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t h o u g h t s    o n     h i n d u i s m

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In spite of the reverence, these intellectuals had for Hinduism, (refer to chapter on Quotes) there seems a constant effort at defamation and willful misrepresentation in the Western media and academia.

Western academics and their scholarly cartels (including porn-peddlers posing as Religion Faculty, like Paul Courtright, Wendy Doniger, Jeffrey Kripal, Michael Witzel, Conn Hallinan, Dr. Terence Kealey, Martha C Nussbaum and their Indian sycophants, Indian sepoys and Uncle Toms like historian Romila Thapar and company) are the main culprits who seem to think that they have a God-given right to impose their evangelical, narrow minded, limited and sometimes a very biased version of Hinduism on unsuspecting students. These are often hostile and influential academics who carry political and ideological baggage against Hinduism and India and whose knowledge of ancient Indian history and Hinduism is both limited and prejudiced.

In the name of intellectual enquiry, freedom of speech, they are engaged in neo-colonialism, extreme denigration of Hinduism, Hindu Icons to suit political needs of their masters. Britain funded a polemical attack against Indian self-rule by asking Katherine Mayo to write a book, "Mother India" in 1920s to soar up British Colonialism in India by writing "report of a gutter inspector" (as Mahatma Gandhi described it). A section of American `Scholars' are now playing similar role to suit the geopolitical need of Western interest. Tragically, it is not just right-wing evangelical groups that alone vilify Hinduism. The American Academy of Religion has also played a key role by demonizing Hindu conceptions of the divine and Hindu religious figures, and by trivializing and denigrating revered Hindu symbols and icons. This is done often under the guise of (ethnocentric and non-reproducible) Freudian "analysis", besides outright misquoting of Hindu scriptures and fabrication of data.

Tormenting Hindus in the name of Academics?

Tavleen Singh columnist with Indian Express has recently commented in her article A Dark and Distorted Hinduism: 

"..American professors who have written scholarly tomes on Hinduism make Hinduism sound like a mix of voodoo and pornography. Hindu gods and religious symbols have been put through Freudian analysis to establish such bizarre conclusions as Ganesha’s trunk representing a “flaccid phallus” and his love of sweets as a desire for oral sex. He also has Oedipal problems! This Freudian analysis goes beyond the gods to actual Hindu religious practices, and it is then that these scholars show not just their abysmal ignorance but their deliberate distortion of reality. They teach students in American universities that Brahmins drink menstrual blood and other human fluids and that this is Tantra. They teach that Shiva temples are dens of vice where priests routinely murder and rape unsuspecting pilgrims."

Refer to A Dark and Distorted Hinduism and Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America - By Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee.  Refer to Idiosyncrasy in dissecting Hinduism - By Ramesh Rao - ReligionAndSpirituality.com July 27, 2007. Refer to Hyper link to Hindu Phobia – Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry against Hindus and Hindus lament divine case of erectile dysfunction - By Associated Press.  Refer to Selective Outrage, Suspect Ethics - By Ramesh Rao - FrontPageMagazine.com - November 4, 2003.

Refer to Intolerance and Christian Fundamentalism in America? - Prayer War on the Hill: Hindu Invocation In Senate Reveals Religious Right Rancor. Refer to Using TV, Christian Pat Robertson Denounces Hinduism as "Demonic" and Watch the video - Pat Robertson Says All Other Religions Worship Demonic Powers - Rightwingwatch.org. Refer to California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials (CAPEEM) and Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge'. Watch God’s Warriors – By Christine Amanpour – CNN.com - Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

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Anti-Hinduism has become the world's new anti-Semitism. 

For more on Anti-Brahminism and Anti-Hinduism refer to The Indian Jews - By Jakob De Roover -  Outlookindia.com June 20, 2008.  Also refer to Offensive caricatures of Hinduism in Western entertainment - Jewish leader calls for boycott of the movie The Love Guru movie - Rabbi Elizabeth W. Beyer of Nevada, in a statement, said, The Love Guru lampoons Hinduism, mocks Ashram life and Hindu philosophy.

Watch video Hinduism - By Hindu American Foundation and Introduction to Hinduism video - By Hinduism Today

Refer to chapter on Glimpses IX for academic bias in American Universities - Peddling pornography in the name of Academic freedom? What kind of shock and sense of wrongness does one feel to see Saint Ramakrishna portrayed as a sort of paedophile? Or with respect to claiming that Ganesha's love of sweets expresses his appetite for oral sex or that his trunk is a limp penis. Refer to India and her traditions: A reply to Jeffrey Kripal – By Prof S N Balagangadhara. For historical bias on Hindu studies refer to chapter on First Indologists and Aryan Invasion Theory.  

Hindu idols are routinely disparaged in all walks of life. At Disney World there is statue of Lord Ganesh in one of the jungle rides! There are no other religious icons of any faith in the park. Recently, News India-Times published a front page story on $10 Express, a Jackson Heights N.Y. shoe store that was selling $5 sandals with images of Shiva, Ganesh, and Gayatri. This week, Sittin' Pretty, a Seattle-based manufacturer of designer toilet seats, is marketing toilet seats decorated with images of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Kali. (for more information go to Deccan Chronicle  and rediff.com) Bashing Hinduism on air in Chicago. (for more information go to Hindu-bashing Chicago Radio and TV talk show airs). Offensive image of Lord Ganesha appeared in Australian Financial Review 27 May 02. (refer to Hindu Council of Australia for the image and Yahoo.com for the article). "Media opinions in America, are at best condescending, and patronizing, and at worst disparaging and hostile. Hinduism is routinely branded as polytheistic, caste, women's issues, as exotic, strange, world negating, and cultish." (source: Stereotyping Hinduism in American Education - By Rajiv Malhotra).The bikinis, with an image of what looks like Lord Ram as the main motif, have been designed by Italian designer Roberto Cavalli and this sort of offensive material really crosses the line. Till now, toilet seat covers, boxes of tissues, shoes, sandals and finger puppets have all been tracked down as bearing "offensive" images, variously of Lord Krishna, Ram, Saraswati and so on. Now, Cavalli may have pushed Hindu sentiment over the edge. Also refer to Brahmin.com - Selling purses in USA.

Western companies no longer had the right to offer a lame apology and the excuse that they don't know anything about Indian culture and Hinduism.  "The world is quite small these days. Hindus are naturally tolerant, but there has to be a limit if the line is crossed." 

(source: UK Hindus embark on 'Holy Bikinis' war - timesofindia.com). For more refer to chapter on Glimpses X).

Recently, American Eagle Outfitters, a North American clothing retail chain is marketing flip-flops (slippers) with an illustrated depiction of the revered Hindu Lord Ganesha (Ganesh)." Why Hindu gods alone are singled out for such honor. I do not believe the incidents are innocent, harmless or accidental. India has been associated with the spiritual quest since the dawn of civilization; the dullest soul in the world knows the esteem in which gods are held in this land. For a god as universally renowned as Ganesh to land up beneath human feet is to my mind a very intentional insult. I believe these cultural shock and awe tactics are related to the consistent White Christian goal of eradicating all native faiths and traditions in the world. What better way than by eroding the sanctity of other gods?"  

(source: Hindu gods & gospel untruths - By Sandhya Jain - dailypioneer May 5 ' 2003).

Refer to Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America - By Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee.

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Why such disrespectful treatment to such an ancient and noble religion?

Hindu scriptures such as Mahabharata, are often called myths. In reality, the great Hindu epics are formidable in their recording of events over a vast expanse of time. In the early eighties an important archaeological site was found in India, at Dwaraka, the site of the legendary city of Lord Krishna. Dwaraka was submerged by the sea right after the death of Lord Krishna. 

This was regarded as a grandiose metaphor, part of a story filled with great myths. Now, it is discovered that the whole coast of western India sank by nearly 40 feet around 1500 B .C. E. Refer to chapter on Dwaraka.

Lord Krsna expounds the unique philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.

The Bhagavad Gita has influenced great Americans from Thoreau to Oppenheimer. Its message of letting go of the fruits of one’s actions is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written more than two millennia ago. For more refer to chapter on Hindu Scriptures.

The Bhagavad Gita, a world beloved, timeless classic was treasured by American writers from Emerson to T S Eliot.

(image source: The First Book of Yoga - By Stefanie Syman - Yoga Journal/Oct 2006).

Watch Introduction to Hinduism video - By Hinduism Today . Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge

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In contemporary world religions, the scriptural stories are not referred to as myths. For example, in Christianity the biblical story of the virgin birth of Jesus is considered true even today. 

Stephen Cross, in his book on Hinduism, pg 1, says, "It is no secret that we in the West live in a time of spiritual crisis. Western civilization has been guided by Christianity. Now it appears that this period is drawing to a close. Both religious institutions and social structures are in disarray. A great many things that were considered basic assumptions of western thought are being challenged. The reality of the external world, the soul, the linear nature of time.

Swami B. V. Tripurari American born, in his book, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Ignorance points out that, "Those now disenchanted with industrialization and scientific materialism as well as pseudo-spirituality, India's ancient spiritual heritage provides a rich alternative. Eastern philosophy, and the devotional heart of India's Vedanta in particular, can fill the empty shopping bag of our Western accomplishments." Whoever reads the Bhagvad Gita for the first time will be struck by the beauty and depth of this work.

Author Beatrice Pitney Lamb has noted: "Recently, increasing numbers of Westerners in revolt against what they have found to be the shallow, gadget-dominated, spiritually empty civilization of the West have turned to "Hinduism" in search of greater meaning or purpose in life. There is no doubt that the great Hindu tradition offers profound spiritual insights, as well as techniques for attaining self-realization, detachment, and even ecstasy. 

(source: India: A World in Transition - By Beatrice Pitney Lamb p. 358).

W. J. Grant wrote:  "India indeed has a preciousness which a materialistic age is in danger of missing. Some day the fragrance of her thought will win the hearts of men. This grim chase after our own tails which marks the present age cannot continue for ever. The future contains a new human urge towards the real beauty and holiness of life. When it comes India will be searched by loving eyes and defended by knightly hands."  

"The religion of the Hindus is rich in legend and stupendous allegory. It is a religion of great dignity and beauty. Its wrestlings with reality are as courageous as any in the whole history of mankind..' 

"No Greek was more splendid in his scientific fidelity than the quiet company of Indian thinkers who made the Upanishads and traced the whole beauteous outline of the Eastern spirit. "

Watch Ganapati Om Kirtan - By Dave Stringer.

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"The religion of the Hindus is rich in legend and stupendous allegory. It is a religion of great dignity and beauty. Its wrestlings with reality are as courageous as any in the whole history of mankind..' Indian thought has generally been contemplative, it has seldom been enamored of the material side of life.'

In the realm of religious philosophy she has given to us the most searching  examination of the ethical law the world is ever likely to have. No Greek was more splendid in his scientific fidelity than the quiet company of Indian thinkers who made the Upanishads and traced the whole beauteous outline of the Eastern spirit. "

There are cities in India whose grace and charm are matched only by the sweetness of an immemorial religion. Nowhere else in the world have I been so exquisitely invaded by the mystic quality of life."

(source: The Spirit of India -  By W. J. Grant London published by B. T. Batsford Ltd. 1933 p. vi - 58).

Sir John Woodroffe (1865-1936) the well known scholar,  and Advocate-General of Bengal and sometime Legal Member of the Government of India, has said:  

"Indian thought, with its usual profundity and avoidance of arbitrary divisions, regards Philosophy as religious and Religion as philosophical. The "liberty-loving nations of the West" have been in the past greatly, and still are to some extent, behind India in the matter of intellectual and religious freedom. As has been finely said in India, Satyannasti paro dharmah (there is no religion higher than truth) and as the Vedas have proclaimed, "Truth will conquer." (Satyam jayate). 

(source: Is India Civilized - Essays on Indian Culture - By Sir John Woodroffe Ganesh & Co. Publishers 1922 p.44).

According to President S. Radhakrishnan, "In the history of the world, Hinduism is the only religion, that exhibits a complete independence and freedom of the human mind, its full confidence in its own powers. Hinduism is freedom, especially the freedom in thinking about God.

"In the search for the supernatural, it is like traveling in space without a boundary or barrier."

(source: Bhagavad Gita - By S. Radhakrishnan pg - 55).

Dr. Matheson wrote: "It is not too much to say that the mind of the West with all its undoubted impulses towards the progress of humanity has never exhibited such an intense amount of intellectual force as is to be found in the religious speculations of India.....These have been the cradle of all Western speculations, and wherever the European mind has risen into heights of philosophy, it has done so because the Brahmin was the pioneer. There is no intellectual problem in the West which had not its earlier discussion in the East, and there is no modern solution of that problem which will not be found anticipated in the East." 

(source: Is India Civilized - Essays on Indian Culture - By Sir John Woodroffe p.138-139).

Hinduism may not be called a religion in the sense other religions are known. It is much more than a religion, it is a total way of life. Hinduism has no founder. Its authority is Eternal Truth. The cumulative record of metaphysical experimentation. Behind the lush tangle of religious imagery, is a clear structure of thought. Compared to the rugged originality of the Indian traditions, the language of today's philosophers concerned with being often sound a little contrived. Hindus have always been metaphysicians at heart. It is the underlying ideas, and not the images which count. The forms are many, the reality is one. As stated at the outset in the Rig Veda:

"Truth is one, the wise call it by various names."

Hinduism is a monotheistic religion that springs from the Trinity (Trimurti).  Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. Three aspects of one God. Creation, preservation, destruction. Many in the west have tried to denounce it as the worship of idols. Swami Vivekananda, said: "If a person wants to drink milk, he uses a cup as he cannot drink it directly. Idols are nothing but symbols through which divinity can be comprehended. It helps undeveloped minds to grasp high spiritual truths.

Lord Krishna said:



"In whatever way men love Me, in the same way they find My love; various are the ways of men, but in the end they all come to Me."

 The statue of Nataraja (dance pose of Lord Shiva) is a well known example for the artistic, scientific and philosophical significance of Hinduism. The dancing Shiva is the most sublime artistic attempt to capture the mystery of the universe in form. The late scientist, Carl Sagan, in his book,  Cosmos  asserts that the Dance of Nataraja (Tandava) signifies the cycle of evolution and destruction of the cosmic universe (Big Bang Theory).

"It is the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of." Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but also the very essence of inorganic matter.

He further says: " The most elegant and sublime of these is a representation of the creation of the universe at the beginning of each cosmic cycle, a motif known as the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva. The god, called in this manifestation Nataraja, the Dance King. In the upper right hand is a drum whose sound is the sound of creation. In the upper left hand is a tongue of flame, a reminder that the universe, now newly created, with billions of years from now will be utterly destroyed." 

(source: Cosmos - By Carl Sagan p. 213 -214). Refer to chapters on Advanced Concepts, Hindu Cosmology and Hindu Culture.

For modern physicists, then, Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter. Hundreds of years ago, Indian artist created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. Today, physicist have used the most advanced technology to portray the pattern of the cosmic dance. Thus, the metaphor of the cosmic dance unifies, ancient religious art and modern physics. The Hindus, according to Sir Monier-Williams, were Spinozists more than 2,000 years before the advent of Spinoza, and Darwinians many centuries before Darwin and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of Evolution was accepted by scientists of the present age.

The French historian Louis Jacolliot as quoted by Galav in the Philosophy of Hinduism  page 17 says,  "Here to mock are conceit, our apprehensions, and our despair, we may read what Manu said, perhaps 10,000 years before the birth of Christ about Evolution:
 
' The first germ of life was developed by water and heat.' (Book I, sloka 8,9 )
' Water ascends towards the sky in vapors; from the sun it descends in rain, from the rains are born the plants, and from the plants, animals.'  (Book III, sloka 76).

According to Guy Sorman (1944 - ) visiting scholar at Hoover Institution at Stanford and the leader of new liberalism in France: 

"emporal notions in Europe were overturned by an India rooted in eternity. The Bible had been the yardstick for measuring time, but the infinitely vast time cycles of India suggested that the world was much older than anything the Bible spoke of. It seem as if the Indian mind was better prepared for the chronological mutations of Darwinian evolution and astrophysics." 

(source: The Genius of India - By Guy Sorman  ('Le Genie de l'Inde') Macmillan India Ltd. 2001. ISBN 0333 93600 0 p. 195). Refer to chapters on Advanced Concepts, Hindu Cosmology and Hindu Culture.

The theory of animal life and particularly of man was correctly understood by the ancient thinkers. The Brihat Vishnu Purana states that "the aquatic life precedes the monkey life" and that "the monkey life is the precursor of the human life." The same theory was explained in an interesting way by the dashavatara (ten incarnations). But evolution, as everything else, was the manifestation of the supreme spirit (Atman) as is testified by Chandogya Upanishad.

(source: Ancient Indian History and Culture - By Chidambara Kulkarni Orient Longman Ltd. 1974. p.268).

According to the Bhagavad-Gita, Creation has been under way from all eternity as the spontaneous outpouring of the Lord's creative energy, as the workings of his prakriti ( primordial Nature). Yet all this spontaneity and freedom, so natural to God, has yet to be discovered and realized by the numberless creatures involved in this process. (It is as if Creation were playing hide-and -seek with itself). were

Hinduism is a positive religion in which there are no infidels or heretics. It does not look with contempt even upon an atheist. It doesn't approve of proselytism as means of increasing the number of its adherents. It contains no childish dogma of sin, superstition, fear, false hope and damnation like other religions. The serpent which, in Christianity, brought about the Fall of Man and became his lasting enemy, is in Hinduism found entwined around the neck of Shiva, and as the couch upon which Vishnu reclines.

In India, science and religion are not opposed fundamentally, as they often seem to be in the West, but are seen as parts of the same great search for truth and enlightenment that inspired the sages of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. 

Hindu India has also had no history of book-burning, of executing heretics or confining dissidents to lunatic asylums. The Buddha could preach his heterodox doctrine till his old age without ever being persecuted. Even the Greeks who were good in logic and science like the Hindus, put Socrates to death forcing him to drink Hemlock, the poison. You never hear of such things in ancient India. 

Hinduism has always had a pluralistic attitude: it has never stifled debate and free enquiry. Religious persecution too has not disfigured the annals of Hinduism as has unfortunately been the rule with religions in other countries.  

Compare this to Christianity's record - When it was imposed on Europe , religious bigotry stifled free intellectual inquiry and fostered narrowness and obscurantism. It acquired a sense of superiority and a desire for world dominion.

(source: Eastern Religions & Western Thought - By. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan  p.10 - 11).

Hypatia (370 - 415 C.E) was the daughter of the pagan Theon. A mathematician, astronomer, inventor, and teacher, Hypatia is best known to history for the manner of her death, which has caused her to be regarded as a symbol of courage in the face of an oppressive Christian Church. The increasingly Christianized Roman Empire believed that science and mathematics were heretical and evil. The Church leaders also felt threatened by Neoplatonism, which involved a focus on rationalism that contradicted the notion of faith.

Watch the movie Agora.  Refer to Church of England apologises to Charles Darwin over theory of evolution

Tragedy happened in March 415 AD. She was driving her chariot home when she was attacked by a mob that dragged her out and brutally scraped her flesh from her bones with sharp shells. They then cut up her body and burnt it. It is generally (there are exceptions) agreed amongst historians that the mob was of Christian fanatics.

(source: Hypatia: The Egyptian Scientist and Hypatia and the Coming of Dark Ages and Hypatia). Refer to Things They Don't Tell you about Christianity.

In the early fourth century the philosopher Sopatros was executed on demand of Christian authorities.  Refer to Jesus Bluff - By Hans Atrott p. dedication page.

Historically, Christianity is an imposition on the indigenous pagan spiritual religions of Europe and later, South America. Likewise Islam is an imposition on the spiritual religions of Arabia, Egypt and West Asia.

Scientific inquiry had virtually no support in Western society from the 7th to 15th centuries. Bigoted Ecclesiasticism dammed the flow of free thought, blocking the seepage of knowledge within Western societies. Book was branded as magic and treasonous, and the writer or reader was punishable by torture or death. Bruno was burned at the stake for the crime of claiming that the earth rotates about its axis. The “Dark Ages” of the Middle Ages in Europe is full of religious atrocity, many scientists were burnt with their ideas and books.

Joan of Arc or Jeanne d'Arc (1412 - 1431) a village girl from the Vosges, was burnt for heresy, witchcraft, and sorcery in Rouen1431. The English needed to prove that she had used trickery, sorcery and witchcraft to do it. Joan was eventually captured by the British who turned her over to an ecclesiastical court to try her as a heretic and a witch.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru writes in his Glimpses of World History as under: “Many hundreds of thousands of women are said to have been burnt in Europe as witches, mostly by puritans.”

Jan Huss (1369 - 1415) a Czech thinker, philosopher and a critic of papal infallibility and indulgences was burnt at stake in 1425. (Refer to Victims of Christian Faith and Christianity's Criminal History - By Karlheinz Deschner.

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) philosopher, was excommunicated and suffered a cruel death for his dangerous ideas. He was kept in a dark dungeon for eight years by the Church and roasted to death by fire.  Later, philosophy and science both disputed Rene Descartes' notions, and even the Church viewed him as a threat to its authority. In fact, in 1663, the Church condemned his books, but by then it was too late. 

Descartes reasoning helped bring in the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe and North America. 

   Giordano Bruno    Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) scientist, was condemned of heresy by the Church for his belief that the Earth rotates round the sun. 

He was imprisoned by the Inquisition in 1633 for asserting the truth of Copernicus's theory that the Earth circles the sun.

Like in other ancient civilizations, in Hindu India priests and scientists were often the same persons; the conflict between religion and reason is not the primitive condition but a contingent historical development in post-classical Europe, paralleled to an extent by the stagnation of Muslim culture from the 12th century onwards. 

Hinduism has admittedly been the least politically minded among religions; otherwise the history of India would have been altogether different. Religious persecution too has not disfigured the annals of Hinduism as has unfortunately been the rule with religions in other countries.

(source: Hindu Culture - By K. Guru Dutt (with a foreword by Sir C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar p. 233).  Another notorious illustration of this was in July of 1562, when Bishop Diego de Landa burnet five thousand idols and many thousands of their written works.

Note: Despite a full century of scientific insights attesting to the antiquity of life and the greater antiquity of the Earth, more than half the American population believes that the entire cosmos was created 6,000 years ago.

(source: The case against faith - By Sam Harris - newsweek.com).

(Refer to Visions of the End of the World - By Dr. Subhash Kak - sulekha.com and Onward Christian Soldiers: The Holy War on Science - By Robert Todd Carroll and The Republican War on Science - By Chris Mooney). Also refer to The Curse of Cain : The Violent Legacy of Monotheism - By Regina M Schwartz and Is Religion Killing Us?: Violence in the Bible and the Quran – By Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer

(Also refer to Truth can kill the West: The Dead Sea Scrolls- By M.S.N. Menon and A conflict between science and God - By Martin Kettle - Crusade against science in Modern America - Three-quarters of Americans, in other words, still do not accept what Darwin established 150 years ago. Just under half of all Americans believe the natural world was created in its present form by God in six days as described in Genesis. They believe, incredibly, that the earth is only a few thousand years old).

Michael Servetus, as Villeneuve, got into trouble with the faculty of medicine, the Parlement of Paris, and The Inquisition for mixing astrology with medicine. 

On 4 April 1553 he was convicted of heresy by the Roman Catholic authorities, and imprisoned in Vienne. At his trial, Michael Servetus was condemned on two counts, for spreading and preaching anti -Trinitarian and anti-paedobaptism (infant baptism). And "thanks to the 17 letters sent by John Calvin (1509 - 1564) preacher in Geneva he was burnt with his books.

On 27 October 1553 he was burned at the stake just outside Geneva. Calvin had supported Servetus execution.

William Tyndale (1494 – 1536) was a 16th century scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life.  In 1535, Tyndale was arrested by church authorities and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year. He was tried for heresy, strangled and burnt at the stake in 1536.

Dr. S Radhakrishnan has observed that: " Religion, science, and humanism were sisters in ancient India."

(source: Eastern Religions & Western Thought - By. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan p. 294).

Koenraad Elst (1959 -) Dutch historian. He graduated in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-Iranian Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. He has written:

“In the West, the struggle for secularism called for sacrifice and suffering – remember the imprisonments, the stakes, the Index - Index Librorum Prohibitorum "List of Prohibited Books" is a list of publications which the Catholic Church censored for being a danger to itself and the faith of its members. Thousands of titles were placed on the Church's guide to bad books, among them books by writers as diverse as Martin Luther, Jean- Paul Sartre and Immanuel Kant); 

remember the condemnation of Galileo; remember how Bruno, Lucillo Vanini (1585 - 1619 - A freethinker, he was persecuted for his ideas and driven from one European country to another. His works, published in 1615 caused suspicion, and he was finally condemned and burned at the stake at Toulouse, France, for atheism and witchcraft). Francis Kett (1547-1589) Bartholomew Legate (1575 -1612), Edward Wightman (1566 - 1612), and others were burnt at the stake. 

In India, secularism has been used against Hinduism, which has nourished a great spirit and culture of tolerance, free inquiry and intellectual and spiritual integrity. Such a culture deserves to be honored and owned and cherished by its inheritors, but unfortunately under a great misconception it is held in odium and it is being denied and disowned by a self-forgetful nation. Secularism has become a name for showing one’s distance from this great religion and culture. Macaulyites and Marxists also use it for Hindu-baiting.” 

(source: Ayodhya and After - By Koenraad Elst Voice of India SKU: INBK2650 p. 390). Refer to Things They Don't Tell you about Christianity.

Refer to chapter on European Imperialism and First Indologists. Refer to chapters on Advanced Concepts, Hindu Cosmology and Hindu Culture.

Jean-François, knight de la Barre (1745 - 1766) was a French nobleman, famous for having been tortured and burnt at stake for not having removed his hat before a Catholic procession. In France, he became a symbol of Christian religious intolerance. La Bare was tortured into confessing his alleged crimes. Voltaire attempted to have his conviction reversed, to no avail.

(source: wikipedia.org).

Sardar K. M. Panikkar wrote: "Another major aspect of Indian culture is its open attitude to science. India's religious ideas deal only with the relations of god and man, and, consequently, there are no dogmatic views regarding material aspects of the universe. You are no doubt aware of the tremendous shock to the European world of belief when the discovery of Copernicus, that it is the earth which rotates round the sun, was announced. It took many decades before the discovery could be publicly stated. And yet Aryabhatta had made the same discovery more than a thousand years before the time of Copernicus, without causing any flutter in India. This shows the open attitude of Indian Culture to science was not shared generally even by Europe. 

(source: Essential Features of Indian Culture - By K. M. Panikkar - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Mumbai.1964. p.14-15). 

Refer to chapters on Advanced Concepts, Hindu Cosmology and Hindu Culture.

Hinduism comes before us as an old and authentic path, tested by many centuries of human experience. With its respect for the earth and her bounty. It is truly a joyous religion as those who have witnessed it during its many festivals. It is based on personal discovery. "Know thy self and be free." In such an open laboratory, Hindu spirituality has grown over the millennia, so diverse and rich, that it defies definition. If the Indian mind went beyond form to the formless, it also reveled in a riotous feast of forms - in a world of imagination. It has flourished in exuberance...

Klaus L. Klostermaier (1913 - ) professor of Religious Studies at the University of Manitoba, Canada says in his book, A Survey of Hinduism  

"Hinduism has proven much more open than any other religion to new ideas, scientific thought, and social experimentation. Many concepts like reincarnation, meditation, yoga and others have found worldwide acceptance. It would not be surprising to find Hinduism the dominant religion of the twenty-first century. It would be a religion that doctrinally is less clear-cut than mainstream Christianity, politically less determined than Islam, ethically less heroic than Buddhism, but it would offer something to everybody. It will appear idealistic to those who look for idealism, pragmatic to the pragmatists, spiritual to the seekers, sensual to the here-and-now generation. Hinduism, by virtue of its lack of an ideology and its reliance on intuition, will appear to be more plausible than those religions whose doctrinal positions petrified a thousand years ago." But man must go beyond the gratification of the senses. He must progress in thought. This cannot come, says Sri Aurobindo, "if we chain the spirit to some fixed mental idea or system of religious cult, intellectual truth, aesthetic norm, ethical value, practical action... "

According to M. S. N. Menon,  "For the Hindus, we are like pilgrims on a long march. Some are in the lead. They have lighted torches in their hands. They are nearer to Bliss. Some are in the rear. They are somewhat in the dark. They are still in the thrill of the senses. And this is how it is going to be for ages. Before us is a great goal - the progressive divination of men. Those who are at the rear will seek to gratify their senses and those who are in the lead will raise their consciousness.

According to Hans Torwesten, in his book Vedanta - Heart of Hinduism:

"A fair number of leading physicists and biologists have found parallels between modern science and Hindu ideas. In America, many writers such as J. D. Salinger (An Adventure in Vedanta: J.D. Salinger's the Glass Family),  Henry Miller,  Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, and Christopher Isherwood, were in contact with the Vedanta.  Most of them came from elevated intellectual circles which rejected the dogmatism of the Christian Churches yet longed for spirituality and satisfactory answers to the fundamental questions of existence. In Vedanta, they found a wide-open, universal, and philosophically oriented religion where even the penetrating scientific mind could find something to its taste". 

European philosophers rhapsodized about the profundity and beauty of these writings. Here they encountered a fusion of philosophy and religion, a deep wisdom and a concern with the ultimate, that had no parallel in either contemporary Western philosophy or Western religion. 

George Feuerstein in his book Introduction to the Bhagavad Gita: Its Philosophy and Cultural Setting says:

"The ant-heap behavior of modern human society, with its soul-destroying mechanical routine and organized aggression and violence, is only one of the negative aspects of the present crisis. Thorough discontentment with the inherited Western - Christian - tradition, especially with the 'God out there' dogma, has kindled a large-scale authentic search for truth in the 'heathen world', above all the spiritual heritage of India. As was to be expected after the disappointment with Christian Theism, it is more the monistic school, like Advaita-Vedanta and Zen, which captivate the interest of the disillusioned Westerner."

God is not dead in India and not a mere memory of the past. Numerous "living gods" and "Incarnations" are everywhere in India today. It is not poverty that you find here - its the absolute core of a living faith so alien to Westernized minds that it can be seen terrifying. Many people in the West have come to realize more and more that organized and denominationalized Christianity (called Churchanity by Hindus) does not even represent the essence of Christianity, let alone that of religion, a new broader, and looser understanding of religion is emerging that approaches the Hindu notion of dharma.

Hinduism has always been an environmentally sensitive philosophy. No religion, perhaps, lays as much emphasis on environmental ethics as Hinduism. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Puranas and Smriti contain the earliest messages for preservation of environment and ecological balance. Nature, or Earth, has never been considered a hostile element to be conquered or dominated. In fact, man is forbidden from exploiting nature. He is taught to live in harmony with nature and recognize that divinity prevails in all elements, including plants and animals. The rishis (sages) of the past have always had a great respect for nature. Theirs was not a superstitious primitive theology. They perceived that all material manifestations are a shadow of the spiritual. Ecology is an inherent part of a spiritual world view in Hinduism. 

According to American born Swami B. V. Tripurari in his book, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Ignorance, " Our present environmental crisis is in essence a spiritual crisis. We need only to look back to medieval Europe and the psychic revolution that vaulted Christianity to victory over paganism to find the spirit of the environmental crisis. Inhibitions to the exploitation of nature vanished as the Church took the "spirits" out of the trees, mountains, and seas. Christianity's ghost-busting theology made it possible for man to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects. It made nature man's monopoly. This materialist paradigm has dominated the modern world for last few centuries.  

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was among India's most fervent nationalists, fighting for Indian independence from British rule. He observed:

"I bow my head in reverence to our ancestors for their sense of the beautiful in nature and for their foresight in investing beautiful manifestations of Nature with a religious significance."

(source: Glimpses of Indian Culture - By Dr. Giriraj Shah p. 106). 

That distinguished thinker Professor Goldsworthy Lowes-Dickinson (1862 - 1932)  the son of portrait painter Cato Lowes Dickinson. He was brought up in a Christian Socialist environment and though he later rejected Christianity he saw his work in the context of its social utility. He was a pacifist during World War I, and he was later instrumental in the conception of the League of Nations. 

He is the author of An Essay on the Civilizations of India, China & Japan, in an essay which seeks with justice to define the character of Indian civilization, profoundly remarks, that it is so unique that the contrast is not so much between East and West as between India and the rest of the world.

Thus India stands for something which distinguishes it from all other peoples, and so she calls Herself a Karma-bhumi as opposed to the Bhoga-bhumi of all other peoples. For this She has been wonderfully preserved until today. Even now we can see the life of thousands of years ago. Standing on the Ghats at Benares or by any village well we are transported into the beautiful antique world. 

(source: Is India Civilized -  Essays on Indian Culture - By Sir John Woodroffe  p.136-137).

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an avid scholar of spiritual development, in his book Myths to Live By states: 

"We in the West have named our God, or rather, we have had the Godhead named for us in a book from a time and place that are not our own. And we have been taught to have faith not only in the absolute existence of this metaphysical fiction, but also in its relevance to the shaping of our lives." In the Great East, on the other hand, the accent is on experience: on one's own experience, not a faith in someone else's." 

"In the Christian West, there was that Fall, back there, in the Garden, and we have all been congenital sinners ever since." 

"Whereas in the East there is the idea of the inherent innocence of Nature, even in what appears to our human eyes and sentiments to be its cruelties, the World, as they say in India, is God's Play (Maya).  It is a wondrous, thoughtless play: a rough play, the roughest, cruelest, most dangerous, most difficult with no holds barred." 

(source: Myths to Live By - Joseph Campbell   p. 96). 

Speaking of Christianity's claims to an exclusive and universal salvation, Sri Aurobindo in his book, India's Rebirth (ISBN 2-902776-32-2) page 141, says: 

"The mentality of the West has long cherished the aggressive and quite illogical idea of a single religion for all mankind, a religion universal by the very force of its narrowness, one set of dogmas, one cult, one system of ceremonies, one array of prohibitions and injunctions, one ecclesiastical ordinance. That narrow absurdity prances about as the one true religion which all must accept on peril of persecution by men here and spiritual rejection or fierce eternal punishment by God in other worlds. This grotesque creation of human unreason, the parent of so much intolerance, cruelty, obscurantism and aggressive fanaticism, have never been able to take firm hold of the free and supple mind of India".

(source: India's Rebirth - By Sri Aurobindo  p. 141).

Abraham Kaplan (1918-1993) was an American philosopher, in his book, The New World of Philosophy  p. 207says: 

“It is paradoxical that we, (the West) who put so much emphasis on individualism in economics and politics, have so little room for it in morality and religion, as compared with Indian thought.”

(source: Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India-China-Tibet-Japan - Hajime Nakamura  p. 171 - 172).

To quote Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) 

"The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from the time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of the one jealous God are egged on to aggressive wars against people of alien cults. They invoke divine sanction for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by Christianity and Islam, and it might not be unreasonable to suggest that it would have been better for Western civilization if Greece had molded it on this question rather than Palestine. Wars of religion which are the outcome of fanaticism that prompts and justifies the extermination of aliens of different creeds were practically unknown in Hindu India."  

The Vedas say that " the wise call the One by many names", and exhort us to "let good thoughts come to us from everywhere"; in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna assures the adherents of all religions that "those who pray with devotion to another god, it is to Me that they pray." 

Secularism is inherent in Hindu ethos since Hindu philosophy believed that all faiths lead to God just all rivers lead to the Sea.

Many foreign groups of people persecuted for their religion came to seek refuge in India. The Parsis have thrived. The heterodox Syrian Christians have lived in peace until the Portuguese came to enlist them in their effort to Christianize India. The Jews have expressed their gratitude when they left for Israel because India was the only country where their memories were not of persecution but of friendly co-existence. All these groups were not merely tolerated, but received land and material support for building places of worship. Yuan Chwang, the Chinese traveler, reports that at the great festival of Prayaga, King Harsha dedicated on the first day a statue to the Buddha, another to the sun, the favorite deity of his father, on the second, and to Shiva on the third. The famous Kottayam plates of Sthanuravi (ninth century AD) and the Cochin plates of Vijayaragadeva bear eloquent testimony to the fact that the Hindu kings not only tolerated Christianity but granted special concessions to the professors of that faith. Today, The Tibetan Buddhist and their spiritual head, the Dalai Lama have taken refuge in India, from the persecution of Communist China.

As Dutch Indologist Sjoerd de Vries writes: "In Indian society, am amazing tolerance vis-a-vis people of unusual opinions has existed for ages.. Only very few instances are known where conflicts erupted for the sake of religion. Not until the advent of Islam did India get acquainted with religious persecution."

(source: Hindoeisme voor beginners - By Sjoerd de Vries p. 79).

Infinite tolerance is the hallmark of Hinduism. The first statement of tolerance in Hinduism comes from the Rig Veda and the Bhagavad Gita: 

"Let good thoughts come to us from all sides" or "The truth is one but the wise call it by many names" or Lord Krishna saying that "Whoever invokes a deity by whatever name, it is Me he invokes" 

(source: Ayodhya and After - By Koenraad Elst  Voice of India SKU: INBK2650 p.238).  

It firmly believes in "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the world is one family - an ancient Vedic term). It does not subscribe to just one belief, one philosophy, one dogma but is ready to absorb any thought. That is why it is different from other religions. Secularism in Europe was the denial of religion in matters of State. In Indian context, secularism stands for tolerance of all religions. India is a secular democracy because of its Hindu ethos. No country in the world has harmonized cultures derived from the great religions the way India has. All cultures have thrived and been transformed in the civilizational crucible of Hindustan.  Al-Biruni (12th c AD), a great scholar of Islam, marveled at the religious tolerance and lack of theological disputations in India.  

Says Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, former Superior General of the Jesuit Order: “How people with many languages, religions and cultures live together in India is a lesson to learn. India has an important role to play in shaping the destiny of mankind.” Coming as it did from the Jesuit Order, it was high praise. But the children of Macaulay are not impressed. They have not thought of it as a fit subject for study. They prefer to imitate the West. India considered mankind as one large family — “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam”. There is no scope here for heathens or pagans, for infidels or Darul Harbs. 

India’s is a universal spirit. Never parochial."

(source: Can India be a world model? - By M. S. N. Menon - Tribuneindia.com). Watch An Invasion through Conversion - videoyahoo.com

Sir John Woodroffe aka Arthur Avalon (1865-1936) the well known scholar, Advocate-General of Bengal and sometime Legal Member of the Government of India. He served with competence for eighteen years and in 1915 officiated as Chief Justice. He has said:

“In India there has been intellectual and spiritual freedom – the most valuable of all. This is evidenced by the great variety of religious and philosophical opinion in this country, Rationalism Theism, Atheism and so forth, and the existence of a large number of varying religious communities. The history of Europe on the contrary is marked by intolerance and abominable persecution. The “liberty loving nations of the West” have been in the past greatly, and still are to some extent, behind India in the matter of intellectual and religious freedom.”

(source: Is India Civilized: Essays on Indian Culture - By Sir John Woodroffe p. 21 - 22).

India's is an ancient civilization of more than 5,000 years, with innumerable sects, everyone of them accepting as an axiomatic truth that there are many ways to God and all of them equally valid. 

Infinite tolerance is the hallmark of Hinduism. The first statement of tolerance in Hinduism comes from the Rig Veda - "Let good thoughts come to us from all sides" 

Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad (1891-1953) English philosopher and author, has said: "Such toleration is a very rare thing in the history of mankind, as rare as it is invaluable."

Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge

***

Infinite Tolerance - the hallmark of Hinduism
Third Nature 

Referring to these charters to the Christians and Jews, Dr Adrian Fortescue has observed:

"both are interesting proofs of the characteristic tolerance of Hindu kings.” 

Yuang Chwang Chinese pilgrim, relates that King Harsha installed statues of Buddha, Sun-god, and Shiva. This non-dogmatic attitude has persisted in Hindu religious history.    

The Hindu attitude to Islam was again the same one of toleration:

Tolerance is the homage which the finite mind pays to the inexhaustibility of the Infinite.

(image source: India Ceylon Bhutan Nepal and the Maldives - By The Illustrated Library of The World and Its Peoples - volume 2. p. 425).

***

Abdul Razak, Ambassador from the court of Persia (1443) wrote: 

"The people (of Calicut) are infidels consequently I consider myself in an enemy's country, as the Mohammadans consider everyone who has not received the Qu'ran. Yet I admit that I meet with perfect toleration, and even favor; we have two mosques and are allowed to pray in public."

The followers of Zorastrianism, when they were expelled from their country owing to Mohammedan persecution, took shelter in India and today they are found nowhere else. They are said to have landed in Sanjan about the year A.D716, and the first fire temple was built there through the assistance of the Hindu ruler. While the Parsees came as fugitives, the Muslims and Christians came as conquerors.  

No country and no religion have adopted this attitude of understanding and appreciation of other faiths so persistently and consistently as India and Hinduism and its offshoot of Buddhism. 

Tolerance is the homage which the finite mind pays to the inexhaustibility of the Infinite.  

A Broad Outlook - There are many possible road to The Divine Reality

'Many names have been given to the Absolute by the learned for practical purposes such as Law, Self, Truth."

"It is called Person by the Samkhya thinkers, Brahman by Vedantins,pure and simple consciousness by the Vijnanavadins, Sunya by the Nihilists, the Illuminatior by the worshippers of the Sun. It is also called the Speaker, the Thinker, the Enjoyer of actions and the Doer of them."

According to the Bhagavad Gita, even those who worship other gods (anyadevatah), ancestral deities, elemental powers, if they do so with faith, then their faith is justified, for the Divine accepts every form conceived by the worshipper."

(source: Eastern Religions & Western Thought - By. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan  p 310 - 319). Refer to Christianity's Criminal History - By Karlheinz Deschner

For more on Intolerance of the Semitic faith - Refer to Jews for Allah and Jews for Jesus.

John P Jones has observed in his book:

"It is a curious fact that the hideous and bloody monster of religious intolerance was hardly known in India until, first the followers of Mohammed and secondly, the disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus, began to invade the land."

(source: India - Its Life and Thought - By John P Jones p. 166). Refer to The War of Religions and The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Watch An Invasion through Conversion - videoyahoo.com  

Refer to Intolerance and Christian Fundamentalism in America? Prayer War on the Hill: Hindu Invocation In Senate Reveals Religious Right Rancor. - Watch video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ9To30Hz7A

Indeed, in a recent report, UNESCO pointed out that out of 128 countries where Jews lived before Israel was created, only one, India, did not persecute them and allowed them to prosper and practice Judaism in peace. 

Hinduism is probably the only religion in the world which has never tried to convert others, or conquer other countries to propagate itself as a new religion. The same is not true of Islam and Christianity. "

(source: Redefining India  - By Francois Gautier - dailypioneer.com December 11 '02)

"If Hindus were intolerant, there wouldn't be 200 million Muslims in India today. You can hardly say 200 million Muslims are a minority in India? or that Indian government pays each Muslim 20,000 rupees to go to Mecca when Hindus do not get a single paisa to go to Kashi?

(source: Lets be Hindus First - Letter to the Editor India Abroad April 19, 02).

The Parsis arrived in India some time during the mid-Seventh Century. Arabs had overrun their native Persia and tried forcibly to convert them from their Zoroastrian faith. Many abandoned their country rather than abandon their faith. They found a home in Gujarat, India and remained a separate community.

Three groups of people left their homelands due to religious persecution in the land of their birth - the Jews, the Parsis and the Syrian-Christians.  It is only in a Hindu land that the Jews were never persecuted.  The holy places for the Zoroastrians are in India and not in the place where it was founded.  The Syrian Christians were given an honourable place in the society by the Hindus.  All of them not only maintained their religion, but also prospered socially and economically.  In all the cases, the refugees reciprocated the goodwill shown to them by the Hindus. 

Secularism is more than just a theory or concept in Hinduism. It has a long history of religious tolerance, acceptance of diversity of spiritual paths, reasoning and discussion and the right to think, express and dissent. That is why concepts like blasphemy, evangelism, proselytism and crusade or jihad are alien to Hindus.  

According to Hindu scriptures:

"Varied are the tastes, many are the paths to a goal. 
Some are righteous, some are crooked, 
Yet all aim to reach the goal, 
Just like all the rivers lead to the ocean. 
Similarly, man traverses to Thee."

(source: Hindus can be both very religious and secular - By Ajit Adhopia - thestar.com).

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Updated - October 28, 2008