Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The ox calling the donkey horned -by Krishen Kak - Vijayvaani.com
http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1750
The ox calling the donkey horned
By: Krishen Kak
However, of particular interest in our context is Kiran Bedi’s India Vision Foundation – and it should be of even greater interest to the swadeshi Baba Ramdev with his Bharat Swabhiman Andolan.
Bedi’s NGO has a long list of names to which it expresses “gratitude” and an even longer list of names of donors. The two lists are notable for the support extended by foreign governments (the British and Australian High Commissions, the Dutch Embassy), foreign corporates or their Indian collaborations and Indian corporates (including Microsoft Ltd, the notorious Lehman Brothers, Bharti Walmart Ltd, Coca Cola India Inc., Pepsico Ltd, Procter and Gamble, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Fortis Hospital, Hotel Taj Palace, JK Group of Companies), Indian PSUs (Indian Oil Corporation), a number of elite Indian private schools, foreign and Indian NGOs (including Concern India Foundation, Duncan Charitable Trust, Infosys Foundation, Open Hands Switzerland, Span Foundation, Rotary International, American Women Association, Central Social Welfare Board, Charities Aid Foundation, Family Vision Foundation, and the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation) and individuals such as Mark Sainsbury, Soli Sorabjee, Naseerudin Shah and Madhu Trehan.
Again, like the Kejriwal NGOs and the Bhushan NGO, Bedi’s NGO is opaque about its accounts. Bedi’s NGO lists its donors but not the amount they donated; it solicits funds from the public, but gives no information of its own accounts.
Rahul Gandhi describes the Indian system as “rotten”. [12] His family has been at the helm of this system for 51-odd of the 63 years of free India. During all that time, what have they done to enforce anti-corruption measures? A Lokpal bill has been pending at the Centre for 42 years - of these years, how many have had Nehru-Gandhis at the helm? His mother has been at the system’s helm for the last seven or so years. What has she done to enforce the anti-corruption laws? Instead, the government she and her select “civil society” activists “advise” is widely perceived to be the most corrupt government in free India’s history.
Baba Ramdev has steadily and successfully been generating mass awareness against (particularly, black money) corruption. Subramanian Swamy has made public his letter to the Prime Minister seeking sanction for Sonia Gandhi’s prosecution for corruption. He has detailed its colossal extent. He is in the forefront of enforcing existing laws through the judicial route. The Supreme Court asks the UPA government “What the hell is going on in this country?” and “Are you sleeping?... Why is the government not disclosing names of others who had stashed [away] money in foreign banks?”
Why not, indeed? Ask the person described as the gangotri, the source of corruption [13].
Anna Hazare suddenly emerges as the new mahatma. Hazare & co. explicitly reject the indigenous symbolism of our rashtra as Bharat Mata, but have no difficulty deifying a White foreigner as Mother Sonia, even though Hazare himself had said that “`Remote control-se gadbadi hote hain’ - that is, ‘remote control causes problems’. No seer is needed to say that Anna had hinted at only Sonia Gandhi as the problematic remote control.”[14]
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has Dr Kaushik Basu as Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The Chief Economic Adviser wants a certain class of bribes legalised by the Government. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh delivers to civil servants a homily against corruption.
That this so-called “national movement” is in fact a strongly politically biased one is evident from the statements on record of Hazare & co. Justice Hegde is the Karnataka Lokayukta - funded by the Karnataka State exchequer. Is it legitimate, is it ethical that, while still Lokayukta, Justice Hegde is an active participant in a politically-biased process? Has this not compromised his neutrality as Lokayukta? Should he not first have resigned as Lokayukta before joining the hitherto-secret deliberations at the National Advisory Committee and now the Hazare-driven drafting committee?
Mother Sonia has the legitimacy of popular representation through our parliamentary democracy, but the checks and balances within the same parliamentary democracy checked her ambition to exercise that power overtly. So she manoeuvres strategic alliances with our kaaley angrez - and a Dalit activist recognizes this for what it is – “There is an attempt to bring in rajtantra (feudal/royal rule) in the garb of loktantra (democracy). The Jan Lokpal bill is an eye-wash, as after 63 years of democracy, India would see a dictator in the form of Jan Lokpal with infinite powers.”
Finally, it is well to remember that oxen are sterile and that donkeys are hard kickers. Indian society awaits with interest the outcome of the “civil” one baiting the “political” other.
तुम्हारी हत्या पर भी रख लेंगे २ मिनट का मौन
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अच्छा!!! वो दुश्मन है? बम फोड़ता है? गोली मारता है?
मगर सुन - दोस्ती में - इतना तो सहना ही पड़ता है
तय है - जरुर खोलेंगे एक और खिड़की - उसकी ख़ातिर
मगर - हम नाराज़ हैं - तेरे लिए इतना तो कहना ही पड़ता है
तुम भी तो बड़े जिद्दी हो - दुश्मन भी बेचारा क्या करे
इतने बम फोड़े - शर्म करो - तुम लोग सिर्फ दो सौ ही मरे ? (कितने बेशर्म हो तुम लोग)
चलो ठीक है - इतने कम से भी - उसका हौंसला तो बढ़ता है
और फिर - तुम भी तो आखिर १०० करोड़ हो(*) - क्या फर्क पड़ता है?
[(*) ११५ करोड़ में १५ करोड़ तो विदेशी घुसपैठिये हमने ही तो अन्दर घुसाएँ हैं वोटों के लिए]
अच्छा! समझौते की गाड़ियों में दुश्मन भी आ जाते हैं???
क्या हुआ जो दिल लग गया यहाँ - और यहीं बस जाते हैं
बेचारे - ये तो वहां का गुस्सा है - जो यहाँ पर उतारते हैं
वहां पैदा होने के पश्चाताप में - यहाँ पर तुम्हें मारते हैं (क्यों न मारें?)
क्या सोचता है तू ? मरना था जिनको - वो तो गए मर
तू तो जिन्दा है ना - तो चल - अब मरने तक हमारे लिए काम कर
और क्या औकात थी उन मरने वालों की ? सिर्फ २०० रुपये मासिक कर (*१)
हम क्या शोक करें - क्यों शोक करें अब - ऐसे वैसों की मौत पर ?
अच्छा! आतंकवादी तुम्हें लूटता है? मारता है? मजहब के नाम पर ?
पर आतंकवादी का तो कोई मजहब ही नहीं होता - कुछ तो समझा कर (बेवकूफ कहीं के)
तू सहिष्णु है - भारत सहिष्णु है - यह भूल मत - निरंतर याद कर
क्या कहा? आत्मरक्षार्थ प्रतिरोध का अधिकार? - बंद यह बकवास कर (अबे,वोट बैंक लुटवायेगा क्या)
इन बेकार की बातों में - न अपना कीमती वक्त बरबाद कर
भूल जा - कुछ नहीं हुआ - जा काम पर जा - काम कर
तेरे गुस्से की तलवार को - हमारी शांति की म्यान में रख
हमने दे दिया है ना कड़ा बयान - ध्यान में रख
जानते हैं हम - इस बयान पर - वो ना देगा कान
चिंता ना कर - तैयार है - एक इस से भी कड़ा बयान
दे रक्खा है उसे - सबसे प्यारे देश का दरजा (*२)
चुकाना तो पड़ेगा ना - इस प्यार का करजा
दुनिया भर से - कर दी है शिकायत - कि वो मारता है
दुनिया को फुरसत मिले - तब तक तू यूँ ही मर जा
किस को पड़ी है कि - कौन मरा - और मार गया कौन
आराम से मर - तेरे लिए भी रख लेंगे - २ मिनट का मौन
*1 : Profession Tax Rs.200/-per month
*2 : Most Favoured Nation
रचयिता : धर्मेश शर्मा
संशोधन, संपादन : आनंद जी. शर्मा
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sathya Sai Controversies and the Art of Guru Bashing | The Chakra News
http://www.chakranews.com/sathya-sai-controversies-and-the-art-of-guru-bashing/1221
Spiritual Guru - Sathya Sai Baba
By Raj Sharma
It is not uncommon now that for many Gurus, Rishis or Seers who have emerged from India, there has always been an unprecedented number of vicious attacks launched on them. These have come in the guise of slander, misquotes, false allegations and myriad smear campaigns.
Moreover it is interesting to note that most of these attackers often turn out to be either individuals who have been suffering from dysfunctional complexes or personality disorders, or pseudo spiritualists, fundamentalists and Christian missionaries working at religions conversion of Hindus, or self-appointed- rationalist experts with highly opinionated, insular theories or dishonest television reporters and interviewers sensationalizing and tarnishing the image of Hinduism and Hindu Gurus, keeping with the trend of unprofessional, ignorant reporting and the highly biased- ‘paid news syndrome’.
No doubt there have been many isolated cases in history where certain imposters and charlatans have deceived people parading in the garb of self-realized yogis. However to use such cases to generalize on all Hindu gurus is akin to defaming all doctors and the whole medical profession for the malpractices of a few. Such an attitude thus does not only reek of flawed human reasoning but also exposes an irrational bias towards Hinduism as a whole and a long- standing socio- political agenda of a malicious nature and intent to debase India’s sacred culture and tradition.
Let us start with the historical case of Swami Vivekananda the great philosopher & teacher. When Vivekananda went to Chicago in 1893 to speak at the parliament of the world’s religions, he was ridiculed by members of other faiths. This was not because of what he said, but because of everyone’s lack of knowledge of Hinduism and their preconceptions of a faith based in mythology with worshiping of animals and nature. After this there were many attempts to defame Vivekananda by the church during his maiden US voyage because of his mass appeal, displaying that the anti-Hindu guru stance was taken by many over 100 years ago. This approach was also accepted by many and not challenged.
Let us also take the current case with Sathya Sai Baba. Many have heard of him as the guru or Avatar who had performed untold miracles from childhood. Indeed we would find millions who have seen or benefited from his miracles throughout the world. Yet there has been a constant sinister smear campaign to malign his name and mission in the media.
Over 90% of anti Sai allegations can be attributed to Tal Brook (Robert Taliaferro Brooke), who was often seen at Sai Baba’s ashram in the 1970s. He proclaimed he was Sai Baba’s number one western follower. He started the sexual allegations campaign, which initiated from him talking to an unidentified man Surya Das who was told by another unidentified man ‘Patrick’ who had apparently had physical relations with Sai Baba. No one else has met these individuals.
Why did Tal Brooke go to India? He stated that spirit guides, and belief in “psychic stuff” brought him to India and to Sai Baba. Why did he suddenly stop his pro Sai Baba work whilst at the Ashram titled “The Amazing Advent”? Which incidentally Sai Baba refused to bless. Why did he leave the ashram & circulate his anti Sai Baba rumours soon afterwards? Because he stated he had demonic encounters, hearing voices of spirits, out of body experiences, but acknowledged that Sai Baba had Christ like powers that baffled top scientists.
In 1976 Tal Brook published an anti Sai book titled “Lord of the Air”*. In the book and in subsequent years he has attacked Sai Baba & Hinduism, suggesting that enlightenment is an evil path to Satan and that God-Men and Gurus are in a state of perfect demonic possession. He believes that Sai Baba embodies a “timeless, demonic presence”. What does this say about the integrity and objectivity of his claims against Sai Baba? What is also missing is the story of his constant high usage of drugs while at university & India, and his drug induced hallucinations of being self-realized. Other Americans recognised him as a fanatic Christian at the ashram, which is contrary to his claim of becoming a Christian post Sai Baba. He was a member of the Neo-American Church founded by Arthur Kleps (a follower of LSD guru Timothy Leary). Kleps was alleged to be anti-Semitic by the Dutch police who expelled him from Holland. Tal Brooke has denounced Hollywood as being anti Christ, and his smear campaign has lasted 30 years with multiple books and now with expensive internet ad campaigns.
Tal Brooke’s rumours and books led to many copy cat accusers, most of whom who had had a dubious past, but not once has there been any proof. The recent most famous example is of Alaya Rahm who in the 1990s as a young man said he had sexual encounters with Sai Baba. The western media jumped on this, and even the BBC produced a programme which effectively made Sai Baba appear guilty. However Alaya Rahm (and others) had many opportunities to file a police or court case anywhere in India, but this has never occurred.
A lawsuit was created in the Superior Court of California on January 6, 2005 (Case No. 05cc01931). But realizing that the exposure was high Rahm eventually refused to go to court. No other alleged victim came forward to testify in support of his allegations, though anti-Sai activists claimed there were many alleged US victims. Many Hindus themselves have often blindly joined the anti sai crusade with enthusiasm without cross checking for factual evidence,which has often lead to more people accepting these false accusations..
Reporter of the The Pioneer, Sandhya Jain, wrote in 2009 that “As usual, when false accusations are made against Hindu gurus, a high-decibel media campaign begins. But when the innocence of the accused is established, the cacophony melts into stoic silence… No alleged victim ever filed a police or court case against Baba in India for alleged improprieties, though former devotees kept chanting that ‘hundreds’, indeed ‘‘thousands’’ of ‘‘minors’’, ‘‘children’’ and ‘male youth’ were molested by Sathya Sai Baba. Who inspired these venomous former devotees to launch investigations into vile rumours? Devotees say the ‘Anti-Sai Movement’ is an extremist hate group which habitually makes wild allegations, including the laughable claim that the Baba is allied with terrorists!…The truth is that neither Sai Baba nor any organization associated with him has ever been charged or implicated for sexual abuse, either directly or indirectly, and that reputable media agencies and independent journalists have not been able to confirm a single instance of sexual abuse linked to Sai Baba or his organizations.”
Moreover, recently in 2007 the same Alaya Rahm was trying to provide an alibi for a drug dealer friend, however despite his alibi his friend got convicted for thirty years, in return throwing light on Alaya Rahm’s dubious and questionable character.
There have also been years of many unfounded and vicious attacks on Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Yogananada, Mata Amritanandamayi, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, etc. indicating that when anti-Hindu Guru statements are made, everyone naturally takes notice but the media and academia more often than not, instead of conducting an unbiased probe and investigation, rather thrive on further distorting and tarnishing the name of such revered gurus.
On an international stage, Hindus have never done enough research themselves that would throw light on the nature of these malicious anti-hindu guru campaigns. Worse, when the allegations have proven to be incorrect, they have not been able to use that opportunity to publicize that nationally or internationally.
However, now, apart from the Sathya Sai trust, many other individuals and organizations have slowly been waking up to these anti-Hindu movements and agitations and have begun to contemplate taking legal action against media, reporters, editors, and others for defamation, perjury, slander and violation of their indigenous culture and religion.
*For further expose on the Anti Sai Movement*
http://www.saisathyasai.com/
Sangh owns one of the fastest growing education projects - Tehelka
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ws200411HINDUTVA.asp
Sangh owns one of the fastest growing education projects
Rights activists cry foul, as they see these schools in pursuit of communal agenda
G Vishnu
New Delhi
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Large stretches on the highway between Koraput and Malkangiri districts in southern Odisha remain isolated. This highway has been the target of large number of blasts from Maoists. As a result, it is now dotted with camps of the Border Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force. It is not too difficult to spot the contrasting images here. In pockets, adivasi women wearing vermillion marks on their foreheads can be seen ferrying their children to school.
For a long time, Christian missionaries and NGOs were the only entities that reached out to adivasis in Odisha, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Northeastern states, apart from the limited engagement of state governments. But, now another juggernaut is rolling in this ideological melting pot, where the security forces and insurgent groups, like Maoists, have taken well-defined positions.
It is well known that the Sangh parivar has been trying to establish itself in the tribal areas for a long while. But, the pace at which it is growing has become phenomenal. Sangh’s main propaganda and ‘service’ vehicle – the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) – offers some startling figures in terms of its reach in the field of education and what it calls cultural engagement.
According to its own claims, the VHP’s Sewa Trust has 3,266 educational projects spread across the country. Out of this, nearly 1,050 Bal Sanskar Kendras reach out to children in the age group of three to seven. About 146 balwaries and 593 primary schools add to the VHP’s count of young followers.
However, the most successful of its projects is the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation that runs 34,343 schools which, collectively, have 9,62,485 students. The “ekal vidyalayas are our effort to reach the most deprived areas of the country. Christian missionaries get funds from all over the world: the entire Christian empire backs them. Ours is a completely indigenous effort,” says Prakash Sharma, media convener of the VHP.
Insiders in the Sangh, however, are less defensive. “We do receive funds from Hindus from all over the world, especially the prosperous parts,” says a Lucknow-based VHP activist. A quick search on the Internet reveals the presence of the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation in places like Portland (Michigan) and Baltimore in the United States.
The foundation organises massive charity events in the US and Europe, with entry tickets costing 45 dollars (Rs 2,025) per person at times.
On its web site, the foundation claims to be secular. However, the Sangh parivar boasts of the foundation as its own. The most important programme of the foundation is said to be the promotion of education amongst tribal communities, with a “refined concept of 'one-teacher school'”, in which a local resident with some education imparts basic education in a village.
However, rights activists working in the adivasi areas show concern about the startling growth rate of these social-engineering projects. As examples, they point out the introduction of caste system amongst adivasis and communalisation of young minds that are rampant in various bal mandirs and Durga Vahini, the women wing of the Sangh parivar, camps that VHP operates.
“Kondh and other tribes never practiced caste system earlier. But, with the coming of the Durga Vahini and the VHP starting programmes like ‘Re-conversion to Hinduism’, these tribes have begun classifying themselves into castes. Non beef-eating tribes have begun taking themselves to be upper or purer castes,” says Sharanya, a rights activist based in Odisha.
She says that mobilising adivasis for “communal agenda” of the VHP is one of the biggest dangers of these social-engineering projects.
The communal divide is visible too. The anti-Christian riots that followed after Swami Laxminananda was killed in the Kandhamal area of Odisha in 2008 have not died down completely, as several attacks on the centres of Christian worship have been carried out in the last three years.
However, the VHP spokesperson Sharma vehemently denies allegations of preaching casteism and communalism. “We do not mind even Muslim or Christian students learning in our institutions. However, they have to accept that they are by birth Hindus too,” he says. “As far as the idea of re-conversion is concerned, our epics are evidence to the fact that adivasis too are Hindus,” he adds.
Sharma in turn alleges that the aggressive expansion of the Sangh is aimed at challenging the “might of Christian missionaries in the region, whose sole aim is to convert innocent adivasis”.
An astonishing element about the Sangh parivar’s rapid mobilisation drive is their reach into the regions that have well-rooted ideological opponents.
For instance, Chattisgarh has 2,490 ekal vidyalayas, while Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and the Northeast have 1,590, 2,160, 1,534 and 2,681 such schools. With the exception of West Bengal, they all have sizeable presence of Maoists and other insurgent groups.
Does this not cause a daily battle for survival then?
“No. Maoists or other insurgents have never bothered us,” says Sharma. “Christians killed Swami Laxminananda, not the Maoists,” he adds as a justification for the anti-Christian violence that the VHP has been accused of carrying out in Odisha.
G Vishnu is a Correspondent with Tehelka.com.
vishnu@tehelka.com