Chandan Mitra Daily Pioneer Sunday, November 16, 2008
http://dailypioneer.com/134642/Politics-of-Hindu-terror.html
Ab Tak Chhappan! The title of this Ram Gopal Varma film easily comes to mind observing the manner in which the Maharashtra ATS is going about picking up people all over India and slapping them into the cooler on a daily basis, ostensibly in a bid to unearth dimensions of "Hindu terror".
We have lost count of the number of persons interrogated, sent on police or judicial remand, their brains penetrated with narcotic substances to induce confession to their "crimes". But not a day has passed, since Sadhvi Pragya was nabbed some 25 days ago, without somebody or the other being arrested, allegedly in connection with a fantastic plot conjured up by the Maharashtra Police.
Those arrested included serving and retired Army officers, school and college teachers, political activists and now even a resourceful sadhu. Every evening at the news meeting in our office, the first question asked is, "What's the score today? Ab tak ...?"
Buoyed by enthusiastic endorsement from the "secular" media, which is gleefully eating out of the ATS' hands, the so-called Hindu terror plot keeps assuming an ever-growing magnitude. Not content with pinning the blame for the minor bomb blasts in Malegaon and Modasa, then Nanded and later Kanpur, the ATS' ambitions have increased manifold. Currently, it is busy trying to implicate the same group in the 2006 Samjhauta Express blasts. Curiously, SIMI commander Safdar Nagori's narco tests have resulted in a confession that his organisation executed the Samjhauta bombings. Does this mean that so-called Hindu terrorists have been synchronising their moves with SIMI? Or, maybe ATS will tomorrow come up with a theory that "Hindu terrorists" have been funding and masterminding the actions of jihadis who innocently fell into the Hindu trap in the lure of money. Far fetched? Not really, if you consider the gigantic yarns being spun around the purported confessions of the detained suspects.
Interestingly, in the last seven days, contradictory "leaks" have been planted on the handpicked media about the responses of detained suspects. A particularly hilarious story front-paged by a leading national daily claimed that the narco-analysis of Sadhvi Pragya came to a naught because she meditates daily! Apparently, those who are ardent practitioners of that spiritual art become immune to narco tests because their mental powers are strong enough to resist drug-induced coercion aimed at extracting confessions.
Moral of the story: All criminals ought to mediate, for then narco-tests shall fail and they go scot-free!
By the way, it would be interesting to know if the servants arrested in the Arushi Talwar murder case were also trained in the art of meditation. Must be, for the CBI failed to get any information out of them and finally they had to be released. Similarly, Lt Col. Srikant Purohit, too, foiled the investigators' desperate attempts to cajole him into confessing his crime because, we are told, as an Armyman, he was trained to absorb stress and no amount of drugs got him to talk. Halted on their tracks, the ATS then leaked purported details of Purohit's confessions, which were eagerly lapped up by sections of the media to further their campaign to equate "Hindu" with jihadi terror.
Following the arrest of Swami Amritanand aka Dayanand Pandey or Sudhakar Dwivedi, we were treated to details of his past, website photos, his ashrams, connections with top national personalities, ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam downwards. But what we never got to know was his role in the Malegaon blasts. Within hours of his arrest, the Haryana Railway Police swooped down on him apparently to discover his link to the Samjhauta Express blasts, which self-confessedly, SIMI had carried out. Without a shred of evidence to that effect, he has already been awarded the epithet of "Terror Guru".
In the same way, the highly respected Bhonsala Military School has been dubbed a terror factory - a term used hitherto for Talibanised madrasas. Merely because some members of a little known outfit called Abhinav Bharat, an adjunct of the largely defunct Hindu Mahasabha, visited the premises of the school, its custodians were hounded to the point of putting in their papers.
Judging by the hype accompanying the "Hindu terror" revelations, it would appear that nothing else is happening in this country for the last month or so. With every passing day, the ATS' concoctions get more incredible, the scale of "leaked" stories magnified and the media's tone becomes predictably shriller. All this before any of the arrested persons is formally charged or given an opportunity to defend themselves. Wasn't it the Congress that kept cautioning us against trial by media? Wasn't it Manmohan Singh who plaintively lamented that everything in this country gets politicised? But when a trial by the media is actually sponsored by the Government and agencies under its control, like the Maharashtra ATS, nobody sees anything wrong with it.
That, in the process, even the Army is being hauled over the coals and its exalted status sullied beyond repair is of no consequence. Clearly, the Government thinks tarnishing the Army serves its short-term agenda: Putting BJP on the backfoot. Nothing is too sacrosanct to achieve that aim in an election year. In the face of mounting public anger against the UPA's all-round failure, especially its vote-bank politics over terrorism, the Government desperately needed a face-saver. So, they decided to construct an elaborate theory of all-pervasive Hindu terror hoping to convince the electorate that the Hindutva forces are the real fountainhead of all terrorist activities. It is a matter of time before it is volubly argued by "secular" politicians and their media cheerleaders that jihadi terror is nothing but an act of self-defence in the face of rampant "Hindu terrorist" provocation.
With investigating agencies dragging their feet (could it be under orders from above?), failing to convict any terror accused so far, this is a clever ploy to divert attention from the real danger jihadi terror poses to India. Determined to thwart efforts by BJP-ruled States to introduce tough anti-terror laws, the Government has directed the President to return Narendra Modi's proposed GUJCOC, drafted on the lines of MCOCA, which is operational in UPA-ruled Maharashtra. And the Centre is equally determined not to execute Afzal Guru despite the Supreme Court sentencing him to death several years back. Incidentally, Muslim-majority Indonesia has fewer qualms: It executed three Islamic radicals last week, soon after they were convicted for the Bali bombings.
But our Government is focused on damning Hindu organisations by a sustained campaign of calumny. I wonder if the Maharashtra ATS will soon "unearth" global linkages of Hindu terror and accuse some sadhvi, swami or an Army officer of having plotted 9/11 too!
What the Congress-led Government is failing to recognise is that public anger against a regime increasingly seen as decidedly anti-Hindu, is rising. In the process, the Congress may actually be helping to create a Hindu vote for the first time in India's history. Pyromaniacs often end up being consumed by the very fire they light.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Politics of 'Hindu terror'
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Hindu Rate Of Wrath
Francois Gautier OutlookMagazine Nov 10, 2008
http://www.outlookindia.com/archivecontents.asp?fnt=20081110
Is there such a thing as 'Hindu terrorism', as the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for the recent Malegaon blasts may tend to prove? Well, I guess I was asked to write this column because I am one of that rare breed of foreign correspondents— a lover of Hindus! A born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I'll be given some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents' ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro).
In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India, doing photo features on kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowly realised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in the true spirituality behind Hinduism. The average Hindu you meet in a million villages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts your diversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French or Chinese. It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian different from, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim. I also learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifest itself at different times, under different names, using different scriptures (not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21st century religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecuted minorities from across the world—Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, and today, Tibetans. In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have never militarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion on others by force or induced conversions.
You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like simi, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody. We know also that most of these communal incidents often involve persons from the same groups—often Dalits and tribals—some of who have converted to Christianity and others not.
However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process; compare this to the 'vengeance' bombings of 1993 in Bombay, which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjid destruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act of the two. We also remember how Sharad Pawar, when he was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off in a Muslim locality of Bombay.
I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa. Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror. Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj. They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed.
So sometimes, enough is enough.At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus—whom the Mahatma once gently called cowards—erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat. It happened in Jammu, then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, and Malegaon. It may happen again elsewhere. What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning from the political leadership. Therefore, the BJP, instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.
There are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet. They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communities in the world today. Can you call them terrorists?
Saturday, November 1, 2008
"It happens only in India"
S. L. Byrappa Saturday, November 1, 2008
(English translation of the article written by Kannada writer S. L. Byrappa on religious conversions. The article is translated by Shri. Manoj Deshpande)
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/it-happens-only-in-india.html
(English translation of the article written by Kannada writer S. L. Byrappa on religious conversions. The article is translated by Shri. Manoj Deshpande)
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/it-happens-only-in-india.html
For the last four decades, Christian missionaries in India have been indulging in religious conversions and this trend has become fairly aggressive and far more pronounced with Sonia Gandhi's coronation. However, the mass media have chosen to ignore reporting this. States like Orissa and Karnataka have reacted sharply to the scale of operations of Christian missionaries. This has been dutifully reported by all newspapers and TV channels across India. Self-proclaimed 'Secularists' and Left parties have taken this opportunity to announce that India has met its doom in this backlash and have thereby supported the missionaries! It is certainly a pity that they do not care to recognise that the common man on the street clearly understands what the truth is. Sonia Gandhi's sycophants, self-proclaimed intellectuals and secularists have gone to the extent of blaming pro-Hindu organisations, Seers and BJP governments for the situation and are helping Christian organisations bent on getting India censured at the international level by United Nations and other such organisations. The Congress Government at the centre controlled by Sonia Gandhi has initiated steps to dismiss the state governments in Orissa and Karnataka. The only thing hat has stopped them is perhaps the realisation that these governments may be reinstated by popular vote which will not serve their purpose. In order to be seen as taking action the Government at the Centre and Left parties, aided by the English media, are blaming Bajrang Dal for the riots. However, no one has bothered to investigate if Bajrang Dal is really involved in these riots and whether how many of these riots are being instigated in the name of Bajrang Dal. Have they concerned themselves with finding out if these riots could have been caused by the neighbours or communities of those who have converted due to the temptations and misinformation campaign induced by the missionaries?
Francois Gautier, a French Journalist residing in India has expressed concern over he conversions that are taking place in India with the tacit support of Sonia Gandhi. He says: "I am a Christian by birth and a Westerner by origin. I have studied mostly in Catholic schools. My Uncle Hugh Gautier, who was one of the noblest men I knew, was a priest in a beautiful church in Paris. My father, who was a famous artist in France, lived his entire life as a devout Catholic. They were regular visitors to the Church. Having come from this background, I get disturbed when I notice the extent to which Christianity is spreading across India under Sonia Gandhi's rule. According to Census 2001, there are 23.4 Lac Christians in India, which amounts to about 2.5%, and that is fairly negligible. However, India today has Christian Chief Ministers in five states: Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Most politicians in Sonia Gandhi's inner circle are either Christians or Muslims. It seems like she doe not trust Hindus. Ambika Soni, a Christian, is Congress' General Secretary and a powerful member of Sonia's coterie. Oscar Fernandes is a minister who implements Centre's policies. Margaret Alva is entrusted with motivating Maharashtra Congress with fear. Congress in Karnataka is virtually A K Antony's domain and Sonia's secretaries belong to various Christian organisations in India. Walson Thampu, a known anti-Hindu, is the head of NCERT's (National Council for Educational Research and Training) Educational Committee. Sonia Gandhi nominated a known Hindu-baiter, John Dayal, to her National Integration Committee. Another anti-Hindu, Kancha Elliah, has implicit approval of the Government to plead to UN & US Congress to look into matters related to caste discrimination in India. I have nothing personal against Sonia Gandhi. However, it is disconcerting to note that the number of conversions have increased exponentially since she has assumed the top-post in India. Approximately four thousand foreign Christian missionaries are actively converting people to Christianity in various states in India today. At the time of independence there were no Christians in Tripura; today, their numbers stand at 1.2 Lacs. Their numbers have risen by 90% since 1991. This is more pronounced in Arunachal Pradesh: it had 1770 Christians in 1921 as opposed to 12 Lacs today. Moreover, there are 780 churches there. A church is built almost every day in the remotest parts of Andhra Pradesh, apart from the plan to build a church at Tirupati. Mizo, Bodo and other such rebellions in the North-eastern states are actively fuelled by Christian missionaries. More than twenty thousand people have lost their lives in the last two decades due to these movements in Assam and Manipur. State-owned Indian Airlines deplaned Swami Avimuktananda for carrying a stick – a symbol of his renunciation. It was just a harmless piece of bamboo. This could only happen in a weak state like India where a foreigner like Sonia Gandhi has been allowed to rule." (Francois Gautier: http://www.francoisgautier.com/ 09343538419/09442123255)
The Indian media, especially English TV channels and newspapers celebrated The Pope's visit to India. The Indian Government accorded hospitality reserved for heads of states to The Pope, who is the religious head of Roman Catholics. The President, The Prime Minister and the cabinet queued up to pay obeisance to him. A few pro-Hindu organisations argued that he is a religious head and his sole mission to India was to encourage conversions and therefore he should neither be allowed to enter India nor be accorded official welcome. These opinions were dismissed as Hindu-fundamentalist diatribes by the self-proclaimed modernists and the English media. And what did the Pope do? He proclaimed with exaltation: "Just as we planted the cross in Europe in the first millennium and in the Americas and Africa in the second millennium, we shall harvest the crop of our faith in this powerful continent (Asia) in the third millennium". He did not bother to hide his true intentions. However, the media and the self-proclaimed Secularists who branded Hindu groups as fundamentalists chose to maintain clever silence over this proclamation.
The following list details the present population (percentage) of Christians (in countries that had previously been untouched by Christianity) due to the wide-spread activity of Christian missionaries: Angola (90%), Burundi (78%), Cameroon (35%), Central African Republic (82%), Chad (33%), Congo (62%), East Timor (98%), Ethiopia (52%), Equatorial Guinea (94%), Gabon (79%), Kenya (25%), Liberia (68%), Mozambique (31%), Nigeria (52%), Papua New Guinea (97%), Philippines (84%), Rwanda (69%), South Africa (78%), South Korea (49%), Sudan (30%), Tanzania (20%), Togo (23%), Uganda (70%) and Zaire (90%).
The USA contributes USD 145 Billion every year to fund Christian Missionaries across the world. Churches across the world spend USD 1.1 Billion towards research aimed at achieving religious conversions. This is for propaganda material in 300 languages about 180 topics. Books and articles are printed in 500 languages. They total 175000. Every conversion costs USD 3300. It does not mean that this amount reaches the Convert. It is the expense incurred in activities related to administration, planning and implementation of the conversion programme. In 1500 A.D, there were 30 Lac active Christian Missionaries. Their number stands at 64.8 Crore today. 54% of these people are non-Whites. The strategy is to train non-Whites, provide them with funds and involve them in religious conversions. This is similar to the time when the British employed Indians as Soldiers to rule India!
What brand of spiritual enlightenment is this? This is an issue that Indians do not understand. That is perhaps because Indians relate spiritual enlightenment to things like living in a hermitage in a forest or in caves in mountains or perhaps in the freezing heights of Snowy Himalayas where people manage to look inward. One cannot preach others until one is enlightened. And what would one preach about? To look inward! To understand oneself! Religion is a form of this enlightenment. Preaching it is called jigyasa. However, this isn't the essence or method of Christianity.
To understand Christianity, we need to learn the features of Semitic religions. They are also called Prophetic religions. It means that these religions were established by a prophet each. The roots lie in the Jewish religion established by Prophet Abraham. Christianity, established by Jesus Christ, is a modified form of Judaism. Later, Prophet Mohammed established Islam borrowing various tenets of Abraham's Judaism. The message common to these religions is that 'God is not directly accessible to Man. You are, fundamentally, Sinners. God is exceptionally terrible and cruel and punishes without qualms. You will have to believe me, your Messiah, and follow my preaching to obtain an opportunity to avoid burning in hell. If you do not pay heed, you are sure to end up in hell. You will have to place faith in this religion. You will have to convert others to this faith. You will have to spread this message and convert people wherever you go, even if it necessitates the use of force. That is Religion; that is the code.' Prophet Mohammed taught methods of torturing, killing and enslaving those who did not believe in Islam. These teachings are an integral part of Quran and have been highlighted in several places in the text. Prophets are intolerant towards Gods of other religions. I have described this is my novel AvaraNa.
Jesus Christ was one such Prophet. However, it is believed that he taught love and tolerance of a different variety as compared to the one preached by Prophet Abraham. Some Researchers wonder if Christ ever existed; and if he did exist, was he the kind of person depicted in the New Testament of the Bible? This view has found support after the discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls. Saint Paul, the founder of the Christian Church was the one who gave Christianity its present form. In one aspect, the Bible does not differ from the Quran: both propagate the view that if you do not abide by the Holy Scripture, you are destined to be consigned to the flames of hell. Christians (erroneously) believed that Jews had crucified Jesus and subsequently went on to torture and convert them, and those who refused to convert were tortured to the extreme. That is perhaps why Jews have refrained from converting others. Further, Jews have always been victims of torture and still do endure harassment in several parts of the world. Pope Pius XII knew that Hitler was executing Jews in Gas chambers. Hitler executed 60 Lac Jews in all. Pope Pius XII was notoriously known as Hitler's Pope since he maintained studied silence over Hitler's activities. He could have advised Hitler and perhaps reduced the number of people murdered during Hitler's rule. It is widely believed that the Pope saw this as a sort of vengeance towards the people who crucified Jesus Christ. Christians have not been able to provide a suitable explanation to Pope's behaviour during Holocaust.
The notorious Goa Inquisition (257 years between 1560 and 1817; 230 pages) conducted by the Portuguese Clergymen documents the persecution of those who refused to convert. The inquisitions presided by Joseph Stalin were modelled on Christ's Inquisition. The Goa Inquisition was conducted behind closed doors in a big house in Goa. The priests subjected such men, women and children to torture with the belief that those who do not believe in Jesus must be under the influence of the Devil and therefore must be brought to faith by punishment. The screams of the victims used to echo in the vicinity deep into the night when they were whipped, their limbs ripped, and their eyelids were torn and their bodies were violated in the presence of members of their family.
Diego de Bordeaux, a priest and Miguel Vaz, the ruler of the territory had drafted a 41 point plan to torture Hindus into conversion. Under this plan, the then Viceroy of Goa, Antonio de Noronha released a directive to the province of Goa in 1566 that ordered: " I hereby order that under the rule of my Monarch, no new Hindu temple shall be allowed to be constructed or repaired, in this province. Permission has to be sought to repair existing temples and the violation of this order will result in the destruction of the temple in case and the material inside such temples shall be confiscated".
Other examples of his ordinances: Hindus shall not play musical instruments in their wedding ceremonies. Relatives shall not be invited for engagement. People shall not receive auspicious returns in weddings. There was a blanket ban on following rituals related to weddings, funerals, wearing traditional attire, growing revered herbs like Tulsi and following rituals related to penance and fasting. On September 22, 1570, an ordinance was issued that gave Hindus who converted to Christianity relief from paying taxes for a period of 15 years. They were required to stop using their Hindu names and family names. The Goa Inquisition would fill up several pages. Readers may refer to A K Priolkar's THE GOA INQUISITION (Voice of India. New Delhi). Pages 79-84 of his book provide a full account of the Hindu temples destroyed by Missionaries with details of the places these temples belonged to. The book also contains a reference section with accounts by Portuguese authors of those times who have recorded these details. There is no difference between the Christian Missionaries and Muslim Kings who tortured Hindus and destroyed Hindu temples in response to those who refused to convert. Millions of Hindus in Goa fled to neighbouring states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala due to the lack of religious freedom. They call themselves Konkani Hindus. Chief among them were the GSBs (Gaud Saraswat Brahmins) and Saraswats.
Renowned Historian K M Panicker states thus in the twelfth chapter (PORTUGUESE RELIGIOUS POLICY IN MALABAR) of his book MALABAR AND THE PORTUGUESE (Voice of India, New Delhi, 1997- Reprint): The Rulers of Malabar never interfered in the ways of life of the Syrian Christians. This has been recorded by the Portuguese themselves. However, at the first available opportunity the Indian Syrian Christians proclaimed their loyalty to the King of Portugal. They submitted their ancient manuscripts and religious artefacts to Vasco de Gama. They also committed themselves to his mission of annexing Indian states. They invited him to build a fortress in Granganoor to accomplish his mission. The Hindu Kings of Kerala ended up paying heavily for the patronage they afforded to Syrian Christians. The Portuguese Viceroy was eventually ordered to convert the Prince of Cochin.
Renaissance was a period in Europe that opened the minds of the elite to the existence of other faiths across the world. The advancement in art, science and technology brought in a modern outlook in people in various nations of Europe and they began to question the methods and practices adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. This awareness resulted in gradual decline in the approach the Roman Catholic Church took in the matter of religious conversions. This also reduced Church sponsored torture for conversion across the world. The Protestants questioned the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church. The awareness created by modern Physics, Biology and Sociology resulted in an eventual rejection of the rule of Roman Catholic Church. The Church turned the tables on them by portraying that these new ideas had foundations in the theories originally propounded by the Church. It began referring to them as 'Christian Science'. It then propounded a theory that Science and Faith are separate and faith cannot and should not be measured by the yardstick of Science.
The British who ruled India established their own Church of England. They did not want to destabilise their rule by directly confronting the faiths followed by people in India. They, therefore, began dissociating with the Missionaries outwardly. However, the British Government and the missionaries shared the same goal at one level: to destroy the sense of nationalism in Indians and thereby kill the spirit of resistance against the British rule. Systematically, through Macaulay's education policy and dogmas such as Aryan Invasion, biased interpretation of Indian history, misinterpretation of caste system, commentary on Indian socio-political structures, census policy, the segregation of Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists from Hindu mainstream, supporting Muslim separatist movements etc., they injected their own divisive thought systems into University education to evolve a new breed of Indian citizens modelled on the British thought. The Missionaries deployed all these along with a sustained smear campaign on Hindu deities to ease the process of conversions. The Government allowed the missionaries a free growth path by granting their requests to open schools, colleges and hospitals across India and also allowed the allopathic system of medicine to gain wide acceptability. People who converted to Christianity received special favours and gained reservations in jobs and promotions. Converted Christians were indoctrinated into the ways of life of the British to ensure their continued loyalty to the Church and the British rule. The Indians were amazed at the kind of Institutions the British developed and I have seen this in Indians I know (however, we are now building much bigger institutions) However, we must not forget that they used the colleges to provide medical skills to Christians and to ensure their progress. Let us look at the support the British Government extended to Christians in building such institutions: A young man I know was praising the British for their enterprising nature that led to the conversion of forests to coffee plantations. A retired Revenue Official explained to me: A recommendation used to go out to the King's Government from the resident British Official at Bangalore that some specified people had to be granted land for coffee estates. The recommendation was nothing but an Order. This order would then be passed down to a Taluk Amaldar through the District Administrator. The Amaldar would then appoint a revenue inspector to accompany a horse-ridden White King (all Whites were referred to as 'King' then) who would then go to a mountain top and point out an area of land with the tip of his index finger and demand that that land was needed. The revenue inspector would then obediently measure the land and report to higher officials. Within a week, the British Citizen would get thousands of acres of forests. The man would then employ locals to cut trees which he would sell to raise money for his coffee plantation. The Imperial Bank would lend money to such people (interest free) until the coffee trees bore fruit and once the crop yielded the interest rate would be one percent. Wasn't it then brave of British citizens to build hill-top bungalows overlooking their vast coffee plantations? Well, how could Indians summon such courage? It is said that the Planters Association at Sakaleshpur bore a sign that read: "Locals and Dogs not allowed".
These three Prophetic Religions born out of the desert and the religions born in India have one fundamental difference. All these Prophets claimed that their word was the ultimate truth and that God's word has been sent through them. They demanded absolute submission and the alternative they offered was hell. They also propounded that God's word, as pronounced by them, ought to be spread across the world as a message using violence if needed. Prophetic religions are basically blind-faiths. Indian faiths that derive their roots from the Vedas state: ekam sat viprAh bahudha vadanti (There is only one truth- the learned men explain it in different ways). This free thought has found echo in several Indian religious channels. In Jain philosophy syadvAda (syat = possibility; existence) holds prime position. It delineates that there is nothing that can claim to be absolute truth – including what I say. There is every possibility that the exact opposite may be true or both could coexist. Jains identify the possibility of existence of up to seven truths at one time. This is an expression of the previously stated Vedic philosophy of One Truth. All Indian religious testaments agree on this basic philosophy. They encourage debate. This is perhaps what differentiates Indian religions that encourage exploration of truth from Prophetic Religions that command unflinching obedience to the Gospel. The Sages (Rishis) behind Vedas (texts outlining the basic tenets of what evolved to become the Hindu way of life) and Upanishads (texts containing the essence of Vedas) were not Prophets. Koenraad Elst, a Belgian Scholar on Religious Evaluation, states in his book Psychology of Prophetism: "Prophets talk a great deal about themselves. They ascribe special powers to themselves and state that they have a special connection with the Creator of the World. Sages, on the other hand, talk about Universal Truths and that these truths can be divined in a state of awareness which can be achieved through practice". Koenraad Elst's book is a must read for anyone who has a serious interest in the study of religions. The Buddha was not a Prophet but a Sage who indulged in the study of treatise belonging to the age of Upanishads. His insights are not contrary to the ones presented in the Upanishads. One might want to consult R D Ranade's A Constructive Survey of the Upanishadic Philosophy (see the second section of the fourth volume. This has been translated to Kannada by R R Divakar, D R Bendre, and S B Joshi within two years of the printing of the original. I have a 2004 edition of the Kannada version printed by Gurudev Ranade Samadhi Trust, Nimbal, Bijapur). Vedic Religions, Jainism and Buddhism use the term Dharma (Way of Life) and not the term Religion, employed by Prophetic Religions.
The Vedic philosophy made our spiritual leaders silent bystanders when the prophetic religions annexed India. When the invading Rulers forced millions of men, women and children into submission, torture and conversion, our spiritual leaders saw it as an aberration in their behaviour and not as a flaw with the religion that advised conversion by force. There is a story concerning the then Seer of Shringeri Mutt Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati which is seen to depict the broad-mindedness of Hindus. When a European approached him and requested to be converted to a Hindu, the Swamiji is said to have replied, "You become a good Christian. You will then be seen as a Hindu, as well". Did the Swamiji know that a 'good' Christian is expected to convert as many people as possible to Christianity? Or was he ensnared by the magnanimity of the Vedic Philosophy of One Truth? Or was he not able to tide over the mental block of accepting a person of another religion into the Hindu fold? These questions remain unanswered. When Muslims were forcing Hindus to convert, or when the Portuguese were conducting their inquisition in Goa and Malabar, or even when Christian priests were going around converting people in the guise of social service Hindu Leaders remained complacent instead of proactively analysing the underlying philosophy of these predatory religions. Sri Vidyaranya who was the source of inspiration and Guiding force behind the establishment of the Vijayanagara Empire was well-aware of the cultural and political milieu of his times. However, I have not come across any work of his that analyses the issues of his period. To my knowledge, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Vivekananda were the only Spiritual Leaders who directly approached the task of analysis of predatory religions from the perspective of philosophical and spiritual assessment. The lack of awareness of predatory religions among the Hindu spiritual Leaders of the past and present times is prevalent among most educated Hindus. This predatory philosophy is the driving force behind suicidal Jehadis and missionaries who travel far and wide into the Indian hinterland to convert people.
It is natural to evaluate the utility of religion in rendering service to the community in context of economic progress of the state. In the west the concept of Welfare State brought in a social security net that included education, healthcare services, employment guarantee, unemployment support, care for the elderly etc. This brought in the awareness that the Government can protect the interests of citizens and religion, therefore, is not necessary to ensure service. A few decades ago, Indians used to look at the Christian Church and admire the services it extended to the community. Today, many Hindu Institutions have started serving people in the same manner. However, at the philosophical level, is community service the primary duty of religious institutions? It is gratifying to see Hindu Institutions doing community service in the context of failure of corrupt Governments and Politicians to do so. However, to what extent are these religious institutions fountains of spiritual knowledge? Are our religious institutions today equipped to meet the spiritual needs of people, beyond Social needs such as food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare? If we are to believe that spirituality is the source of our moral enlightenment, then spirituality must not be measured on the scale of community service.
In 1975, I had represented India in a one-month conference on Moral Education organised by UNESCO in Tokyo. We visited a few schools in Japan to understand how Moral Education is imparted. One of them was a Christian Missionary School. After a discussion, I asked the Principal, "How is your School different compared to other schools in this country?"
"A very good question," he said, "about thirty of our students have converted to Christianity after coming of age".
To him, morals meant conversion to Christianity. A non-Christian, therefore, is immoral. A Muslim Leader has said this about Mahatma Gandhi: "He may be a Mahatma, but he is worse than a sinful Muslim because he is not a Muslim". Such bigots are not sensitive to the fact that morals are not affiliated to religion and that religious conversions must not take place through violence, coercion, torture, temptation or misinformation.
I have a question about Mother Teresa, who has great standing in international media and is today on the verge of Sainthood: Did she allow desolate Children who were sheltered by Missionaries of Charity to follow their religions? I had been to her institutions after her death. All children there have been converted to Christianity. Is this not a ploy for religious conversion? The Vatican Church funded such institutions and ensured that their work was glorified in Western media which was promptly echoed by Indian media without question. It is a pre-requisite for a person to have performed miracles during her/his lifetime to be considered for Sainthood. Nuns at Missionaries of Charity at Calcutta gave statements that they have witnessed Mother Teresa performing miracles. Intellectuals in India observed studied silence to such pronouncements when in the past they had vociferously questioned Sai Baba's claims of miracles.
Now, I wish to narrate what I have witnessed in a few small villages about six decades ago. Village folk used to come out to see Siddaganga Swamiji (who used to go out in a bullock cart for alms) when they heard drums being beaten. Shivakumar Swamiji who is a centenarian now was about forty years old then. Village folk used to collect grains and vegetables from all houses and send them to Siddaganga which was about forty miles away, in their own bullock cart. Swamiji never used to ask for rations. He used to tell people: "Please send poor children from your villages to our institutions. We will provide for them and educate them. Education is very important". The number of children then was limited. Over a period of time, it has grown to about eight thousand. Swamiji followed the path of renunciation and through the process of seeking alms, increased the number of people benefitting from Dasoha by visiting three to four villages every day. He offered shelter to children of all faiths. I have seen even Muslim children there who were not wearing lingas (a sign of conversion to Lingayat caste of Hinduism). Their belief is that religion is a matter of personal preference; our job is to provide them value-based education. He got his dues only recently by the Kannada media when he turned a centenarian. He never got the publicity that Mother Teresa got. It is certainly not a matter of dissonance too that he did not get wide-spread press. It is one of the five principles of renunciation to offer the credit of all good deeds to God. Stating that one has achieved something fuels egotism. Such people cannot reach higher levels of Yogic attainment. Malladihalli Raghavendra Swamiji, Baba Amte, Dr. Sudarshan of BiligiriRanga Hills and several others have dedicated their lives to selfless service. However, none of them have received the press received by Mother Teresa despite rendering greater service since they were not serving Jesus!
A lot of people live by the philosophy that they will be true Christians only when they convert at least a few people to their faith. This motivates thousands of people to spend their time in converting people to Christianity in remote corners of India. They receive training, support, funds, guidance and of course political backup (in case of adversity) from foreign missionaries. Hindus know only losing people to conversion and not gaining people. The Judiciary has interpreted a law related to religious conversion. However, who will implement it? When Hindus hand over people attempting to convert others to Police Custody, they are branded as fundamentalists by the media. Police does not take action. People who violate the law do not get punished. People who attempt to stem conversions are targeted by Christian institutions, political parties, self-proclaimed intellectuals and sundry entities of all hues. The Government arrests them on the pretext that they were spreading communal disharmony. Congress is used to sacrificing the interests of Hindus and defending such acts from the time of Nehru. Mahatma Gandhi had lost control over Congress before independence. Nehru's viewpoints were always contrary to the Mahatma's. Today, Congress is being controlled by a lady from the country that hosts Vatican City. It is essential for money-minded Congressmen to toe her line if they wish to stay in Congress. They then do not summon courage to criticise her policy of sponsoring conversions. Non-Congress Politicians like Devegowda, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav and others have an eye on the lower-caste vote bank and choose to dissociate themselves from the BJP which has been branded as a pro-Hindu party. Communists swear by anti-Hindu principle. Today's intellectuals are products of Macaulay's education system. Most of our politicians are hypocrites who spend their mornings performing rituals in Hindu temples and publicly proclaim that they visit Masjids to pray to be born as a Muslim in their next life! Such politicians sit before statues of Gandhi fasting till noon to oppose people who resist conversions. Dalit Intellectuals oppose the suggestion to ban conversions. They fear that they will lose the trump card of threatening to convert to Christianity or Islam. The Church is attempting to provide reservations to Dalits who convert to Christianity thus eradicating the barrier for Dalits to convert; this is again opposed by Dalit intellectuals. They do not want to share the Dalit quota with Dalits who convert to Christianity. Y Samuel Rajashekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is implementing a strategic plan to first provide reservations to Muslims and then extending it to Dalit-Christians. Dalit intellectuals who encourage the Dalit community to convert to Buddhism choose to place themselves under the Dalit category in official records. They also advise Hindu spiritual leaders who oppose conversion to mind their own business. Are Hindu spiritual Leaders meant only to bless self-serving politicians who fall at their feet in full public view during elections?
In such circumstances, when a few people oppose mass conversions, the pro-conversion lobby makes a big issue of it. Christian institutions appeal to Christian-dominated international media to stop the 'doomsday' in India! France has prohibited children from wearing religious symbols- especially Muslim and Sikh headgear- to bring in a sense of French nationalism. The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh had planned to submit an appeal on behalf of the Sikh Community (to allow Sikh boys to wear religious headgear) to French President Sarkozy. However, he ended up assuring them that he will take immediate action on the riots in Karnataka and Orissa on his return without bothering to explain the situation. He is now attempting to place these state governments under President's (read Congress') rule on the pretext of the anti-conversion riots in these states.
Some people may go underground to protect themselves from the backlash they experience when they try to oppose conversion which should actually be stopped by a democratically elected government. Who will be responsible for their acts if they choose underhanded means to oppose conversion in future? Do we not have people who feel that they should react to the situation since the Government and political parties have shown lack of will and capacity in countering Islamic Terrorism? The US has not faced another act of terrorism since September 2001. People die every single day in some part of our country due to acts of terrorism. It is foolish to expect power-hungry politicians will stop this. Terrorists plan to usurp power by continuously committing acts of terror all over the country. Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Prachanda, Naxals have all employed this technique. Wouldn't Hindu people be tempted to tread this path? Would we be able to stop them through public criticism of such acts when this happens?
Politicians, Media and self-proclaimed intellectuals who base their power-play on religion will have to reflect on this question today with sincerity and responsibility.
Francois Gautier ends his article with these words: "Are we moving towards a Christian India under the stewardship of Sonia Gandhi? If yes, then it is a great loss not just for India but for the whole world because spirituality in its truest form is alive only in India today".
Suggested Reading:
1. Arun Shourie: Harvesting our souls (ASA)
2. Arun Shourie: Missionaries in India (ASA)
3. Matilda Joslyn Gage: Woman, Church and State (Voice of India, New Delhi)
4. Sitaram Goel: Catholic Ashrams Sannyasins or Swindlers? (Voice of India)
5. Sitaram Goel: History of Hindu-Christian encounters (A.D 304 TO 1996) (Voice of India, New Delhi)
6. N S Rajaram: Christ matada ugama mattu sadyah stHiti (hosa sHOdhagaLu), Jagarana Prakashana, Bengalooru
7. N S Rajaram: Dead Sea scrolls and the crisis of christianity (Minerra Press, London)
8. N S RAJARAM: Profiles in deception: Ayodhya and the dead sea scrolls (Voice of India)
9. N S RAJARAM: Christianity is collapsing empire and its designs in India (Hindu Writers Forum, New Delhi)
Francois Gautier, a French Journalist residing in India has expressed concern over he conversions that are taking place in India with the tacit support of Sonia Gandhi. He says: "I am a Christian by birth and a Westerner by origin. I have studied mostly in Catholic schools. My Uncle Hugh Gautier, who was one of the noblest men I knew, was a priest in a beautiful church in Paris. My father, who was a famous artist in France, lived his entire life as a devout Catholic. They were regular visitors to the Church. Having come from this background, I get disturbed when I notice the extent to which Christianity is spreading across India under Sonia Gandhi's rule. According to Census 2001, there are 23.4 Lac Christians in India, which amounts to about 2.5%, and that is fairly negligible. However, India today has Christian Chief Ministers in five states: Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Most politicians in Sonia Gandhi's inner circle are either Christians or Muslims. It seems like she doe not trust Hindus. Ambika Soni, a Christian, is Congress' General Secretary and a powerful member of Sonia's coterie. Oscar Fernandes is a minister who implements Centre's policies. Margaret Alva is entrusted with motivating Maharashtra Congress with fear. Congress in Karnataka is virtually A K Antony's domain and Sonia's secretaries belong to various Christian organisations in India. Walson Thampu, a known anti-Hindu, is the head of NCERT's (National Council for Educational Research and Training) Educational Committee. Sonia Gandhi nominated a known Hindu-baiter, John Dayal, to her National Integration Committee. Another anti-Hindu, Kancha Elliah, has implicit approval of the Government to plead to UN & US Congress to look into matters related to caste discrimination in India. I have nothing personal against Sonia Gandhi. However, it is disconcerting to note that the number of conversions have increased exponentially since she has assumed the top-post in India. Approximately four thousand foreign Christian missionaries are actively converting people to Christianity in various states in India today. At the time of independence there were no Christians in Tripura; today, their numbers stand at 1.2 Lacs. Their numbers have risen by 90% since 1991. This is more pronounced in Arunachal Pradesh: it had 1770 Christians in 1921 as opposed to 12 Lacs today. Moreover, there are 780 churches there. A church is built almost every day in the remotest parts of Andhra Pradesh, apart from the plan to build a church at Tirupati. Mizo, Bodo and other such rebellions in the North-eastern states are actively fuelled by Christian missionaries. More than twenty thousand people have lost their lives in the last two decades due to these movements in Assam and Manipur. State-owned Indian Airlines deplaned Swami Avimuktananda for carrying a stick – a symbol of his renunciation. It was just a harmless piece of bamboo. This could only happen in a weak state like India where a foreigner like Sonia Gandhi has been allowed to rule." (Francois Gautier: http://www.francoisgautier.com/ 09343538419/09442123255)
The Indian media, especially English TV channels and newspapers celebrated The Pope's visit to India. The Indian Government accorded hospitality reserved for heads of states to The Pope, who is the religious head of Roman Catholics. The President, The Prime Minister and the cabinet queued up to pay obeisance to him. A few pro-Hindu organisations argued that he is a religious head and his sole mission to India was to encourage conversions and therefore he should neither be allowed to enter India nor be accorded official welcome. These opinions were dismissed as Hindu-fundamentalist diatribes by the self-proclaimed modernists and the English media. And what did the Pope do? He proclaimed with exaltation: "Just as we planted the cross in Europe in the first millennium and in the Americas and Africa in the second millennium, we shall harvest the crop of our faith in this powerful continent (Asia) in the third millennium". He did not bother to hide his true intentions. However, the media and the self-proclaimed Secularists who branded Hindu groups as fundamentalists chose to maintain clever silence over this proclamation.
The following list details the present population (percentage) of Christians (in countries that had previously been untouched by Christianity) due to the wide-spread activity of Christian missionaries: Angola (90%), Burundi (78%), Cameroon (35%), Central African Republic (82%), Chad (33%), Congo (62%), East Timor (98%), Ethiopia (52%), Equatorial Guinea (94%), Gabon (79%), Kenya (25%), Liberia (68%), Mozambique (31%), Nigeria (52%), Papua New Guinea (97%), Philippines (84%), Rwanda (69%), South Africa (78%), South Korea (49%), Sudan (30%), Tanzania (20%), Togo (23%), Uganda (70%) and Zaire (90%).
The USA contributes USD 145 Billion every year to fund Christian Missionaries across the world. Churches across the world spend USD 1.1 Billion towards research aimed at achieving religious conversions. This is for propaganda material in 300 languages about 180 topics. Books and articles are printed in 500 languages. They total 175000. Every conversion costs USD 3300. It does not mean that this amount reaches the Convert. It is the expense incurred in activities related to administration, planning and implementation of the conversion programme. In 1500 A.D, there were 30 Lac active Christian Missionaries. Their number stands at 64.8 Crore today. 54% of these people are non-Whites. The strategy is to train non-Whites, provide them with funds and involve them in religious conversions. This is similar to the time when the British employed Indians as Soldiers to rule India!
What brand of spiritual enlightenment is this? This is an issue that Indians do not understand. That is perhaps because Indians relate spiritual enlightenment to things like living in a hermitage in a forest or in caves in mountains or perhaps in the freezing heights of Snowy Himalayas where people manage to look inward. One cannot preach others until one is enlightened. And what would one preach about? To look inward! To understand oneself! Religion is a form of this enlightenment. Preaching it is called jigyasa. However, this isn't the essence or method of Christianity.
To understand Christianity, we need to learn the features of Semitic religions. They are also called Prophetic religions. It means that these religions were established by a prophet each. The roots lie in the Jewish religion established by Prophet Abraham. Christianity, established by Jesus Christ, is a modified form of Judaism. Later, Prophet Mohammed established Islam borrowing various tenets of Abraham's Judaism. The message common to these religions is that 'God is not directly accessible to Man. You are, fundamentally, Sinners. God is exceptionally terrible and cruel and punishes without qualms. You will have to believe me, your Messiah, and follow my preaching to obtain an opportunity to avoid burning in hell. If you do not pay heed, you are sure to end up in hell. You will have to place faith in this religion. You will have to convert others to this faith. You will have to spread this message and convert people wherever you go, even if it necessitates the use of force. That is Religion; that is the code.' Prophet Mohammed taught methods of torturing, killing and enslaving those who did not believe in Islam. These teachings are an integral part of Quran and have been highlighted in several places in the text. Prophets are intolerant towards Gods of other religions. I have described this is my novel AvaraNa.
Jesus Christ was one such Prophet. However, it is believed that he taught love and tolerance of a different variety as compared to the one preached by Prophet Abraham. Some Researchers wonder if Christ ever existed; and if he did exist, was he the kind of person depicted in the New Testament of the Bible? This view has found support after the discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls. Saint Paul, the founder of the Christian Church was the one who gave Christianity its present form. In one aspect, the Bible does not differ from the Quran: both propagate the view that if you do not abide by the Holy Scripture, you are destined to be consigned to the flames of hell. Christians (erroneously) believed that Jews had crucified Jesus and subsequently went on to torture and convert them, and those who refused to convert were tortured to the extreme. That is perhaps why Jews have refrained from converting others. Further, Jews have always been victims of torture and still do endure harassment in several parts of the world. Pope Pius XII knew that Hitler was executing Jews in Gas chambers. Hitler executed 60 Lac Jews in all. Pope Pius XII was notoriously known as Hitler's Pope since he maintained studied silence over Hitler's activities. He could have advised Hitler and perhaps reduced the number of people murdered during Hitler's rule. It is widely believed that the Pope saw this as a sort of vengeance towards the people who crucified Jesus Christ. Christians have not been able to provide a suitable explanation to Pope's behaviour during Holocaust.
The notorious Goa Inquisition (257 years between 1560 and 1817; 230 pages) conducted by the Portuguese Clergymen documents the persecution of those who refused to convert. The inquisitions presided by Joseph Stalin were modelled on Christ's Inquisition. The Goa Inquisition was conducted behind closed doors in a big house in Goa. The priests subjected such men, women and children to torture with the belief that those who do not believe in Jesus must be under the influence of the Devil and therefore must be brought to faith by punishment. The screams of the victims used to echo in the vicinity deep into the night when they were whipped, their limbs ripped, and their eyelids were torn and their bodies were violated in the presence of members of their family.
Diego de Bordeaux, a priest and Miguel Vaz, the ruler of the territory had drafted a 41 point plan to torture Hindus into conversion. Under this plan, the then Viceroy of Goa, Antonio de Noronha released a directive to the province of Goa in 1566 that ordered: " I hereby order that under the rule of my Monarch, no new Hindu temple shall be allowed to be constructed or repaired, in this province. Permission has to be sought to repair existing temples and the violation of this order will result in the destruction of the temple in case and the material inside such temples shall be confiscated".
Other examples of his ordinances: Hindus shall not play musical instruments in their wedding ceremonies. Relatives shall not be invited for engagement. People shall not receive auspicious returns in weddings. There was a blanket ban on following rituals related to weddings, funerals, wearing traditional attire, growing revered herbs like Tulsi and following rituals related to penance and fasting. On September 22, 1570, an ordinance was issued that gave Hindus who converted to Christianity relief from paying taxes for a period of 15 years. They were required to stop using their Hindu names and family names. The Goa Inquisition would fill up several pages. Readers may refer to A K Priolkar's THE GOA INQUISITION (Voice of India. New Delhi). Pages 79-84 of his book provide a full account of the Hindu temples destroyed by Missionaries with details of the places these temples belonged to. The book also contains a reference section with accounts by Portuguese authors of those times who have recorded these details. There is no difference between the Christian Missionaries and Muslim Kings who tortured Hindus and destroyed Hindu temples in response to those who refused to convert. Millions of Hindus in Goa fled to neighbouring states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala due to the lack of religious freedom. They call themselves Konkani Hindus. Chief among them were the GSBs (Gaud Saraswat Brahmins) and Saraswats.
Renowned Historian K M Panicker states thus in the twelfth chapter (PORTUGUESE RELIGIOUS POLICY IN MALABAR) of his book MALABAR AND THE PORTUGUESE (Voice of India, New Delhi, 1997- Reprint): The Rulers of Malabar never interfered in the ways of life of the Syrian Christians. This has been recorded by the Portuguese themselves. However, at the first available opportunity the Indian Syrian Christians proclaimed their loyalty to the King of Portugal. They submitted their ancient manuscripts and religious artefacts to Vasco de Gama. They also committed themselves to his mission of annexing Indian states. They invited him to build a fortress in Granganoor to accomplish his mission. The Hindu Kings of Kerala ended up paying heavily for the patronage they afforded to Syrian Christians. The Portuguese Viceroy was eventually ordered to convert the Prince of Cochin.
Renaissance was a period in Europe that opened the minds of the elite to the existence of other faiths across the world. The advancement in art, science and technology brought in a modern outlook in people in various nations of Europe and they began to question the methods and practices adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. This awareness resulted in gradual decline in the approach the Roman Catholic Church took in the matter of religious conversions. This also reduced Church sponsored torture for conversion across the world. The Protestants questioned the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church. The awareness created by modern Physics, Biology and Sociology resulted in an eventual rejection of the rule of Roman Catholic Church. The Church turned the tables on them by portraying that these new ideas had foundations in the theories originally propounded by the Church. It began referring to them as 'Christian Science'. It then propounded a theory that Science and Faith are separate and faith cannot and should not be measured by the yardstick of Science.
The British who ruled India established their own Church of England. They did not want to destabilise their rule by directly confronting the faiths followed by people in India. They, therefore, began dissociating with the Missionaries outwardly. However, the British Government and the missionaries shared the same goal at one level: to destroy the sense of nationalism in Indians and thereby kill the spirit of resistance against the British rule. Systematically, through Macaulay's education policy and dogmas such as Aryan Invasion, biased interpretation of Indian history, misinterpretation of caste system, commentary on Indian socio-political structures, census policy, the segregation of Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists from Hindu mainstream, supporting Muslim separatist movements etc., they injected their own divisive thought systems into University education to evolve a new breed of Indian citizens modelled on the British thought. The Missionaries deployed all these along with a sustained smear campaign on Hindu deities to ease the process of conversions. The Government allowed the missionaries a free growth path by granting their requests to open schools, colleges and hospitals across India and also allowed the allopathic system of medicine to gain wide acceptability. People who converted to Christianity received special favours and gained reservations in jobs and promotions. Converted Christians were indoctrinated into the ways of life of the British to ensure their continued loyalty to the Church and the British rule. The Indians were amazed at the kind of Institutions the British developed and I have seen this in Indians I know (however, we are now building much bigger institutions) However, we must not forget that they used the colleges to provide medical skills to Christians and to ensure their progress. Let us look at the support the British Government extended to Christians in building such institutions: A young man I know was praising the British for their enterprising nature that led to the conversion of forests to coffee plantations. A retired Revenue Official explained to me: A recommendation used to go out to the King's Government from the resident British Official at Bangalore that some specified people had to be granted land for coffee estates. The recommendation was nothing but an Order. This order would then be passed down to a Taluk Amaldar through the District Administrator. The Amaldar would then appoint a revenue inspector to accompany a horse-ridden White King (all Whites were referred to as 'King' then) who would then go to a mountain top and point out an area of land with the tip of his index finger and demand that that land was needed. The revenue inspector would then obediently measure the land and report to higher officials. Within a week, the British Citizen would get thousands of acres of forests. The man would then employ locals to cut trees which he would sell to raise money for his coffee plantation. The Imperial Bank would lend money to such people (interest free) until the coffee trees bore fruit and once the crop yielded the interest rate would be one percent. Wasn't it then brave of British citizens to build hill-top bungalows overlooking their vast coffee plantations? Well, how could Indians summon such courage? It is said that the Planters Association at Sakaleshpur bore a sign that read: "Locals and Dogs not allowed".
These three Prophetic Religions born out of the desert and the religions born in India have one fundamental difference. All these Prophets claimed that their word was the ultimate truth and that God's word has been sent through them. They demanded absolute submission and the alternative they offered was hell. They also propounded that God's word, as pronounced by them, ought to be spread across the world as a message using violence if needed. Prophetic religions are basically blind-faiths. Indian faiths that derive their roots from the Vedas state: ekam sat viprAh bahudha vadanti (There is only one truth- the learned men explain it in different ways). This free thought has found echo in several Indian religious channels. In Jain philosophy syadvAda (syat = possibility; existence) holds prime position. It delineates that there is nothing that can claim to be absolute truth – including what I say. There is every possibility that the exact opposite may be true or both could coexist. Jains identify the possibility of existence of up to seven truths at one time. This is an expression of the previously stated Vedic philosophy of One Truth. All Indian religious testaments agree on this basic philosophy. They encourage debate. This is perhaps what differentiates Indian religions that encourage exploration of truth from Prophetic Religions that command unflinching obedience to the Gospel. The Sages (Rishis) behind Vedas (texts outlining the basic tenets of what evolved to become the Hindu way of life) and Upanishads (texts containing the essence of Vedas) were not Prophets. Koenraad Elst, a Belgian Scholar on Religious Evaluation, states in his book Psychology of Prophetism: "Prophets talk a great deal about themselves. They ascribe special powers to themselves and state that they have a special connection with the Creator of the World. Sages, on the other hand, talk about Universal Truths and that these truths can be divined in a state of awareness which can be achieved through practice". Koenraad Elst's book is a must read for anyone who has a serious interest in the study of religions. The Buddha was not a Prophet but a Sage who indulged in the study of treatise belonging to the age of Upanishads. His insights are not contrary to the ones presented in the Upanishads. One might want to consult R D Ranade's A Constructive Survey of the Upanishadic Philosophy (see the second section of the fourth volume. This has been translated to Kannada by R R Divakar, D R Bendre, and S B Joshi within two years of the printing of the original. I have a 2004 edition of the Kannada version printed by Gurudev Ranade Samadhi Trust, Nimbal, Bijapur). Vedic Religions, Jainism and Buddhism use the term Dharma (Way of Life) and not the term Religion, employed by Prophetic Religions.
The Vedic philosophy made our spiritual leaders silent bystanders when the prophetic religions annexed India. When the invading Rulers forced millions of men, women and children into submission, torture and conversion, our spiritual leaders saw it as an aberration in their behaviour and not as a flaw with the religion that advised conversion by force. There is a story concerning the then Seer of Shringeri Mutt Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati which is seen to depict the broad-mindedness of Hindus. When a European approached him and requested to be converted to a Hindu, the Swamiji is said to have replied, "You become a good Christian. You will then be seen as a Hindu, as well". Did the Swamiji know that a 'good' Christian is expected to convert as many people as possible to Christianity? Or was he ensnared by the magnanimity of the Vedic Philosophy of One Truth? Or was he not able to tide over the mental block of accepting a person of another religion into the Hindu fold? These questions remain unanswered. When Muslims were forcing Hindus to convert, or when the Portuguese were conducting their inquisition in Goa and Malabar, or even when Christian priests were going around converting people in the guise of social service Hindu Leaders remained complacent instead of proactively analysing the underlying philosophy of these predatory religions. Sri Vidyaranya who was the source of inspiration and Guiding force behind the establishment of the Vijayanagara Empire was well-aware of the cultural and political milieu of his times. However, I have not come across any work of his that analyses the issues of his period. To my knowledge, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Vivekananda were the only Spiritual Leaders who directly approached the task of analysis of predatory religions from the perspective of philosophical and spiritual assessment. The lack of awareness of predatory religions among the Hindu spiritual Leaders of the past and present times is prevalent among most educated Hindus. This predatory philosophy is the driving force behind suicidal Jehadis and missionaries who travel far and wide into the Indian hinterland to convert people.
It is natural to evaluate the utility of religion in rendering service to the community in context of economic progress of the state. In the west the concept of Welfare State brought in a social security net that included education, healthcare services, employment guarantee, unemployment support, care for the elderly etc. This brought in the awareness that the Government can protect the interests of citizens and religion, therefore, is not necessary to ensure service. A few decades ago, Indians used to look at the Christian Church and admire the services it extended to the community. Today, many Hindu Institutions have started serving people in the same manner. However, at the philosophical level, is community service the primary duty of religious institutions? It is gratifying to see Hindu Institutions doing community service in the context of failure of corrupt Governments and Politicians to do so. However, to what extent are these religious institutions fountains of spiritual knowledge? Are our religious institutions today equipped to meet the spiritual needs of people, beyond Social needs such as food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare? If we are to believe that spirituality is the source of our moral enlightenment, then spirituality must not be measured on the scale of community service.
In 1975, I had represented India in a one-month conference on Moral Education organised by UNESCO in Tokyo. We visited a few schools in Japan to understand how Moral Education is imparted. One of them was a Christian Missionary School. After a discussion, I asked the Principal, "How is your School different compared to other schools in this country?"
"A very good question," he said, "about thirty of our students have converted to Christianity after coming of age".
To him, morals meant conversion to Christianity. A non-Christian, therefore, is immoral. A Muslim Leader has said this about Mahatma Gandhi: "He may be a Mahatma, but he is worse than a sinful Muslim because he is not a Muslim". Such bigots are not sensitive to the fact that morals are not affiliated to religion and that religious conversions must not take place through violence, coercion, torture, temptation or misinformation.
I have a question about Mother Teresa, who has great standing in international media and is today on the verge of Sainthood: Did she allow desolate Children who were sheltered by Missionaries of Charity to follow their religions? I had been to her institutions after her death. All children there have been converted to Christianity. Is this not a ploy for religious conversion? The Vatican Church funded such institutions and ensured that their work was glorified in Western media which was promptly echoed by Indian media without question. It is a pre-requisite for a person to have performed miracles during her/his lifetime to be considered for Sainthood. Nuns at Missionaries of Charity at Calcutta gave statements that they have witnessed Mother Teresa performing miracles. Intellectuals in India observed studied silence to such pronouncements when in the past they had vociferously questioned Sai Baba's claims of miracles.
Now, I wish to narrate what I have witnessed in a few small villages about six decades ago. Village folk used to come out to see Siddaganga Swamiji (who used to go out in a bullock cart for alms) when they heard drums being beaten. Shivakumar Swamiji who is a centenarian now was about forty years old then. Village folk used to collect grains and vegetables from all houses and send them to Siddaganga which was about forty miles away, in their own bullock cart. Swamiji never used to ask for rations. He used to tell people: "Please send poor children from your villages to our institutions. We will provide for them and educate them. Education is very important". The number of children then was limited. Over a period of time, it has grown to about eight thousand. Swamiji followed the path of renunciation and through the process of seeking alms, increased the number of people benefitting from Dasoha by visiting three to four villages every day. He offered shelter to children of all faiths. I have seen even Muslim children there who were not wearing lingas (a sign of conversion to Lingayat caste of Hinduism). Their belief is that religion is a matter of personal preference; our job is to provide them value-based education. He got his dues only recently by the Kannada media when he turned a centenarian. He never got the publicity that Mother Teresa got. It is certainly not a matter of dissonance too that he did not get wide-spread press. It is one of the five principles of renunciation to offer the credit of all good deeds to God. Stating that one has achieved something fuels egotism. Such people cannot reach higher levels of Yogic attainment. Malladihalli Raghavendra Swamiji, Baba Amte, Dr. Sudarshan of BiligiriRanga Hills and several others have dedicated their lives to selfless service. However, none of them have received the press received by Mother Teresa despite rendering greater service since they were not serving Jesus!
A lot of people live by the philosophy that they will be true Christians only when they convert at least a few people to their faith. This motivates thousands of people to spend their time in converting people to Christianity in remote corners of India. They receive training, support, funds, guidance and of course political backup (in case of adversity) from foreign missionaries. Hindus know only losing people to conversion and not gaining people. The Judiciary has interpreted a law related to religious conversion. However, who will implement it? When Hindus hand over people attempting to convert others to Police Custody, they are branded as fundamentalists by the media. Police does not take action. People who violate the law do not get punished. People who attempt to stem conversions are targeted by Christian institutions, political parties, self-proclaimed intellectuals and sundry entities of all hues. The Government arrests them on the pretext that they were spreading communal disharmony. Congress is used to sacrificing the interests of Hindus and defending such acts from the time of Nehru. Mahatma Gandhi had lost control over Congress before independence. Nehru's viewpoints were always contrary to the Mahatma's. Today, Congress is being controlled by a lady from the country that hosts Vatican City. It is essential for money-minded Congressmen to toe her line if they wish to stay in Congress. They then do not summon courage to criticise her policy of sponsoring conversions. Non-Congress Politicians like Devegowda, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav and others have an eye on the lower-caste vote bank and choose to dissociate themselves from the BJP which has been branded as a pro-Hindu party. Communists swear by anti-Hindu principle. Today's intellectuals are products of Macaulay's education system. Most of our politicians are hypocrites who spend their mornings performing rituals in Hindu temples and publicly proclaim that they visit Masjids to pray to be born as a Muslim in their next life! Such politicians sit before statues of Gandhi fasting till noon to oppose people who resist conversions. Dalit Intellectuals oppose the suggestion to ban conversions. They fear that they will lose the trump card of threatening to convert to Christianity or Islam. The Church is attempting to provide reservations to Dalits who convert to Christianity thus eradicating the barrier for Dalits to convert; this is again opposed by Dalit intellectuals. They do not want to share the Dalit quota with Dalits who convert to Christianity. Y Samuel Rajashekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is implementing a strategic plan to first provide reservations to Muslims and then extending it to Dalit-Christians. Dalit intellectuals who encourage the Dalit community to convert to Buddhism choose to place themselves under the Dalit category in official records. They also advise Hindu spiritual leaders who oppose conversion to mind their own business. Are Hindu spiritual Leaders meant only to bless self-serving politicians who fall at their feet in full public view during elections?
In such circumstances, when a few people oppose mass conversions, the pro-conversion lobby makes a big issue of it. Christian institutions appeal to Christian-dominated international media to stop the 'doomsday' in India! France has prohibited children from wearing religious symbols- especially Muslim and Sikh headgear- to bring in a sense of French nationalism. The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh had planned to submit an appeal on behalf of the Sikh Community (to allow Sikh boys to wear religious headgear) to French President Sarkozy. However, he ended up assuring them that he will take immediate action on the riots in Karnataka and Orissa on his return without bothering to explain the situation. He is now attempting to place these state governments under President's (read Congress') rule on the pretext of the anti-conversion riots in these states.
Some people may go underground to protect themselves from the backlash they experience when they try to oppose conversion which should actually be stopped by a democratically elected government. Who will be responsible for their acts if they choose underhanded means to oppose conversion in future? Do we not have people who feel that they should react to the situation since the Government and political parties have shown lack of will and capacity in countering Islamic Terrorism? The US has not faced another act of terrorism since September 2001. People die every single day in some part of our country due to acts of terrorism. It is foolish to expect power-hungry politicians will stop this. Terrorists plan to usurp power by continuously committing acts of terror all over the country. Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Prachanda, Naxals have all employed this technique. Wouldn't Hindu people be tempted to tread this path? Would we be able to stop them through public criticism of such acts when this happens?
Politicians, Media and self-proclaimed intellectuals who base their power-play on religion will have to reflect on this question today with sincerity and responsibility.
Francois Gautier ends his article with these words: "Are we moving towards a Christian India under the stewardship of Sonia Gandhi? If yes, then it is a great loss not just for India but for the whole world because spirituality in its truest form is alive only in India today".
Suggested Reading:
1. Arun Shourie: Harvesting our souls (ASA)
2. Arun Shourie: Missionaries in India (ASA)
3. Matilda Joslyn Gage: Woman, Church and State (Voice of India, New Delhi)
4. Sitaram Goel: Catholic Ashrams Sannyasins or Swindlers? (Voice of India)
5. Sitaram Goel: History of Hindu-Christian encounters (A.D 304 TO 1996) (Voice of India, New Delhi)
6. N S Rajaram: Christ matada ugama mattu sadyah stHiti (hosa sHOdhagaLu), Jagarana Prakashana, Bengalooru
7. N S Rajaram: Dead Sea scrolls and the crisis of christianity (Minerra Press, London)
8. N S RAJARAM: Profiles in deception: Ayodhya and the dead sea scrolls (Voice of India)
9. N S RAJARAM: Christianity is collapsing empire and its designs in India (Hindu Writers Forum, New Delhi)
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