Sanskrit in Nevada

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Without the study of Samskrit one cannot become a true Indian and a true learned man.” Nehru, surprisingly said, ““If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her finest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly that it is the Samskrit language and literature and all that it contains” and Dr. S Radhakrishnan was of the opinion that, “Samskrit has moulded the minds of our people to the extent to which they themselves are not conscious.” Now when you hear Washoe County, Nevada has proclaimed Jan 12 as Sanskrit Day, you wonder if it is a scene from a Harold and Kumar movie.

This happened due to the efforts of Rajan Zed, the Hindu priest of Nevada whose prayers in the Senate were disrupted by anti-abortion activists. According to the proclamation by the county, “As Hinduism expands in the West, it is important that to understand Hinduism, one should have a working knowledge of Sanskrit.” The press release also notes correctly that Buddhist and Jain scriptures were also written in Sanskrit.

Another revelation due to this program was the existence of the only Sanskrit Rock Band in America, “Shanti Shanti“, consiting of two sisters, Andrea and Sara Forman.

Technorati Tags: Sanskrit

A Secular Move

Revenues of various temples across the country are going up. Within five years the revenues of Somnath temple has grown from Rs 2 crore to Rs 10 crore and the number of visitors too have gone up five fold. The collection from the hundi in Tirupati is not less than Rs. 1 crore a day and during the 41 days Mandalam period, the revenue at Sabarimala was Rs.51.16 crore. With such money around, it is lucrative for the Govt. to meddle in temple affairs even though it goes against the separation of the Temple and State

The Flushing Remonstrance, a 1657 Colonial American petition to Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution’s provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights. The separation of Church and State, championed by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson made sure that the Congress would not pass any law respecting the establishment of a religion. Besides freeing the State from religion, their intention was to keep the State away from matters of the Church.

In India such separation should result in the State keeping away from temple affairs, the way it keeps away from the affairs of mosques and churches. Instead we have a Communist minister telling us what should be done in Guruvayoor temple and who should be let in.

In a welcome move, the newly elected BJP Govt. of Himachal Pradesh has decided to stop interfering in temples.

“State government shall not indulge in
functioning of temples. It shall add facilities to the temples so that
more pilgrims and tourists visit them…My government will lift state’s
control over temple management,” he said.[Himachal will follow ‘Gujarat model’ for SEZs: Dhumal ]

Yes, most of our ministries are redundant and we should do away with them.

The Exploitation of Religion

For a moment you would think that all those people were interviewing for the position of the Pope, but in fact they were interviewing for the position as the secular head of United States of America. All the candidates, mostly Republican, are desperate for the evangelical vote that the debates are now focusing on the candidates beliefs rather than his vision for the future.

When Rudy Giuliani was seen as the front runner, Mitt Romney started a campaign to show that he (Mitt) was a family values guy with just one marriage thus implying that Giuliani was an adulterer. As Romney started gaining some traction the fact that he was a Mormon came into a play and he was forced to give a speech in which he had to spell out loud that he believed that Jesus Christ was the son of God. Mike Huckabee put some zing into his campaign by running ads (later dropped ) which said that he was a Christian leader. All the candidates are running over each other to make a simple point – they are all believers in no one else but Jesus.

Mitt Romney in his religious speech mentioned that America has a tradition of religious tolerance and said that a person should not be elected due to this faith or rejected because of his faith. He acknowledged all the Abrahamic religions, supported the separation of Church and State, and in the same breath mentioned that secularism has no place in America. Then he came up with the most outrageous statement of the speech, “Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.”

If you think Mitt Romney is nuts, all you need is read this statement by Huckabee on why left pastoring and entered politics, “I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ.” In 1998 Huckabee signed a statement which stated that, “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ”. The Taliban wanted to take Afghanistan back to the times of Mohammed and the answer to that would be to take America to the time of Christ.? Even the scholastics would have found Huckabee crazy.

41% of Americans attend Church regularly while those numbers are 15% in France and 10% in United Kingdom. About 80% of Americans believe in God, while that percentage is near 30% in France and 38% in England, and both France and England have strong democracies. Religious tolerance is not tolerating various denominations of the Christian Church and everyone who accepts Jesus as the savior, but also in people who don’t believe in Jesus and who don’t believe in the concept of God. Then you won’t get the Southern Baptist vote if you say that. Also with the last two elections, we seem to be electing the president of a theological school than the President of United States and these candidates want to carry on with that ritual.

Jesus (and his twin) in India

‘The boy grew in wisdom and stature’. That’s what the Bible says about the life of Jesus between the the age 13 and 30. While the Church approved Gospels have been silent about this aspect, other people have come up with creative ideas which include various minority positions like he was in India or Glastonbury or he lived with the Essenes. There have been books like The Unknown Life of Jesus and many others.

Now a bunch of film makers are making a movie titled the Aquarian Gospel based on the book The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi H. Dowling. According to this book, Jesus wandered as a mystic across India, living in Buddhist monasteries and speaking out against the caste system. The movie, which will be made in the style of 300, will follow Yeshua all way from Middle East to India and will emphasize that Jesus was inspired by Indian spirituality, besides other religions.

While the Gospel says that Jesus came to earth to show the way back to God and all the usual stuff there are some more issues which will not go well with the Church. According to the The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, Jesus was conceived by a human father and not a divine one. Also, according to this gospel, the soul is not eternal but undergoes reincarnation, the Hindu way. Eventually all souls will become perfect and end the cycle of reincarnation. Both these contradict the fundamental teachings of the Church. You also have to see from where Levi H. Dowling got this material to know why the whole thing is called bizarre.

If this is a bizarre movie, the only way to take attention away from this would be release something more bizarre. How about if Jesus had a twin brother and he grows up to be a dacoit or software engineer.? That is what the German film maker Robert Sigl is planning to do, but the twin would not be a dacoit or software engineer for that would make the story completely unbelievable. The filming is expected to start as soon as they can translate, Mere pass maa hai into Aramaic.

“The film is about two archaeologists touring India to research about Jesus’ life in India. The story is about Jesus’s evil twin brother who used to practice some different sect,” fieber.film’s producer Mario Stefan narrated the story at film ‘bazaar’ of IFFI organised by National Films Division Corporation (NFDC). The firm, which has produced film like “The Army of Ghosts”, is ready to face the controversy that would erupt on their project. “My aim is not to create controversy but if you deal with religious theme then be prepared to face the controversy,” Stefan said. “The film is a piece of fiction and not based on true events,” he sought to re-clarify. The film will mostly have an Indian cast except two who would be playing the role of archaeologists visiting India. [German filmmaker plans fictional film on Christ’s twin brother ]

Side Effects of Indian Spirituality

Today’s WP has the story of how Rep. Dennis Kucinich met his current wife.

That very morning, believe it or not, guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who teaches peace through meditation and rhythmic breathing, had come to town. Dennis and Ravi have known each other for a long time. Ravi asked about Dennis’s love life. Dennis said he was still looking for that special someone.

“And his response was, ‘Stop looking and then she will appear,’ ” Dennis says. “And I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to stop looking.’ I said that.

Her first inkling that Kucinich might be different from the run-of-the-mill congressman was the presence of two Indian nuns from the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University in Kucinich’s reception room. She chatted with the nuns about India and felt herself being “opened” up by the conversation.

Then she and Zarlenga were called into Kucinich’s office.

Dennis watched the young woman’s eyes. First they went to a bust of Gandhi sitting on his bookshelf. Then they went to a picture given to him by the Hindu nuns — a burst of brightness against an orange background meant to depict “conscious light.” Then her eyes went to his.

“That was it,” Dennis says now. “One, two, three.” He knew.

Thanks to Indian spirituality, one more person has found moksha

The Lost Translation of Judas

The Divine Comedy , Dante’s imaginative vision of the Christian afterlife, describes the poet’s journey through hell, purgatory and paradise. In Dante’s hell, there are nine concentric circles and in each region the sinners are punished in proportion to their earthly sins. The ninth circle is reserved for Lucifer and the traitors. Lucifer has three faces in which he chews three of the greatest traitors in history: Brutus and Cassius, Caesar’s assassins and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

This year The National Geographic published a translation of the Lost of Gospel of Judas. According to the National Geographic translation, Judas is the favorite disciple to whom Jesus imparts secret teachings. Contrary to the teachings of other Christian texts, Jesus came to save the world, predicted his own death and used Judas as an instrument in that process. According to this version, Judas is the good guy, a friend of Jesus who helps him achieve his life mission.

A new book,The Thirteenth Apostle by Dr. April Deconick says that the National Geographic translation is wrong.

I wrote this book because when I read the Coptic transliteration of the manuscript in April 2006, I realized that Judas was much more a hero in the National Geographic translation than he was in my own translation. As I worked through the Coptic and then sat and studied the text as a whole, I quickly came to see that Judas is not a good guy in this gospel. He is not Jesus’ friend or the greatest disciple. I began to wonder why the NG team translated in reference to Judas “daimon” as “spirit” when its most accepted translation is “demon.” I wondered why the team chose to say that Judas is “set apart for” the holy generation, when the Coptic actually reads that he is “separated from” the holy generation. And so forth.[What is different about my translation of the Gospel of Judas?]

In his lecture at the 19th International Conference on South Asian Archeology in Italy, Prof. B.B. Lal gave an example of how linguists can manipulate translations to suit their agenda.

A case in point is that of the well known Professor of Sanskrit at the Harvard University, Professor Witzel. He did not hesitate to mistranslate a part of the Baudhayana Srautasutra (Witzel 1995: 320-21). In 2003 I published a paper in the East and West (Vol. 53, Nos. 1-4), exposing his manipulation. Witzel’s translation of the relevant Sanskrit text was as follows:

“Aya went eastwards. His (people) are the Kuru-Pancalas and Kasi Videha. This is the Ayava(migration).(His other people)stayed at home in the west. His people are the Gandhari, Parasu and Aratta. This is the Amavasava (group).

Whereas the correct translation is:

Ayu migrated eastwards. His (people) are the Kuru-Pancalas and the Kasi-Videhas. This is the Ayava (migration). Amavasu migrated westwards. His (people) are the Ghandhari, Parsu and Aratta. This is the Amavasu (migration).

According to the correct translation, there was no movement of the Aryan people from anywhere in the north-west. On the other hand, the evidence indicates that it was from an intermediary point that some of the Aryan tribes went eastwards and other westwards.

The problem it seems was that National Geographic gave the manuscript to a few scholars who mistranslated. The originals were not made public and so no one else could read or correct these mistakes. Now National Geographic has decided to make this information public so that scholars can read, debate and decide what those Coptic texts really mean.

In the Aryan Invasion folklore, the agenda is very clear, but in the case of the Lost Gospel of Judas story, it is not clear if it was a genuine mistake or agenda driven.

Mindfulness for Stress Reduction

Historian Garry Wills was on stage with Dalai Lama one day and he asked the Buddhist monk what he would do if he ever got Tibet back. The Dalai Lama replied that he would enforce the separation of the Church and State, the American way. Gary Wills replied that a pre-requisite would be Enlightenment (not the Buddhist one, but the 18th century movement which includes Deism). The Dalai Lama smiled and went and wrote a book, The Universe in a Single Atom which is about the need for a dialog between scientists and those interested in spirituality.

Partly due to the efforts of the Dalai Lama and partly due to the adoption of Buddhist spiritual techniques by Americans there has been a scientific enquiry into what happens to us during meditation. These studies are being conducted in reputed universities and also at the National Institute of Health. Also there has been an adoption of mindfulness as a practice for stress reduction and this program is now offered in hospitals around the country.

In this video, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn who developed Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction talks about the program and the results.

The Clueless Economist – Part 2

The Economist thinks that India is being threatened by religious violence and by reading the article it seems like the editors of the clueless Economist seem to have forgotten what religious violence is.

Saint Paul (CE. c 5 – c. 67) started out by persecuting the followers of Jesus, but later underwent a spiritual transformation and became a zealous missionary of Jewish Christianity. As the number of Christians increased, Romans thought of them as subversives who did not preach allegiance to Rome. To stamp out Christianity, the Roman emperors resorted to persecution and Christians were imprisoned, beaten, starved, burned alive and torn apart by wild beasts for amusement. By 392 C.E., Christianity became the state religion of Rome and the worship of pagan gods was made illegal.

With Christians in power, the target of persecution became Jews and unorthodox Christians as well. Christianity, since it claimed to posses an exclusive right to salvation, felt the need to cleanse the society of false gods and beliefs. Thus mobs driven by fanatic clergy threw non-Christian writings into fire, destroyed pagan altars and passed decrees calling for the imprisoning, torturing and executing followers of pagan cults. Jews, pagans and heretics were identified with Satan and Christians showed considerable hostility towards them.

The anti-Judaism came from the refusal of Jews to accept Jesus and the polemics of the Jewish establishment against the followers of Jesus. Origen (c. 185 – c. 251), and John Chrysostom with their writing helped in maintaining the hatred. Oh, then there were the Crusades where people of one book fought people of another book. During the First Crusade zealous crusaders argued that they had to get rid of the enemies in the midst as well and slaughtered Jews in French and German towns. In 1290 Jews were expelled from England, in 1306 from France and between 1290 and 1293 from southern Italy. Between 1348 – 49, during the time of Black Death, Jews were accused of poisoning the well water and were killed in many towns. With the arrival of Islam, Christians and Jews living in Islamic lands had to accept subordinate status and were required to wear special clothing as a sign of humiliation, but Jews were much safer in Muslim lands than Christian ones.

The violence was not just against other religions, but also against members of sects within the same religion. In the Council of Nicea an important controversy was the relation between God and Christ. Followers of Arius (250 – 336 CE) denied complete divinity to Christ and claimed that Father alone was eternal and truly God. The council condemned Arius and ruled that God and Christ were of the same substance, coequal and co-eternal. Arianism eventually died out, helped by persecution. In the Middle Ages one of the most radical heresy to confront the church was the Cathari. The Cathari did not believe that Jesus took human form, died on the cross or resurrected. Pope Innocent III asked the kings and lords to exterminate Catharism with the sword and the Dominican and Franciscan inquisitors completed that task.

While these are historical tales, there are examples of religious wars among various sects in Ireland and Pakistan even in the 21st century. Religious violence in Western civilization resulted in wiping out certain communities from the face of the earth, like pagans, Arians, and Cathari. There is communal violence in India, but it is no where near the religious violence that Western Civilization has unleashed in this world. Hence these words should be used cautiously and not carelessly like the way Manmohan Singh uses the word Holocaust; unless of course the intent is mischief.

Faith and American Presidency

The first contested election in United States was the one of 1796 when the main contestants were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Jefferson lost the election as Adams portrayed him as secularist while painting himself as a man of faith. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers, who was behind the separation of Church and State learned quickly and for the election of 1800 he changed his tactic.

Both political parties reached out to Christian voters. Federalists praised Adams’ public support for religious institutions; their opponents trumpeted Jefferson’s passion for religious liberty. Each side claimed its candidate was a Christian–or at least as good a Christian as the other guy. By all accounts, Evangelicals still voted overwhelmingly for Adams but not in sufficient numbers to overcome the popular surge for Jefferson’s party, which captured the presidency and both houses of Congress. Adams later blamed his defeat on fears that he was too tied to Evangelicals.[Declarations of Faith]

Faith, thus is an important part of American elections and every candidate makes sure that they assert their religious credentials — even the liberals.

Hilary Clinton’s devout Christianity has shaped her liberalism. She told New York Times that her Methodist faith has been “a huge part of who I am, and how I have seen the world and what I believe in, and what I have tried to do in my life.” She carries a Bible on her campaign travels and confidently quotes from St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley, the father of Methodism.

Another liberal, Barak Obama, proudly projects his Christianity and delivers many of his key campaign speeches before church congregations. It comes as a surprise to many secular Indians that the very liberal President Jimmy Carter describes himself as a Bible evangelist, and asserts that his Christian faith provided the moral compass to guide his presidency. [Was the US Senate Attack on Hinduism an isolated Instance?]

Misrepresenting the Founding Fathers

In United States the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was written by two Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, in 1779 and was passed by the Virginia General Assembly into law. The statute declared that the imposition of religion by government officials is impious. In the statue Jefferson also argued that the imposition of anything on a human mind is wrong and what a person thinks is no business of the government.

Jefferson was able to pass this statute at the Federal level, but various states had religious tests and established churches for a long time, but eventually they too saw the light and fell in line with the point of view of Madison and Jefferson. According to Garry Wills, historian and Professor of History Emeritus at Northwestern University, the Founding Fathers were deists who believed in creation, providence and after life. They did not believe that Jesus was divine and you could get things by praying for them

United States was not created as a Christian nation and when it was launched did not have an official cult or official religion. In fact that was the only new thing in the American Constitution since federalism, independent judiciary, bicameral legislature, and tripartite administration existed either in theory or practice. In England the King was the head of Church as well as the State, but United States had the separation of Church and State from the beginning and that was unprecedented for those times. Recently when the Dalai Lama was asked what he would do if he got control over Tibet he replied that he would enforce the separation of Church and State the American way.

Pandering to the Christian Right, Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain recently stated that United States was a Christian Nation. Looks like Sen. McCain needs to enroll for basic American history courses or read Head and Heart: American Christianities.