.” The example set by Muhammad is not reassuring.
Quran (2:244) – “Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things.”
Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.” Not only does this verse establish that violence can be virtuous, but it also contradicts the myth that fighting is intended only in self-defense, since the audience was obviously not under attack at the time. From the Hadith, we know that Muhammad was actually trying to motivate his people into raiding caravans with this verse.
Quran (3:56) – “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”
Quran (3:151) – “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”. This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be ‘joining companions to Allah’).
Quran (4:74) – “Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle, as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah. Here is the theological basis for today’s suicide bombers.
Quran (4:76) – “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…”
Quran (4:89) – “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks.”
Quran (4:95) – “Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward,-” This passage criticizes “peaceful” Muslims who do not join in the violence, letting them know that they are less worthy in Allah’s eyes. It also demolishes the modern myth that “Jihad” doesn’t mean holy war in the Quran, but rather a spiritual struggle. Not only is the Arabic word used in this passage, but it is clearly not referring to anything spiritual, since the physically disabled are given exemption. (The Hadith reveals the context of the passage to be in response to a blind man’s protest that he is unable to engage in Jihad and this is reflected in other translations of the verse).
Quran (4:104) – “And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain…” Is pursuing an injured and retreating enemy really an act of self-defense?
Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle.
Quran (8:15) – “O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them. (16)Whoso on that day turneth his back to them, unless maneuvering for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey’s end.”
Quran (8:39) – “And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah” From the historical context we know that the “persecution” spoken of here was simply the refusal by the Meccans to allow Muhammad to enter their city and perform the Haj. Other Muslims were able to travel there, just not as an armed group, since Muhammad declared war on Mecca prior to his eviction. The Meccans were also acting in defense of their religion, since it was Muhammad’s intention to destroy their idols and establish Islam by force (which he later did). Hence the critical part of this verse is to fight until “religion is only for Allah.” According to Ibn Ishaq (324), Muhammad justified the violence further by explaining that “Allah must have no rivals.”
Quran (8:57) – “If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember.”
Quran (8:59-60) – “And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah’s Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy.”
Quran (8:65) – “O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight…”
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.” According to this verse, the best way of staying safe from Muslim violence is to convert to Islam. Prayer (salat) and the poor tax (zakat) are among the religions Five Pillars.
Quran (9:14) – “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace…”
Quran (9:20) – “Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah’s way are of much greater worth in Allah’s sight. These are they who are triumphant.” The “striving” spoken of here is Jihad.
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” “People of the Book” refers to Christians and Jews. This was one of the final “revelations” from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad’s companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in just the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.
Quran (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!”
Quran (9:38-39) – “O ye who believe! what is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place.” This is a warning to those who refuse to fight, that they will be punished with Hell.
Quran (9:41) – “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” See also the verse that follows (9:42) – “If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee, but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them” This contradicts the myth that Muslims are to fight only in self-defense, since the wording implies that battle will be waged a long distance from home (in another country and on Christian soil, in this case, according to the historians).
Quran (9:73) – “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.” Dehumanizing those who reject Islam, by reminding Muslims that they are merely firewood for Hell, makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today’s devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.
Quran (9:88) – “But the Messenger, and those who believe with him, strive and fight with their wealth and their persons: for them are (all) good things: and it is they who will prosper.”
Quran (9:111) – “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Quran: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.”
Quran (9:123) – “O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”
Quran (18:65-81) – This parable lays the theological groundwork for honor killings, in which a family member is murdered because they brought shame to the family, either through apostasy or perceived moral indiscretion. The story, which is not found in any Jewish or Christian source, tells of Moses encountering a man with “special knowledge” who does things which don’t seem to make sense on the surface, but are then justified according to later explanation. One such action is to murder a youth for no apparent reason (74). However, the wise man later explains that it was feared that the boy would “grieve” his parents by “disobedience and ingratitude.” He was killed so that Allah could provide them a ‘better’ son.
Quran (21:44) – “We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?”
Quran (25:52) – “Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness…” “Strive against” is Jihad – obviously not in the personal context. It’s also significant to point out that this is a Meccan verse.
Quran (33:60-62) – “If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter.” This passage sanctions the slaughter (rendered “merciless” and “horrible murder” in other translations) against three groups: Hypocrites (Muslims who refuse to “fight in the way of Allah” (3:167) and hence don’t act as Muslims should), those with “diseased hearts” (which include Jews and Christians 5:51-52), and “alarmists” or “agitators who include those who merely speak out against Islam, according to Muhammad’s biographers. It is worth noting that the victims are to be sought out by Muslims, which is what today’s terrorists do. If this passage is meant merely to apply to the city of Medina, then it is unclear why it is included in Allah’s eternal word to Muslim generations.
Quran (47:3-4) – “Those who reject Allah follow vanities, while those who believe follow the truth from their lord. Thus does Allah set forth form men their lessons by similtudes. Therefore when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,” Those who reject Allah are to be subdued in battle. The verse goes on to say the only reason Allah doesn’t do the dirty work himself is in order to to test the faithfulness of Muslims. Those who kill pass the test. “But if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Quran (47:35) – “Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost (Shakir: “have the upper hand”) for Allah is with you,” This very important verse asserts that the Religion of Peace is not to grant peace to the broader society until Islamic rule has been established.
Quran (48:17) – “There is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). And whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will He punish with a painful doom.” Contemporary apologists sometimes claim that Jihad means ‘spiritual struggle.’ Is so, then why are the blind, lame and sick exempted?
Quran (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves” Islam is not about treating everyone equally. There are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status.
Quran (61:4) – “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way” Religion of Peace, indeed! This is followed by (61:9): “He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist.”
Quran (61:10-12) – “O ye who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty?- That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons: That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity.” This verse was given in battle. It uses the Arabic word, Jihad.
Quran (66:9) – “O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey’s end.” The root word of “Jihad” is used again here. The context is clearly holy war, and the scope of violence is broadened to include “hypocrites” – those who call themselves Muslims but do not act as such.
From the Hadith:
Bukhari (52:177) – Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”
Bukhari (52:256) – The Prophet… was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).” In this command, Muhammad establishes that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This provides justification for the many Islamic terror bombings.
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Abu Dawud (14:2526) – The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, “There is no god but Allah” and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist)
Abu Dawud (14:2527) – The Prophet said: Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious
Muslim (1:33) – the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah
Muslim (1:149) – “Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause…”
Muslim (20:4645) – “…He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa’id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!”
Muslim (20:4696) – “the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: ‘One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihid died the death of a hypocrite.’”
Muslim (19:4321-4323) – Three separate hadith in which Muhammad shrugs over the news that innocent children were killed in a raid by his men against unbelievers. His response: “They are of them (meaning the enemy).”
Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, “Kill any Jew who falls under your power.” Ashraf was a poet, killed by Muhammad’s men because he insulted Islam. Here, Muhammad widens the scope of his orders to kill. An innocent Jewish businessman was then slain by his Muslim partner, merely for being non-Muslim.
Tabari 9:69 “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” The words of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.
Ibn Ishaq: 327 – “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”
Ibn Ishaq: 990 – Lest anyone think that cutting off someone’s head while screaming ‘Allah Akbar!’ is a modern custom, here is an account of that very practice under Muhammad, who seems to approve.
Ibn Ishaq: 992 – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.” Muhammad’s instructions to his men prior to a military rai
Paulette Hadnagy says
My answer:
The Sage of Kanchi by P. Sitapati I.A.S.(Retd.)
… During the same period, Queen Frederica of Greece with Princess Irene and Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also had interviews with the Jagadguru Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Swami the district. During the Janata regime in 1990, the Andhra Pradesh Governor Sri Kant, along with Islamic leaders such as Janab Bulkhari, met the sage of Kanchi several times, and I had the good fortune of paying my respects to the Jagadguru and worshipping Mother Kamakshi. The visits by the top Muslim leaders of the country from Delhi indicate the respect and reverence of leaders of all faiths for the Sage of Kanchi. …
© Copyright Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham
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H.H. SRI CHANDRASEKHARENDRA SARASWATI
His Contribution to Hinduism
Dr. (Miss) S.S. JANAKI
H.H. SRI CHANDRASEKHARENDRA Saraswati Svamigal of Kanchi Kamakoti Pitha is undoubtedly the foremost and the most dynamic among the Acharyas of Sankara line¬age and one of the most powerful per¬sonalities of the present times. It is indeed our privilege and fortune to be living during the times of this epoch¬ making saint-scholar. Writing about him in 1963. Dr. Albert B. Franklin, the then Consul-General of the United States of America at Madras, said, “His Holiness is every man, and he is as old as man’s ponderings. He is the man of faith, who has given away that he had and follows only his faith. He is a symbol of that re-nunciation which is at the heart of all religions.”
…
We may now see in brief a few gleanings of the unique contribution of H.H. to religion, especially Hindu¬ism, through many interesting ways that only H.H. can think of. Some of the modern Western Sanskrit anthro¬pologists like Prof. Milton Singer, University of Chicago, U.S.A., have re¬marked that they “learned more about the essential foundations of orthodox Hinduism from H.H. than their study of it for two years or more at the universities”. H.H. in one of his interviews, has said. ‘The distinctive¬ness of Hinduism does not rest in its philosophy, ethics, or theology, things which tend to be common to all schools and all religions. Hinduism adds to these a hereditary discipline based on family and caste, and the growth or decline of Hinduism is di¬rectly dependent on the social disci¬plines”.
As a leading Acharya and an ex¬ponent of Hinduism H.H. was con¬cerned with all religions, and prac¬tised religious tolerance throughout his headship of Kanchi Matha. During his first tour of India itself in 1919 he received followers of Islam and Christianity, and also Harijans, and discussed freely religious questions with them; and this attitude is being continued in the present times too.
H.H. had staunch Muslims as his devotees. In 1926 during his stay in Chettinad, when he was going for a sea-bath in a palanquin, a Muslim clung to the palanquin. When H.H. stopped, the Muslim read out verses in Sanskrit he had composed on the Acharya, wept, and told him, that he saw Allah himself in H.H. There was another Muslim who, hailing from a Sanskrit-knowing family, offered to H.H. at Salem in 1927, a set of verses, on H.H. composed by himself, one of which was set in the difficult pictorial design (Chitra-bandha) in the form of Siva-linga. Yet another sincere Muslim devotee of H.H. who contributed for the spread of Vedic studies considerably at Kumbhakonam in an organised manner, was Sri Kamalud¬din, a sub-judge during 1961-63.
Repeatedly in his speeches too H.H. has maintained that there is no bar in religion. He felt that only spiri¬tual understanding between one na¬tion and another, and between rich and poor, would produce good-will and thus bring real peace and prosperity. When some scholars from In¬dia and the West were skeptical on this point, H.H. as a great optimist said. “There is still God”.
According to H.H. Hinduism is a “nameless religion” that existed long before the founded religions. The very name “Hinduism” was unknown to our ancestors and is also not known to the common man among us. “Hindu” is a Persian word to denote an “Indian”. Hence it is both a racial and religious term as first used by the foreigners after they came to know of the region of Sindhu. Hence ‘Hinduism’ is both a way of life and a highly organised social and religious system that has come down to us from times immemorial. According to H.H. Hinduism is obviously “the only religion in the world ministering to the spiritual needs of mankind as a whole”.
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A touching incident
A. Sundaram
I used to visit Kancheepuram quite often for Darshan of His Holiness Sri Sankaracharya Swamigal of Kamakoti Math. On (Saturday) the 1st Jul 1989, I had been there with my wife and daughter at about 9.30 a.m.
At that time, one Muslim came there along with his son by name Gulam Dastagir. Both of them removed their shirts and prostrated in front of Sri Mahaperiaval. Alas! Gulam Dastagir was blind! He had brought a violin with him.
The father narrated the Mahaswamigal that his son Gulam Dastagir was to attend a violin recital competition and, therefore, wanted the blessing of the Acharya. He also asked permission to play the violin in the presence of the Acharya. Sri Mahaswamigal acceded to the request.
A happy Gulam Dastagir played the violin for sometime. Then Sri Mahaperiaval enquired the father about his native place, his children etc. The father replied that he had two sons and a daughter and that Gulam Dastagir was his eldest son. Sri Swamigal also enquired the name of the Guru under whom Gulam Dastagir was trained.
Sri Mahaswamigal then asked His sishya to bring two dhoties, touched them and instructed that they be given both to the father and the son. The Acharya also gave mango fruits to them.
Gulam Dastagir and his father were very much happy over the kindness shown by the Swamigal. The father further requested that the violin be blessed by the Acharya. Sri Mahaswamigal blessed them by touching the violin with his sacred hand.
Both of them again prostrated before the Acharya and took leave with His permission. I could see from the faces of both that they were overwhelmed with joy by the kindness shown and the blessing of the Acharya.
This incident was watched by all the devotees present at that time. Even now it remains green in my memory.
One cannot describe the compassion and benevolence of our Mahaperiaval who blesses all human beings irrespective of caste, creed of religion.
© Copyright Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham
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Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Saraswati, Swamigal Chandrasekharendra
Indian religious leader (b. May 20, 1894, Viluppuram, Tamil Nadu, India—d. Jan. 8, 1994, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu), was a revered Hindu sage and a lifelong advocate of religious tolerance. Saraswati, the son of a Brahmin schoolteacher, originally was named Swaminathan. At the age of 13 he was chosen for a religious vocation and taken by a monk to a Hindu math (monastery) near Madras. Saraswati was a learned student of the sacred Vedic texts and devoted much of his life to the preservation and teaching of the dharma, the Hindu religious and moral law governing individual conduct. A devout and scholarly man, he spoke a dozen languages, including English, French, Swedish, and several Indian dialects. He also traveled throughout India on foot, visiting pilgrim centres, studying local customs, and preaching nonviolence and religious tolerance among Hindu castes and between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority populations.
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Jason Kay says
Paulette Hindu Hater Hadnagy , Its not worth keep on ignoring the quotes because if you claim all religions are great like and its followers who distort the teachings like you had said earlier then you have to explain the qoutes from the koran otherwise what you are teaching at auroville is total fraud because it proves everything there is not researched but is all made up nonsense which has nothing to do with Sri Aurobindo at all so to prove you are not a fraud then explain the following
The Quran:
Quran (2:191-193) – “And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]…and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.” There is a good case to be made that the textual context of this particular passage is defensive war, even if the historical context was not. However, there are also two worrisome pieces to this verse. The first is that the killing of others is authorized in the event of “persecution” (a qualification that is ambiguous at best). The second is that fighting may persist until “religion is for Allah.” The example set by Muhammad is not reassuring.
Quran (2:244) – “Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things.”
Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.” Not only does this verse establish that violence can be virtuous, but it also contradicts the myth that fighting is intended only in self-defense, since the audience was obviously not under attack at the time. From the Hadith, we know that Muhammad was actually trying to motivate his people into raiding caravans with this verse.
Quran (3:56) – “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”
Quran (3:151) – “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”. This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be ‘joining companions to Allah’).
Quran (4:74) – “Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle, as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah. Here is the theological basis for today’s suicide bombers.
Quran (4:76) – “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…”
Quran (4:89) – “They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks.”
Quran (4:95) – “Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) Hath Allah promised good: But those who strive and fight Hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward,-” This passage criticizes “peaceful” Muslims who do not join in the violence, letting them know that they are less worthy in Allah’s eyes. It also demolishes the modern myth that “Jihad” doesn’t mean holy war in the Quran, but rather a spiritual struggle. Not only is the Arabic word used in this passage, but it is clearly not referring to anything spiritual, since the physically disabled are given exemption. (The Hadith reveals the context of the passage to be in response to a blind man’s protest that he is unable to engage in Jihad and this is reflected in other translations of the verse).
Quran (4:104) – “And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain…” Is pursuing an injured and retreating enemy really an act of self-defense?
Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle.
Quran (8:15) – “O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them. (16)Whoso on that day turneth his back to them, unless maneuvering for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey’s end.”
Quran (8:39) – “And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah” From the historical context we know that the “persecution” spoken of here was simply the refusal by the Meccans to allow Muhammad to enter their city and perform the Haj. Other Muslims were able to travel there, just not as an armed group, since Muhammad declared war on Mecca prior to his eviction. The Meccans were also acting in defense of their religion, since it was Muhammad’s intention to destroy their idols and establish Islam by force (which he later did). Hence the critical part of this verse is to fight until “religion is only for Allah.” According to Ibn Ishaq (324), Muhammad justified the violence further by explaining that “Allah must have no rivals.”
Quran (8:57) – “If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember.”
Quran (8:59-60) – “And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah’s Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy.”
Quran (8:65) – “O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight…”
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.” According to this verse, the best way of staying safe from Muslim violence is to convert to Islam. Prayer (salat) and the poor tax (zakat) are among the religions Five Pillars.
Quran (9:14) – “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace…”
Quran (9:20) – “Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah’s way are of much greater worth in Allah’s sight. These are they who are triumphant.” The “striving” spoken of here is Jihad.
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” “People of the Book” refers to Christians and Jews. This was one of the final “revelations” from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad’s companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in just the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.
Quran (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!”
Quran (9:38-39) – “O ye who believe! what is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place.” This is a warning to those who refuse to fight, that they will be punished with Hell.
Quran (9:41) – “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” See also the verse that follows (9:42) – “If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee, but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them” This contradicts the myth that Muslims are to fight only in self-defense, since the wording implies that battle will be waged a long distance from home (in another country and on Christian soil, in this case, according to the historians).
Quran (9:73) – “O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.” Dehumanizing those who reject Islam, by reminding Muslims that they are merely firewood for Hell, makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today’s devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.
Quran (9:88) – “But the Messenger, and those who believe with him, strive and fight with their wealth and their persons: for them are (all) good things: and it is they who will prosper.”
Quran (9:111) – “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Quran: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.”
Quran (9:123) – “O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”
Quran (18:65-81) – This parable lays the theological groundwork for honor killings, in which a family member is murdered because they brought shame to the family, either through apostasy or perceived moral indiscretion. The story, which is not found in any Jewish or Christian source, tells of Moses encountering a man with “special knowledge” who does things which don’t seem to make sense on the surface, but are then justified according to later explanation. One such action is to murder a youth for no apparent reason (74). However, the wise man later explains that it was feared that the boy would “grieve” his parents by “disobedience and ingratitude.” He was killed so that Allah could provide them a ‘better’ son.
Quran (21:44) – “We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?”
Quran (25:52) – “Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness…” “Strive against” is Jihad – obviously not in the personal context. It’s also significant to point out that this is a Meccan verse.
Quran (33:60-62) – “If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter.” This passage sanctions the slaughter (rendered “merciless” and “horrible murder” in other translations) against three groups: Hypocrites (Muslims who refuse to “fight in the way of Allah” (3:167) and hence don’t act as Muslims should), those with “diseased hearts” (which include Jews and Christians 5:51-52), and “alarmists” or “agitators who include those who merely speak out against Islam, according to Muhammad’s biographers. It is worth noting that the victims are to be sought out by Muslims, which is what today’s terrorists do. If this passage is meant merely to apply to the city of Medina, then it is unclear why it is included in Allah’s eternal word to Muslim generations.
Quran (47:3-4) – “Those who reject Allah follow vanities, while those who believe follow the truth from their lord. Thus does Allah set forth form men their lessons by similtudes. Therefore when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,” Those who reject Allah are to be subdued in battle. The verse goes on to say the only reason Allah doesn’t do the dirty work himself is in order to to test the faithfulness of Muslims. Those who kill pass the test. “But if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
Quran (47:35) – “Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost (Shakir: “have the upper hand”) for Allah is with you,” This very important verse asserts that the Religion of Peace is not to grant peace to the broader society until Islamic rule has been established.
Quran (48:17) – “There is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). And whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will He punish with a painful doom.” Contemporary apologists sometimes claim that Jihad means ‘spiritual struggle.’ Is so, then why are the blind, lame and sick exempted?
Quran (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves” Islam is not about treating everyone equally. There are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status.
Quran (61:4) – “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way” Religion of Peace, indeed! This is followed by (61:9): “He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist.”
Quran (61:10-12) – “O ye who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous Penalty?- That ye believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the Cause of Allah, with your property and your persons: That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in Gardens of Eternity.” This verse was given in battle. It uses the Arabic word, Jihad.
Quran (66:9) – “O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey’s end.” The root word of “Jihad” is used again here. The context is clearly holy war, and the scope of violence is broadened to include “hypocrites” – those who call themselves Muslims but do not act as such.
From the Hadith:
Bukhari (52:177) – Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”
Bukhari (52:256) – The Prophet… was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).” In this command, Muhammad establishes that it is permissible to kill non-combatants in the process of killing a perceived enemy. This provides justification for the many Islamic terror bombings.
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Abu Dawud (14:2526) – The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Three things are the roots of faith: to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, “There is no god but Allah” and not to declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any action; and jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist)
Abu Dawud (14:2527) – The Prophet said: Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious
Muslim (1:33) – the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah
Muslim (1:149) – “Abu Dharr reported: I said: Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause…”
Muslim (20:4645) – “…He (the Messenger of Allah) did that and said: There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth. He (Abu Sa’id) said: What is that act? He replied: Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!”
Muslim (20:4696) – “the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: ‘One who died but did not fight in the way of Allah nor did he express any desire (or determination) for Jihid died the death of a hypocrite.’”
Muslim (19:4321-4323) – Three separate hadith in which Muhammad shrugs over the news that innocent children were killed in a raid by his men against unbelievers. His response: “They are of them (meaning the enemy).”
Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, “Kill any Jew who falls under your power.” Ashraf was a poet, killed by Muhammad’s men because he insulted Islam. Here, Muhammad widens the scope of his orders to kill. An innocent Jewish businessman was then slain by his Muslim partner, merely for being non-Muslim.
Tabari 9:69 “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” The words of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.
Ibn Ishaq: 327 – “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”
Ibn Ishaq: 990 – Lest anyone think that cutting off someone’s head while screaming ‘Allah Akbar!’ is a modern custom, here is an account of that very practice under Muhammad, who seems to approve.
Ibn Ishaq: 992 – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.” Muhammad’s instructions to his men prior to a military rai
duart maclean says
Instead of all this verbiage, I would recommend sitting in silence and meditating on the ‘I’-consciousness. It’s clear to me that all of this is going nowhere and is little more than a battle of minds. And the mind is maya.
Jason Kay says
Im sure Paulette will come out with a theory that this all made up and written only after this thread on purpose by the people behind Gandhis murder lol
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/is_the_fate_of_the_infidels_tied_to_the_buddhas.html
July 10, 2011
Is The Fate of the Infidels Tied to the Buddhas?
By Janet Levy
No fanfare and little notice marked the 10th anniversary earlier this year of the destruction of the 1,500-year-old Bamiyan Buddhas. These 6th-century stately statues carved into sandstone cliffs in central Afghanistan included one of the tallest standing Buddhas in the world. On March 12, 2001, the 180- and 121-foot Buddhas crumpled under dynamite set off by the Taliban — the Islamist militia group ruling Afghanistan from 1996 through late 2001. Mullah Omar, the leader of the Al Qaeda-supported movement, deemed the statutes idolatrous graven images insulting to Islam and ordered their destruction. Other Buddhist images, including statues and relief carvings as well as ancient Sikh gurdwaras and Hindu temples, were also destroyed by the Islamic terrorists belonging to the Taliban Movement.
This kind of cultural destruction has been part and parcel of Islam since its inception. According to Dr. Bill Warner, founder of the Center for the Study of Political Islam, “Political Islam has annihilated every culture it has invaded or immigrated to by destroying the host culture.”
Dr. Warner cites the extinction of a once-Christian Middle East, Turkey, and North Africa, and a Zoroastrian Persia, as a result of Islamic jihad. He also includes the decimation of Hindus and Buddhists as well. All told, he totals more than 270 million “nonbelievers,” including Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Africans, and Jews, who have died in Islamic massacres since the birth of Islam 1400 years ago.
Prior to the Islamic conquests, which began in the 7th century, Afghanistan was primarily Hindu with significant minorities of Buddhists and Jains. Hinduism, the oldest living religion, began in the Indus Valley around 1500 B.C., in land which is today part of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Northwest India. Many areas of Afghanistan had strong cultural links to the Indian sub-continent where Buddha was born in modern-day Nepal to a Hindu family during the 5th century B.C. The religion he founded was an offshoot of his Hindu belief system. In the 3rd century B.C., Buddhism spread from the Indian sub-continent to Central, East, and Southeast Asia.
By the 11th century, the region that includes modern-day Afghanistan had been Islamized and the remaining Hindus and Buddhists were stripped of their legal and social rights and relegated to dhimmi status. This meant they were required to exist under shariah or Islamic doctrine and forced to pay the jizya, a tax payable to Muslims to guarantee protection against forced conversion or death.
When the Taliban came to power in 1996, Hindu and Buddhist minorities were forced to identify themselves by wearing yellow badges and the women were required to wear burkas. The destruction of the Buddhas was yet another attempt to demoralize and humiliate Hindus and Buddhists and destroy their culture. Afghanistan had been ruled by Hindu kings until 1002 A.D. and Buddhists shared common cultural and religious traditions with the rest of the Hindus; thus, the Bamiyan Buddhas were representative of the 3,000-year-old Hindu civilization and identity in Afghanistan and, as such, needed to be destroyed.
Similarly, like Afghanistan, which once flourished under Hinduism and Buddhism, the Indian sub-continent is now under siege by Islam. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, Islamization has decimated Hindus and Buddhists and forced survivors to flee. Hindus, who made up 30% of the Bangladesh population in 1941, have been reduced to a mere 11% today. In Pakistan, where the Hindu population was reduced to 3% of the population from 10%, the remaining traces of Hindus and other religious minorities are endangered by rape, forcible conversion, and marriage to Muslims. In India, with a Hindu majority, the government is yet failing to sufficiently resist attempts to elevate Islam and delegitimize Hinduism. Indian textbooks lionize Islam and cast Hinduism as an evil, exploitative, backward faith. Legislation has been proposed that will discriminate against Hindus by specifically punishing communal violence against minorities, such as Muslims, but not violence committed by minorities against majority Hindus. The official discourse omits the atrocities and genocides committed under Islamic rule, including a past replete with the destruction of religious sites, civilian massacres, and forced conversions.
The fact that nothing was done to commemorate the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas speaks to the legacy of 1,000 years of Hindu and Buddhist dhimmitude. Buddhists, who practice non-violence and offered no resistance to Muslim invaders in Afghanistan and Bangladesh, are once again threatened by Muslim attacks in Thailand. Buddhists hesitated to make demands of the Afghan government, preferring to take comfort in the belief that Buddha “takes care of himself.”
In April 2011, the United States Hindu Alliance (USHA), an organization founded following 9/11 to support all religions derived from Hinduism — including practitioners of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism — sent a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanding the rebuilding of the Bamiyan Buddhas as well as other Hindu and Sikh places of worship. The Indian government, the fifth-largest donor nation to Afghanistan and with a Muslim-courting majority party, the Indian National Congress, failed to acknowledge the anniversary as well.
In March 2011, USHA issued a petition calling for rebuilding the Bamiyan Buddhas and other Hindu heritage sites. The organization plans to collect 20,000 signatures of support by the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to symbolize the connection between the attack against the United States and the destruction of the Buddhas, both part of the global jihad to destroy all infidel cultures and replace them with Islam.
Former Islamic terrorist and Christian convert Kamal Saleem has compared Islam to a cancer. “It grows and expands until it eventually consumes and suffocates the host,” Saleem says.
Myriad examples throughout history bear witness to the success of Muslim expansionism, Islamization, and cultural destruction. The fate of the Buddhas may foreshadow the annihilation of yet another faith and its heritage.
Gia says
considering yesterday’s terror attacks.. it would be good for paulette to have a look at this letter that was released by the islamic terror groups about their plan to destroy hindus:
http://www.freedombulwark.net/my-blog/full-text-of-indian-mujahideen-email-on-varanasi-terror-attacks.html
‘The Rise Of Jihad, Revenge Of Gujarat’
Released by Indian Mujahideen
In The Land of Hind
Indian Mujahideen
In The Name Of Allah, The Most Beneficent,
The Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, we seek His Help and ask for His Pardon. We believe in Him and on Him we put our trust. We take refuge in Allah from our wrongs and bad deeds. Whomever Allah has Guided will not be misled, and whomever He Misled,
will never be guided. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, no associate with Him and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.
And all Praises and Glory be to Allah Alone, the Sustainer of the Heavens and the Earth, Who revealed in His Qur’an:
(O Kaafirs!) If you demand a judgment, the judgment has then
indeed come to you; and if you desist, it will be better for you;
and if you turn back (to fight), We (too) shall return back, and
your forces shall avail you nothing, though they may be many,
and (know) that Allah is with the believers. (Qur’an 8:19)
All Praises and Glory be to Allah Alone, The One, The
Supreme, Who revealed in His Book:
(O Disbelievers!) We are guiltless of you and of whatever you
worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has
arisen between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever, – unless
you believe in Allah and Him alone. (Qur’an 60:4)
And Peace and Prayers be upon His Servant and His Messenger
Muhammad (peace be upon him), who said:
“I am commanded to fight the people unless they admit that
there is none to be worshipped except Allah, and that
Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah and
establish prayers, and pay the zakah, so if they do this then they
have saved their blood and wealth from me, except the rights of
Islam and their accountability is towards Allah”.
[Hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim].
Here we are back – the Mujahideen of India – the terrorists on
the disbelievers – the radicals of Islam – after our triumphant
and successful assault at Jaipur, once again calling you all, who disbelieve in Allah and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to accept Islam and bear witness that there is none to be worshipped except Allah, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah. Accept Islam and save yourselves.
O Hindus! O disbelieving faithless Indians! Haven’t you still
realized that the falsehood of your 33 crore dirty mud idols and
the blasphemy of your deaf, dumb, mute and naked idols of ram, krishna and hanuman are not at all going to save your necks, Insha-Allah, from being slaughtered by our hands? Nor is your fictitious faith in monkeys, pigs and nude statues going to save
you from the Wrath of Allah and His Humiliating Punishment.
Know that it is only the true confession of the Oneness of Allah
Alone, with no associates, that can save your blood from being
spilled on the streets of your own cities.
We call you, O Hindus, O enemies of Allah, to take an honest
stance with yourselves lest another attack of Ibn-e-Qasim sends shivers down your spines, lest another Ghauri shakes your foundations, and lest another Ghaznawi massacres you, proving your blood to be the cheapest of all mankind! Have you
forgotten your history full of subjugation, humiliation, and
insult? Or do you want us to repeat it again? Take heed before it is too late!
Yes! We – the terrorists of India – THE INDIAN
MUJAHIDEEN, – the militia of Islam whose each and every
Mujahid belongs to this very soil of India – have returned, to
execute the compulsion of Allah:
“Fight them (the disbelievers), Allah will punish them by your
hands and bring them to disgrace, and give you victory over
them and He will heal the hearts of those who believe.” (Qur’an
9:14).
Here we begin the answer to your tyranny and oppression,
raising the illustrious banner of Jihad against the Hindus and all
those who fight and resist us, and here we begin our revenge
with the Help and Permission of Allah, – A terrifying revenge
of our blood, our lives, and our honor that will Insha-Allah
terminate your survival on this land.
Remember, O you Gujarati Hindus! O you filthy, shameless
and foul creatures! O you Gujarati Hindus, most immoral and
the most gutless cowards! Remember whom you have fought
against! You have fought against the inheritors of a Messenger
of Allah, of a Prophet of Allah whose terror was cast on the
enemy from a distance of a month’s journey.
You have fought against the warriors who love death more than
you love life, who fight for a cause that makes them enter a
never-ending Paradise, who fight for an absolute purpose – the
purpose of making Islam superior over all religions.
So wait! ……………. Await now……….! Wait only for five minutes
from now! …. Wait for the Mujahideen and Fidayeen of Islam
and stop them if you can – who will make you feel the terror of
Jihad. Feel the havoc cast into your hearts by Allah, the
Almighty, face His Dreadful Punishment, and suffer the results
of fighting the Muslims and the Mujahideen. Await the
anguish, agony, sorrow and pain. Await, only for 5 minutes,
to feel the fear of death.
All Praise and Glory be to Allah, Who Alone Helps His slaves,
Who Alone Fulfils His Promise, and Who Alone Defeats the
enemy.
O leader of disbelieving cowards and eunuchs, Narendra Modi!
O you base-born of illegitimate birth! O you spineless coward!
You boast of the pride of Gujarat and pride of Gujaratis. You
brag of your filthy faith and conviction in Hindutva. You are
the one who claims to be committed and devoted to Gujarat.
You sick politician who used Hinduism to complete your evil
desires. Look! We are back with the Will of Allah, striking in
your own land. With the Will of Allah, assaulting and ruining
your own cities, raiding and ravaging your own territory! Show
us where has all your Gujarati asmita (pride) gone? Look, you
have incurred Allah’s Wrath, You have provoked the
Mujahideen to massacre you and your five and a half crore
multitude of pathetic infidels who tortured us in the post-
Godhra riots asking “where is your Allah”? Here He Is, The
Most Supreme, The Most Sublime, with His Punishment to
chastise you by our hands. We swear by Allah in Whose Hands
are our lives, we will make you, O Modi, an example and a
lesson, that the enemies of Islam should learn from. This is our
beginning! Our commencement! Our Opening Launch! To burn
you alive in your own Hell – your own Gujarat.
O You sick criminals of the Hindu Parishad! You nasty dogs of
the RSS! Yes! We know you, we identify you by your ugly
faces! We will not be satisfied until we make each and every
criminal pay for every drop of blood you spilled and for each
and every cry of the oppressed women and children. Our swords are ready to cut off your veins and to push you into the Hell Fire. This is our assurance to you, a promise to you, a pledge to you, which Allah Alone, The Most Exalted with His Will shall fulfill.
This is our Qisaas – our revenge, and in it lies our life.
In the light of the injustice and wrongs on the Muslims of
Gujarat, we advance our Jihad and call all our brethren under it
to unite and answer these irresolute kafireen of India. We call
you, O Muslims of Gujarat, to elevate yourselves from the fear
of these wretched hindus, to unify all your courage and bravery
that you have in your hearts. Come! Move forward and grasp
the hold of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him). Get stimulated and reinforce all your strength to revive the same valor and daring as that of the Sahaabah (companions) of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
had. Show these weak-willed hindu cowards the onslaught of
Khalid bin Waleed, the determination of Ali bin Abi Talib, the
bravery of Saad bin Abi Waqqas, the heroism of Abu Bakr and
Umar, and the guts of Talhah and Zubair. Let these spineless
Hindus know that you inherit fearless courage of Salahuddin
Ayyubi, Tariq bin Ziyad and Muhammad bin Qasim.
O Muslims of Gujarat! Inspire yourselves from the Qur’anic
chapters of ‘Anfal’ and ‘Taubah’ and from the events of ‘Badr’
and ‘Uhud’. I ask you: Do you still hesitate to fight these
hindus? Just think how much you and we have suffered during
and after the riots. Think of the fraud perpetrated on us in the
name of the Nanavati Commission. Remember the blasphemy
of the Government in the name of judiciary and the fast-track
courts. O my brethren! I ask you and make you witness over
yourself. I ask you what good these bastard police and military
have ever done for us? They all are one, and they unite for only
one purpose – the annihilation of Muslims.
The terms Democracy, secularism, equality, integrity, peace,
freedom, voting, elections are yet another fraud with us. Have
you forgotten what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
said: “The believer is not stung twice by the same hole”. I ask
you, who has healed your wounds so far? Congress, or BJP?
Do you still want the media and agencies like “Tehelka” to expose your torture and make money in return of your burnt dead bodies and present all this in front of the judiciary so that they can watch this ‘drama’ of your killing and laugh at you, seeing you cry and beg for justice. By Allah! This is much more
humiliating for us than being killed by their hands.
O Muslim youth of Gujarat! O you force of Islam! Stand up and
rise! Fulfill your duty towards Allah:
“O you who believe! Fight those disbelievers who are near you
and let them find harshness in you and know that Allah is with
those who keep their duty unto Him. (Qur’an 9: 123)
“Go forth light armed or heavy armed and fight with your
wealth and your lives in the way of Allah, that is better for you
if you but knew.[(Qu’ran 9: 41).
Come, O Muslim Youth! Make your preparations with
whatever you have. Join our ranks and help us – the ranks of
Indian Mujahideen to strengthen the Jihad against the Hindus.
Get ready with all the weapons you have. Plan and organize
your moves. Select your targets. Target these evil politicians
and leaders of BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal, who provoke
the masses against you. Target and kill the wicked police force
who were watching the “fun” of your bloodshed and who
handed you to the rioting sinful culprits. Target their hired
informers and spies even if they are the disloyal and betraying
munafiqeen (hypocrites) of our Ummah. O Muslims of Gujarat!
If a petty population of Rajasthani Gujjars can use force for
fulfilling their needs, then are we even more subjugated than
these backwards?
With these triumphant attacks, we send our message to all those
faithless infidels and their hypocrite allies from amongst the so
called Muslims like Arshad Madni & Mehmood Madni who
have bartered their faith in return of just one seat in the
Parliament and we hereby declare an ultimatum to all the state
governments of India, especially to those of Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and
Maharashtra to stop harassing the Muslims and keep a check on their killing, expulsion, and encounters. We warn you of your
foolish plots that you plan against us, thinking that you can curb
our missions and foil our targets. Here are our demands that you
must fulfill if you hope for your well being.
a) You agitated our sentiments and disturbed us by arresting,
imprisoning, and torturing our brothers in the name of
SIMI and the other outfits in Indore, Ujjain, Mumbai, and
in other cities of Karnataka. We hereby notify you,
especially the ATS and the STF and the governments of
Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, to release them all,
lest you become our next targets and victims of our next
attack. Don’t consider us heedless about the crimes you
have committed in recent Indore riots and all this will be,
Insha-Allah brought to account very soon.
b) We warn the Andhra Pradesh government, specifically the
Hyderabad Police, to release the imprisoned Muslim youth
immediately, and to be wise with yourselves. We are
watching you, and our ground-work to gun you down has
already begun. Insha-Allah, we will be rid of you very
soon.
c) To the Maharashtra government and the rascals like
Vilasrao Deshmukh and R.R. Patil, we announce the
deadline to take heed before it is too late. Don’t think we
are unaware of the SRPF attacks on our Masjids and our
homes, the insult of our Qur’an and your enmity with the
Muslims in Digras and the nearby areas in Yavatmal and
of the burning alive of three Muslims in Jalna with the
backing of police. Yes! It is all being recorded and you will
face the ill consequences thereof. And also the troubles
faced by the Madrasa students and Muslim women in
Mumbai Western Railways. We wonder at your memory.
Have you forgotten the evening of 7/11/2006 so quickly
and so easily?
You try to fool us in the name of fast-track courts made for
’93 riot cases, through which you wish to free the actual
Hindu culprits like Madhukar Sarpotdar who was caught
red-handed with illegal firearms while the innocent
Muslims arrested in the bomb blast case are being tried in
the courts for years and years. Is this the hellish justice you
speak of? I urge all the Muslims of Maharashtra to
denounce those Muslim MLA’s who prove themselves to
be the loyal dogs of Congress and NCP. Beware! O you
criminals! you are already on our hit-list and our cross-hair
now! We also alert Mukesh Ambani to think twice before
usurping and building a citadel on a land in Mumbai that
belongs to the Waqf Board, lest it turns into horrifying
memories for you which you will never ever forget.
d) The news of the lawyers of the Bar Council in UP denying
to fight the cases of our Muslim brethren has already
reached us. Remember, you are provoking us to repeat the
same blasts in civil courts that blew up your bodies into
pieces.
e) Lastly, we intimidate and threaten the Media and the
News channels, especially the TIMES OF INDIA and the
TIMES NOW to be extra cautious in their propaganda
war against the Muslims. Your biased and impartial
approach to the news and the noise and the politics you
make of ‘Islamic Terrorism’ indicates your hostility,
hatred and fear that you grudge against Muslims and your
loyal allegiance to the cunning ones who call themselves
the “Intelligence Bureau”. You become dumb when it
comes to the oppression and torture of the Muslims, faced
in riots, firing, encounters, police custodies, remand homes
and civil courts and your propaganda turns violent to
project the ‘brutality’ of ‘Islamic terrorists’ and their
‘ruthlessness’ and their ‘merciless mentality’ and so on.
We warn you to end this hypocrisy or get ready for a
bloody slaughter.
The Indian Mujahideen hereby claim the sole responsibility
of the Gujarat serial blasts, planned and executed by Indians
only and it is our request to Lashkar-e-Toiba and other
organizations, for the sake of Allah, not to claim the
responsibility for these attacks.
This message is a declaration of hostility towards all those
who fight Allah, His Messenger, and His Religion. While
hoping for the Help and Victory from Allah we declare that
such and more severe attacks shall continue irrespective of
what the blamers blame us for.
The hosts (of the kafireen) will all be routed and will turn
and flee. [Qur’an 54: 45].
We ask Allah to forgive us and Have Mercy
on us and Aid us to conquer the unbelievers and
Guide us to raise His Word and degrade His
enemies with His Will Alone.
And peace be upon His Messenger, and
all those who follow the Guidance.