Inner Metamorphosis

Listening to a popular Telugu speaker on Hindu spiritualism on television, I was slightly shaken when he chided those taking sides in the Vaishnava-Shaiva rivalry and went on to suggest that Hindus do not need external enemies when we are so divided between ourselves. This reminded me of a chance encounter with an elderly, learned person few years ago, whose home could be mistaken for a library if other signs of family life weren’t so apparent. For few moments, we had a discussion about the books – mainly Hindu philosophical works – and he was making a powerful case for his chosen (belonged to Madhva sect) theory of Dvaita philosophy as against others, notably Advaita (my inherited line). He also claimed that whereas Advaita philosophy lulled Hindus into other-worldliness, rendering them susceptible to Islamic invasions, Dvaita philosophy gave rise to the powerful Vijayanagara Empire (more on this part later). While he was pretty strong in his choice of worlds, calling Adi Sankar...

Can the flame of faith sustain the storm of helplessly witnessing one’s God’s idol smashed to pieces? Will an ideologue who witnesses the entire edifice of her perspective crumble under the weight of truth revert or revolt? AAVARANA as Bhyrappa explains in the preface is an act of concealing truth. And our intensely ideological, middle-aged protagonist experiences a catharsis of sorts when confronted with truth, a truth that shines through the pervasive deception if only one looks for it. Plot Razia, an ex-Hindu who converted to marry her Muslim college-mate, has an ‘enlightened’ view of history, thanks to the ‘progressive’ arts course at the film-institute she and her husband Amir have been through. She finds her father’s fierce opposition to her marriage with Amir dogmatic. Aren’t all religions equally regressive and fit to be thrown into the dustbin of history? Surprisingly, despite the Marxist bent of both Amir and Lakshmi’s mind, Amir insists on her conversion to I...

The recent  controversy  on Vande Mataram isn’t about whether singing/ respecting it alone makes one patriotic, as many pseudo-secularists would want us to believe. Of course, respect cannot be imposed. And in a free country, anybody can decline to sing a particular song - however revered - because of any number of reasons, reasonable or not. Briefly the opposition to Vande Mataram hinges on: The song worships the nation as Mother India and Goddess Durga. First, it goes against the basic Islamic tenet of Allah being the only worshipable entity. Second, it worships an idolized form of India, again against Islamic tenets where idolatry is strictly prohibited. Third, with its allusion to Hindu symbols more than explicit, it personifies Hindu cultural nationalism and doesn’t strike an emotive chord with Muslims. The poem appears in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel  Anandamath , which calls for Hindu nationalism to uproot...

We live in an age of analysis! In an age where we are choked with news but starved of history! Where people know more & more regarding the less & less, thereby lacking a perspective which integrates wholly all these experience into a coherent belief system! Of such a busy lifestyle arise loneliness, emptiness and purposelessness. Information that never translates into knowledge! Knowledge that can help us run machines, but fails to quench our thirst of understanding ourselves better. Intelligence that assists us in manipulating others but fails to guide us to a better living! Science helps us understand nature in retail but when is totally clueless on understanding it in wholesale. While a scientist can explain why a certain phenomenon occurs, without coordinating it to our experiences we would not find it useful in our daily life. Such isolated bits and pieces of information leads to more confusion than understanding. Indeed, so much is the sheer emptiness th...

It may appear almost inexplicable to many people with scientific bent of mind that religion with all its absurdities; incredibilities survives even in this age of analysis. How did it withstand the steady and determined onslaught of rationalism and reason? Religion is the last thing that intellect begins to understand. To understand this we must also seek assistance from history. The period - The Age of Reason (18th century) when religion was receding from the political domain to a mere moral domain. When Bible became just another piece of literature, miracles ignored, faith dethorned by intelligence and the concept of genesis laughable. The philosophers of the age, chief among whom were Francis Bacon, Pascal, Galileo, Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Voltaire and many others elevated reason to be superior to than faith and were against the Church's blinding influence which inhibited men from better mode of living. The Church whose functioning was above all, was put ...

I stay in a certain area of Hyderabad which has considerable Muslim presence as the result of which I’m reasonably familiar with their way of life. Recently my brother informed me of one Dr Zakir Naik, an Islamic preacher who attracts significant following among Muslim youth. I was informed that Naik is a super-intellectual who proved that Islam is the only true religion while others are wrong. Out of mere curiosity, I started searching for his lectures in Youtube. Most of his talks are full of mystery to me. I simply can’t understand how this man can win this much popularity .According to me even a simple graduate must be able to see through his nonsense. Most of his talks are rhetorical; he simply announces a “fact” rather than reasoning it out. Most of his theories are quite irrelevant to me as I have no inclination to research minute details of historical texts. However there is one particular theory which gave me Goosebumps literally. Naik was once asked by a non-Mu...

Inquiry is fatal to certainty. - Will Durant. Last week, most of the TV channels were full of news relating to some babas (aka gurus, swamis etc). I’m amazed looking at the popularity these people have managed to possess. More astonishing is the fact that they run big business empires under the cover of spirituality. We need to save God from these people literally.!!!! Hahaha Hindus in general are less informed of their religion than followers of other religions. However I’m against these sects centred on Human-Worship. Such man-centric worship removes all traces of sanity in men and makes them scapegoats to all kinds of rubbish. People must enquire adequately before making their final move to faith. Though I call myself a Hindu and believer and have a set of beliefs, values  and also interested mental speculation I’m usually a positivist ( someone who emphasizes observable facts and excludes metaphysical speculation about origins or ultimate causes ) when it comes to oth...