Andhvishwas and Pakhand

THE CONTROVERSIAL INDIAN | COLUMNS

The empty rituals of daily lives

Tabish Khair

Just as religious rituals move the practitioner away from the immensity of faith, secular rituals move citizens’ attention away from real issues

Serious religious thinkers have tended to distinguish between ritual and religion. Some, of course, have distinguished between spirituality and religion too, mostly because they have associated religion with rituals.

Now, rituals have their uses, as long as we employ them in the full awareness that they are arbitrary and man-made. This applies to secular matters as well as religious ones: I like my ritual of a morning cup of coffee with a biscuit or two, but I do not assume that this is god-ordained or that my day will not commence unless I have my cup of coffee. So, I am not talking of rituals of this sort. I am talking of rituals that are made ‘essential’ to either religion or secular life.

The matter with religion is clear enough. The reason why religious but nonconforming thinkers, like Kabir, railed against rituals was that they perceived how rituals are used, in the name of religion, to control, influence and exploit people. They also felt that rituals are worldly matters and have nothing to do with the divine. The priestly classes insist on rituals, as if god would care about the colour of your dress, the posture of your prayer, the number of your beads, etc. Rituals proliferate in religions because they allow the priestly classes to control and exploit ordinary believers. Instead of being used as an option, the coffee cup ritual becomes a necessity imposed on the ordinary believer, often at great cost.

Rituals in secular life

This much is clear enough about religion, and explains why so many religious thinkers — apart from the accredited priestly classes, whether mullahs or pandits — tended to criticise rituals or blind observance of rituals. But how, you might be asking, do rituals work in the secular sphere? Because such rituals are not confined to religion. They also exist in secular life, and are used by various ‘priestly classes’ to mislead, control and exploit ordinary people. I suspect that basically religious people, conditioned to associate belief with rituals, are likely to be misled by rituals in secular life too.

A ritual in secular life is like a ritual in religion: it is demanding, obsessive, unavoidable, essential. It is the one thing that you ‘need’ to do in order to have a good life (in this world or the next, or both). Or so the priestly classes claim. Because when you really look at this ‘essential’ ritual, it falls apart. It is not necessary; you can do without it. You can understand the world in other ways, live your life differently. But no, the priestly classes claim, you have to practice this ritual — or you will suffer and probably be damned for all eternity!

Rituals of prosperity

Think of the rituals that we are surrounded by in ordinary secular life. Think, for instance, of all those economic figures trotted out by national economists in all countries to show that the nation is progressing. GNP. Average national income. The rising value of shares in the stock market. These are rituals of prosperity, because if you really look into them, they mean nothing. Or they mean nothing because they have been turned from actual, though limited, indicators into sweeping rituals: empty practices.

A rise in GNP, the average national income, or the share market can indicate some types of prosperity, but these are not enough — and they are misleading when trotted out in ritualistic fashion by politicians. In each case, there is a good chance that some people might be gaining and many more losing. Take the situation of Amazon: the company is thriving, but, at least in the U.S., it is reputed to offer its workers a very meagre wage package and unsatisfactory working conditions. To think that the profits being made by Amazon is percolating down to its workers is to make a mistake. But that is the mistake we make when we simply note the net value of Amazon or the rise in its shares. Such figures play the role of empty rituals.

With countries, the matter is even more complex, as the prosperity of a country depends on factors other than financial ones. Hence, politicians who give us general figures and averages, whether correct or not, are indulging in empty rituals.

Of course, figures are not the only rituals practiced by politicians in power, the apex of the secular priestly classes. For instance, it is a ritual to construct a highway without making a sustained effort to improve the existing highways, to create a super-city without a sustained effort to improve the urban infrastructure in existing cities, to raise the statue of a great leader and ignore the best aspects of his example.

These acts and decisions are rituals because they are empty and misleading. Just as a ritual in religion moves the practitioner away from the endless immensity of faith to a delusive shortcut, a ritual in secular life moves citizens’ attention away from all the real issues and offers a soupçon of misleading satisfaction. I fear that we Indians might or might not be a spiritual people, but we do have a certain tendency to indulge — and let others indulge — in empty rituals in religious as well as secular life.

9 myths about Hinduism, debunked

By Moni Basu, CNN

Updated 2038 GMT (0438 HKT) March 3, 2017

This article was first published in April 2014.

(CNN)Caste. Cows. Karma.

Suhag Shukla knows that's how some people outside Hinduism see her religion. As the co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation, Shukla clarifies misconceptions all the time.

Hinduism is ancient, though there is no specific date for when it was formed. The name is a Sanskrit word; Hinduism and Hindu were coined by invaders who used the terms to refer to the people they encountered when they crossed the Hindu Kush mountains and arrived at the Indus River.

In America, Hinduism's profile was elevated by Indian immigrants who brought their customs and rituals with them and perhaps most recently, by the growing popularity of Hindu teachings like yoga and meditation.

Hinduism is the world's oldest living religion and the third largest -- behind Christianity and Islam -- with more than 1 billion followers. Some argue that Hinduism is more a way of life than religion. It has no common creed or church. Nor is it based on the teachings of a founder or holy book.

And it remains a mystery for many.

Myth No. 1: There are 330 million Hindu gods

Reality: There is one supreme God that cannot be fully known or understood.

Hindus are encouraged to relate to God in the way that suits them best, like worshipping many deities who are believed to be manifestations of God. The trimurti or three main deities are Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer. That's why Hinduism is often thought of as polytheistic. It is not.

But there's debate on the proper terminology for Hinduism. Some call it a monistic religion, derived from the belief that everything in the universe is part of one substance or nature. Some, including Shukla, say Hindusim is henotheistic, which is the worship of one god without denying the existence of other gods. Others, say it is monotheistic.

Read also : https://www.sanskritimagazine.com/indian-religions/hinduism/330-million-hindu-gods-is-it-really-true/

Myth No. 2: Hindus are idol worshippers.

Reality: Hindus worship a reminder of God.

No Hindu will say he or she is worshipping an idol. Instead, Hindus believe a physical representation of God -- in the form of an idol - helps them focus on an aspect of prayer or

For instance, a person who has just opened up a new business may worship Ganesh, the elephant god who represents success.

Myth No. 3: Hindus worship cows

Reality: Hindus do not pray to cows but they do regard all creation and all life as sacred.

Hindus believe every living thing has a soul. It is true, however, that cows hold a special place in Hindu society. That's why Hindus refrain from eating beef. Cows are seen as gentle, maternal figures that are providers of milk and other forms of sustenance. They are honored for their value.

Myth No. 4: All Hindus are vegetarians

Reality: A majority of Hindus eat meat.

But about 30 percent do not. That stems from a fundamental belief in ahimsa, the principle of non-violence. Since all living things are manifestations of God, violence against them is considered contrary to the natural balance of the universe.

Myth No. 5: Hinduism supports a discriminatory caste system

Reality: Caste discrimination is rooted not in religion but culture.

Caste was an ancient system of occupational class delineated in Hindu texts that over the years developed into a rigid social hierarchy. The lowest castes, or untouchables, were marginalized and faced persecution. But many modern Hindus have argued that caste-based discrimination is not intrinsic to Hinduism and should not be thought of as religiously sanctioned.

Myth No. 6: Women are subservient in Hinduism

Reality: Not because of religion.

In fact, one attribute that differentiates Hinduism from say, Christianity or Islam, is that it recognizes forms of God as feminine. Hindus revere Shakti, or the personification of God's energy through a female figure.

Some of the most commonly worshipped goddesses are Parvati, a primary form of Shakti; Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom; and Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity.

Women in India may not be equal with men but again, that is not because of religion but culture and people using religion to keep women down. This is akin, perhaps, to Islamic societies forcing women to cover up from head to toe.

"I don't think there is a basis to disregard women in our religion," Shukla says. "The Vedas (scripture) don't give those instructions."

Myth No. 7: Hindu women wearing 'red dots' on their foreheads are married

Reality: Sometimes.

A red dot was once a symbol of marriage for Hindu women. Today, the dot, or bindi, is largely decorative. Girls and women -- married and single - wear bindis of all colors as fashion statements. A tilak, also a mark on the forehead, has religious significance. It's generally made with sandalwood paste, ashes or red turmeric and can be in the form of lines or a dot.

Myth No. 8: The Bhagavad Gita is like the Bible

Reality: There is not one central, authoritative book in Hinduism.

But Hinduism is rich in scripture with a vast collection of ancient religious writings. Hindus believe God revealed truths to wise men who passed them on for thousands of years through a rich oral tradition. The scriptures include the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and the Bhagavad Gita, or Song of God.

Part of the epic tale, Mahabharata, the 700-verse Gita is the world's longest poem and takes the form of a dialog on a battlefield between a prince, Arjuna, and Krishna. It captures the core beliefs of Hinduism but not all Hindus read the Gita.

Myth No. 9: Karma is fatalistic

Reality: Everyone has the ability to choose life's actions.

This is the theory behind karma: for every action a person sets in motion, there is a corresponding reaction. Hindus believe they have to face the consequences of past actions. Each person creates his or her destiny with deeds. The ultimate goal is to have karma that will free a soul and gain moksha, or liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

No Murti Pooja

Do the Vedas prohibit idol worship?

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'sambhūtim upāsate

tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ

This is present in the Isha Upanishad or the Shukla Yajur Veda chapter forty. But to say that this verse prohibits idol worship would be incorrect. All that it says is, those who worship only the asambhuta (which has not originated) and those who worship only the sambhuta (which has originated) enter into darkness.

But the thing is, because Sanskrit words can mean multiple things, people give it different meanings. But simply speaking, asambhuta here means the unmanifested absolute formless mode of supreme Brahman and sambhuta means the different manifested forms like the devas or demigods. It is because, the absolute neither comes to exist nor ceases to exist (without origin), but the various gods come to exist and also after their time is over cease to exist (with origin). Similarly, there is another verse which forbids both knowledge and ignorance:

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'vidyām upāsate

tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyām ratāḥ [Isha Up. - 9]

Now tell me, what kind of logic is this! It is understandable if we say one will enter darkness if he worships or follows ignorance, but why would any one enter darkness if he follows knowledge?

So these verses only encourage to have a complete knowledge of the both the aspects instead of following or knowing only one partially. It is because both knowledge and ignorance are part of God:

vidyāvidye mama tanū [SB - 11.11.3]

- Both knowledge and ignorance are my body (energy potencies)And God is both with and without forms:

dve vāva brahmaṇo rūpe, mūrtaṃ caivāmūrtaṃ ca [Brh. Up - 2.3.1]

- God (Brahman) has two modes, formless (nirakara, asambhuta) as well as form (sakar, sambhuta).The Vedas and scriptures are full of contradicting statements for a certain reason. If one takes up only one statement and tries to define everything else as per it, then he will only reach biased and wrong conclusions. Complete knowledge is always required. So another verse of that same Upanishad explicitly mentions to known both knowledge and ignorance. Because only by knowing both the modes of God that one will be able to have the complete and absolute knowledge:

vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha

avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute [Isha Up. - 11]

Meaning

Only one who can learn the process of nescience (avidya) and that of transcendental knowledge (vidya) side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.So don't take any such arguments seriously. Idol worship is neither mandatory nor prohibited in Hinduism. In fact puranas like Shrimad Bhagavatam itself mention the process of deity form worship of the God and what the idols can be made of:

śailī dāru-mayī lauhī lepyā lekhyā ca saikatī

mano-mayī maṇi-mayī pratimāṣṭa-vidhā smṛtā [SB - 11.27.12]

Meaning

The Deity form of the Lord is said to appear in eight varieties — stone, wood, metal, earth, paint, sand, the mind or jewels.References:

- Ishopanishad

- Significance of idol worship

- Shrimad Bhagavatam - 11.27

Pledge – Say No To Hindu Temples!

Did you know?

Brahmins in India have 100% reservation in temples, where they earn in billions every year and most of that money is spent on anti-Dalit, anti-Muslim and anti-minority activities.

First, even after 100% reservation in temples, where there is so much money, Brahmins hate Dalit-Bahujans and hate representation of Dalit-Bahujans in every field. Why?

Secondly, we must stop going to Hindu temples and stop donating there as most of it is used against us only, so no wise person will go and donate there.

Say No To Hindu Temples

Apart from all these, almost every day Dalits are stopped from entering the temples, many Dalits are boycotted, killed just because some so called upper castes hate them. Let’s take pledge that we won’t go to Hindu religious places that discriminate and that don’t treat human as a human. Are you ready for it? Pledge and let me know in the comments. It is a time to “Say No to Hindu Temples”.

Murti

(Wikipedia)

"Murthy" redirects here. For other uses, see Murthy (disambiguation).

Murti in Hinduism

Parvati

Shiva

Radha and Krishna

Durga

Murti (idols, images) of different deities

A Murti (Sanskrit: मूर्ति, IAST: Mūrti) literally means any form, embodiment or solid object, and typically refers to an image, statue or idol of a deity or person in Indian culture. By the Prana Pratishtha ceremony, the idol becomes identical with the deity.Murtis are also found in some nontheistic Jainism traditions, where they serve as symbols of revered persons inside Jain temples, and are worshipped in Murtipujaka rituals.

A Murti is typically made by carving stone, wood working, metal casting or through pottery. Medieval era texts describing their proper proportions, positions and gestures include the Puranas, Agamas and Samhitas. The expressions in a Murti vary in diverse Hindu traditions, ranging from Ugra symbolism to express destruction, fear and violence (Durga, Kali), as well as Saumyasymbolism to express joy, knowledge and harmony (Saraswati, Lakshmi). Saumya images are most common in Hindu temples.Other Murti forms found in Hinduism include the Linga.

A Murti is an embodiment of the divine, the Ultimate Reality or Brahman to some Hindus. In religious context, they are found in Hindu temples or homes, where they may be treated as a beloved guest and serve as a participant of Puja rituals in Hinduism.In other occasions, it serves as the center of attention in annual festive processions and these are called Utsava Murti.

Murti is sometimes referred to as murthi, or vigraha or pratima.

Etymology and nomenclature

A murti of Parvati Ganesha in Maheshwar temple, Madhya Pradesh

Murti literally means any solid body or form with definite shape or limits produced from material elements. It contrasts with mind, thought and the immaterial in ancient Indian literature. The term also refers to any embodiment, manifestation, incarnation, personification, appearance, image, idol or statue of a deity.

The earliest mention of the term Murti occurs in primary Upanishads composed in the 1st millennium BCE, particularly in verse 3.2 of Aitareya Upanishad, verse 1.13 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, verse 6.14 of Maitrayaniya Upanishad and verse 1.5 of Prashna Upanishad. For example, the Maitrayaniya Upanishad uses the term to mean a "form, manifestation of time". The section sets out to prove Time exists, acknowledges the difficulty in proving Time exists by Pramana (epistemology in Indian philosophy), then inserts a theory of inductive inference for epistemological proof as follows,

On account of subtleness of Time, this is the proof of its reality;

On account of it the Time is demonstrated.

Because without proof, the assumption which is to be proved, is not admissible;

But, that which is itself to be proved or demonstrated, when one comprehends it in its parts, becomes the ground of proof, through which it brings itself into consciousness (in the inductive way).

— Maitri Upanishad 6.14

The section includes the concept of Time and non-Time, stating that non-Time as that which existed before creation of universe, and time as which came into existence with the creation of universe. Non-Time is indivisible, Time is divisible, and the Maitri Upanishad then asserts that "Year is the Murti of time" Robert Hume translates the discussion of Murti of time, in verse 6.14 of the Maitri Upanishad, as "form".

Most scholars, such as Jan Gonda, Max Muller, PV Kane and Stephanie Jamison, state that there were neither Murti nor temples nor idol-facilitated worship in the Vedic era. The Vedic Hinduism rituals were directed at nature and abstract deities called during yajna with hymns. However, there isn't universal consensus, with scholars such as AC Das, pointing to the word Mūradeva in Rig Veda verses 7.104.24, 10.87.2 and 10.87.14. This word may refer to "Deva who is fixed" or "Deva who is foolish". The former interpretation, if accurate, may imply that there were communities in the Vedic era who had Devas in the form of Murti, and the context of these hymns suggest that the term could possibly be referring to practices of the tribal communities outside of the Vedic fold.

One of the earliest firm textual evidence of Deva images, in the sense of Murti, is found in Jivikarthe Capanye by the Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini who lived about 4th century BCE.He mentions Acala and Cala, with former referring to images in a shrine, and the latter meaning images that were carried from place to place. Panini also mentions Devalaka, meaning custodians of images of worship who show the images but do not sell them, as well as Jivika as people whose source of livelihood was the gifts they received from devotees. In ancient Sanskrit texts that follow Panini's work, numerous references are found to divine images with terms such as Devagrha, Devagara, Devakula, Devayatana and others. These texts, states Noel Salmond, strongly suggest that temples and Murti were in existence in ancient India by about 4th century BCE. Recent archaeological evidence confirms that the knowledge and art of sculpture was established in India by the Maurya Empire period (~3rd century BCE).

By early 1st millennium BCE, the term Murti meant idols, image or statue in various Indian texts such as Bhavishya Purana verse 132.5.7, Brihat Samhita 1.8.29 and inscriptions in different parts of India. The term Murti has been a more generic term referring to an idol or statue of anyone, either a deity, of any human being, animal or any art. Pratimaincludes Murti as well as painting of any non-anthropomorphic object. In contrast, Bera or Bimba meant "idol of god" only, and Vigraha was synonymous with Bimba.

Types

Murti in diverse Hindu traditions vary widely in their expression. Raudra or ugra images express destruction, fear and violence, such as Kali image on left. Shanta or saumya images express joy, knowledge and harmony, such as Saraswati (center). Saumya images are most common in Hindu temples Linga murti (right) are an alternate form.

A Murti in contemporary usage is any image or statue. It may be found inside or outside a temple or home, installed to be moved with a festive procession (Utsava Murti), or just be a landmark. It is a significant part of Hindu iconography, and is implemented in many ways. Two major categories include:

Raudra or Ugra - are images that were meant to terrify, induce fear. These typically have wide, circular eyes, carry weapons, have skulls and bones as adornment. These idols were worshipped by soldiers before going to war, or by people in times of distress or errors. Raudra deity temples were not set up inside villages or towns, but invariably outside and in remote areas of a kingdom.

Shanta and Saumya - are images that were pacific, peaceful and expressive of love, compassion, kindness and other virtues in Hindu pantheon. These images would carry symbolic icons of peace, knowledge, music, wealth, flowers, sensuality among other things. In ancient India, these temples were predominant inside villages and towns.

Beyond anthropomorphic forms of religious murtis, some traditions of Hinduism cherish aniconism, where alternate symbols are shaped into a Murti, such as the linga for Shiva, yoni for Devi, and the saligrama for Vishnu.

Methods and manuals

Main articles: Shilpa Shastras, Tantra, and Āgama (Hinduism)

Murtis, when produced properly, are made according to the design rules of the Shilpa Shastras. They recommend materials, measurements, proportion, decoration and symbolism of the murti. Explanation of the metaphysical significance of each stage of manufacture and the prescription of specific mantras to sanctify the process and evoke and invoke the power of the deity in the image are found in the liturgical handbooks the Agamas and Tantras. By the Prana Pratishtha ceremony, the idol becomes identical with the deity.

A Hindu prayer before cutting a tree for a Murti

Oh Tree! you have been selected for the worship of a deity,

Salutations to you!

I worship you per rules, kindly accept it.

May all who live in this tree, find residence elsewhere,

May they forgive us now, we bow to them.—Brihat Samhita 59.10 - 59.11

The artists who make any art or craft, including Murti, were known as shilpins. The formally trained Shilpins shape the Murti not in accordance with fancy but in accordance with canonical manuals such as the Agamas and the Shilpa Shastras texts such as Vishvakarma. The material of construction range from clay to wood to marble to metal alloys such as panchaloha. The sixth century Brihat Samhita and eighth century text Manasara-Silpasastra (literally: "treatise on art using method of measurement"), identify nine materials for murti construction – gold, silver, copper, stone, wood, sudha (a type of stucco, mortar plaster), sarkara (gravel, grit), abhasa (marble types), and earth (clay, terracotta).For abhasa, the texts describe working methods for various types of marble, specialized stones, colors, and a range of opacity (transparent, translucent and crystal).

Brihat Samhita, a 6th-century encyclopedia of a range of topics from horticulture to astrology to gemology to murti and temple design, specifies in Chapter 56 that the Pratima (Murti) height should be of the sanctum sanctorum's door height, the Pratima height and the sanctum sanctorum room's width be in the ratio of 0.292, it stand on a pedestal that is 0.146 of sanctum room width, thereafter the text describes 20 types of temples with their dimensions. Chapter 58 of the text describes the ratios of various anatomical parts of a Murti, from head to toe, along with the recommendation in verse 59.29 that generally accepted variations in dress, decoration and dimensions of local regional traditions for the Murti is the artistic tradition.

Proper Murti design is described in ancient and medieval Indian texts. They describe proportions, posture, expressions among other details, often referencing to nature.

The texts recommend materials of construction, proportions, postures and mudra, symbolic items the murti holds in its hands, colors, garments and ornaments to go with the murti of each god or goddess, vehicles of deities such as Garuda, bull and lion, and other details. The texts also include chapters on the design of Jaina and Buddhist murti, as well as reliefs of sages, apsaras, different types of devotees (based on bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, karma yoga, ascetics) to decorate the area near the murti. The texts recommend that the material of construction and relative scale of murti be correlated to the scale of the temple dimensions, using twelve types of comparative measurements.

In Southern India, the material used predominantly for murtis is black granite, while material in North India is white marble. However, for some Hindus, it is not the materials used that matter, but the faith and meditation on the universal Absolute Brahman. More particularly, devotees meditate or worship on the formless God (nirguna Brahman) through Murti symbolism of God (saguna Brahman) during a puja before a Murti, or the meditation on a Tirthankara in the case of Jainism, thus making the material of construction or the specific shape of the Murti not spiritually important.

According to John Keay, "Only after achieving remarkable expertise in the portrayal of the Buddha figure and of animal and human, did Indian stonemasons turn to producing images of the orthodox 'Hindu' deities". This view is, however, not shared by other scholars. Trudy King et al. state that stone images of reverential figures and guardian spirits (yaksha) were first produced in Jainism and Hinduism, by about 2 century BCE, as suggested by Mathura region excavations, and this knowledge grew into iconographic traditions and stone monuments in India including those for Buddhism.

Role in worship

A Murti of mother goddess Matrika, from Rajasthan 6th century CE.

Major Hindu traditions such as Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartaism favor the use of Murti. These traditions suggest that it is easier to dedicate time and focus on spirituality through anthropomorphic or non-anthropomorphic icons. Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, states in verse 12.5,

“ It is much more difficult to focus on God as the unmanifested than God with form, due to human beings having the need to perceive via the senses. ”

In Hinduism, states Jeaneane Fowler, a Murti itself is not god, it is an "image of god" and thus a symbol and representation. A Murti is a form and manifestation, states Fowler, of the formless Absolute. Thus a literal translation of Murti as idol is incorrect, when idol is understood as superstitious end in itself. Just like the photograph of a person is not the real person, a Murti is an image in Hinduism but not the real thing, but in both cases the image reminds of something of emotional and real value to the viewer. When a person worships a Murti, it is assumed to be a manifestation of the essence or spirit of the deity, the worshipper's spiritual ideas and needs are meditated through it, yet the idea of ultimate reality or Brahman is not confined in it.

A collection of modern-day Murtis featuring the elephant-headed God, Lord Ganesha.

Devotional (bhakti movement) practices centered on cultivating a deep and personal bond of love with God, often expressed and facilitated with one or more Murti, and includes individual or community hymns, japa or singing (bhajan, kirtan or aarti). Acts of devotion, in major temples particularly, are structured on treating the Murti as the manifestation of a revered guest, and the daily routine can include awakening the murti in the morning and making sure that it "is washed, dressed, and garlanded." In Vaishnavism, the building of a temple for the murti is considered an act of devotion, but non-Murti symbolism is also common wherein the aromatic Tulsi plant or Saligrama is an aniconic reminder of the spiritualism in Vishnu. These Puja rituals with the Murti, correspond to ancient cultural practices for a beloved guest, and the Murti is welcomed, taken care of, and then requested to retire.

Christopher John Fuller states that an image in Hinduism cannot be equated with a deity and the object of worship is the divine whose power is inside the image, and the image is not the object of worship itself, Hindus believe everything is worthy of worship as it contains divine energy emanating from the one god. According to the Agamas, the Bimba Murti (स्थूलमूर्ति / बिम्बमूर्ति) is different from the Mantra Murti(मन्त्रमूर्ति) from the perspective of rituals, gestures, hymns and offerings.

Some Hindu denominations like Arya Samaj and Satya Mahima Dharma reject idol worship.

Role in history

8th-century ivory murti parts from Kashmir. Numerous Hindu and Buddhist temples and sculpture in Kashmir were built and destroyed, during Indian subcontinent's Islamic rule period. During this period, some murti of Hindu deities were preserved in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries.

Murti and temples were well established in South Asia, before the start of Delhi Sultanate in the late 12th century CE. They became a target of destruction during raids and religious wars between Islam and Hinduism through the 18th-century.

During the colonial era, Christian missionaries aiming to convert Hindus to Christianity wrote memoirs and books that were widely distributed in Europe, which Mitter, Pennington and other scholars call as fictionalized stereotypes, where Murti were claimed as the evidence of lack of spiritual heritage in primitive Hindus, of "idolatry and savage worship of stones" practices akin to Biblical demons, calling Murti as monstrous devils to eroticized bizarre beings carved in stone. The British Missionary Society with colonial government's assistance bought and sometimes seized, then transferred Murti from India and displayed it in their "trophies" room in the United Kingdom with the note claiming that these were given up by Hindus who now accept the "folly and sin of idolatry". In other instances, the colonial British authorities, seeking additional government revenue, introduced Pilgrim Tax on Hindus to view murti inside major temples.

The missionaries and orientalist scholars attempted to justify the need for colonial rule of India by attacking Murti as a symbol of depravity and primitiveness, arguing that it was, states Tanisha Ramachandran, "the White Man's Burden to create a moral society" in India. This literature by the Christian missionaries constructed the foundation of a "Hindu image" in Europe, during the colonial era, and it blamed Murti idolatry as "the cause for the ills of Indian society". By 19th-century, ideas such as pantheism (universe is identical with god), contained in newly translated Sanskrit texts were linked to idolatry of murti and declared as additional evidence of superstitions and evil by Christian missionaries and colonial authorities in British India.

The polemics of Christian missionaries in colonial India triggered a debate among Hindus, yielding divergent responses. It ranged from activists such as Rammohun Roy who denounced all Murti, to Vivekananda who refused to denounce Murti and asked Hindus in India and Christians in the West to introspect, that images are used everywhere to help think and as a road to ideas, in the following words,

Superstition is a great enemy of man, but bigotry is worse. Why does a Christian go to church? Why is the cross holy? Why is the face turned toward the sky in prayer? Why are there so many images in the Catholic Church? Why are there so many images in the minds of Protestants when they pray? My brethren, we can no more think about anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing. By the law of association the material image calls up the mental idea and vice versa.

— Vivekananda, World Parliament of Religions

Religious intolerance and polemics, state Halbertal and Margalit, have historically targeted idols and material symbols cherished by other religions, while encouraging the worship of material symbols of one's own religion, characterizing the material symbols of others as grotesque and wrong, in some cases dehumanizing the others and encouraging the destruction of idols of the others. The outsider conflates and stereotypes the "strange worship" of the other religions as "false worship" first, then calls "false worship" as "improper worship and false belief" of pagan or an equivalent term, thereafter constructing an identity of the others as "primitive and barbarians" that need to be saved, followed by justified intolerance and often violence against those who cherish a different material symbol than one's own. In the history of Hinduism and India, states Pennington, Hindu deity images (Murti) have been a religious lens for focusing this anti-Hindu polemic and was the basis for distortions, accusations and attacks by non-Indian religious powers and missionaries.

Significance

Ancient Indian texts assert the significance of Murti in spiritual terms. The Vāstusūtra Upaniṣad, whose palm-leaf manuscripts were discovered in the 1970s among remote villages of Orissa – four in Oriya language and one in crude Sanskrit, asserts that the doctrine of Murti art making is founded on the principles of origin and evolution of universe, is a "form of every form of cosmic creator" that empirically exists in nature, and it functions to inspire a devotee towards contemplating the Ultimate Supreme Principle (Brahman).This text, whose composition date is unknown but probably from late 1st millennium CE, discusses the significance of images as, state Alice Boner and others, "inspiring, elevating and purifying influence" on the viewer and "means of communicating a vision of supreme truth and for giving a taste of the infinite that lies beyond". It adds (abridged)

6th-century murti carvings, Badami caves, Karnataka.

From the contemplation of images grows delight, from delight faith, from faith steadfast devotion, through such devotion arises that higher understanding (parāvidyā) that is the royal road to moksha. Without the guidance of images, the mind of the devotee may go ashtray and form wrong imaginations. Images dispel false imaginations. (... ) It is in the mind of Rishis(sages), who see and have the power of discerning the essence of all created things of manifested forms. They see their different characters, the divine and the demoniac, the creative and the destructive forces, in their eternal interplay. It is this vision of Rishis, of gigantic drama of cosmic powers in eternal conflict, which the Sthapakas (Silpins, murti and temple artists) drew the subject-matter for their work.

— Pippalada, Vāstusūtra Upaniṣad, Introduction by Alice Boner et al.

In the fifth chapter of Vāstusūtra Upaniṣad, Pippalada asserts, "from tattva-rupa (essence of a form, underlying principle) come the pratirupani (images)". In the sixth chapter, Pippalada repeats his message that the artist portrays the particular and universal concepts, with the statement "the work of the Sthapaka is a creation similar to that of the Prajapati" (that which created the universe).Non-theistic Jaina scholars such as Jnansundar, states John Cort, have argued the significance of murti along the same lines, asserting that "no matter what the field – scientific, commercial, religious – there can be no knowledge without an icon", images are part of how human beings learn and focus their thoughts, icons are necessary and inseparable from spiritual endeavors in Jainism.

While murti are an easily and commonly visible aspect of Hinduism, they are not necessary to Hindu worship. Among Hindus, states Gopinath Rao, one who has realized Self (Soul, Atman) and the Universal Principle (Brahman, god) within himself, there is no need for any temple or divine image for worship. Those who have yet to reach this height of realization, various symbolic manifestations through images, idols and icons as well as mental modes of worship are offered as one of the spiritual paths in the Hindu way of life. This belief is repeated in ancient Hindu scriptures. For example, the Jabaladarshana Upanishad states:

शिवमात्मनि पश्यन्ति प्रतिमासु न योगिनः |

अज्ञानं भावनार्थाय प्रतिमाः परिकल्पिताः || ५९ ||

- जाबालदर्शनोपनिषत्

A yogin perceives god (Siva) within himself,

images are for those who have not reached this knowledge. (Verse 59)

— Jabaladarsana Upanishad,

Why Murti-puja is an antidote to fundamentalism

Forgive me, Oh, Shiva, my three paap!

I came on a pilgrimage to Kashi forgetting that you are omnipresent.

In thinking about you I forgot that You are beyond thought.

In praying to You I forgot that You are beyond words.

Adi Shankaracharya

The injunctions from Judaism, Christianity and Islam forbid “graven images” in which a key distinction is made between the concept of a “creator” who is transcendent, separate and distinct from “His” creation. All “worship” is reserved for the creator alone; it is a serious offense to worship anything other than the creator. This leads to iconoclasm, literally. The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, for instance, was no random act of vandalism. It was duly authorized by the Supreme Court of the Islamic government of Afghanistan constituted by the Taliban. “But-parasti” is a constant danger and the Islamic Court had ruled for the Bamiyan’s destruction fearing a return of the natives to paganism. All Abrahamic fundamentalists are in a constant fight against this ever-present danger of a return to paganism. Unfortunately, this fundamentalism creates idols that are worse than those it seeks to break.

This idea of having “no idols” exists in denial of human psychology and is stuck with the transcendent creator concept. What does it mean to “worship” and what is an idol? The injunction that worship is to be reserved for the creator-concept obscures a simple understanding of worship. Whatever you revere, respect, put “on a pedestal”, give your attention to—that is the object of your worship. The mind is constantly in the worship of one thing or another. Those are your idols.

Teenagers may put posters of rock stars in their rooms. The stars are often called teen idols. You may put up a poster of Sachin Tendulkar or Beckham, that’s who you revere, look up to, idolize. Those are your idols. Or you may put a lot of attention on your car, you get really upset if someone scratches it, that is your idol. You could put up a small representation of your car and make an altar for it but that is not necessary. You have already created an altar for your car in your garage.

The most powerful idols are not physical. The concepts the mind clings to are the most powerful idols.

The idol is that which is at the center of your mind’s attention. The most powerful idols are not physical. The concepts the mind clings to are the most powerful idols. Think you are “secular”, “atheistic”? For you money may be most important, that is what you obsess over. You can make an image of Kubera, the god of wealth, and worship it, it is the same thing. Kubera is already in your mind and he is the object of your worship. Or it may be sex instead. Then you worship Kama deva, the god of sensory pleasure. It is just a way to name it. Or your idol may be your job, or it may be your “cause”. Or the secularism-concept may be your idol, you would get very upset if someone blasphemes against it. The red flag of revolution may be your idol. Every morning American public school children pay obeisance to the American Flag. That is their idol. This is why its burning or desecration causes such consternation. Neither your imagined “atheism” nor your injunctions against “false gods” frees you from these gods that are your idols. “Thou shalt not make graven images” from your Holy Books does not work either.

In fact, your Holy Books are your biggest idols. The Sikhs will fan their book, is the book feeling too hot? In Pakistan, a woman was lynched for allegedly burning pages of the Koran for the sin of blasphemy. Why this attachment to ink and pulp, is this not an idol? When you make your Holy Book into the “Word of God” that you are willing to die for, and willing to kill for, know that it is the biggest idol. “Book parasti”, getting stuck on a book, any book, is worse than “but parasti.” It is simply another concept for your mind. A fundamentalist is someone that has made their book their idol. If they really take it seriously, they get stuck on a concept. That idol can rule their mind and dissociate themselves from their own humanity and selves. Missionaries stuck on converting people because a book told them to “make disciples of all nations” create cultural violence on the dictates of their idol. While the faithful rail against the depiction of the Prophet, a hair of the Prophet, hazrat bal, gets housed in a big mosque. Wahabbis and ISIS demolish such shrines in the constant battle against creeping paganism or shirk. But the concept of shirk is yet another idol of the mind.

All Abrahamic fundamentalists are in a constant fight against this ever-present danger of a return to paganism. Unfortunately, this fundamentalism creates idols that are worse than those it seeks to break.

The railing against idol-worship by Abrahamic religions is futile. It just shifts their idols from certain forms to other ones like “Holy Books”. What you resist persists. The mind seeks to hold on to something. Deprived of some forms it goes towards others. The blasphemy of criticizing or, Allah forbid, burning a Holy Book comes back with twice the vehemence. Destroying idols comes from fundamentalism and fans fundamentalism. Indic traditions, whether Buddhist, Jain or Hindu, all used iconic images. The construction of Sikhism as a “religion” in the Abrahmic mold, birthed by colonial scholarship, cast it in opposition to “idol-worshipping, caste-ridden” Hindus. This bred a certain fundamentalism. Even the Arya Samaj, which had a big influence on the RSS, created fundamentalist tendencies in its deprecation of murti-puja.

Till the mind is truly liberated, it will always have idols. We construct the world with layer upon layer of concepts. Enlightenment is freedom from these concepts, to see reality as it is. But very few people are at that stage where they can be truly free of concepts, their idols. Saying do not worship idols does not make it so. The mind clings to something, even if it is the concept of not having idols. That too is in idol. So what is the way out?

In fact, your Holy Books are your biggest idols.

Indic traditions accepted the fact that the mind clings to idols. The first step towards any freedom is accepting the reality of bondage. Rejection of idols is an ignorant denial of the tendency of the mind. Acceptance is the first step towards freedom. And when you accept that the mind clings to idols you can then consciously choose what will be your idol. The idol inside your mind is often more harmful than the idol outside it. The outside form can serve to focus the mind. So the sages gave us certain forms to anchor the outward attention and to elevate it.

A murti, literally, is a divine form, from murat or form. What makes it divine? Certain forms are chosen for their effect on the mind, a visual composition, much like a musical composition can affect the mind through the listening. Forms that embody positive qualities like love, compassion, wisdom, knowledge, courage, and strength, help orient the mind to these qualities. But is a murti simply a beautiful sculpture like a musical composition? What makes it sacred? The qualities it invokes in the mind makes it sacred. And we make it sacred. We make it sacred with our attention, by sanctifying it. We install it in a proper manner, we chant mantras to imbue it with our power, the power of our attention, of our aastha. We have chosen to elevate it, to put that form on a pedestal. And then we connect to it through the ritual of puja.

When we do puja we use the five elements in a conscious way. All five—space, air, fire, water, earth are present in the puja. This connects us with the manifest. Rather than getting the mind stuck in a concept, puja brings that attention to the present moment. We worship the divine with those elements and that allows us to be human and connected to the entire universe. A murti does not ask its followers to destroy the idols of others or wage war on non-believers, heathens and kafirs. That requires text. Fundamentalism cannot exist without text. Fundamentalist movements from ISIS to Al Qaeda to the Southern Baptists all draw the literate and educated, literally interpreting their texts.

When we see the entire universe as part of one consciousness we start to be free of fundamentalism that divides the world into us and them into believers and non-believers, into profane and sacred. Sacred is what we have chosen to be sacred and when we choose wisely that which we have chosen brings us back to our self, to the self where we are all connected. So the act of going out with our attention to the elements brings us back as we worship a divine form. The mind is always choosing idols, whether a movie star, or money, clothes, cars. All this has an effect on our consciousness. Not all these idols elevate our consciousness. Whatever form we choose, we imbue the qualities of that form. Worship is attention. So when we are paying attention to divine forms we become elevated. The sages cognized these forms aware of what would help the mind. A concept can come in the way of that experience.

Indic traditions accepted the fact that the mind clings to idols. The first step towards any freedom is accepting the reality of bondage. Rejection of idols is an ignorant denial of the tendency of the mind.

When the mind is truly free it would not need idols to hold on to. But who is at that stage? For sure, none of those that rail against idols. If one is not enlightened there will always be idols. If one is enlightened, there is nothing to rail against. Idols, whether external or internal, are equally part of the lila and one can simply observe and enjoy. Idol-breaking is an act of ignorance. Those who are incensed with idols and wish to be iconoclasts can start with the idols they have made from their Holy Books. It would help move the world away from fundamentalism of texts and of worship of the “One True God.”

BR Ambedkar: Slayer of All Gods

Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Pratap Bhanu Mehta is president of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He is one of India's most popular columnists and public intellectuals

He challenges the illusions about power and democracy, wealth and violence, Hinduism and tradition, nationalism and justice, and about all that metaphysical cant. He is the mirror in which we dare not look at ourselves. His presence is a constant reminder of our bad conscience and bad faith

ANNIVERSARIES are usually moments of stock taking, assessing achievements and failures. In the case of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, such an exercise would be both presumptuous and foolish. With many great leaders, we assess how they measure up to standards and ideals of a civilisation. In Ambedkar’s case, the reverse is true. He is the yardstick to which a whole civilisation must measure up. We don’t judge him by our ideals; he should be the ideal by which we judge ourselves. In engaging with Ambedkar, the question is not of assessing him; it is of assessing ourselves, and trying to understand why we continue to avoid confronting his bracing call to justice, his advocacy of reason, the depth of his institutional imagination. He is the mirror in which we dare not look at ourselves; his presence is a constant reminder of our bad conscience a bad faith.

Writing about Ambedkar is difficult for a number of reasons. There is the prosaic matter that scholarship has not served him well. He is still awaiting a great biography. Except for sporadic efforts, some in Marathi, there are few annotated or authoritative editions of his work. His correspondence remains scattered and inaccessible to varying degrees, caught between various issues of institutional ownership. If there is one desideratum of his 125th anniversary, it would be to produce authoritative editions of all his works, papers and correspondence. Even if you plough through all his works, it is hard to get to know the individual with the intimacy that we have with Nehru and Gandhi. Scholarship, institutional power and a thicket of social support and contemporary memoirs have given Gandhi and Nehru scholarly scaffolding. Ambedkar has to shine through the veil of relative neglect.

No attempt to marginalise Ambedkar can combat his blazing political and moral power. He is the only leader of his generation who has more than religious significance for millions of followers: he is deified and memorialised across the bylanes of Dalit colonies in a way that begs comparison, not with ordinary statesmen, but religious revolutions of the past. ‘Jai Bhim’, the liturgical greeting of the Dalit movement, is quietly but surely becoming more potent a force than ‘Jai Siya Ram’. He is no longer merely a leader, but a prophet and a redeemer.

Ambedkar’s most telling charge against Nehru was that his Discovery of India, as it were, draws a kind of veil over injustice; and he often openly accuses Nehru of Brahmanism

Prophets are also difficult to write about for two opposite sets of reasons. For followers, the deification and hagiography that Ambedkar had warned about can close deep engagement; Ambedkar becomes an authority rather than someone one thinks with. There is also a pall of suspicion over writing about Ambedkar. For non-Dalits, there is a psychological sense in which they are not entitled to write about him. For decades, he was the disconcerting figure we chose to ignore. It is as if a society does its level best to marginalise a figure, and then jumps on his bandwagon when he succeeds despite them. There is also the suspicion that attempts to use him are also attempts to tame and contain him. Reverence to Ambedkar is the easy facile gesture that prevents us from confronting his radicalism. This is apparent, for instance, in the BJP’s appropriation of Ambedkar. It says something about the way in which Congress marginalised him that the BJP’s attempts at least seem a political gesture of some sort. At least he is now spoken of more. But the gesture highlights not just the limits of appropriation. It also shows how in bowing our head to him we prevent him from piercing our soul.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently made a well-articulated call, when laying a Foundation stone for an Ambedkar Memorial, to see Ambedkar as more than a sectarian leader of Dalits. There is an obvious sense in which this is true: anyone who cares about justice and democracy cannot fail to benefit from his brilliance. But the claim that he is more than a leader of Dalits alone should not be a facile gesture. It would need to ask the deeper question of what would have to be true for all of us to be entitled to claim him as our leader as well. Ambedkar spoke universal truths. But he had no doubt whatsoever that the right to claim him had to be earned. Only when Dalits are emancipated will it be possible to claim that right. If we want to claim him as a leader of more than Dalits, the onus is on us to pass the test he would have set.

There is often a justified fear amongst Dalits that the gesture of treating him as more than a Dalit leader comes at the cost of blunting his radicalism. Non-Dalits become comfortable with him by blunting the piercingly clinical anger he always displays against injustice. This anger is even more direct in his Marathi speeches than his English texts. Indeed, making injustice visible is the abiding thread of his career. No cause, not nation or power, culture or wealth, that draws even the slightest veil over injustice is worthy of allegiance. He is often accused by critics like Arun Shourie of not being a nationalist. His greatness was to insist that a nation that did not have its foundations in justice was not a nation at all. He chafed against the fact that almost all ideology was a ruse to render oppression of Dalits invisible, to cloud its visceral presence under a fog of abstraction. The raw violence, the duplicitous oppression, the daily humiliation, inflicted on Dalits is something we turn our gaze away from. Raw violence against Dalits was never fully acknowledged, or if acknowledged, its significance was minimised by a fog of mendacity and defensiveness. His complaint against Nehru, perhaps even more searing than his indictment of Gandhi, was just this: he had no ability to acknowledge the centrality of this violence to Indian society. He wrote, ‘Turn to Jawaharlal Nehru. He draws inspiration from the Jeffersonian Declaration: but he has never expressed any shame or remorse about the condition of sixty million untouchables. Has he anywhere referred to them in the torrent of literature that comes out of his pen?’ There is something to the charge that Ambedkar constantly levels against ‘Touchables’: ‘They just don’t get it.’ It is not clear that we do either.

What makes his anger productive is that it never shades into vengeance: it is always a form of pointed social critique. But his own lack of vengeance has become an excuse to de-radicalise him. There are two issues here. One is the issue of Ambedkar’s deep thinking on the relationship between ends and means, which we will touch upon later. But there is amongst Dalits, rightly, a sense that the lack of vengeance in Ambedkar has become an excuse for our lack of genuine anger at the structural oppression in which society traps Dalits. He, rightly, in his engagement with Gandhi, was offended by the idea that Dalit liberation would be anything less than their empowerment. Gandhi’s construal of it as a problem for upper castes was in some measure a ruse just to deny that empowerment. This is not the occasion to go over the Gandhi- Ambedkar debate (those interested can look up DR Nagaraj’s great writing on the subject, The Flaming Feet and Other Essays: The Dalit Movement in India, still the best thing available). But Ambedkar’s emphasis that Dalits would not play passive victims has become an excuse to forget the extent to which they continue to be victimised; his advocacy of constitutional politics has become a ruse to limit Dalit emancipation to facile constitutional gestures. Ambedkar’s own writing, if you are honest, leaves you gutted and defenceless. By the strange alchemy of appropriation he has been made into a safe rather than disconcerting figure. He is an object of consensus when it comes to invoking a figure to be revered. In truth, he is at the heart of the most fundamental conflicts over the soul of India.II

Ambedkar disconcerts at so many levels. Of all the leaders of his generation, his clarity is the most bracing. He is unsurpassed in astute marshalling of facts and logic. There is, unlike Nehru, never a trace of sentimentality in any of his arguments. This is true in his early doctoral writings. It is also a feature of his incredibly wide ranging economic analysis, his work as a legislator, both in the Bombay Legislative Assembly and the Constituent Assembly. His erudition, learning and range of references are unmatched. If you want a feast of relentless logic and unblinkered clarity, simply turn to his Thoughts on Pakistan, which to date remains the most clear-eyed, take-no-prisoners view of the subject. It is a tract that is selectively quoted by both Hindu nationalists and proponents of Pakistan. But it was in its own way, a reduction ad absurdum of the logic of each position. Ambedkar also disconcerts because at some level, his positions are constantly exposing the hypocrisy of our own. I do not mean this in a superficial sense that he always reminds us of the reality of injustice. I mean it in the deeper sense that he takes any ideal and shows how we do not fully follow through its conclusions.

His most telling charge against Gandhi is not just that Gandhi failed to do justice to Dalits. Gandhi in his view had certainly employed non-violence in the cause of immoral ends of blunting Dalit demands. Gandhi also failed to do justice to the ideal of non-violence in a deeper sense. This was the idea that for someone who was a proponent of non-violence, there was an incredible psychological coercion at the heart of Gandhi’s tactics; and he even had the temerity to suggest that some of it was directed inward. It is a measure of Gandhi that he probably would have accepted some truth in this charge. The claim that in a constitutional culture satyagrahya could be a form of violence, a narcissistic belief in one’s own truth without acknowledging the reality of difference, was a telling charge. Ambedkar’s belief in constitutional methods in the face of the experience of injustice was at least as much if not a more radical expression of non- violence than Gandhi could ever imagine. It takes an immense and different kind of courage to not convert the deepest kind of oppression into a call for cathartic violence. In many ways it is Ambedkar who tied India into a deeper form of non-violence than Gandhi did, by committing Dalits to a repertoire of constitutionalism— a fact some Dalit radicals rue has tied their hands.Gandhi in Ambedkar’s view had certainly employed nonviolence in the cause of immoral ends of blunting Dalit demands. Gandhi also failed to do justice to the ideal of non-violence in a deeper sense

His most telling charge against Nehru was that his Discovery of India, as it were, draws a kind of veil over injustice; and he often openly accuses Nehru of Brahmanism. But more tellingly, Ambedkar is one of the few leaders of his generation who understood the deep transformative effects of wealth on society. This was not just from the idea that while renunciation could be a meaningful gesture for upper castes, it was something of a sick joke to call on those who were dispossessed to practice it.

It stemmed from a unique sociological appreciation of wealth that all those trying to modernise India ignore at their peril. One of his most remarkable essays is a critique of Bertrand Russell’s Reconstruction of Society. He chided the aristocratic Russell for his platitudinous critique of the love of money. Ambedkar writes, ‘Neither does the restatement of the evils of “love of money” by Russell add any philosophic weight to its historic value... The misconception arises from the fact that he criticises the love of money without inquiring into the purpose of it. In a healthy mind, it may be urged, there is no such thing as a love of money in the abstract. Love of money is always for something, and it is the purpose embodied in that something that will endow it with credit or shame....Thus even love of money as a pursuit may result in a variety of character.’ This alignment of money with variety, and its absence with a possible dead uniformity, has more plausibility than easy critiques of avarice that come from a flippant moralism. So Ambedkar disconcerts. He stretches non-violence to its constitutional logic more than Gandhi; modernity to its association with variety more than Nehru; and his historical consciousness to the exploration of dark and evil spaces more than anyone else. In doing so, he exposes the limits of our allegiances to our own convictions.

The deep discomfort Ambedkar still causes, however, comes from a claim that is central to the contemporary struggle over the soul of India. The first was his claim of the centrality of violence to the constitution of Hindu society. Violence was not an aberration, a flotsam that could be cleared up to reveal the bright and placid waters of Hindu society underneath. It was central to its identity and functioning. There is no skirting around the fact that for Ambedkar, justice required declaring a war of sorts on Hinduism. As he wrote in his reply to Gandhi, ‘I would like to assure the Mahatma that it is not the mere failure of Hindus and Hinduism which has produced in me the feelings of disgust and contempt. I am disgusted with Hindus and Hinduism because I am convinced that they cherish wrong ideals and lead a wrong social life. My quarrel with Hindus and Hinduism is not over the imperfections of their social conduct. It is much more fundamental. It is over their ideals.’This pointed declaration makes Ambedkar so central to contemporary struggles. The project of achieving justice was not simply a matter of reforming a tradition, making it live up to its ideals. Justice would require whole-scale destruction of a tradition. As a new Dalit consciousness gains strength on Indian campuses, this is arguably going to be the single biggest cultural fault line to emerge in contemporary India. The emerging conflict between Ambedkar- Periyar activists on the one hand and ABVP on the other gives a whiff of this undercurrent, and why student politics is becoming even more intense on issues of identity. It is true that what Ambedkar had in mind was Brahmanism, the most astonishing and imprisoning ideological structure ever invented. Even non-Brahmanical modes of Hindu articulation were so infected with its vice-like grip that it had to be dismantled before justice even becomes a possibility.

Justice would require wholescale destruction of a tradition. As a new Dalit consciousness gains strength on Indiancampuses, this is arguably going to be the single biggest cultural fault line to emerge in contemporary India

A large part of Ambedkar’s oeuvre that still repays close reading is his diagnostic: his relentless attempt to understand what produced such a diabolically oppressive structure as caste. Many of his theses are acute in their sociological insight and historical penetration. He rejected the Aryan Invasion theory of subjugation. He rejected all race-based explanations. He was particularly scornful of functional explanations of caste, since caste involved an imprisoning hierarchy of functionaries, not functions. This is not the occasion to go into Ambedkar’s strengths as an Indologist or historian, which, as Arvind Sharma noted in an important article, ‘BR Ambedkar, on the Aryan invasion and the Emergence of the Caste System in India’, are considerable. But two large claims emerge from his analysis. The first is that, whichever way we cut it, material or functional explanations could not by themselves explain the peculiarity of caste: it was at base a diabolical series of representations, imposed by a priestly class, as an act of power. It was self perpetuating through its denial to Untouchables of all three means of advancement: power, wealth and education. It is diabolical in creating a series of gradations in society where adjacent classes oppress each other. It revels in permanent division. The moral rage at Brahmanism comes from precisely this fact: that there is no possible functional justification for the order they created. It was an imposition of power, pure and simple. This power operated through a particular conceptual ordering of reality, and that entire conceptual ordering had to be dismantled for liberation to be possible.

Rather than frontally confronting this point, almost all Hindu engagement with caste begins with an apologia of some sort or the other: ‘Caste was functional at some point,’ we intone; ‘The social reality of caste did not correspond to the ideal’, as if caste could ever be a justifiable ideal; ‘There was a lot more flexibility and mobility,’ as if that can excuse the general loathsomeness of the system. ‘Caste was based on worth, not birth.’ In the end, even the slightest defensiveness of caste is a ruse to blunt its sheer vileness as a social system.

Or even worse: apologists defensively argue that Hinduism affirmed equality. This equality was a metaphysical abstraction, quite compatible with an oppressive social order. For Ambedkar, the Purusa Sukta was a late interpolation in the Vedas. But the lesson he drew from it is that metaphysical categories always come braided with social hierarchy: no amount of allegorical reading of the Vedas or the Gita could get away from the fact that the transcendental was always aligned in the service of social hierarchy. Any attempt to detach the two was an exercise in bad faith. So what’s at stake in Ambedkar’s engagement with Hinduism was not just a social critique; it’s the claim that this social critique would require felling an entire intellectual structure. If you are brutally honest about the crisis of Indian intellectual traditions, you have to acknowledge the fact that this crisis has its roots not in Western delegitimisation, as potent as that might have been, but in the eruption of the ‘social question’. With what straight face, what act of good faith, could you defend an intellectual tradition at whose core was an oppressive, hierarchical and segmented social system? What does one make of a tradition whose intellectual radicalism almost always ends up serving the ends of social conservatism in one form or the other?

The nationalist movement was the last intellectual gasp of a project that thought it was possible to transcend tradition without making tradition despicable; it was possible to reform in order to preserve. Ambedkar threw a gauntlet to that project: the abolition of religion was necessary to the abolition of slavery

This is not the place to settle the intellectual argument over the relationship between the transcendental and the social. And certainly a critique can be made of Ambedkar’s reading of philosophy in a socially reductionist way. But just how sensitive an issue this is for many of those who claim to defend Hinduism can be gauged from the fact that anyone who throws a spotlight on the question of power and hierarchy in traditional intellectual constructions is immediately seen as suspect. The intensity of the recent Hindutva charge against Sheldon Pollock, for example, does not come from his being Western, it comes from the allegation that he reads a tradition through the way it structures relations of power. To make the question of power the defining hallmark of a tradition, the yardstick by which it is judged is Ambedkar’s singular achievement. There is no question that the contest over Ambedkar is over the very possibility of rescuing Hinduism from this moral taint of power through and through; in that sense, his critique is the most radical that anyone in Indian civilisation has ever professed.

The critique is made all the more disturbing by Ambedkar’s moral psychological excavation of Hindu identity. He peels the layers of violence and resentment that go into the construction of that identity. He was amongst the first thinkers to link the question of gender violence and communalism in relation to caste. In his early essays, he rightly pointed out not only that endogamy was central to caste, but that control of women, widows and unmarried girls in particular would be central to the maintenance of caste identity. As he put it, the problem of caste ‘is the problem of surplus men plus surplus women’. In this sense, regulation of women was central to caste. His unkindest cut of all was to argue that communalism was the mechanism for the creation of a Hindu identity. As he acerbically put it, a caste has no consciousness of being affiliated to another caste, unless it is in the context of Hindu-Muslim riots. In short, Hindus needed an ‘Other’ to consolidate their identity in the face of internal division.

The centrality of ahimsa in the Indian tradition was not a description of our non-violent history. Quite the contrary, it was a testament to the centrality of violence. The sociologist Orlando Patterson had once argued that a proper discourse on freedom arose in Greece precisely because it was a society constituted by slavery: freedom was valourised precisely because it was needed as a negation of the existing social reality of slavery. Similarly, the discourse on ahimsa was more a sign of violence inherent in society. And even when Brahmanism responded to violence by internalising the Buddhist critique, it needed a totem. Ambedkar linked the existence of untouchability with beef; the peculiar horror at the Untouchable can only be explained by associating them with beef eating. He was concerned in part with explaining the intensity of the hate against Untouchables. This was not a mere relation of inequality or oppression: it served the function of securing purity. Again, anyone who does not know this history will fail to understand what the conflict over beef on Indian college campuses is about.Violence was not an aberration, a flotsam that could be cleared up to reveal the bright and placid waters of Hindu society underneath. It was central to its identity and functioning. For Ambedkar, justice required declaring a war of sorts on Hinduism

In short, Ambedkar’s project was the biggest, most daring act of the systematic unmasking of any civilisation that anyone has seen. It involved the ‘revaluation of values’, detecting the true springs of vice behind the profession of virtue. These Nietzschean references are not entirely out of place, because it was just that. He was claiming that behind the valourisation of ahimsa lay a deep himsa; behind the interdictions of ritual lay the most serious mutilation of human personality anyone had seen; behind the homilies of a unified cosmic order lay the deep divisions of society. Behind the solicitude for the cow lay a visceral hate for beef eaters, as if the very gentleness towards the cow was merely a sublimated form of cruelty towards others. If you have ever wondered why defenders of the cow can be so callous towards other human beings, read Ambedkar. His critique stings, not because it is a lament that we have deviated from an ideal. It is the claim that the ideal has, at every step, violence and cruelty behind it. He had lamented that the hold of Brahmanism was such that India never had a Voltaire. It had an Erasmus maybe, partial reformers working within the paradigm of existing social structures. But no one who could radically question the legitimacy of the whole edifice.Reservations now, in a sense, depend on a majoritarian alliance of Dalits and Other Backward Castes. It gives reservations a political solidity. But it has obscured the ethical specificity of the Dalit condition

To take Ambedkar seriously would be to take this critique seriously. But the response to Ambedkar has been, first, resistance: with the grand exception of his participation in the drafting of the Constitution, there was a systematic attempt to marginalise him. Then it was defensiveness: the appalling lengths to which we will go to deny the violence inflicted on Dalit bodies, or the continual denial of opportunities for empowerment. When defensiveness is no longer a political option, there is appropriation. It is hard to imagine RSS workers who chant his name coming to terms with his critique of Hinduism. His Riddles in Hinduism was, after all, banned. But it is appropriation that seeks to tame or disguise the brutal truth Ambedkar was telling us about ourselves. Defenders of Hinduism would do better to acknowledge the truth of his critique; at least their response will be in better faith. The nationalist movement was the last intellectual gasp of a project that thought it was possible to transcend tradition without making tradition despicable; it was possible to reform in order to preserve. Ambedkar threw a gauntlet to that project: the abolition of religion was necessary to the abolition of slavery. You do not reform to preserve; you have to destroy to liberate.IV

What kind of an intellectual life can a nation construct after such knowledge? Ambedkar himself had no doubt that the destruction of Brahmanism was central to any project of retrieval or justice. But despite his own turn to Buddhism, the question of tradition remains a vexed one. Perhaps one key to understanding him is to look at the poignant and moving dedication to ‘What Congress and the Gandhi Have Done to Untouchables’. This dedication is unusual because it is one of the rare moments in Ambedkar’s writing where he seems to let down his emotional guard. The only other moments are when he speaks of the immeasurable tragedy of the loss of his children: ‘With the loss of our kids the salt of our life is gone, and as the Bible says, “ye are the salt of the Earth, if it leaveth the Earth, wherewith shall it be salted.”’ The dedication is to a person addressed as ‘F’. It begins with a quotation from the Book of Ruth, a dialogue between Naomi and Ruth. The quotation ends with ‘thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will be buried; the LORD do so to me and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.’ Ambedkar then goes on in a passage worth quoting in full:

I know how, when we used to read the Bible together, you would affected by the sweetness and pathos of this passage. I wonder if you remember the occasion when we fell into discussion about the value of Ruth’s statement “The people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” I have a clear memory of it and can well recall our difference of opinion. You maintained that its value lay in giving expression to the true sentiments appropriate to a perfect wife. I put forth the view that the passage had a sociological value and its true interpretation was the one given by Prof. Smith, namely, that it helped to distinguish modern society from ancient society. Ruth’s statement “Thy people shall be my people and thy God my god” defined ancient society by its most dominant characteristic namely that it was a society of man plus God while modern society is a society of men only (pray remember that in men I include women also). My view was not then acceptable to you. But you were interested enough to urge me to write a book on this theme. I promised to do so. For as an oriental I belong to a society which is still ancient and in which God is a much more important member than man is. The part of the conversation which is important to me at this stage is the promise. I then made to dedicate the book to you if I succeeded in writing one. Prof. Smith’s interpretation had opened a new vista before me and I had every hope of carrying out my intention. The chances of developing the theme in a book form are now very remote. As you know, I am drawn in the vortex of politics which leaves no time for literary pursuits. I do not know when I shall be out of it. The feeling of failure to fulfil my promise has haunted me ever since the war started. Equally distressing was the fear that you might pass away as a war casualty and not be there to receive it if I were to have time to complete it. But the unexpected has happened. There you are, out of the throes of death. Here is a book ready awaiting dedication. This happy conjunction of two such events has suggested to me the idea that rather than postpone it indefinitely I might redeem my word, by dedicating this book which I have succeeded in bringing to completion. Though different in theme it is not an unworthy substitute. Will you accept it?It is hard to imagine RSS workers who chant his name coming to terms with his critique of Hinduism. But it is appropriation that seeks to tame or disguise the brutal truth Ambedkar was telling us about ourselves

This dedication is of deep interest because there is an almost unbearable tenderness and sense of commitment in this dedication. It shows the state of neglect of Ambedkar that we know almost nothing about the person ‘F’ to whom this is dedicated. Dhananjay Keer’s biography of Ambedkar describes her simply as Ambedkar’s ‘Bible teacher’. But more philosophically, Ambedkar lays his cards on the table. The gulf between the modern world and the ancient world is identified as the centrality of ‘man’. The striking sentence, ‘I belong to a society which is still ancient and in which God is a much more important member than man is’, is said with a deep sense of the tragedy of this condition; the claim that anything higher than ‘man’ is an erasure of humanity, a condition that we need to overcome. Ambedkar was out to slay all gods.

His embrace of Buddhism needs to be seen in this context. His quest to place humanity as the centre and measure of truth is relentless. It is so relentless that in slaying God, he wants to slay all metaphysics. Buddhism served many purposes for Ambedkar. It was the central axis of moral and historical conflict around which Indian history was organised, the alternative tradition that unmasked but was subjugated by Brahmanism. Conversion to Buddhism was also a modality of social protest. Buddhism could also be recast as a revolutionary social ethic: combining freedom and equality and a social harmony. The Sangha was a possible model of a democratic organisation, of a people freely conjoined together in a relationship of harmony. Scholars have often remarked on the fact that his interest in Buddhism is shorn of his interest in metaphysics either of causality, self or karma. If you want to see the gulf in the sensibilities between two approaches to Buddhism, all you need to do is contrast the socialist leader Acharya Narendra Dev’s contemporaneous magnificent 500-page tome Baudhadharma Itihaas with Ambedkar’s Buddha and his Dhamma. Despite the fact that Narendra Dev was a socialist, he has almost no interest in Buddhism as a social ethic; Ambedkar by contrast has little interest in Buddhist metaphysics. In a sense this ‘encounter’ sums up India’s intellectual tragedy: on the one hand, a deep metaphysics without a social ethic; on the other, a social ethic that is deeply suspicious of metaphysics. This has become an impossible dialogue, the marker of an unresolved aporia in Indian intellectual traditions: a piety of metaphysics locked in a battle with a deep hermeneutics of suspicion. By his conversion to Buddhism, Ambedkar was saying: either one can have a just social ethic or be in thrall to a false metaphysics. One cannot have both. The act of conversion was a rescue of humanity.

If you have ever wondered why defenders of the cow can be so callous towards other human beings, read Ambedkar. His critique stings, not because it is a lament that we have deviated from an ideal. It is the claim that the ideal has, at every step, violence and cruelty behind it

Ambedkar is, for the most part, interested in Buddhism as his social ethic, his principle of fraternity read backward into the organisation of Sangha. But this is not an accident: if Buddha slayed ritual, Ambedkar wanted to slay any residue of metaphysics, where man simply becomes an effect of some larger force, or gets lost in an abstraction. It is no wonder that he repeated over and over again like a talisman that his lodestar was Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. He categorically went on to equate Fraternity with Truth Itself. He said, “Whatever is for fraternity and brotherhood is for truth.” After this, all inquiry needs one focal point itself: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. This is the only religion Ambedkar would countenance.

And it is Ambedkar’s radical embrace of this trinity that makes him a central figure in another struggle of our time: the struggle over the nature of democracy. His genius in helping draft the Constitution can sometimes blind us to his clear-eyed view of its limitations. As Aishwary Kumar has pointed out in an important recent book Radical Equality: Ambedkar, Gandhi and the Risk of Democracy (Stanford University Press), Ambedkar is a radical in many senses. He is radical because of his unsentimental and unsparing view of democracy. He is the only Indian thinker who made Grote’s phrase ‘constitutional morality’, a government marked by a combination of moral self restraint, deference to forms, and free discussion, his own. But this was only a ‘top dressing’ on an Indian soil which was essentially undemocratic. But he was quite clear that the maintenance of a constitutional form was ‘not quite the same thing as self government by the people’. In fact, he was prescient in warning that there were two limitations to constitutional morality. The first limitation ‘was that the form of administration must be appropriate to and in the same sense as the form of the constitution’. Indeed, this is perhaps one reason, as Madhav Khosla has argued, that there is such an emphasis on codification of administration within constitutional law in India. More importantly, almost as if he is directly admonishing us even 70 years later, ‘it is perfectly possible to pervert the constitution without changing its form by merely changing the form of administration and to make it inconsistent and opposed to the spirit of the constitution.’ Similarly, representative government was not necessarily responsive government. As he wrote in What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables, ‘By itself [universal suffrage] cannot bring about a government, in the sense of the government by the people and for the people.’ And finally, he understood the deepest contradiction of democracy: trying to institute a regime of political equality amidst deep social and economic inequality. This was a tension no democracy could survive for long.

In this climate, it is also worth reiterating his scepticism about privileging nationalism over justice. As he categorically states, ‘Nationality is not such a sacrosanct and absolute principle as to give it the character of a categorical imperative, overriding every other consideration.This radical critique of democracy makes him more than a conventional liberal. There is a temptation to think of Ambedkar as a radical republican of sorts: a republican in his belief in fraternity, a republican in his suspicion that economic inequality and genuine democracy can go easily together, and a republican in his belief that there can be any ground for authority other than one that is self imposed. But I think the appellation of ‘Republican’ to Ambedkar can be misleading in three respects. First, Ambedkar is relentlessly suspicious about the idea that the sovereignty of the people is a unitary thing. One of his reasons for reliance on liberal contrivances of checks and balances was this: that sovereignty cannot be a unitary thing, and therefore cannot be represented by anyone. Second, given the depravity of Indian social conditions, he had more faith in the state as source of social order than in virtue as the basis of social harmony. His relentless critique of decentralisation and localism, in part borne of a suspicion that it would simply empower local tyranny, was simultaneously a faith in the state’s ability to reconstruct society. And finally, though Ambedkar longs for fraternity, a quality of reciprocity between citizens, his fraternity does not have any of the exuberance of unity evidenced in most republican thought. Ambedkar is, in some profound sense, too much of a believer in individuality to risk losing it in the metaphysical unity of republicanism. In some ways, there is a hard-to-capture but fundamental loneliness to his sensibility that makes him stand at some distance from republicanism.

Ambedkar had no doubt that social justice would require the empowerment of Dalits, and this empowerment would require a share in all forms of power. As he sardonically remarked, other systems of exclusion marginalised excluded groups on one or two dimensions: exclusion from wealth, arms or education. The exclusion of Dalits was oppressive because it was along all three dimensions. It is not an accident that Ambedkar valued not just education as a means of empowerment; the creation and expansion of the Mahar Regiment, and creating a space for access to wealth were also instruments of power. These could not be secured without access to state power. His lifelong quest to secure equitable representation for Dalits was borne of this recognition. He was amongst the first to articulate the idea that the notion of merit needed ideological demystification: it was inherited privilege. That some of these platitudes still need to be reiterated is a testament to the degree to which we are still far from his ideals. There is no question that Dalits require continuing affirmative action of a radical kind. This is an elementary requirement of justice. But there is a little bit of an irony in the framing of reservations. One of the abiding passions of Ambedkar was his relentless insistence on the specificity of the Dalit experience. Indeed, one of the criticisms of his strategy was that this specificity made him less adept at making alliances with other groups. At the heart of this specificity was a particular experience of discrimination. It is for this reason that he wanted the acknowledgment of Dalits as a minority identity. One of the great ironies of the way reservations have unfolded is that both of these ideas have got lost to some degree. The expansion of a paradigm of reservations that was appropriate for Dalits to OBCs did two things simultaneously. In the ‘caste wars’, it obscured the specificity of Dalit history; it was a history that was appropriated by others, often even by Other Backward Castes directly instrumental in oppressing them. The extension of the metaphor of power sharing has made the category of discrimination all but invisible. It has replaced Ambedkar’s hope of cultivating a new ethical relationship into an open struggle for power and reactionary resistance. But it has also reworked the political basis for reservations. Reservations now, in a sense, depend on a majoritarian alliance of Dalits and Other Backward Castes. It gives reservations a political solidity. But it has obscured the ethical specificity of the Dalit condition. *** So Ambedkar is disconcerting because he challenges any politics of illusion: illusions about tradition, about power, about Hinduism, about democracy, about metaphysical cant. In this climate, it is also worth reiterating his scepticism about privileging nationalism over justice. As he categorically states, ‘Nationality is not such a sacrosanct and absolute principle as to give it the character of a categorical imperative, overriding every other consideration.’ But there is a profound pathos at the centre of his thinking: how could Ambedkar, who had seen farther into human depravity and oppression than anyone else, keep hope? It is to his eternal credit that he did not rely on any external crutches, the dialectic of history, the comforts of metaphysics, the consolations of religion, the certainties of a false scientism, to sustain hope against centuries of suffering. In one respect, he did resemble Gandhi: there is no basis for social action other than the wits of our own conscience. In another one of his poignant essays on ‘Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah’, he insisted:

As experience proves, rights are protected not by law but by the social and moral conscience of society. If social conscience is such that it is prepared to recognise the rights which law chooses to enact rights will be safe and secure. But if fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no Law, no Parliament, no judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the word. What is the use of fundamental rights to the Negroes in America, to the Jews in Germany and to the Untouchables in India? As Burke said there is no method found for punishing the multitude. Law can punish a single, solitary recalcitrant criminal. It can never operate against a whole body of people who are determined to defy it. Social conscience—to use the language of Coleridge—that calm and incorruptible legislator of the soul without whom all other powers would, “meet in mere oppugnancy, is the only safeguard of all rights fundamental or non fundamental”. This can be a reassuring or a deeply disconcerting thought, depending on your point of view. The idea that in the final analysis we have no resources other than our own conscience can leave us defenceless, particularly, as Ambedkar knew, when that conscience was so easily overridden by false beliefs. Ambedkar does not, beyond a point, have a theory of political praxis; in a way, that made him politically less effective if measured by conventional yardsticks of political success. But what he had in ample measure was the power of his conscience against the depravations of a whole civilisation. He once said of himself, “I am like a rock that does not melt but turns the course of rivers.” He certainly bent the course of a whole civilisation towards the arc of justice. But the resulting conflicts and reverberations are yet to be fully felt: they are unfolding in the demand for liberation and violent resistance playing out in Indian society. Ambedkar is not everyone’s thinker, because we have not done enough to deserve him. He is everyone’s thinker in only one sense: he stands as a permanent admonishment to us all.

डा. अम्बेडकर की 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ

डा. बी आर अम्बेडकर द्वारा

धम्म परिवर्तन के अवसर पर

अनुयायियों को दिलाई गयीं 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ

read these 22 vows in English here)

डा बी.आर. अम्बेडकर ने दीक्षा भूमि, नागपुर, भारत में ऐतिहासिक बौद्ध धर्मं में परिवर्तन के अवसर पर,15 अक्टूबर 1956 को अपने अनुयायियों के लिए 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ निर्धारित कीं.800000 लोगों का बौद्ध धर्म में रूपांतरण ऐतिहासिक था क्योंकि यह विश्व का सबसे बड़ा धार्मिक रूपांतरण था.उन्होंने इन शपथों को निर्धारित किया ताकि हिंदू धर्म के बंधनों को पूरी तरह पृथक किया जा सके.ये 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ हिंदू मान्यताओं और पद्धतियों की जड़ों पर गहरा आघात करती हैं. ये एक सेतु के रूप में बौद्ध धर्मं की हिन्दू धर्म में व्याप्त भ्रम और विरोधाभासों से रक्षा करने में सहायक हो सकती हैं.इन प्रतिज्ञाओं से हिन्दू धर्म,जिसमें केवल हिंदुओं की ऊंची जातियों के संवर्धन के लिए मार्ग प्रशस्त किया गया, में व्याप्त अंधविश्वासों, व्यर्थ और अर्थहीन रस्मों, से धर्मान्तरित होते समय स्वतंत्र रहा जा सकता है. प्रसिद्ध 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ निम्न हैं:

मैं ब्रह्मा, विष्णु और महेश में कोई विश्वास नहीं करूँगा और न ही मैं उनकी पूजा करूँगा

मैं राम और कृष्ण, जो भगवान के अवतार माने जाते हैं, में कोई आस्था नहीं रखूँगा और न ही मैं उनकी पूजा करूँगा

मैं गौरी, गणपति और हिन्दुओं के अन्य देवी-देवताओं में आस्था नहीं रखूँगा और न ही मैं उनकी पूजा करूँगा.

मैं भगवान के अवतार में विश्वास नहीं करता हूँ

मैं यह नहीं मानता और न कभी मानूंगा कि भगवान बुद्ध विष्णु के अवतार थे. मैं इसे पागलपन और झूठा प्रचार-प्रसार मानता हूँ

मैं श्रद्धा (श्राद्ध) में भाग नहीं लूँगा और न ही पिंड-दान दूँगा.

मैं बुद्ध के सिद्धांतों और उपदेशों का उल्लंघन करने वाले तरीके से कार्य नहीं करूँगा

मैं ब्राह्मणों द्वारा निष्पादित होने वाले किसी भी समारोह को स्वीकार नहीं करूँगा

मैं मनुष्य की समानता में विश्वास करता हूँ

मैं समानता स्थापित करने का प्रयास करूँगा

मैं बुद्ध के आष्टांगिक मार्ग का अनुशरण करूँगा

मैं बुद्ध द्वारा निर्धारित परमितों का पालन करूँगा.

मैं सभी जीवित प्राणियों के प्रति दया और प्यार भरी दयालुता रखूँगा तथा उनकी रक्षा करूँगा.

मैं चोरी नहीं करूँगा.

मैं झूठ नहीं बोलूँगा

मैं कामुक पापों को नहीं करूँगा.

मैं शराब, ड्रग्स जैसे मादक पदार्थों का सेवन नहीं करूँगा.

मैं महान आष्टांगिक मार्ग के पालन का प्रयास करूँगा एवं सहानुभूति और प्यार भरी दयालुता का दैनिक जीवन में अभ्यास करूँगा.

मैं हिंदू धर्म का त्याग करता हूँ जो मानवता के लिए हानिकारक है और उन्नति और मानवता के विकास में बाधक है क्योंकि यह असमानता पर आधारित है, और स्व-धर्मं के रूप में बौद्ध धर्म को अपनाता हूँ

मैं दृढ़ता के साथ यह विश्वास करता हूँ की बुद्ध का धम्म ही सच्चा धर्म है.

मुझे विश्वास है कि मैं फिर से जन्म ले रहा हूँ (इस धर्म परिवर्तन के द्वारा).

मैं गंभीरता एवं दृढ़ता के साथ घोषित करता हूँ कि मैं इसके (धर्म परिवर्तन के) बाद अपने जीवन का बुद्ध के सिद्धांतों व शिक्षाओं एवं उनके धम्म के अनुसार मार्गदर्शन करूँगा.

भारत में मूर्ती पूजा का इतिहास …लाला बौद्ध

प्राचीन अवैदिक मानव पहले आकाश, समुद्र, पहाड़, बादल, बारिश, तूफान, जल, अग्नि, वायु, नाग, सिंह आदि प्राकृतिक शक्तियों की शक्ति से परिचित था और वह जानता था कि यह मानव शक्ति से कहीं ज्यादा शक्तिशाली है, इसलिए वह इनकी प्रार्थना करता था. बाद में धीरे-धीरे इसमें बदलाव आने लगा. वह मानने लगा कि कोई एक ऐसी शक्ति है, जो इन सभी को संचालित करती है.

पूर्व वैदिक काल में वैदिक समाज जन इकट्ठा होकर एक ही वेदी पर खड़े रहकर ब्रह्म (ईश्वर) के प्रति अपना समर्पण भाव व्यक्त करते थे. वे यज्ञ द्वारा भी ईश्वर और प्रकृति तत्वों का आह्वान और प्रार्थना करते थे.

वेद काल में न तो मंदिर थे और न ही मूर्ति. इन्द्र और वरुण आदि देवताओं की स्तुतियां जरूर होती है, लेकिन उनकी मूर्तिपूजा नहीं होती थीं.

भारत में वैदिक काल के पतन और अनीश्वरवादी धर्म के उत्थान के बाद मूर्तिपूजा का प्रचलन शुरू हुआ.

अथर्ववेद की रचना के बाद वेदों में ईश्वर उपासना के दो रूप प्रचलित हो गए- साकार तथा निराकार. निराकारवादी प्रायः साकार उपासना या मूर्तिपूजा का विरोध करते हैं, पर वे यह भूल जाते हैं कि ऋषि-मनीषियों ने दोनों उपासना पद्धतियों का निर्माण मनुष्य के बौद्धिक स्तर की अनुकूलता के अनुरूप किया था.बौद्धकाल में बुद्ध और महावीर की मूर्ति‍यों को अपार जन-समर्थन मि‍लने के कारण विष्णु, राम और कृष्ण की मूर्तियां बनाई जाने लगीं.

शिवलिंग की पूजा का प्रचलन पुराणों की देन है. शिवलिंग पूजन के बाद धीरे-धीरे नाग और यक्षों की पूजा का प्रचलन हिन्दू-जैन धर्म में बढ़ने लगा.

मूर्तियां तीन तरह के लोगों ने बनाईं-

(1) जो वास्तु और खगोल विज्ञान के जानकार थे, उन्होंने तारों और नक्षत्रों के मंदिर बनाए. ऐसे दुनियाभर में सात मंदिर थे.

(2) उन्होंने जो अपने पूर्वजों या प्रॉफेट के मरने के बाद उनकी याद में मूर्ति बनाते थे.

(3) जिन्होंने अपने-अपने देवता गढ़ लिए थे. हर कबीले का एक देवता होता था. कुलदेवता और कुलदेवी भी होती थी.

शोधकर्ताओं के अनुसार अरब में मक्का में पहले बुद्ध की मूर्तियां रखी हुई थी और संपूर्ण अरब ही मूर्तिपूजकों का स्थान था. तुर्किस्तान पहले नागवंशियों का गढ़ था. यहां नागपूजा का प्रचलन था. उत्तरी तुर्किस्तान को पुराणों में काम्बोज कहा गया है. तुर्क कश्यप गोत्रिय नागवंशी हैं. भारत में तुर्कों ने राज किया है.

कृष्ण के काल में लोग इन्द्र नामक देवता से जरूर डरते थे. कृष्ण ने ही उक्त देवी-देवताओं के डर को लोगों के मन से निकाला था.

हिन्दू धर्म के धर्मग्रंथ वेद, उपनिषद और गीता भी मूर्ति पूजा को नहीं मानते हैं तो हिन्दू क्यों मूर्ति या पत्थर की पूजा करते हैं और इस पूजा का प्रचलन आखिर कैसे, क्यों और कब हुआ?

बुद्ध के परिनिर्वाण के बाद मूर्तिपूजा का प्रचलन बढ़ा और हजारों की संख्या में संपूर्ण देश में बौद्ध विहार बनने लगे. जिसमें बुद्ध की मूर्तियां रखकर उनकी पूजा होने लगी. इन मंदिरों में हिन्दू भी बड़ी संख्या में जाने लगा जिसके चलते बाद में राम और कृष्ण के मंदिर बनाए जाने लगे और इस तरह भारत में मूर्ति आधारित मंदिरों का विस्तार हुआ.

मनमाने मंदिरों से मनमानी पूजा-आरती आदि कर्मकांडों का जन्म हुआ, जो वेदसम्मत नहीं कहे जा सकते. इनको ब्राह्मण पुरोहितों ने अपने स्वार्थ में गढ़वाये हैं. परिणाम आपके सामने है. भारत में सबसे अधिक मूर्तियां हैं, मंदिर हैं, भारत के लोग सबसे ज्यादा अंधश्रद्धालु हैं, सबसे ज्यादा अंधविश्वासी हैं, सबसे ज्यादा अज्ञानी और निर्धन हैं.

वैदिक धर्मी, कब सनातनी बन गये? कब हिन्दू बन गये? आपको इसका कहीं भी स्पष्ट उल्लेख नहीं मिलता. क्योंकि ये एक छलावा है, षड़यंत्र है. सबसे पहले देश में बुद्ध की मूर्तियां और बुद्ध-विहार अस्तित्व में आये. पुष्यमित्र शुंग के शासन में आने के बाद बुद्धविहारों को मंदिरों में तथा बुद्ध की मूर्तियों को विष्णु, राम आदि की मूर्तियों में बदला गया, तथा नये-नये मंदिरों का असीमित निर्माण शुरू हुआ जो आज भी जारी है.

जय भीम

लाला बौद्ध

आर्य समाज में मूर्ति पूजा करना क्यों है गलत?

महर्षि दयानन्द के अनुसार मूर्ति-पूजा करना वैसा ही है जैसे एक चक्रवर्ती राजा को पूरे राज्य का राजा न मानकर एक छोटी सी झोपड़ी का स्वामी माना जाना

Jul 02, 2018 (FirstPost}

Sudhanshu Gaur

सनातन धर्म को मानने वाले हर रोज सुबह-शाम किसी न किसी देवी-देवता की पूजा करते हैं. हिंदू धर्म को मानने वाला किसी न किसी मूर्ति रूपी भगवान का उपासक है. किसी की राम में, किसी की कृष्ण में तो किसी की शंकर में आस्था है. इसके विपरीत महर्षि दयानंद द्वारा स्थापित आर्य समाज का मानना है कि मूर्ति पूजा नहीं करनी चाहिए या कह सकते हैं कि वह मूर्ति पूजा के खिलाफ हैं. आर्य समाज के अनुसार, मूर्ति पूजा करने वाला व्यक्ति अज्ञानी होता है.

आर्य समाज के ईश्वरीय ज्ञान वेद में मूर्ति पूजा को अमान्य कहा गया है. इसके पीछे कारण बताया जाता है कि ईश्वर का कोई आकार नहीं है और ना ही वो किसी एक जगह व्याप्त है. आर्य समाज के अनुसार ईश्वर दुनिया के कण-कण में व्याप्त है. इसलिए सृष्टि के कण-कण में व्याप्त ईश्वर को केवल एक मूर्ति में सीमित करना ईश्वर के गुण, कर्म और स्वभाव के खिलाफ है. ईश्वर हमारे हृदय में स्थित आत्मा में वास करते हैं. इसलिए भगवान की पूजा, प्रार्थना एवं उपासना के लिए मूर्ति अथवा मंदिर की कोई जरूरत नहीं है.

किसने की मूर्ति पूजा की शुरुआत

ऐसा माना जाता है कि भारत में मूर्ति पूजा की शुरुआत लगभग तीन हजार साल पहले जैन धर्म में हुई थी. जैन धर्म के समर्थकों ने अपने गुरुओं की मूर्ति पूजा कर इसकी शुरुआत की थी. जबकि उस समय तक हिंदू धर्म के शंकराचार्य ने भी मूर्ति पूजा का विरोध किया था, लेकिन शंकराचार्य की मृत्यु के बाद उनके समर्थकों ने उनकी ही पूजा शुरू कर दी, जिसके बाद हिंदू धर्म में भी मूर्ति पूजा शुरू हो गई.

महर्षि दयानंद के अनुसार मूर्ति-पूजा करना वैसा ही है जैसे एक चक्रवर्ती राजा को पूरे राज्य का राजा न मानकर एक छोटी सी झोपड़ी का स्वामी माना जाना. इसी तरह भगवान को भी संपूर्ण विश्व का स्वामी न मानकर सिर्फ उसी मंदिर का स्वामी माना जाना जिस मंदिर में उस भगवान की मूर्ति स्थापित है. इनके अनुसार चारों वेदों के 20589 के मंत्रो में से ऐसा कोई मंत्र नहीं है, जिसमें मूर्ति पूजा का जिक्र या समर्थन किया गया हो. जबकि इसके उलटा वेदों में वर्णित किया गया है कि भगवान की कोई मूर्ति नहीं हो सकती.

न तस्य प्रतिमाsअस्ति यस्य नाम महद्यस: – (यजुर्वेद अध्याय 32 , मंत्र 3)

मूर्ति पूजा के विरोध पीछे क्या है आर्य समाज का तर्क?

मूर्ति पूजा के विरोध में खड़े लोगों में सबसे पहले नाम आता है 'आर्य समाज' का. जिसकी स्थापना महर्षि दयानंद सरस्वती द्वारा अप्रैल 1875 में मुंबई में की गई थी. इस समाज के नियमों में ही है कि आप मूर्ति के उपासक नहीं हो सकते. गुरुकुल पौंधा देहरादून में धर्म विषय के आचार्य शिवदेव शास्त्री एक कहानी सुनाते हुए कहते हैं कि जब दयानंद सरस्वती अपने बाल्यकाल अवस्था में थे, और उनका नाम मूलशंकर हुआ करता था. वो शिव के बहुत बड़े भक्त हुआ करते थे. वो प्रत्येक सोमवार और शिवरात्रि को व्रत रखा करते थे.

इसी तरह एक बार शिवरात्रि के त्योहार पर रात को पूजा और भजन करने के बाद मूलशंकर अन्य सभी शिव भक्तों की तरह वहीं मंदिर में रुक गए. आधी रात के बाद जब बालक मूलशंकर की नींद खुली तो उन्होंने देखा कि शिवलिंग पर चढ़ाए हुए प्रसाद पर चूहे चढ़े हुए हैं. वो बताते है कि दयानंद सरस्वती के दिमाग में उसी समय यह बात खटकी की जो मूर्ति में समाया हुआ भगवान एक छोटे से चूहे से अपनी रक्षा नहीं कर सकता तो पूरे विश्व की क्या रक्षा करेगा?

इसी आधार पर आर्य समाज मूर्ति पूजा का पुरजोर विरोध करता है. बकौल, शिवदेव शास्त्री, महर्षि दयानंद सरस्वती के अनुसार मूर्ति-पूजा कोई सीढ़ी या माध्यम नहीं बल्कि एक गहरी खाई है. जिसमें गिरकर मनुष्य चकनाचूर हो जाता है और एक बार इस खाई में गिर जाता है वो इस खाई से आसानी से नहीं निकल सकता है.

(लेखक hindi.firstpost.com में इंटर्न हैं)

The Concept of Idolatry (Murthy Puja) in Hinduism

By Ravi Soni

In Hinduism , there are two school of thoughts ,”Adwaita” and “Daita”. Adwaita considers God as one and universal power. In “Daita” ,Vedas and other scriptures consider God in everything. Dwaita also considers that God is in Human being and he has shape same as Human Being. Human likes to see everyone like what they are. So they also shape God as Humans. Dwaita also goes beyond one step by considering each and every live element as God substance. Because ultimately Dwaita and Adwaita meets in the end.

You can not bound your thoughts by just one way that God can not be in idol. Who says God is only in Idol? Hindus say that God is also there in Idol. If we assume God to be in any Human being , and if that man does something against morals ,then the image of God can be deteriorated. So we assume God to be in Idol which in a way an effigy of God which “actually” dont do anything but in a spiritual way its supreme image of God. So That Idol connects us with God. You can call that Idol as connection between you and God.

All ,who worship idol with full of love and devotion to God , are more likely to understand fact that God is not only in that idol, but also he is with me and he is with everyone. Idol clears your routine life from sins. Idol as a monitor keeps an eye on you and your regular work to make yourself more like good man. If it is made compulsory that you have to go to temple regularly once in a day, you will have some hesitation to go to temple if you have done something wrong. So you will automatically make sure that you dont do anything wrong which does not fit into general moral consciences. On the contrary if you believe in God who is not visible from your eyes, you are more likely to do something which you can hide from God because “actually” he is not looking at your deeds because you believe God to be supreme but not within you!!!.

Hindus actually believe in both the things (Murty Puja and Universal God). Krishna says in Bhagavad Geeta “If you believe in Monotheism, you will get love of God but it will take time (and requires extreme Concentration or mental ability to believe in things which is not visible to eyes.) but again if you pray Me(Krishna) , you will definitely get me in lesser time (Krishna as God) ( because you are logically convinced that God(Krishna) is in front of you and you have to please him so you have an image of whom you are praying).” This is why we Hindus believe in Idolatry (Murty Puja).

You should proud of it, if you logically pray it.

The author Ravi Soni is a MBA student from Pune, Maharashtra and is inspired by thoughts of Param Pujya Pandurang Shashtri Athawale.

Relevance Of Murti Puja

Written By: Sadhu Anandswarupdas

The glory and divine power of the Swaminarayan mantra. ,

When was Murti Puja (idolatry) born? What do the major religions say about idolatry? Does it play an important role in grooming our lives? The following article deals with some salient aspects on idolatry.

Mysterious are the ways in which people are sometimes drawn towards idolatry. Thakorbhai Patel, an eminent gynaecologist, was elected the Mayor of Baroda City in the late 1960's. During his term he contracted a fatal disease. An abscess in his liver threatened to kill him, He was also bleeding internally. As an expert medico he knew, rather too well, that he would breathe his last within a few days.

It is one thing to speak of death but altogether different when a person comes face to face with it. He becomes terrified.

Thakorbhai became desperate. He wanted help. Someone suggested the name of Yogiji Maharaj, a very humble saint. But Thakorbhai had no religious inclinations. Far from it, he fancied that a Murti(idol) is no more than a piece of stone, God a myth and saints a burden on society.

Nevertheless with the surfacing of the survival instinct, he went to meet Yogiji Maharaj with mind doubting and heart longing. Yogiji Maharaj consoled him, gave him sanctified water and advised him to drink it daily. Thakorbhai was overwhelmed by his utter simplicity, transparent purity and selfless love. So he willingly accepted that gift from a humble saint.

The first spoonful of the sanctified water, he gulped down, stopped his bleeding. With some more spoonfuls his disease was cured. He was amazed. Although, what occurred was contrary to his years of experience, something beyond his ken, he said, "I am a changed man. Now I have come to believe in Murti Puja and God, not so much because I was miraculously saved but because I experienced murti puja the Divine in Yogiji Maharaj.

Belief in Murti Puja is born, nourished and consolidated by the contact of a God-intoxicated saint. Not all are fortunate like Thakorbhai to come across a saint like Yogiji Maharaj. So naturally they have questions about Murti Puja. They want to know more about it.

Birth of Murti Puja: The precise date of the birth of Murti Puja is shrouded in mystery. However, the earliest spiritual texts of the world, the Vedas, refer to it, both covertly as well as overtly. The seed of Murti Puja lies certainly in the idea of a personal God, that is, God having a form.

A spiritual aspirant not only loves God but also experiences love from Him. However one can only love or experience love from someone if it has a live form, So it obviously follows that God has a form, that is, He is personal. The aspirant also believes that this God, is infinite, all-powerful, all-merciful, all-pervasive, all-knowing and the fountain-head of all goodness. You may question, how can God who is infinite have a form? But the aspirant is not worried by this query, for he believes that God is above all contradictions. For him, it is only love that matters.

He has given shape to these abstract ideas, something that he can adore and worship. Thus we have the rituals and the worship of symbols and idols, that mediate between him and God.

Benefits of Murti Puja: Ultimate redemption of the soul is possible only through the service of God or a God-intoxicated saint who is present on this earth as a human being. But it requires a spiritual insight to know and understand them. Ordinary people are short of it and thus it is likely that they are misled by imposters masquerading as God or His chosen ones. Sages and seers have, therefore, enjoined Murti Puja worship of worship. This is never misleading. In fact this kind of worship purifies the senses and mind to such an extent that the worshipper can readily perceive the difference between a true saint and an imposter. This is the fruit of Murti Puja.

Purification of the Senses and Mind: The senses are purified because the body is involved in worship. And the mind is purified because the worshipper, while worshipping the Murti does not take it to be a piece of stone but mentally attributes to it the qualities of God.

The more he thinks of it the purer he becomes. Purification corresponds to concentration. It is easy to concentrate when the Murti is in a human form and dressed exquisitely.

Queries regarding Murti Puja: Some people ask, "How can an infinite God reside in a Murti?" This question will not arise at all, were they to believe that God is omnipresent, for if God is present everywhere He cannot be absent from a Murti.

There are others who ask, "How is it that the presence of God is more pronounced in a Murti than other things?" For a moment let us forget things and consider human beings. It is a fact that God's presence is more in some people than others. Otherwise, how would you account for saints like Meera and Tulsi, Eknath and Tukaram, Gunatitanand and Bhagatji Maharaj? When ordinary people come into the contact of such saints, God within them starts manifesting. The more the contact, the more is the manifestation and the more the presence of God is felt. Such saints have the power to invoke God in a Murti.

The history of religion is replete with incidents wherein the Murti of God has responded to the loving calls of the devotees. No less are such incidents even in the history of the Swaminarayan faith.

Premanand Swami was garlanded by the Murti of Gopinathji in Gadhada when he was engrossed in singing His glory. Yogiji Maharaj had frequent talks with the Murti. We too would see the actual presence of God in a Murti, provided our hearts are sufficiently pure.

Swami Vivekanand was bold enough to say that every spiritual aspirant is an idolator as he has not fully realised God and his soul. And this is quite true, for it is impossible to conceive God without associating Him with some form or the other.

Written By Sadhu Anandswarupdas

What is Puja? Why Do Puja At Home? Benefit of Worship…

Puja

The word has also been defined variously by other archaryas and pundits: one Tamil interpretation is, “puja” has two letters—“pa” and “ja”—“Pa” connotes “paaraayana” or ceremonial repetition of sacred texts; and “ja” stands for “japa” or recitation of His Names. In this sense, “puja” is continuous parayana and japa.

There is yet another explanation, “Pu” represents “pushpam” (=flower) and “ja” means “jaal” (=water). Hence, in “puja”, we use flowers and water in paying our respect to the Lord.

It has also been said that “puja” derives from “pu-chey”, which literally means “flower-action”, or “action performed with flowers”. This definition quite accurately describes what happens in the ceremonial act of showing reverence to God through invocation, prater, bhajan and ritual.

Why Should One Perform Puja?

His Holiness Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh

“The object of worship is the Ishta Devata or guiding Deity or the particular form of the Deity whom the devotee worships-Narayana or Vishnu as such, or His forms as Rama and Krishna in the case of Vaishnavas, Siva in His eight forms in the case of Saivas and Devi in the case of Saktas. The devotee selects sometimes his Kuladeva or Kuladevi, family Deva or Devi, for his worship. Sometimes, the Devata is chosen for him by his Guru or spiritual preceptor. Sometimes, he himself chooses that Devata which most appeals to him. This form is his Ishta Devata. An object is used in the outer Puja such as an image (Pratima), a picture, or an emblem such as Saligrama in the case of Vishnu worship or Linga in the case of worship of Siva.

“Whilst all things may be the objects of worship, choice is naturally made of those objects which, by reason of their effect on the mind, are more fitted for it. An image or one of the useful emblems is likely to raise in the mind of the worshipper the thought of a Devata.”

Is There a Need For an Image, Murthi, Vigraha When We Perform Puja?

“Puja”, some erudite Hindu scholars opine, is a post-Vedic Hindu practice. In Vedic times, it has been said, “Homa” or the offering of grains and sanctified liquids into sacrificial fire, was what that been in vogue.

As the texture of Man’s mind changed, archaryas had introduced a form of worship, which we today call “puja”: it differs from the Vedic sacrifice primarily in the fact, unlike the Homa, that image, vigraha (=murthi) or a representation of God is used in the worship. Such a ritualistic worship is highly symbolical with deep philosophical, esoteric and spiritual import.

Some Hindu pundits have said “vigraha” (a Sanskrit word) etymologically can be divided into “vi” (=removes) and “graham(m)” (planets): that which removes the ill effects of the “grahas” or planets.

Swami Sivananda

“These are all personal inclinations in the worshipper due to his belief in their special efficacy for him. Psychologically, all this means that a particular mind finds that it works best in the direction desired by means of particular instruments or emblems or images. The vast bulk of humanity are either of impure or of weak mind. Therefore, the object of worship must be pure for these people. The objects that are capable of exciting lust and dislike must be avoided. But, a higher, advanced Sadhaka who has a pure mind and who sees the divine presence everywhere and in everything, can worship any kind of object.”

Home Puja

“Puja” can be done in the home, temple, during ceremonies and at festivals. Every Hindu home must have a personal shrine at an appropriate place in the house. It is a imperative that every Hindu should do daily puja at home. A daily puja usually consists of a simple worship of offerings, such as an offering of light, water and incense, and/or fruit, followed by an aarti.

Home puja includes several agamic upacaras (=observances). The following is an example of what constitutes a Home puja done by aspirants in the Smartha or perhaps even in Saivite tradition:

Dyana/ Avahana (“invocation”): The deity is invited to the ceremony.

Asana: The deity is offered a seat.

Paathyam: The deity’s feet are washed.

Arghya: Water is offered so the deity may wash His face and hands.

Acamanıya: Water is offered to Him.

Madhuparka: The deity is offered water, honey, milk, etc.

Snana or abhisekha: Water is offered for bathing.

Acamaniya.

Vastra: Offering clothes to the Deity

Upaneeyam: Adorning the deity with turmeric, etc.

Aaparanam: Adorning Him with jewels.

Kantham: Adorning Him with perfumes.

Atchathai: Offering Tumeric-flavoured rice.

Puspa: Flowers are offered to the Lord.

Archana: Recitation of Mantras

Dhupa: Incense is burned for the Deity.

Dıpa: A burning lamp is waved in front of the image.

Naivedya or prasada: Foods for the deity.

Paaneeyam: Oblation.

Acamanıya.

Thaampulam: Offering Vettrilai to the Deity.

Aarati

Mantra Pushpam: Offering flowers to the Deity.

Thothiram.

Paarayana

Japa

Dyana

Namaskara: The worshiper and family prostrate to the Deity.

Prarthana

Shanthi mantra

Aarathi

Mangalam

Prayachittam: Mitigatory prayers

Samarpanam

Yathasth-thaanam: conclusion

Acamaniya

The following article is from Swami Sivananda’s “All About Hinduism”

CHAPTER 7: HINDU WORSHIP

Worship Or Upasana

Worship is the expression of devotion, reverence and love to the Lord, of keen yearning to be united with Him and of spiritual thirsting to hold conscious communion with Him. The devotee prays to the Lord for granting him intense devotion and removing the veil of ignorance. He pines for His benign grace. He constantly remembers His Name. He repeats His Mantra. He sings His praise. He does Kirtana. He hears and recites His Lilas. He lives in His Dhama in the company of His devotees. He meditates on His form, His nature, His attributes and His Lilas. He visualises the form of the Lord with closed eyes and enjoys supreme peace and bliss.

Worship is the effort on the part of the Upasaka, i.e., he who does Upasana or worship, to reach the proximity or presence of God or the Supreme Self. Upasana literally means sitting near God. Upasana is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it in accordance with the teachings of the Sastras and the Guru and dwelling steadily in the current of that one thought, like a thread of oil poured from one vessel to another (Tailadharavat). It consists of all those observances and practices, physical and mental, by which the aspirant or Jijnasu makes a steady progress in the realm of spirituality and eventually realises in himself—in his own heart—the presence of Godhead.

Benefits Of Worship

Worship of the Lord purifies the heart, generates harmonious vibrations, steadies the mind, purifies and ennobles the emotions, harmonises the five sheaths, and eventually leads to communion, fellowship or God-realisation.

Upasana helps the devotee to sit near the Lord or to commune with Him. It fills the mind with Suddha Bhava and Prema or pure love for the Lord. It gradually transmutes man into a divine being.

Upasana changes the mental substance, destroys Rajas and Tamas and fills the mind with Sattva or purity. Upasana destroys Vasanas, Trishnas, egoism, lust, hatred, anger, etc. Upasana turns the mind inward and induces Antarmukha Vritti. It eventually brings the devotee face to face with the Lord, frees the devotee from the wheel of births and deaths, and confers on him immortality and freedom.

The mind becomes that on which it meditates in accordance with the analogy of the wasp and the caterpillar (Bhramara-Kitaka Nyaya). Just as you think, so you become. This is the immutable psychological law. There is a mysterious or inscrutable power (Achintya Sakti) in Upasana which makes the meditator and the meditated identical.

You will find in the Bhagavad-Gita: “But by devotion to Me alone, I may thus be perceived, O Arjuna; and known and seen in essence and entered, O Parantapa” (Ch. XI, 54).

Patanjali Maharshi emphasises in various places in his Raja Yoga Sutras, on the importance of Upasana. For even a Raja Yogi, Upasana is necessary. He has his own Ishta Devata or guiding Deity—Yogesvara Krishna or Lord Siva. Self-surrender to God is an Anga (limb) of Raja Yoga and Kriya Yoga. Patanjali says: “One can enter into Samadhi through Upasana.”

Of all those things which are conducive to spiritual advancement, Adhyatmic uplift and the acquisition of Dharma, Upasana is one which is not only indispensably requisite, but eminently beneficial to all classes and grades of people. It is easy too.

Eating, drinking, sleeping, fear, copulation, etc., are common in brutes and human beings, but that which makes one a real man or a God-man is the religious consciousness. He who leads a mere outward sensual life without doing any Upasana is an animal only, though he wears outwardly the form of a human being.

Saguna-Upasana And Nirguna-Upasana

Upasana is of two kinds, viz., Pratika-Upasana and Ahamgraha-Upasana. Pratika means a symbol. Pratika-Upasana is Saguna-Upasana. Ahamgraha-Upasana is Nirguna-Upasana or meditation on the formless and attributeless Akshara or transcendental Brahman. Meditation on idols, Saligrama, pictures of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Lord Siva, Gayatri Devi, etc., is Pratika-Upasana. The blue expansive sky, all-pervading ether, all-pervading light of the sun, etc., are also Pratikas for abstract meditation. Saguna-Upasana is concrete meditation. Nirguna-Upasana is abstract meditation.

Hearing of the Lilas of the Lord, Kirtana or singing His Names, constant remembrance of the Lord (Smarana), service of His feet, offering flowers, prostration, prayer, chanting of Mantra, self-surrender, service of Bhagavatas, service of humanity and country with Narayana-Bhava, etc., constitute Saguna-Upasana.

Chanting of Om with Atma-Bhava, service of humanity and country with Atma-Bhava, mental Japa of Om with Atma or Brahma Bhava, meditation on Soham or Sivoham or on the Mahavakyas such as Aham Brahma Asmi or Tat Tvam Asi after sublating the illusory vehicles through ‘Neti, Neti’ doctrine, constitute Ahamgraha-Upasana or Nirguna-Upasana.

Saguna-Upasana is Bhakti Yoga or the Yoga of Devotion. Nirguna-Upasana is Jnana Yoga or the Yoga of Knowledge. Worshippers of Saguna (the qualified) Brahman and of Nirguna (the unqualified) Brahman reach the same goal. But, the latter path is very hard, because the aspirant has to give up attachment to the body (Dehabhimana) from the very beginning of his spiritual practice. The Akshara or the Imperishable is very hard to reach for those who are attached to their bodies. Further, it is extremely difficult to fix the mind on the formless and attributeless Brahman. Contemplation on the Akshara or Nirguna Brahman demands a very sharp, one-pointed and subtle intellect.

The Bhavas In Bhakti Yoga

The Yoga of Bhakti or Devotion is much easier than Jnana Yoga or philosophical meditations. In Bhakti Yoga, the devotee establishes a near and dear relationship with the Lord. He cultivates slowly any one of the six Bhavas according to his temperament, taste and capacity.

Santa Bhava, Dasya Bhava, Sakhya Bhava, Vatsalya Bhava, Kanta Bhava and Madhurya Bhava are the six kinds of attributes of devotees or Bhavas towards God. The Bhavas differ in type and intensity of feeling. The different Bhavas are arranged in order of their intensity. Dhruva and Prahlada had the feeling of a child to its parents. This is Santa Bhava. In Dasya Bhava, the devotee behaves like a servant. His Lord is his master. Hanuman is an ideal servant of God. In Sakhya Bhava, there is a sense of equality. Arjuna and Kuchela had this Bhava. In Vatsalya Bhava, the devotee looks upon the Lord as his own child. Yasoda had this Bhava for Sri Krishna. Kausalya had this Bhava for Sri Rama. Kanta Bhava is the love of the wife towards the husband. Sita and Rukmini had this Bhava. The culmination is reached in Madhurya Bhava. The lover and the Beloved become one through the intensity of love. Radha and Mira had this type of love.

The last Bhava is the highest culmination of Bhakti. It is merging or absorption in the Lord. The devotee adores the Lord. He constantly remembers Him. He sings His Name (Kirtana). He speaks of His glories. He repeats His Name. He chants His Mantra. He prays and prostrates. He hears His Lilas. He does total, ungrudging, unconditional surrender, obtains His grace, holds communion with Him and gets absorbed in Him eventually.

In Madhurya Bhava, there is the closest relationship between the devotee and the Lord. There is no sensuality in Kanta and Madhurya Bhavas. There is no tinge of carnality in them. Passionate people cannot understand these two Bhavas as their minds are saturated with passion and lower sexual appetite. Sufistic saints also have the Bhava of lover and the Beloved, Madhurya Bhava. The Gita Govinda written by Jaya Deva is full of Madhurya Rasa. The language of love which the mystic uses cannot be comprehended by worldly persons. Only Gopis, Radha, Mira, Tukaram, Narada, Hafiz and similar other great devotees of the Lord can understand this language.

Puja And Ishta-Devata

Puja is the common term for ritual worship, of which there are numerous synonyms such as Archana, Vandana, Bhajana, etc., though some of these stress certain aspects of it. The object of worship is the Ishta Devata or guiding Deity or the particular form of the Deity whom the devotee worships—Narayana or Vishnu as such, or His forms as Rama and Krishna in the case of Vaishnavas, Siva in His eight forms in the case of Saivas and Devi in the case of Saktas.

The devotee selects sometimes his Kuladeva or Kuladevi, family Deva or Devi, for his worship. Sometimes, the Devata is chosen for him by his Guru or spiritual preceptor. Sometimes, he himself chooses that Devata which most appeals to him. This form is his Ishta Devata.

An object is used in the outer Puja such as an image (Pratima), a picture, or an emblem such as Saligrama in the case of Vishnu worship or Linga in the case of worship of Siva.

Whilst all things may be the objects of worship, choice is naturally made of those objects which, by reason of their effect on the mind, are more fitted for it. An image or one of the useful emblems, is likely to raise in the mind of the worshipper the thought of a Devata. Saligrama stone induces easily concentration of mind. Everybody has got predilection for a symbol, emblem or image. Idol or Murti (Vigraha), sun, fire, water, Ganga, Saligrama and Linga are all symbols or Pratikas of God which help the aspirants to attain one-pointedness of mind and purity of heart. These are all personal inclinations in the worshipper due to his belief in their special efficacy for him. Psychologically, all this means that a particular mind finds that it works best in the direction desired by means of particular instruments or emblems or images.

The vast bulk of humanity are either of impure or of weak mind. Therefore, the object of worship must be pure for these people. The objects that are capable of exciting lust and dislike must be avoided. But, a higher, advanced Sadhaka who has a pure mind and who sees the divine presence everywhere and in everything, can worship any kind of object.

In Puja, an image or picture representing some divine form is used as the object of worship. The image is adored. All image, a Sila or Vigraha or Murti, represents the particular Lord who is invoked in it. A Linga represents Siva. It represents the secondless, formless Brahman. The Sruti says: “Ekamevadvitiyam Brahma—The Brahman is one alone, without a second.” There is no duality here. A Linga is shining and attractive to the eyes. It helps concentration. Ravana propitiated Siva and obtained boons by worshipping the Linga.

A Saligrama is an idol of Vishnu. Saligrama is the symbol of Vishnu. There are images of Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Karttikeya, Ganesa, Hanuman, Dattatreya, Sita, Lakshmi, Parvati, Durga, Kali, Sarasvati, etc., according to the taste of the particular devotee.

The images of Vishnu and of His Avataras, and the images of Sakti and Siva, are the popular idols that are worshipped both in temples and in the houses. The idols in the temples of Tirupati, Pandarpur, Palani, Katirgama, etc., are powerful Deities. They are Pratyaksha Devatas. They grant boons to the devotees, cure their ailments and give Darsana. Wonderful Lilas are associated with these Deities. There is no polytheism in Hinduism. Siva, Vishnu, Brahma and Sakti are different aspects of one Lord.

God reveals Himself to His devotees in a variety of ways. He assumes the very form which the devotee has chosen for his worship. If you worship Him as Lord Hari with four hands, He will come to you as Hari. If you adore Him as Siva, He will give you Darsana as Siva. If you worship Him as Mother Durga or Kali, He will come to you as Durga or Kali. If you worship Him as Lord Rama, Lord Krishna or Lord Dattatreya, He will come to you as Rama, Krishna or Dattatreya. If you worship Him as Christ or Allah, He will come to you as Christ or Allah.

You may worship Lord Siva or Lord Hari, Lord Ganesa or Lord Subrahmanya or Lord Dattatreya, or anyone of the Avataras, Lord Rama or Lord Krishna, Sarasvati or Lakshmi, Gayatri or Kali, Durga or Chandi. All are aspects of one Isvara or Lord. Under whatever name and form, it is Isvara who is adored. Worship goes to the Indweller, the Lord in the form. It is ignorance to think that one form is superior to another. All forms are one and the same. Siva, Vishnu, Gayatri, Rama, Krishna, Devi and Brahman are one. All are adoring the same Isvara. The differences are only differences of names due to differences in the worshippers, but not in the object of adoration. It is only out of ignorance that different religionists and different sects fight and quarrel amongst themselves.

Why there is MURTIPOOJA(Idol ) in Sanatan Dharma?? This is Right or wrong??

Sanatan Dharma cannot be described in words, which cannot be confined to any boundary and which cannot be kept stagnant. It comprises of the oldest scriptures of the world, which have been guiding and nurturing people since centuries, and which would continue to do so till the presence of the mankind, through their ever evolving philosophies.

Unfortunately, there are a set of people who criticise certain practises associated with Hinduism, under the influence of their prejudices and biased views, and also on the basis of their limited knowledge of Hinduism. Murti Puja, which is better known as idol worship is one such Hindu practise, which is heavily criticised.

Argument against Icon worship:

Many people argue that the scriptures of Hinduism do not support idol worship. They quote incomplete verses from Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita to prove their point, and to infuse confusion in the minds of the Hindus.

The most common verse used by the detractors of idol worship is :

“Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste”

The twisted explanation of this verse, which they give is as follows :

“They enter darkness, those who worship the natural elements” (Air, Water, Fire, etc.). “They sink deeper in darkness, those who worship sambhuti.”

‘Sambhuti’, according to them means created things. For example table, chair, icon, etc. And hence, they claim that when Hindus worship icons, they go against their own scripture. However, truth is far from it. This is neither the correct verse nor the complete verse. Needless to say, one must never get judgemental on the basis of incorrect & incomplete information.

The correct and the complete verse from Isha Upanishad is as follows:

andham tamah pravisanti ye’ sambhut imupasate,

tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u sambhutyam ratah.

(Isa Upanishad, verse no 12)

And the correct translation of the above mentioned verse is as follows:

Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the unmanifest (meaning hidden self, the non being , imagination etc), and into greater darkness those who worship manifest alone(meaning visible world,illusion,icons, material wealth etc) . He who understands both unmanifest and manifest together, crosses death through unmanifest and attains immortality through manifest.

Some other verses quoted by the detractors of idol worship to prove that god does not have any form, hence, he should not be worshipped in the form of idols, is as follows:

“Na tasya pratima asti”

There is no likeness of Him.

[Svetasvatara Upanishad; chapter 4:19]

“Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam.”

His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye.

[Svetasvatara Upanishad; chapter 4:20]

“na tasya pratima asti”

There is no image of Him.

[Yajurveda; chapter 32:3]

“shudhama poapvidham”

He is bodyless and pure.

[Yajurveda; chapter 40:8]

The answer of this argument is quite simple. The Hindus do believe that god has no form. He is Nirakar (formless). However, we also believe that being the almighty, he is capable of taking any form. And he blesses his devotees through the form, in which the devotees worship him (Bhagwad Gita, Chapter 11). That is why we worship him in the form of idols. The verses from Svetavatara Upanishad to support this point:

“Subtler than the subtlest, stable in the midst of great confusion, the creator of all,bearing many forms, holding the entire universe in his embrace, when one knows him as the auspicious, a great peace shall descend upon him.”

(Svetavatara Upanishad; chapter 4:14)

“You are woman. You are man. You are the son and also the daughter. As an old man you walk with a stick. being born you assume faces in many directions.”

(Svetavatara Upanishad; chapter 4:3)

Thus, from the above mentioned verses we can conclude that god has no specific form, but he is capable of taking any form. Hence, there is nothing wrong in worshipping him in the form of idols.

Significance of idol worship:-

1.The idea behind idol worship is to promote harmony and brotherhood. Idols (murtis) are normally made of stone/iron or other hard objects, which is a reminder of the fact that, Hindus have such high respect for every creation of the god, that they worship even the hard objects created by him (such as stone, iron etc ) as the god himself. So one can just imagine the respect, which a Hindu will have for a human being, which is the supreme creation of the almighty.

2. Murti Puja is one of the core concepts of Sanatana Dharma. The literal meaning of murti is manifestation, something that has taken a concrete form. Murti without any prefix refers to devata murti or god-form. Thus murti is a representation (in a manifest, definite form) of god-form. Murti puja is worship of murti as a god-form, worship of god-form in the murti. The devotee worships the deity (or devata) who is requested to reside in the vigraha (murti) for the duration of the worship. A murti usually is a concrete shape, having features attributed to the god-form. These are usually the physical attributes of the deity as described by the theology for the Devata. The murti has as many hands/legs/heads as spoken of in theology. Features like wearing snakes/garlands/having moon as adornment, the weapons they hold, are also reflected in the murti.

References:

(1). Isa Upanishad, verse IX – XIV

(2). Svetavatara Upanishad, Chapter IV

(3). Bhagwad Gita, Chapter XI

Murti-worship as distinct from idol-worship

The notion that the term murti is equivalent to the English word "idol" is a misconception. The scholar Steven Rosen notes that early European missionaries were largely responsible for conflating the two terms by informing local Hindus that "idol" was the correct translation for "murti". Furthermore, scholar Diana Eck explains that the term murti is defined in Sanskrit as “anything which has definite shape and limits; a form, body, figure; an embodiment, incarnation, or manifestation.” Thus, the murti is more than a likeness; it is the deity itself taken “form". The uses of the word murti in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita suggest that the form is its essence." Thus, a murti is considered to be more than a mere likeness of a deity, but rather a manifestation of the deity itself. The Murti is like a way to communicate with the abstract one god (Brahman) which creates, sustains, and dissolves creation.

It is very interesting to note, that in Russian the word "morda" means some entity's face or facial-expression which can hint at that original etymology.

Hinduism and Idol worship

Idolatry does not find any support from Vedas. In chapter 32 of Yajurveda it has been said that God Supreme or Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ or material shape. He cannot be seen directly by anyone. His name is so great that only the Name is enough to invoke Him. He pervades all beings and all directions.

As God is formless and his name is enough, syllables comprising the words may, therefore, be taken as adequate representation. What God is like? The answer is, it is like the word ‘God’ containing the syllables G, O, D. The most striking example of this is the word ‘Om’ which means God in spiritual and material form. Thus according to the Vedas God neither has any image nor He resides in any particular idol or statue.

However we find that Hindu temples are filled with images or idols of gods and goddesses. This phenomenon can be easily understood if we try to know the necessity of assumptions. If we teach a child at nursery stage that ‘A’ stands for ‘apple’ we are making an assumption for easy learning of a letter of alphabet. While teaching geometry the teacher draws a triangle and says, “Let ABC be a triangle”. The word ‘let’ is used here because the lines forming the triangle are not really lines according to the definition of a line. A line, by definition, has length but no breadth. How to draw such a line on a blackboard? Breadth invariably accompanies length whenever one attempts to draw a line. Hence one has to use the word ‘let.’ One has to assume that what has been drawn is a line. Similarly, geometry asks us to assume a point also. A point is defined as having neither length, nor breadth nor thickness. It is without any dimension; still we try to draw it on a blackboard. What we draw is practically a circle, but it is assumed to be a point. A true triangle and a true point exist only in definitions. Yet we have to proceed on the assumption that they actually exist.

As the mind cannot concentrate itself on a formless being or spiritual form of Supreme Being one has to assume God in some visible object or image. During the Vedic period there were neither temples nor images or idols of deities. So God was invoked through the fire kindled for havan materials. The seers of Upanishads discarded the practice of havans and concentrated on Imperishable ‘Om’. When the Buddhism and Jainism flourished in India the idols or statues of Gautam Buddha and Vardhaman Mahavir got much popularity. To rejuvenate Hinduism different images of God varied in shape according to different names of God came into existence. One may say that it resulted in spread of superstition in Hinduism. Yet it is a fact that all temples, mosques, churches and other religious buildings are also idols and images where God does not come to reside. It is weakness of the man that he likes human shape. So majars (graves) of Sufi saints among Muslims and crucified figure of Jesus Christ in the churches command much reverence. In the same way personification of different names of God and giving different forms to them have helped sculptors to make statues or idols that may find place in temples to be adored by devotees.

We can say that idolatry, in whatever form it may be, is based on assumption that God comes to a sacred place (building) or resides in a statue. There is no harm in going to temples or other places of worship. There is also no harm in saluting the image or images of God. However it must be clear to every one that no temple or an idol kept there enjoys any supernatural power. As the spiritual form of Supreme Being cannot be conceived through sense-organs and material form of Supreme Being (Virat) is the cosmos which also cannot be fathomed by the mind, so a devotee may concentrate on syllables or some image of his liking. As one’s folding of hands or touching of feet to give reverence to one’s father and mother actually reaches them; so any salute or reverence shown to an image thinking that the salute or reverence is meant for God really goes to God.

Idolatry

The Adoration of the Golden Calf by Nicolas Poussin.

"The Bronze Serpent", formerly believed to be the one by Moses, sculptor unknown.

Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although views as to what constitutes idolatry may differ within and between them. In other religions the use of cult images is accepted, although the term "idolatry" is unlikely to be used within the religion, being inherently disapproving. Which images, ideas, and objects constitute idolatry is often a matter of considerable contention, and within all the Abrahamic religions the term may be used in a very wide sense, with no implication that the behaviour objected to actually consists of the religious worship of a physical object.

Behaviour considered idolatrous or potentially idolatrous may include the creation of any type of image of the deity, or of other figures of religious significance such as prophets, saints, and clergy, the creation of images of any person or animal at all, and the use of religious symbols, or secular ones. In addition, theologians have extended the concept to include giving undue importance to aspects of religion other than God, or to non-religious aspects of life in general, with no involvement of images specifically. For example, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. Man commits idolatry whenever he honours and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods, or demons (for example satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money etc."

The avoidance of the use of images for religious reasons is called aniconism, which has been an aspect of all major religions at times, some much more consistently than others. The destruction of religious images within a culture is called iconoclasm, of which there have been many major episodes in history.

Etymology

The word idolatry comes (by haplology) from the Greek word εἰδωλολατρία eidololatriapara synthetically from εἰδωλολάτρης from εἴδωλον eidolon, "image" or "figure", and λάτρις latris, "worshipper" or λατρεύειν latreuein, "to worship" from λάτρον latron "payment". Although the Greek appears to be a loan translation of the Hebrew phrase avodat elilim, which is attested in rabbinic literature (e.g., bChul., 13b, Bar.), the Greek term itself is not found in the Septuagint, Philo, Josephus, or in other Hellenistic Jewish writings. It is also not found in (pre-Christian) Greek literature. In the New Testament, the Greek word is found only in the letters of Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation, where it has a derogatory meaning, as one of the vices. It is also found in the Didache and the Apostolic Decree includes a prohibition from the "pollution of idols". Hebrew terms for idolatry include avodah zarah (foreign worship) and avodat kochavim umazalot (worship of planets and constellations).

In current context, however, idolatry is not limited to religious concepts. It can also refer to a social phenomenon where false perceptions are created and worshipped, or even used as a term in the entertainment industry.

Christianity

Main articles: Idolatry and Christianity and Aniconism in Christianity

The Ten Commandments on a monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol. The first commandment listed is interpreted as prohibiting Idolatry, but the nature of the meaning of Idolatry in the Biblical law in Christianityis disputed. A famous example of Idolatry in the Old Testament is the worship of the Golden Calf.

The Christian view of idolatry may generally be divided into two general categories, the Catholic/Orthodox view (which accepts the use of religious icons and other images) and the Protestant view. Fundamentalist Protestants still often accuse these other Christians of idolatry, iconolatry, and even paganism for failing to "cleanse their faith" of the use of images; in the Protestant Reformation such language was common to all Protestants. Puritan groups adopted a view similar to Judaism (as a result they were accused of Judaizing), denouncing all forms of religious objects, whether in three-dimensional or two-dimensional form, including even a plain cross.

The problem springs from differences in interpretation of theTen Commandments. "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." (RSV Exodus20:3-6).

The Roman Catholic and particularly the Orthodox Churches cite St. John of Damascus' work "On the Divine Image" to defend the use of icons. He wrote in direct response to the Byzantine iconoclasm that began in the 8th century by the Byzantine emperor Leo III and continued by his successor Constantine V. St. John maintains that depicting the invisible God is indeed wrong, but he argues that the incarnation, where "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14), indicates that the invisible God became visible, and as a result it is permissible to depict Jesus Christ. He argues: "When He who is bodiless and without form... existing in the form of God, empties Himself and takes the form of a servant in substance and in stature and is found in a body of flesh, then you draw His image..."

He also observes that in the Old Testament, images and statues were not absolutely condemned in themselves: examples include the images of cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:18-22) which God instructed Moses to make, the embroidered figures of cherubim angels which God told Moses to make on the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle tent (Exodus 26:31), or the bronze serpent mentioned in the book of Numbers.

He defends external acts of honour towards icons, arguing that there are "different kinds of worship" and that the honour shown to icons differs entirely from the adoration of God. He continues by citing Old Testament examples of forms of "honour": "Jacob bowed to the ground before Esau, his brother, and also before the tip of his son Joseph's staff (Genesis 33:3). He bowed down, but did not adore. Joshua, the Son of Nun, and Daniel bowed in veneration before an angel of God (Joshua 5:14) but they did not adore him. For adoration is one thing, and that which is offered in order to honour something of great excellence is another". He cites St. Basil who asserts, "the honour given to the image is transferred to its prototype". St. John argues therefore that venerating an image of Christ does not terminate at the image itself – the material of the image is not the object of worship – rather it goes beyond the image, to the prototype.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians use religious objects such as statues, Crosses, Icons, incense, the Gospel, Bible, candles and religious vestments. Icons are mainly in two- but rarely in three-dimensional form. These are in dogmatic theory venerated as objects filled with God's grace and power -- (therefore Eastern Orthodoxy declares they are not "hollow forms" or cult images).

Evidence for the use of these is found in the Old Testament and in Early Christian worship. For example, the veneration of the tombs and statues of martyrs was common among early Christian communities. In 397 St. Augustine of Hippo, in his Confessions 6.2.2, tells the story of his mother making offerings for the statues and tombs of martyrs. This is a very early form of Christianity, as the Biblical Canon had only been adopted about 30 years previously at the Council of Laodicea, however see Development of the Christian biblical canon for details.

The offering of veneration in the form of latria (the veneration due God) is doctrinally forbidden by the Orthodox Church; however veneration of religious pictures or Icons in the form of dulia is not only allowed but obligatory. Some outside observers find it difficult to distinguish these two levels of veneration in practice, but the distinction is maintained and taught by believers in many of the hymns and prayers that are sung and prayed throughout the liturgical year.

In Orthodox apologetics for icons, a similarity is asserted between icons and the manufacture by Moses (under God's commandment) of the Bronze Snake, which was, Orthodoxy says, given the grace and power of God to heal those bitten by real snakes. "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any person, when he beheld the serpent of brass, they lived"(Numbers 21:9). Another similarity is declared with the Ark of the Covenant described as the ritual object above which Yahweh was present (Numbers 10:33-36); or the burning bush which, according to Exodus, God spoke Moses through; or the Ten Commandments which were the Word of God ("Dabar Elohim") in tablet form. These inanimate objects became a medium by which God worked to teach, speak to, encourage and heal the Hebrew faithful.

Veneration of icons through proskynesis was codified in the Seventh Ecumenical Council during theByzantine Iconoclast controversy, in which St. John of Damascus was pivotal. Icon veneration is also practiced in the Catholic Church, which accepts the declarations of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, but it is practiced to a lesser extent, since Latin-rite Catholics today do not usually prostrate and kiss icons, and the Second Vatican Council enjoined moderation in the use of images. Eastern-rite Catholics still use icons in their Divine Liturgy, however.

Some Protestant groups avoid the use of images in any context suggestive of veneration. Religious images are common in Catholic, Orthodox churches. The use of some religious images and symbols, for example in printed matter, is now more common among many modern Protestant groups than was the case in the 16th century, but large publicly displayed images, except the cross, are rare. ManyConservative Christians avoid any use of religious images, even for inspiration, as idolatry.

“ For know you this and understand: That no fornicator or unclean or covetous person (which is a serving of idols) hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

--Ephesians Chapter 5:5 ”

Hinduism

Vermilion on a stone is a common form of a Hindu idol.

Hinduism grants equal status to all forms of worship and therefore it neither prescribes nor proscribes worship of images (murti) or idols.

Allegory is a key element of Hindu religion and modern day experts in Communications and Business Communications recognise how superior it is as a concept to represent abstract ideas. Each attribute of the God as imagined by the devotee is depicted in form of a deity such as purity and potency in linga, fierce ruthlessness towards evil indurga, cosmic force in Vishnu, amenable kindness and auspiciousness in Ganesha, extreme and indomitable power and pride in Kumara, 100% victory in Hanuman(Hanuman was the flag symbol of Arjuna and was sitting atop Arjuna's chariot throughout the 18 days of the Kurukshetra war). The multiple heads or limbs of Lord Vishnu or goddess Durga often seen in Hindu art, for example, would be intended to represent divine omniscience and omnipotence, whereas the use of an animal icons for vehicle would seek to allegorically represent particular abstract qualities associated with that animal/bird such as astuteness, agility or power. Gestures (mudra) the hand or the holding of a certain object are also heavily weighted with meaning. Certain tenets such as non-violence and search for God in all beings living and non-living led to depiction of several other forms.

Each individual icon thus becomes to the Hindu worshiper a complex statement of faith and every detail may be a focus of meditation and spiritual insight. To fully equate the divine with its icons ormurtis would be a misinterpretation of the Hindu concept of divine reality. The argument of scholars of Abrahamic faiths is that any attempt to represent Him will only fall short since there is nothing equal to him and that such representations should not be worshipped. Further they opine that it is he that gives a certain creation / creature a certain set of qualities and making gods out of them is insulting the Creator. In the same way, Veda-centric Hindu reformist movements in the 18th–19th centuries such as the Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj, were also highly critical of image worship like the Semitic religions and called for a return to the ancient Vedic and Upanishadic teachings.

Modern academic view is that in the Vedic period that preceded this, worship was primarily centred around the open-air fire altar (yajna-kunda) and no physical representations of the divine were used. A text in the Shukla Yajur-veda (32.3) reads, “Of Him there is no likeness (pratima), whose glory is infinite”. The Upanishads, which form the philosophical conclusions (vedanta) of the Vedas, repeatedly stress the formlessness (nirākāra, no material form) and unimaginable nature of God, and advise the aspirant to realise the divine presence inwardly. However by the time of Bhagavata Purana, meditation was recommended along with and worship of pratima (murti) with the understanding that it is not an ordinary material object.

The Hindu sages closed their eyes and meditated silently (forms of Skt. tapasya and Skt. sadhana) - they did not need enclosures/buildings, nor even words or mental images for their meditation. But these sages did not abuse any one's murtis or call its worship a sin. They recognized it as an approach/stage in an individual's sincere spiritual progress guided by the principles of Dharma.

As Swami Vivekananda said, "Would it be right for an old man to say that childhood is sin or youth is sin? .... Just because a few have passed by ignorance and attained knowledge, they cannot ignore that there are innumerable who haven’t tried at all. It is to be noted that in a man's journey of life, he is ever learning, some men are more literate, some are less; so is the case with some communities of our society against others (this dichotomy is common to all countries). The bottom line is: -

“ “It is not easy for everyone to focus on God as the un-manifested than God with a form, due to human beings having the need to perceive via the senses.[12]human beings having the need to perceive via the senses. ”

If Vedanta truly epitomizes the state of learnedness, in achieving this spiritual progress "the first stage for a layman is the external/material worship; struggling to rise high, mental prayer is the next stage, but the highest stage is when the divine has been realized" Unity in variety is the scheme of nature, and the Hindu has recognized it and practised ever since the yore through his equanimity to all and universal tolerance". This conscious Hindu recognition and the respect for different approaches to sincere worship proved useful to Jews who migrated to India (for trading or fleeing persecution by other anti-idolatrous Abrahamical religions) and thrived for many hundreds of years before moving back to Israel in 1948. Thus for the common masses,

Now that Vedanta is recognised as the summit of spirituality, one should learn what the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad discusses on the essence of Vedanta. The dialogue between Rishi Yajnavalkya and his wife, Maitreyi, elaborates the essence of Vedanta. The three recognized states to the path of Self-realization are: Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana. 'Sravana' is the discourse of scriptures from a qualified Guru. 'Manana' means constant reflection upon what has been learnt so that intellectual conviction may be produced in the mind. Finally, 'Nididhyasana' implies meditation that helps to cause a direct realization of the unity of things in God. Knowledge should lead to experience; intellectual conviction should result in perception (pravritti). That is why meditation comes in the last stage of the spiritual journey. Again the scriptures insist that successful completion of the states is neither necessary nor sufficient for Self-realization.

Striving for Moksha (salvation) i.e. one-ness with the universal soul (Brahman) is the ultimate goal of Impersonalism. One should try to understand supreme person through worship (Bhakti yoga) or meditation (Raja Yoga), or by performing one's duties well (Karma Yoga) or pursuing the intellectual path (Jnana Yoga) is the goal of (Devotees) or (Personalist).

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada translates Lord Krishna's divine words from Bhagavad Gita, "Be steadfast in yoga (yoga-sthaḥ), O Arjuna, perform your duty (kuru karmani) and abandon all attachment (sangam) to success or failure (siddhy-asiddhyoḥ). Such evenness of mind (samatvam) is called yoga."[59]

The Hindus believe with regard to God that he is one, eternal, without beginning and end, acting by free-will, almighty, all-wise, living, giving life, ruling, preserving; one who in his sovereignty is unique, beyond all likeness and unlikeness, and that he does not resemble anything nor does anything resemble.[13]

Although Vedas describe God as a power beyond imagination and that individuals should pursue a path of enlightenment / Vedanta, the truth however is, they do not reject Idol Worship. In Puja Vidhaan/Prakriya, there is a host of procedures such as (1).Suchi i.e. cleanliness, use of silks, (2). Muhurat i.e. Auspicious Timing (3).Guru vandanam(4).Symbols such as wearing preferably silks, donning tilak or decoration of the pooja griha and mandir with lights, flowers & rangoli (5). Solemnising the deity – avaahana (invitation), sthaapan (installation) and puja (worship). (3). Use of 'puja dravya' such as ganga jal, akshata, kumkum, turmeric, panchamrita et., (6).Invocation through mantras or dhyanam i.e. silent meditation (7).'kirtans / bhajans' i.e. transcendental experience (7). Gifts to friends & relatives and Charity to the poor. Inter alia, the idol becomes an interface with the God – although He is formless the devotee can conjure the Lord of his definition in all his grandeur, power and divine attributes like karuna and kripa. That 'He' is formless is known to every Hindu but idol worship is one of the several ingredients of Bhakti to enable mortal beings of different backgrounds and limitations to approach and experience Him the one Supreme Being.

Thus as Christopher John Fuller, Professor of anthropology at London School of Economics notes that an image cannot be equated with a deity and the object of worship is the deity whose power is inside the image, and the image is not the object of worship itself.

The misleading notion that Hinduism is fundamentally idolatrous was addressed in the context ofAbrahamic religions by the 11th-century Muslim scholar Al-Biruni. Al-Biruni rejected the notion and established that Hindus do not necessarily need anthropomorphisms, but the crowd and the members of the single sects use them most extensively. Al-Biruni wrote that the Hindus believe with regard to God that He is one, eternal, without beginning and end, acting by free-will, almighty, all-wise, living, giving life, ruling, preserving; one who in his sovereignty is unique, beyond all likeness and unlikeness, and that he does not resemble anything nor does anything resemble Him.

From a historical perspective, image worship (Murti-PujA) is an ancient tradition as a small part within the overall Hindu tradition, with the oldest extant images of the classical Pauranik deities allegedly dating to Ramayana when Rama worshipped Lord Shiva at Rameswaram. Other early archaeological finds include idols of the Gupta period (c. 3rd to 7th centuries CE).

Although Hinduism is commonly represented by such anthropomorphic religious icons such as murtis,aniconism is equally represented with such abstract symbols of God such as the Shiva linga and thesaligrama Furthermore, Hindus have found it easier to focus on anthropomorphic icons, as Lord Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, Verse 5.

Islam

In Islam, šhirk (Arabic: شرك‎) is the major sin of idolatry or polytheism. Islam strongly prohibits all form of idolatry. It refers to the deification of anyone or anything other than the singular God. Shirk is also associating partners with him, giving his characteristics to others beside him, or not believing in his characteristics.

Within Islam, šhirk is an unforgivable crime; God may forgive any sin except for committingšhirk. It is the vice that is opposed to the virtue of tawhid, literally "declaring [that which is] one", often translated into the English term monotheism.

As in the other Abrahamic religions, in practice the term has been greatly extended and may be used very widely within Islam to describe behaviour that is deprecated, including the use of images in a way that is seen as un-Islamic, but does not literally constitute worship.

The word šhirk comes from the Arabic root Š-R-K (ش ر ك), with the general meaning of "to share".In the context of the Qur'an, the particular sense of "sharing as an equal partner" is usually understood, so that polytheism is "attributing a partner to Allah". In the Qur'an, šhirk and the related word (plural Stem IV active participle) mušrikūn (مشركون) "those who commit shirk and plot against Islam" often clearly refers to the enemies of Islam (as in verse 9.1–15) but sometimes it also refers to erring Muslims.

Idolatry as a negative stereotyping process

Yehezkel Kaufman (1960) has suggested that when God gave commandments regarding idolatry he meant it to be understood in its most literal form: according to the Bible, most idolaters really believed that their idols were gods, and Kaufman holds that this is an error in assuming that all idolatry was of this type, when in some cases, idols may have only been representations of gods. Kaufman writes that "We may perhaps say that the Bible sees in paganism only its lowest level, the level of mana-beliefs...the prophets ignore what we know to be authentic paganism (i.e., its elaborate mythology about the origin and exploits of the gods and their ultimate subjection to a meta-divine reservoir of impersonal power representing Fate or Necessity.) Their [the Biblical author's] whole condemnation revolves around the taunt of fetishism."

However, Kaufman holds that in some places idolaters worshipped gods and spirits that existed independently of idols, and not the forms of the idols themselves. For instance, in a passage in 1 Kings 18:27, the Hebrew prophet Elijah challenges the priests of Baal atop of Mount Carmel to persuade their god to perform a miracle, after they had begun to try to persuade the Jews to take up idolatry. The pagan priests beseeched their god without the use of an idol, which in Kaufman's view, indicates that Baal was not an idol, but rather one of the polytheistic gods that merely could be worshipped through the use of an idol.

Orestes Brownson asserts that the pagans in the Hebrew Bible did not literally worship the objects themselves, so that the issue of idolatry is really concerned with whether one is pursuing a "false god" or "the true God". Brownson may have been correct, but some claim Brownson's theory contradicts the understanding of the Ancient Hebrews, whose culture was contemporary with others that practiced "idol worship." The opponents claim that the Book of Daniel, Chapter 14,illustrates the Hebrew understanding of idols, but this chapter is rejected as apocryphal by Protestants and is not included in most contemporary translations of the Bible. In Daniel 14, Cyrus, king of the Persians, worships two deities, a deity named Bel and a dragon. Daniel 14 characterizes the king and some of the Babylonians as believing, literally, that Bel and the dragon are living gods:Now the Babylons had an idol, called Bel, and there were spent upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine.[4] And the king worshipped it and went daily to adore it: but Daniel worshipped his own God. And the king said unto him, Why dost not thou worship Bel?[5] Who answered and said, Because I may not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who hath created the heaven and the earth, and hath sovereignty over all flesh.[6] Then said the king unto him, Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living God? seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?....

Sikhism

The Guru Granth Sahib, the central scripture and Guru of Sikhs, strongly rejects idolatry Idolatry is also rejected by the Dasam Granth a scripture by the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, and within numerous rehatnamas (documents codifying the code of conduct of the Sikh religion), such as the Sikh Rehat Maryada and the Budha Dal Rehatnama. Sikhism criticises the practice of using idols to represent God and pray to him, and instead puts forward that the shabad, the word of God, is his "true" murti (deific representation), meaning that true prayer and worship of God is through meditation. The rejection of idol worship is demonstrated in Guru Granth Sahib Ji: "Worshipping their idols, the Hindus die; the Muslims die bowing their heads." (Ang 556).

In practice images of human figures of religious significance, such as the Sikh gurus, are common in modern Sikhism, and the Sikh attitude to non-religious images is generally relaxed.

by Mrs. Pervin Mistry

Mrs. Mistry writes on why idol-worship is wrong in our religion

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Being One with Ahura Mazda, just as we do NOT have any statue of

Ahura Mazda, we also do NOT have any statues of Asho Zarathushtra!

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In ALL of Ancient Iran, there is NOT a single portrait, statue or

confirmed bas relief of Asho Zarathushtra!

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Mrs. Mistry writes:

We believe Ahura Mazda is the Supreme Creator and as such He is Everywhere and in All things, from the tiniest atom to the biggest star. As He is Spirit, He is not seen with our physical eyes and so it is with Asho Zarathushtra as well! Asho Zarathushtra is defined as a Yazad in Yasna 3 and 7 and the Khordad Yasht even defines Him as an Ameshaspand! He is One with Ahura Mazda, united with Him through His Thoughts, Words and Deeds! So say the Gathas too where Ahura mazda Himself refers to Asho Zarathushtra as The Only One Who Has Heard Ahura Mazda Completely, i.e. the Only One who could unite His conscience with Ahura Mazda in order to know His Thoughts, Words and Deeds!

Being One with Ahura Mazda, just as we do NOT have any statue of Ahura Mazda, we also do NOT have any statues of Asho Zarathushtra!

In ALL of Ancient Iran, there is NOT a single portrait, statue or confirmed bas relief of Asho Zarathushtra! The figure on the bas relief at Taq-e Bostan, near Kermanshah, is believed by some to be that of Meher Yazad (Mithra), whereas some believe it to be that of our Prophet. But, we do not know for sure that that is the carved picture of our Prophet!

Hence, even in the Sassanian times, we cannot prove for sure that our forefathers ever kept a portrait of Asho Zarathushtra! Spirit or Spiritual Beings cannot be given a shape as they are beyond confinement! Our aim is to develope our spirituality and spiritual senses and not restrict even sacred and Spiritual Beings in a definitive shape, form and confinement. God is everywhere and so is His Only Direct Messenger! Why should we degrade everything to the physical senses and sense perceptions?

Zarthushtis never were "murti" or idol worshippers. To them, spirituality or communion was between the Divine Spirit and their own urvan. We worship Ahura Mazda not through idols or give him any shape and form but we worship Him through Fire, His Son! Asho Zarathushtra also tells us to worship the Divine Spirit through His Sacred Fire which is His Own Divine Energy that pervades every atom and propells it to spiritual perfection. We do not worship Divine Beings through idols and it follows that we also do not worship or pay homage to our Prophet, a Yazad, through an idol or statue.

- Mrs. Mistry

Jagjit S

Why to Worship an Idol ?

Because Idol worshiper has concept God is only in Idol, and if not, idol is like other stones and objects.

That is why the true Guru says.

बुत पूजि पूजि हिंदू मूए तुरक मूए सिरु नाई ॥

Worshipping their idols, the Hindus die; the Muslims die bowing their heads.

ओइ ले जारे ओइ ले गाडे तेरी गति दुहू न पाई ॥१॥

The Hindus cremate their dead, while the Muslims bury theirs; neither finds Your true state, Lord. ||1|| {{{Bhagat Kabeer Ji, Raag Sorath 654}}}

Dear asker idol worshiper worships the demi Gods, like Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu and prime mother and not the omnipresent one and only Supreme Lord God.

काहू लै पाहन पूज धरयो सिर काहू लै लिंग गरे लटकाइओ ॥

Someone worshipped stone and placed it on his head. Someone hung the phallus (lingam) from his neck.काहू लखिओ हरि अवाची दिसा महि काहू पछाह को सीसु निवाइओ ॥

Someone visualized God in the South and someone bowed his head towards the West.

कोउ बुतान को पूजत है पसु कोउ म्रितान को पूजन धाइओ ॥

Some fool worships the idols and someone goes to worship the dead.

कूर क्रिआ उरिझओ सभ ही जग स्री भगवान को भेदु न पाइओ ॥१०॥३०॥

The whole world is entangled in false rituals and has not known the secret of Lord-God 10.30.

{{{Guru Gobind Singh, Dasam Granth 42}}}

Kabeerji has very well said.

3पाखान गढि कै मूरति कीन्ही दे कै छाती पाउ ॥

The sculptor carves the stone and fashions it into an idol, placing his feet upon its chest.

जे एह मूरति साची है तउ गड़्हणहारे खाउ ॥३॥

If this stone god was true, it would devour the sculptor for this! ||3||

भातु पहिति अरु लापसी करकरा कासारु ॥

Rice and beans, candies, cakes and cookies -

भोगनहारे भोगिआ इसु मूरति के मुख छारु ॥४॥

the priest enjoys these, while he puts ashes into the mouth of the idol. ||4||

मालिनि भूली जगु भुलाना हम भुलाने नाहि ॥

The gardener is mistaken, and the world is mistaken, but I am not mistaken.

कहु कबीर हम राम राखे क्रिपा करि हरि राइ ॥५॥१॥१४॥

Says Kabeer, the Lord preserves me; the Lord, my King, has showered His Blessings upon me. ||5||1||14|| {{{Bhagat Kabeer Ji, Raag Aasaa 479}}}

नावहि धोवहि पूजहि सैला ॥ You bathe, wash, and worship stones.

बिनु हरि राते मैलो मैला ॥ But without being imbued with the Lord, you are the filthiest of the filthy.

गरबु निवारि मिलै प्रभु सारथि ॥ Subduing your pride, you shall receive the supreme wealth of God.

मुकति प्रान जपि हरि किरतारथि ॥३॥ The mortal is liberated and emancipated, meditating on the Lord. ||3|| {{{Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Raag Raamkalee 904}}}

http://www.sikhitothemax.com/page.asp?Sh…

Source(s):

GURU GRANTH SAHIB AND MEDITATION ON NAME OF SUPREME LORD GOD.

People says

Idol worship is completely wrong according to vedas and is mere ritual with no moral ethics included! Is that why there is so much corruption in india? Hindus only doing rituals and not looking for morals from religion.

They do the stupidest of things, just coz the books say in poetic exaggeration as Ganga to be a beautiful river, a gift from above but hindus take it literally as descended from heavens! Hindus today Idolise it and put sarees on it as if they were decorating an Idol. How worse can the pollution get?

The reason is simple and it has to do with the fact that God is said to be omnipresent . Not only that but it is also believed that ' you are God, and I am also God' that is to say that God lives in human beings as well as in everything you see around you - cats, dogs, tress etc. So if God is in nature is the worship of same evil? Besides, a school of thought is of the opinion that the founders of the various religions are Gods who have to be worshipped.

At least I know that the christians believe Jesus is God and so do the hindus that Krishna is God. What they forget is that there is only but One God and all others His creation and no one can equate the creation to the Creator. It is like saying that the vice president of a sovereign state is the same as the president because after all they are all presidents.

So for me this issue has to be broadened and not to be focused on a particular group of people or religion. I am of the opinion that anybody who thinks Jesus is God or the virgin Mary is God or even Krishna as God and therefore tends to worship that person is an idol worshipper.

The reason being that notwithstanding their holiness they are all mortal human beings like you and I and made up of the five elements - fire, water, ether, earth and air. This means to worship anyone of them he be Jesus or whatever (an embodied being) is akin to worshiping an idol. So why worry your head about the hindus and their so called idol worship. If you believe in the cross of Jesus or any other cultural identity linked to any of the religions and tend to worship it then be sure that you are an idol worshiper.

God, with all His powers, has no body of His own. He only takes one on loan in an ordinary body in order for Him to have possession of the five senses and talk to His children in this dirty old world.

For anybody to claim he is God, he or she must have two basic requirements - no birth and no death- not even per second and rise up the next second and claim to have gained victory over death.

How can God the Creator of heaven and earth die and buried or to be born by an ordinary human being and have father and a mother? So anybody who worships anything besides the Heavenly God the Father is an idol worshipper.

God did not create human beings solely for them to come on earth and worship Him. Do children have to worship their earthly fathers or parents because it is they who 'created' them? God is not to be worshipped. He wants us to know Him as accurately as He is. Perhaps, I have to take this opportunity to give a wee bit of God's introduction of Who and What He is as well as His place of abode.

God has a name, a place of abode and a form of identity. God is a Soul (bodiless) - the Supreme Father of all Souls. Also called Heavenly God the Father because it is He who created heaven ( the land of immortality), He has the form of a Star or better still a tiny point and lives in the far - away land far far beyond the sun called the Land of Peace or the Soul World with we His children as souls from where we came on this earth to play our various roles in the unlimited drama.However, our coming on this earth is numberwise according to the effort you make in this body to know Him accurately. Now, as the founders of the various religions come on earth to play their part in the unlimited drama and establish their various religions their followers also follow them with each playing his part in the unlimited drama which repeats itself every 5000 years.

Worship in itself is foolish, whether of idol or book or stone or statue or the infinite imaginary god.

It's same as not doing any work and watching cartoon channels in TV.

No doubt it is prohibited in all holy books like Vedas, Upanishads, Talmudh, Bible and The Quran.

It is unfortunate that except The Holy Quran no book remains in its original form and original words.

The Holy Quran itself says that God has sent many messengers to show the right path to the humanity whenever it went astray. He has also revealed books to few of his messengers. Whenever people deviated form the Guidance sent by God and went astray and whenever people changed the books sent by God and deviated from the original script, God sent messengers to remind them the forgotten guidance and recall them back to the God's worship.

Quran says that all the previous books have been changed by its followers and they deleted certain rules which were against the human desires or interest and added what they liked.That's whyGod says that The Holy Quran is the last Book from God and it has been preserved till the universe ends. Hence it has been memorised by millions of muslims.

Regarding the Holy Quran it has been proved that there is no difference in any of the trillions scripwhere everver it is being printed on earth.

Why the idol worship is very foolish?

If there was any power to the idol worship, India would not have gone to the hands of Mugals and British from Hindu Kings. If there was any power to the idols, Brahmins will not go for higher studies and becomes Doctors and Engineers instead of doing rituals. If there is power to the idols, Jnanis like Buddha might have considered it. Vasishta will never advise Rama in Vasishtam like this:

"Kaalam yajna tapo dhana theertha devaarchana bhrmai

Chiram aadhi shatopetaa kshapayanti mrigaa iva"

Meaning:

People doing rituals like yaga, tapas, theertadana, pooja, etc. are wasting their life like animals.

मूर्ति पूजा का विरोध करते हुए बाबा साहब अम्बेडकर जी ने बहुजन समाज को

22 प्रतिज्ञाओं को मानने के लिए कहा था।

बाबा साहब से पहले संत कबीर दास, संत रविदास आदि महान संतों ने भी मूर्ति पूजा का पुरजोर विरोथ किया था लेकिन बहुजन समाज ने महान पुरुषों की बातों को आज तक अपने तर्क के बल पर समझने की कोशिश नही की,जो पूर्णतया दूर्भाग्य की बात है।

मूर्ति पूजा एक पाखण्ड हो सकता है लेकिन जननांगों को पूजने से बढी मूर्खता कोई नही हो सकती।

शिवतेरस के दिन महिलायें बढ़े चाव से पार्वती की यौन तथा शंकर के लिंग रुपी काले पत्थर( शिवलिंग) की पूजा करती दिखाई देती है।

जब वो कहतीं है कि उन्होंने बीए./बीएससी/एम.ए./एमएससी/पीएचडी/एम.फिल/बीएड/बीटैक/एमटैक की शिक्षा प्राप्त की है तो बहुत खुशी होती है कि हमारे देश की शिक्षा दुनिया की शिक्षा से कितनी बेहतर है।,,,दुनियां के अन्य देशों में लोग शिक्षा के माध्यम से पाखण्ड व रुडियों को समाप्त करने का कार्य करते है लेकिन भारत में और भी अधिका बढ़ावा देने का।

मन्दिर के बाहर गरीब व्यक्ति भूँखा वैठा रहता है लेकिन मन्दिर में रखे उस लिंग और योनि रुपी पत्थर पर दूध/मिठाई/ सेव/संतार/केला/बेर आदि फलों का चड़ावा करते है।

हम जिस सभ्यता की दुहाई देते नही थकते क्या कभी सोचा है कि वह सभ्यता नही वल्कि सबसे बढी मूर्खा है।

एक महिला को पराए मर्द से हाथ लगाने पर भी तमाम आलोचनाओं का सामना करना पडता है साथ ही यदि कोई व्यक्ति धोखे से भी स्पर्ष हो जाता है तो उस व्यक्ति को सिंर गंजा होने की संभावना बनी रहती है। लेकिन यह क्या?यहां तो महिलाओं और पुरुष लिंग और यौन पर हाथों से दूध बहाते है।

युवतियां अच्छे वर की प्राप्ति के लिए शिवलिंग की पूजा करती है,क्या भारत के अतिरिक्त अन्य देशों में जहां,लिग और यौन पूजा नही होती है वहाँ की महिलाओं को अच्छे पति नही मिलते?

भारत में वो लोग जो लिंग और यौन पूजा नही करते क्या उनको एक अच्छा जीवनसाथी नही मिलता?

या जो लिंग और यौन पूजा करते है क्या उन्है एक अच्छा जीवनसाथी मिल ही जाता है?

वास्तव में कभी-कभी लगता है कि भारत से पाखण्ड को समाप्त करना,गधे पर सींग उघाने के समान लगता है। क्यों कि जो अशिक्षित है उनका यह दोष है कि वो शिक्षित नही है लेकिन जो शिक्षित है उनका क्या किया जाए।

मूर्तिपूजा सही या गलत

(Is idol worship right in hinduism)

दुनिया में एक प्रश्न का उत्तर लगभग सब जानना चाहते है कि मूर्ति पूजा (idol worship) का आरम्भ कब से माना जाता है ? मूर्तिपूजा सर्वप्रथम किसने चलाई ? मूर्तिपूजा से सम्बंधित सम्पूर्ण जानकारी । मूर्तिपूजा का इतिहास ।विभिन्न मान्यताओं में इसका महत्व व इसकी आवश्यकता । आदि के विषय में गहन चिंतन तथ्यों पर आधारित इस लेख में आपको मिलेगा । इसके बाद मूर्तिपूजा (murti puja) पर आपके जानने योग्य कोई बात नहीं बचेगी ।

भारत में मूर्ति-पूजा जैनियों ने लगभग तीन हजार वर्ष पूर्व से अपनी मूर्खता से चलाई । जिससे उस समय तो आदि शंकराचार्य (shankaracharya) ने निजात दिला दी । परंतु उनके मरते ही उनको भी शिव का अवतार (Shiva’s Avatar) ठहरा कर पेट-पूजा होने लगी । इसी मूर्ति-पूजा के कारण ही भारत में क्रूर इस्लाम (islam) की स्थापना हुई । तथा भारत को परतंत्रता का मुँह देखकर अवनति के गर्त में गिरना पड़ा । अब भी यदि इस्लाम से बचना चाहते हो ।मुसलमानों , इसाइयों से दुनिया को बचाना चाहते हो । तो श्री राम , श्री कृष्ण के समान आर्य (श्रेष्ठ) बनों । (www.vedicpress.com )

सृष्टि की सबसे पुरानी पुस्तक वेद (veda) में एक निराकार ईश्वर (Formless god) की उपासना का ही विधान है ।चारों वेदों के 20589 मंत्रों में कोई ऐसा मंत्र नहीं है । जो मूर्ति पूजा (idol worship) का पक्षधर हो ।

महर्षि दयानन्द के शब्दों में – मूर्ति-पूजा वैसे है । जैसे एक चक्रवर्ती राजा को पूरे राज्य का स्वामी न मानकर एक छोटी सी झोपड़ी का स्वामी मानना ।

वेदों में परमात्मा का स्वरूप यथा प्रमाण –

* न तस्य प्रतिमाsअस्ति यस्य नाम महद्यस: ।

– ( यजुर्वेद अध्याय 32 , मंत्र 3 )

उस ईश्वर की कोई मूर्ति अर्थात् – प्रतिमा नहीं जिसका महान यश है ।

* वेनस्त पश्यम् निहितम् गुहायाम ।

– ( यजुर्वेद अध्याय 32 , मंत्र 8 )

विद्वान पुरुष ईश्वर को अपने हृदय में देखते है ।

* अन्धन्तम: प्र विशन्ति येsसम्भूति मुपासते ।

ततो भूयsइव ते तमो यs उसम्भूत्या-रता: ।।

– ( यजुर्वेद अध्याय 40 मंत्र 9 )

अर्थ – जो लोग ईश्वर के स्थान पर जड़ प्रकृति या उससे बनी मूर्तियों की पूजा उपासना करते हैं । वह लोग घोर अंधकार ( दुख ) को प्राप्त होते हैं ।

हालांकि वेदों के प्रमाण देने के बाद किसी और प्रमाण की जरूरत नहीं । परंतु आदि शंकराचार्य , आचार्य चाणक्य (acharya chanakya) से लेकर महर्षि दयानन्द (maharishi dayanand) । सब महान विद्वानों ने इस बुराई की हानियों को देखते हुए इसका सत्य आम जन को बताया ।

बाल्मीकि रामायण (balmiki ramayan) में आपको सत्य का पता चल जाएगा । राम ने शिवलिंग (shivling) की पूजा नहीं की थी । वैदिक मंत्रों (vedic mantra) द्वारा संध्या (sandhya) हवन-यज्ञ करके सच्चे शिव की उपासना की थी ।

* यच्चक्षुषा न पश्यति येन चक्षूंषि पश्यन्ति ।

तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥ – केनोपनि० ॥ – सत्यार्थ प्र० २५४

अर्थात जो आंख से नहीं दीख पड़ता और जिस से सब आंखें देखती है । उसी को तू ब्रह्म जान और उसी की उपासना कर । और जो उस से भिन्न सूर्य , विद्युत और अग्नि आदि जड़ पदार्थ (Root stuff) है उन की उपासना मत कर ॥

* अधमा प्रतिमा पूजा ।

अर्थात् – मूर्ति-पूजा सबसे निकृष्ट है । Idol worship is the worst.

* यष्यात्म बुद्धि कुणपेत्रिधातुके ।

स्वधि … स: एव गोखर: ॥ – ( ब्रह्मवैवर्त्त )

अर्थात् – जो लोग धातु , पत्थर , मिट्टी आदि की मूर्तियों में परमात्मा को पाने का विश्वास तथा जल वाले स्थानों को तीर्थ समझते हैं । वे सभी मनुष्यों में बैलों का चारा ढोने वाले गधे के समान हैं ।

* जो जन परमेश्वर को छोड़कर किसी अन्य की उपासना करता है । वह विद्वानों की दृष्टि में पशु ही है ।

– ( शतपथ ब्राह्मण 14/4/2/22 )

क्या मूर्तिपूजा वेद-विरुद्ध है?

Is idol worship against the Vedas ?

मूर्ति-पूजा (idol-worship) पर विद्वानों के विचार

* नास्तिको वेदनिन्दक: ॥ – मनु० अ० १२

मनु जी (manu) कहते है कि जो वेदों की निन्दा अर्थात अपमान , त्याग , विरुद्धाचरण करता है। वह नास्तिक (Atheistic) कहाता है ।

* या वेदबाह्या: स्मृतयो याश्च काश्च कुदृष्टय: ।

सर्वास्ता निष्फला: प्रेत्य तमोनिष्ठा हि ता: स्मृता: ॥ – मनु० अ० १२

अर्थात जो ग्रंथ वेदबाह्य कुत्सित पुरुषों के बनाए संसार को दु:खसागर में डुबोने वाले है। वे सब निष्फल , असत्य , अंधकाररूप , इस लोक और परलोक में दु:खदायक है ।

* प्रतिमा स्वअल्पबुद्धिनाम । – आचार्य चाणक्य (chanakya)

( चाणक्य नीति अध्याय 4 श्लोक 19 )

अर्थात् – मूर्ति-पूजा मूर्खो के लिए है । Idol worship is for fools.

* नहीं नहीं मूर्ति-पूजा कोई सीढी या माध्यम नहीं बल्कि एक गहरी खाई है। जिसमें गिरकर मनुष्य चकनाचूर हो जाता है। जो पुन: उस खाई से निकल नहीं सकता ।

– ( दयानन्द सरस्वती स.प्र. समु. 11 में )

वेदों में मूर्ति–पूजा निषिद्ध है अर्थात् जो मूर्ति पूजता है वह वेदों को नहीं मानता । तथा “ नास्तिको वेद निन्दक: ” अर्थात् मूर्ति-पूजक नास्तिक हैं ।

कुछ लोग कहते है भावना में भगवान होते है । यदि ऐसा है तो मिट्टी में चीनी की भावना करके खाये तो क्या मिट्टी में मिठास का स्वाद मिलेगा ? बिलकुल नहीं !

* वेद ज्ञान बिन इन रोगों का होगा नहीं कभी निदान ।

कोरे भावों से दोस्तों कभी न मिलता भगवान ॥

एक पक्षी को भी पता होता है कि कोई मूरत उसका कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ सकती है । वह किसी मनुष्य की मूर्ति पर पेशाब कर देता है। बीट कर देता है उससे डरता नहीं है । कोई मूर्ति का शेर हमें खा नहीं सकता । कोई मूर्ति का कुत्ता काट नहीं सकता तो मनुष्य की मूर्ति मनोकामना कैसे पूरी करती है ?

इसी कारण हिन्दू (hindu) जाति को हजारों वर्षो से थपेड़े खाने पड़ रहे है । मूर्ति-पूजा के कारण ही देश को लगभग एक सहस्र वर्ष की दासता भोगनी पड़ी । रूढ़िवादी , राष्ट्रद्रोह , धर्मांधता , सांप्रदायिकता , गलत को सहना , पाप , दुराचार व समस्त बुराइयों का मूल कारण यह वेद-विरुद्ध कर्म पाषाण-पूजा (idol worship) ही है।

मूर्ति-पूजा (idol worship) के पक्ष में कुछ लोग थोथी दलीलें देते है। वे घोर स्वार्थी अज्ञानी व नास्तिक हैं तथा अनीति के पक्षधर व मानवता (humanity) के कट्टर दुश्मन है । जिस प्रकार उल्लू को दिन पसंद नहीं होता , चोरों को उजेली रात पसंद नहीं होती। इसी प्रकार स्वार्थियों को मूर्ति-पूजा का खंडन पसंद नहीं होता । (www.vedicpress.com) कुछ धर्म प्रिय सच्चे लोग भी सत्य बताने वालों को धर्म खत्म करने वाला तक कह देते है और कहते है जो चल रहा है चलने दो । अत: हमें उन भूलों से बचना होगा जिनके कारण हमारा देश गुलाम हुआ । हमारे मंदिरों (Temples) को तोड़ा गया , हमारा धन छीना गया , हमारे मंदिरों की मूर्तियों (Statues) को मस्जिदों की सीढ़ियों में चुनवाया गया ।

हिन्दू जाग पंक्तियां (Wake up Hindu)

* भोली जाती तुझे बचाने दयानन्द गर आते न ।

सिर पर चोटी गले जनेऊ हिन्दू ढूँढे पाते ना ॥

* एक ईश्वर को तजकर के यहाँ लाखों ईश बताते थे ।

पानी , मिट्टी , ईंटें , पत्थर कब्रें तक पुजवाते थे ॥ (idol worship)

* अन्धा गिरे जो कूप में ताको दोष न होय ।

नौजवान यदि गिरे पड़े तो उसकी चर्चा होय ॥

मूर्तिपूजा की हानियाँ Disadvantages of Idol Worship

* पहली – दुष्ट पूजारियों को धन देते है वे उस धन को वेश्या , परस्त्रीगमन , शराब-मांसाहार , लड़ाई बखेड़ों में व्यय करते है जिस से दाता का सुख का मूल नष्ट होकर दु:ख होता है । (idol worship/vedicpress)

* दूसरी – स्त्री-पुरुषों का मंदिरों में मेला होने से व्याभिचार , लड़ाई आदि व रोगादि उत्पन्न होते है ।

* तीसरी – उसी को धर्म , अर्थ , काम और मुक्ति का साधन मानके पुरुषार्थरहित होकर मनुष्यजन्म व्यर्थ गवाता है ।

* चौथी – नाना प्रकार की विरुद्धस्वरूप नाम चरित्रयुक्त मूर्तियों के पूजारियों का ऐक्यमत नष्ट होके विरुद्धमत में चल कर आपस में फूट बढ़ा के देश का नाश करते है। (idol worship/vedicpress)

* पांचवी – उसी के भरोसे में शत्रु का पराजय और अपना विजय मान बैठते है । उन का पराजय होकर राज्य , स्वातंत्र्य और धन का सुख उनके शत्रुओं के स्वाधीन होता है । और आप पराधीन भठियारे के टट्टू और कुम्हार के गदहे के समान शत्रुओं के वश में होकर अनेकविधि दु:ख पाते है । (www.vedicpress.com)

* छठी – भ्रान्त होकर मन्दिर-मन्दिर देशदेशान्तर में घूमते-घूमते दु:ख पाते , धर्म , संसार और परमार्थ का काम नष्ट करते , चोर आदि से पीड़ित होते , ठगों से ठगाते रहते है । (idol worship/vedicpress)

* सातवी – जब कोई किसी को कहे कि हम तेरे बैठने के स्थान व नाम पर पत्थर धरें तो जैसे वह उस पर क्रोधित होकर मारता वा गाली देता है वैसे ही जो परमेश्वर (God) की उपासना (Worship) के स्थान हृदय और नाम पर पाषाणादि मूर्तियां धरते है उन दुष्टबुद्धिवालों का सत्यानाश परमेश्वर क्यों न करे ?

* आठवी – माता-पिता आदि माननीयों का अपमान कर पाषाणादि मूर्तियों का मान करके कृतघ्न हो जाते है।

* नवमी – भ्रांत होकर मंदिर-मंदिर देशदेशांतर में घूमते-घूमते दु:ख पाते, धर्म, संसार और परमार्थ (Charity) का काम नष्ट करते, चोर आदि से पीड़ित होते, ठगों से ठगाते रहते है।

* दशवी – दुष्ट पुजारियों को धन देते है वे उस धन को वेश्या, परस्त्रीगमन, मांस-मदिरा, लड़ाई-बखेड़ों में व्यय करते है जिस से दाता का सुख का मूल (अच्छे कर्म) नष्ट होकर दु:ख होता है। (idol worship/vedicpress)

* ग्यारहवाँ – उन मूर्तियों को कोई तोड़ डालता व चोर ले जाता है हा-हा करके रोते है।

* बारहवाँ – पुजारी परस्त्रीगमन के संग और पुजारिन परपुरुषों के संग से प्राय: दूषित होकर स्त्री-पुरुष के प्रेम के आनन्द को हाथ से खो बैठते है। (idol worship/vedicpress)

* तेरहवाँ – स्वामी सेवक की आज्ञा का पालन यथावत न होने से परस्पर विरुद्धभाव होकर नष्ट-भ्रष्ट हो जाते हैं।

* चौदहवां – जड़ का ध्यान करने वाले का आत्मा भी जड़-बुद्धि हो जाता है क्योंकि ध्येय का जड़त्व धर्म अन्त:करण द्वारा आत्मा में अवश्य आता है।

* पन्द्रहवां – परमेश्वर ने सुगन्धियुक्त पुष्पादि पदार्थ वायु जल के दुर्गन्ध निवारण और आरोग्यता के लिए बनाये हैं। उन को पुजारी जी तोड़ताड़ कर न जाने उन पुष्पों कितने दिन तक सुगन्धि आकाश में चढ़ कर वायु जल की शुद्धि करता और पूर्ण सुगन्धि के समय तक उस का सुगंध होता है; उस का नाश करके मध्य में ही कर देते हैं। पुष्पादि कीच के साथ मिल-सड़ कर उल्टा दुर्गन्ध उत्पन्न करते है। (www.vedicpress.com) क्या परमात्मा ने पत्थर पर चढ़ाने के लिए पुष्पादि सुगन्धियुक्त पदार्थ रचे है। (idol worship/vedicpress)

* सोलहवां – पत्थर पर चढ़े हुए पुष्प, चन्दन और अक्षत आदि सब का जल और मृतिका (मिट्टी) के संयोग होने से मोरी या कुंड में आकर सड़ के इतना उस से दुर्गन्ध आकाश में चढ़ता है । कि जितना मनुष्य के मल का। और सैकड़ों जीव उसमें पड़ते उसी में मरते और सड़ते है। (idol worship/vedicpress)

ऐसे-ऐसे अनेक मूर्तिपूजा के करने में दोष आते हैं। इसलिए सर्वथा पाषाणादि मूर्तिपूजा (idol worship) सज्जन लोगों को त्याग देनी योग्य है। और जिन्होंने पाषाणमय मूर्ति की पुजा की है , करते है , और करेंगे। वे पूर्वोक्त दोषों से न बचें; न बचते है, और न बचेंगे।

— with Bamcef Net,

Idol Worship in Hinduism

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/idols.asp

The Snake Goddess

Manasa, the Snake Goddesswww.exoticindia.com

Ma Manasa Devi, the snake goddess, is worshipped by Hindus, mainly for the prevention and cure of snakebites and infectious diseases like smallpox and chicken pox as well as for prosperity and fertility. She stands for both 'destruction' and 'regeneration', almost akin to a snake shedding its skin and being reborn.

A Graceful Goddess

The idol of the goddess is depicted as a graceful lady with her body, adorned with snakes and sitting on a lotus or standing on a snake, under a hooded canopy of seven cobras. She is often seen as 'the one-eyed goddess', and sometimes portrayed with her son Astika on her lap.

Mythological Lineage of Manasa

Also known as 'Nagini,' the female serpentine avatar or 'Vishahara,' the goddess who annihilates poison, Manasa, in the Hindu mythology, is believed to be the daughter of sage Kasyapa and Kadru, the sister of the serpent-king Sesha. She is the sister of Vasuki, king of Nagas and wife of sage Jagatkaru. A simplified version of the myth regards Manasa as the daughter of Lord Shiva. Legends have it that she was rejected by her father Shiva and husband Jagatk?ru, and hated by her stepmother, Chandi, who scooped out one of Manasa's eyes. So, she appears to be foul-tempered, and benevolent only towards her devotees.

Manasa, a Powerful Demigoddess

Manasa, due to her mixed parentage, is denied full godhead. Ancient Hindu legends in the Puranas, narrate the story of the birth of this powerful serpentine goddess. Sage Kashyapa created goddess Manasa from his 'mana,' or mind, so she could control the reptiles that were creating havoc on earth and Lord Brahma made her the presiding deity of snakes. It is believed that Lord Krishna granted her divine status and she established herself in the pantheon of gods.

Manasa Puja, Worship of the Serpentine Goddess

During the monsoon season, Goddess Manasa is worshiped, mainly in the eastern Indian states of Bengal, Assam, Jharkand, and Orissa, throughout the months of June, July and August (Ashar - Shravan), a time when the snakes leave their nesting ground and come out into the open and become active. In Bangladesh, the Manasa and Ashtanaag Puja is a month-long affair spanning July and August. Devotees pay obeisance to goddess Manasa and perform various 'pujas' or rituals to appease her. Special 'murtis' or statues of the goddess are sculpted, various sacrifices made, and prayers chanted. In some places, worshippers are seen to pierce their bodies, poisonous snakes are displayed on the altar, and live shows depicting the life and legends of Manasa Devi are performed.

Murti Puja

By Shankara Bharadwaj Khandavalli

Murti Puja is one of the core concepts of Sanatana Dharma. The literal meaning of murti is manifestation, something that has taken a concrete form. Murti without any prefix refers to devata murti or god-form. Thus murti is a representation (in a manifest, definite form) of god-form. Murti puja is worship of murti as a god-form, worship of god-form in the murti. The devotee worships the deity (or devata) who is requested to reside in the vigraha (murti) for the duration of the worship. A murti usually is a concrete shape, having features attributed to the god-form. These are usually the physical attributes of the deity as described by the theology for the Devata. The murti has as many hands/legs/heads as spoken of in theology. Features like wearing snakes/garlands/having moon as adornment, the weapons they hold, are also reflected in the murti.

Devata

But devata as such does not have a specific form or quality; these are not the physical attributes of devata. Devata being pure consciousness, these are the attributes that reflect the nature of that consciousness. For instance, when we speak of lord Siva, He is featureless. He is the eternal. But He is said to have two wives, wearing a snake, traveling on an ox, having matted and dusted hair. What are these features of the featureless? What are the wives of the One without the second? All these features, if seen properly, reflect only His featurelessness. His hair is the infinite space, vyoma (vyomakesa). The snake he wears is the awakened consciousness. He is the eternal and is associated with two attributes - energy and consciousness. These are His two wives (Sakti and Ganga). The universe is said to be the play of primal rhythmic energy and Her union with the eternal is said to be the dissolution or liberation as the context may be. The vehicle of this union is Nandi, the ox. This is the upward movement or ascent of man. He is digambara, the one with directions as his clothes - this in the trivial sense is nudity, but in profound sense only indicates His infiniteness. Thus, none of these are qualities in the sense that a person has qualities, but are the attributes that best describe the featureless.

Experience - Darsana

"Seeing" is a metaphorical expression of experiencing. By saying one "sees" devata, we are saying that the person is elevated to the state of experiencing god-consciousness.

Then, what does one mean when he "sees" God in this form? What does he mean when he says he saw Rudra or Durga? Does it mean he really saw the devata in human form? How is this possible? The answer has two parts:

Yes, devata does descend into a form for the sake of the devotee. When worshiped with sincerity, in any particular form, one sees divinity in the particular form as one may desire. As such, divinity is pure consciousness and it does not have a form. Just like water. But one can collect it in the vessel he wants. This vessel is of two kinds - the human vessel and the god-vessel. As long as a person exists, he has to experience the impersonal in either of these ways. The impersonal exists eternally, but experiencing comes only when we talk of a seeker. And so long as the seeker is there, there is a vessel needed. The vessel is called upadhi.

Just invoke pure consciousness and experience the formless. You are the vessel here. This is like collecting water in a vessel.

Invoke it in the form you want. This is like freezing water into an ice-block of your desired shape. You can behold water; see it, and its form. The ice-block is the devata. The reason this kind of practice can be institutionalized is that this is not specific to any human vessel - this is impersonal and a "concrete form" of the impersonal that is created for the well-being of entire mankind.

There is no difference in the level of divinity one sees or in the nature of divinity one sees. The only difference is in the way one seeks to attain divinity. These are different approaches that need to be practiced based on the approach of the devotee. There are definite advantages in both. But the former is a secret practice that is possible only in few cases while the latter is possible at a more popular level. The reasons are:

Ego always comes in while saying I am the pure consciousness or its vessel. This is not the case when we try to invoke it as if we are not the same. But it should be understood that though one tries to invoke divinity instead of feeling oneness with it, he can behold it only when he attains that oneness. Seeing is becoming.

Mind has the limitation of working even while it thinks it does not work. Concentrating on the formless is not possible unless one transcends the very state of concentration. So it is tough to get to the real state of experiencing the formless unless guided very carefully.

Treating the formless as having forms and quality-less in terms of qualities allows one to soon discover the nature of those qualities. This way thinking of God and worshiping can be made understandable and practicable for everyone.

The state of having a form always by one's side, is a great psychological advantage. One can easily start feeling "yes there is this (impersonal) person who is more interested in my welfare than me, who is capable of everything that I am not, who has infinite patience, power, mercy, and love for me and everyone else". One slowly decreases bothering about himself because he is already taken care of and starts caring more about the "person" than himself. This is how one slowly identifies with the impersonal and impersonalizes himself.

In fact, if seen properly, what is a better way to say "I am that" (aham brahmasmi) and "That is me", than treating devata as having a form, life and qualities like human? Treating god like oneself is nothing but feeling oneness with God. By admiring the qualities attributed to devata, one grows beyond his own limitations of human qualities and invokes those qualities he worships the devata as having, in himself.

What we call seeing, is not seeing a physical form with biological eyes. The one who sees certainly sees a form but not a physical form that every one can see. It is visible to him alone as a taijasika rupa. The form talks to him and reveals to him many secrets of the path he is following, and showers on him many other boons. But this is only another way of saying that the devotee acquired all those through his sadhana. So, by disowning the capability as an individual and attributing it to the One, one can easily grow over ego. This is precisely the reason why duality of individual-God (dwaita of jivatma-paramatma) is so successful (e.g. Bhakti marga).

But devata as such cannot be limited to an murti. Then what are we doing by worshiping an murti as devata? We are only invoking the formless infinite in the small murti as small as our thumb. It does get invoked there - wherever we want and in whichever thing we want. We need not bother whether we can compress the infinite into the murti - we cannot and we don't have to. But of the size of the thumb is the Man that is ruling us from within (Purusha). This is the reason why the murti is usually prescribed to be of that size (for personal worship). However, the consciousness/energy that one beholds through the worship is only of the order that his own consciousness permits, and not of the size of the murti. One not only identifies the murti with the Purusha within - he actually experiences it.

Theory of Puja

Puja or worship is a token of affection towards divinity. It is the ritualistic expression of devotion. The divine is the closest and the most private relative of man, and puja is a way to express one's gratitude to God, because all that he is is because of God. God causes our existence, and our evolution. It is not an expectation of God that we express anything to Him, for it does not matter to Him. But it is a necessity of man to realize his own insignificance in the cosmic game, as that is the way he can grow over all his miseries into infinite bliss.

Just in the way a parent nurtures the child irrespective of whether the child says "thanks" or kisses the parent, God still takes care of our evolution. But just the way a child spending good amount of time in the parent's lap every day never starves for anything, the devotee who sits in the lap of the divine consciousness never starves for anything. The parent is already there to take care of us, so there is no need to starve for anything as such. But all the difference is in knowing that the parent is there. The child who thinks he is not getting something he wants, and a child who thinks he gets everything from the parent, do not differ in their success - the parent causes their success in either case. They differ however, only in the quality of their happiness, their confidence, their craving for desires. One who rests his desires on God alone has nothing to desire - because he knows he already has everything.

Yes, it is true that one can worship god desiring something - but when it is like the kid appeasing the mother with kisses wanting something, it is equally blissful. But one does not experience the bliss in that love - his attention is in the thing he is asking for and not the beauty of mother's love. It is still there however. And evolution in life is to slowly move one's attention from the object of desire to the experience of love. Then one automatically realizes the insignificance of desire. He realizes that the happiness in the object of desire is infinitesimal before the happiness in mother's love. And he then seeks to sit in the mother's lap and does not seek anything else. This is what happens when one keeps worshipping - sakama becomes nishkama over time. One does not have to suppress desires, but one has to worship with sincerity even though seeking something. This guarantees his evolution.

Textual References

Brahmana portion of the Veda (Aranyaka also to some extent) contains mantras for worshipping. There are many ways to worship, like arcana, homa, japa. The mantras that praise the devata are found mostly in the Samhita portion of the Veda. The mantras used in the sequence of various steps in the worship come from Brahmana. The procedures for various kinds of worship are found in the Kalpa Sutras (esp. Srauta Sutras). For different purposes, mantras are put into different sequences, and used in different combinations with different procedures. Each of these is called a samputikarana.

The Procedure

The major steps in worshipping are meditating on the devata, then invoking devata and praying. In case of arcana, devata is invoked in an murti. In case of homa, Agni is invoked and is asked to carry oblations to all the devatas. In case of japa/yoga the devata is invoked in the body of devotee himself. This is called dharana in yoga and nyasa in japa/upasana terminology. These categories are not mutually exclusive - nyasa can be done during arcana and so on. There are differences in the way it is done, but in all the cases the sadhaka invokes devata in himself, directly or indirectly.

There are a few common steps for all modes of worship. They are:

Sankalpa

Sankalpa is the first step in worship. Before beginning worship the devotee mentions the place, date and time and declares that he is beginning worship. The devata being worshiped, the mode of worship and purpose of worship are also mentioned. After avahana, the mantra used for worship, its rishi and chandas are also mentioned before nyasa is done.

Tarpana

The devata is "satisfied" before worship. Tarpana comes from trupti and tarpana means satisfying. It is outwardly symbolized by leaving water, but the devata is satisfied by offering rahasya tarpana through yogic practice.

There are different means of giving a tarpana, for different purposes. In case of devatas it is through water or milk or any other sweet fluid. In case of pitris it is water with black sesame (tila+udaka).

Puja

The devata is then invoked, worshiped in any of the ways. One is said to attain to Samadhi and become one with the devata in that state, during worship.

Phala

The result/merit of worship performed is offered after worship. It is offered according to the result sought during sankalpa. It could be loka kalyana or any specific desire or simply left to the devata.

Here is a brief account of methods of worship.

Arcana

Arcana involves 16 upacaras to the devata, dhyana, avahana. and visarjana. These are preceeded by vigraha sodhana and prana pratistha. Vigraha sodhana is finding and purifying the murti to make it fit for worship. Then the murti is charged with god-ness. This is called prana pratistha.

During prana pratistha, the murti is said to be given life, eyes and other organs. Without this, devata cannot be invoked in the murti. Through this, we are invoking the cosmic consciousness that enables all our vision, into the murti. In other words, we are charging the murti with the devata-ness. This is the step before inviting the devata (avahana). As the murti is given life and senses, we meditate on the form of devata we are invoking (dhyana). Then we invoke the devata in that form (avahana). Then the devata is worshipped in many ways, and is offered all that a human is offered.

It should be understood that prana pratistha is different from avahana. Prana pratistha is done to the murti while avahana is done by and for the devotee. Prana pratistha is charging the murti with god-ness while avahana is invoking the god-ness. Prana pratistha charges the murti with the devata, but it does not invoke it.

There are cases where devata resides imminently in certain murtis (like salagramas or swayambhuva lingas) and they do not need prana pratistha. However, avahana is needed in all cases including these, since invoking the devata in the murti is to be done every time the devotee is seeking to worship devata in that murti.

Having said this, when one worships with sincerity and attains divinity steps like prana pratistha and avahana happen by themselves even when they are not done explicitly. That does not undermine the significance of these steps but only stresses the importance of devotion.

Devata is offered all that a man is offered. The "upacaras" or services or treatment that are done to a human guest, like inviting, giving water and other drinks, clothes, food, entertainment that he likes are all done to the devata.

After that, the devata is "worshipped". This involves chanting mantra or stotra, and making offerings to the devata. This could be flowers or kunkum or abhisheka. Each devata is worshipped in a specific way. For instance Devi is worshipped with pushpa, kunkuma and haridra (turmeric). She is said to love to be praised (stotra priya). Vishnuis offered flowers, garlands, scents, He is said to like adornments (alankara priya). Siva is said to like abhisheka (continuously pouring water/milk/sweet liquids/rice/bhasmaetc over the Siva linga) (abhisheka priya).

Devatas are said to like to be invoked with different names (ex. Lalita Devi is praised as nama parayana preeta). By taking the different names of a devata, one realizes the multifaceted and infinite nature of the devata.

The upacaras are done again after this and the worship then concludes.

Japa

Japa is chanting of mantra. The procedure for japa involves sankalpa, nyasa, dhyana and mantra japa.

Homa

Homa is worshipping through fire (agni karya). In Homa, Agni is invoked. Agni is said to be the face of all devatas (deva mukha). All the oblations (havis) are offered to Him. After offering oblations to Agni, oblations to all other devatas are offered through Agni - Agni is said to carry those to devatas. Havis is said to be the food of devatas by obtaining which they cause man's well-being.

Agni being the carrier of oblations, his consort symbolizes offering. Agni is said to have two wives, Svaha and Swadha. Svaha is the word to be uttered while oblations are offered. Offerings to devatas are made with Svaha and offerings to pitris or departed fathers are made with Swadha.

For a homa, an altar is built. Then fire is invoked in that. Then the articles are purified and fire is worshiped. Then other devatas are worshipped.

Nityakarma

One is supposed to perform eight rituals everyday, they are called nityakarmas. These are eight ways of worship. The list varies for varnas and each varna has the nitya karma-astaka prescribed separately. Broadly they are taking bath, various forms of worship, serving occupation and treating guests. For a srotriya, they are snana, sandhyavandana, japa, homa, devatarcana, vaisadeva, atithya and veda patha.

दलित स्त्री आंदोलन; चिंतन और संघर्ष की चुनौतियां

Written by अनिता भारती | Published on: February 18, 2016

भारतीय समाज की सबसे निचली सीढ़ी पर खड़ी दलित स्त्री ने समाज की वर्जनाओं निषेधाज्ञाओं को लांघते हुऐ ब्राह्मणवादी व्यवस्था केमुख्य आधार स्तम्भ; पितृसत्ता, धर्म और जातीयता को हमेशा कड़ी टक्कर दी है। चाहें वह चिन्तन का क्षेत्र हो अथवा संघर्ष का, दोनो स्तरों पर उसने अपने अस्तित्व व अस्मिता की लड़ाई को प्राचीन काल से लेकर आज तक जारी रखा है।

आधुनिक महिला आन्दोलन की शुरूआत 18वीं शताब्दी से मानी जाती है परन्तु दलित महिला आन्दोलन की शुरूआत हम बौद्धकाल से ही मानते है। दलित महिला आन्दोलन महज 200 साल पुराना न होकर सदियों पुराना है, जिसमें सर्वप्रथम बौद्धकालमें दलित वर्ग की, थेरी सुमंगला और पूर्णिमा दासीके द्वारा लिखी गई कविताओं को, हम दलित नारीवाद की प्रथम सशक्त अभिव्यक्ति मानते है। सुंमगला उन्मुक्त स्वर में अपने द्वारा, अपने आप को पा लेने की घोषणा करते हुए यानि अपने अस्तित्व को पहचाने की एक लंबी कष्टदायक प्रक्रिया से गुजरते हुए,एक उन्मुक्त और स्वतंत्र स्त्री की तरह अभिव्यक्त करते हुए गा उठती है-

मुक्त हूं मै, मुक्त

धन कुटे से पिंड छुटा, देगची से भी

मैं कितनी प्रसन्नचित्त हूं

अपने पति से घृणा हो गई है

उसकी छत्र-छाया को मै अब बर्दाश्त नही कर सकती

इसलिए मैं कड़कड़ा कर नष्ट करती हूँ

लालच और नफरत को

और मैं वही स्त्री हूं

जो पेड़ तले जा बैठती है

और अपने आप आपसे कहती है

आह! यह है सुख

और करती है चिंतन मनन सुखपूर्वक

पति की मार से त्रस्त सुंमगला मुक्ति का मार्ग ढूंढ लेती है, तो दलित स्त्रियों के जीवन के दमघोटू और शोषणकारी पलों को दासी पूर्णिमा ने बड़ी सशक्त अभिव्यक्ति दी है -

मै पनिहारिन थी

सदा पानी भरना मेरा काम

स्वामिनियों के दण्ड के भय से

उनकी क्रोध भरी गलियों से पीड़ित होकर

मुझे कड़ी सर्दी में भी सदा पानी में उतरना पड़ता था’

दलित स्त्रियां चौतरफा शोषण की शिकार हैं। दलित होने के कारण, स्त्री होने के कारण, और उस पर भी दलित स्त्रीतथा चौथा गरीबी के कारण। चौतरफा शोषण, अन्याय, अत्याचार के बावजूद वह अनवरत काल से संघर्ष करती रहीं हैं। पूर्व मध्यकाल में कुछ दलित संत कवयित्रियं है जो अपनी अप्रतिम प्रतिभा व जीवटता के कारण ही तमाम जातीय षडयंत्रों की शिकार होकर भी गुमनामी के अंधेरे में ना खोते हुए, समय के पथ पर अपने महत्वपूर्ण पद चिन्ह छोड़ने में सफल रही हैं। हालांकि उनकी राह बहुत कठिन थी। परशुराम चतुर्वेदी अपनी पुस्तक(उतरी भारत की संत परंम्परा पेज 101 से 103) में चौदहवीं शती की दलित संत ललदेह के बारे में अपना मत रखते हुए कहते है कि‘लल्ला या लाल कश्मीर की रहने वाली एक ढेढवा मेहतर जाति की स्त्री थी जो सामाजिक दृष्टि से निम्न स्तर वाले परिवार की होकर भी बहुत उच्च विचार रखती थी। इसके विषय में प्रसिद्ध है कि यह शैव-सम्प्रदाय का अनुसरण करने वाली एक भ्रमणशील भंगिन थी’’। चौदहवीं शताब्दी की संत ललदेह, जो कि कश्मीरी कविता की जनक भी कही जाती है, कुछ समय पहले तक मु्ख्य धारा के भक्ति काव्य-विमर्श और पटल से एकदम अदृष्य थी। दलित साहित्य और दलित महिला आंदोलन दोनों विदेशी विद्वान डा0 गिर्यसन और डा. बनेट का हमेशा शुक्रगुजार रहेगा जिन्होने अपने अथक प्रयासों से गली-गली, गांव-गांव घूमकर, संत ललदेह का काव्य खोज निकाला और उनके वाखों को ‘‘लल्ला वाक्यानि” में संगृहीत कर दिया। संत ललदेह ने अपने वाखों के माध्यम से जाति प्रथा, धार्मिक कट्टरता, छुआछूत के खिलाफ बहुत ही सरल व सीधी भाषा में वाख यानि पद लिखे है। संत ललदेह ने मूर्ति पूजा के साथ-साथ स्वर्ग नरक की धारणा का भी खंडन किया है। अपने होने के अहसास को जिस मजबूती से संत ललदेह ने स्वीकारा है वह अभिव्यक्ति अपने आप में दलित महिलाओं की उच्च जीवट शक्ति की परिचायक है --

हम ही थे, होंगे हम ही आगे भी

अविगत कालों से चले आ रहे हम ही

जीना मरना न होगा समाप्त प्राणी का

आना और जाना सूर्य का धर्म है यही’

मध्यकाल की ही मराठी भाषा की एक और प्रसिद्ध दलित संत कवयित्री है जनाबाई, जो कि संत ज्ञानदेव की दासी थी। भक्ति की धारा जो उस समय बह रही थी जनाबाई उस भक्तिधारा के खिलाफ अलग तरह की भक्ति की धारा चलाती है जिसमें भगवान भगवान नही एक साधारण मनुष्य बन जाता है। जनाबाई कहती है-

जनी फर्श बुहार रही है

ओर भगवान कूड़ा इकट्ठा कर रहे है

अपने सिर पर रखकर दूर ले जा रहे है

भक्ति से विजित

ईश्वर नीचा काम कर रहें है

जनी बिठोवा से कहती है

मै तुम्हारा कर्ज कैसे उतारूंगी

यह वही भगवान (बिठोवा) है जिसे प्रख्यात कवि मीराबाई ‘एक मात्र पुरूष कहती है। हालांकि मै इस बात से बिल्कुल सहमत हूं कि मीराबाई जैसा क्रांतिकारी चरित्र भक्तिकाल में दुर्लभ है, परन्तु दलित संत कवयित्रियां उसे एकमात्र पुरूष के घेरे से खींच एक समान्य मनुष्य की तरह अपनी जमीन पर उतार लाती है। यहॉ दलित और ‘गैर दलित महिलाओं की रचनाओं में बुनियादी फर्क नजर आता है। जनाबाई भक्ति को अधिकार के रूप में देखती है। उपकार या मोक्ष-स्वर्ग पाने के माध्यम के रूप में नही। ईश्वर पूजने के अधिकार के साथ-साथ वे बाजार में भी पूरी ठसक के साथ बाहर निकलना चाहती है ऐसा करने में उन्हें बदनामी का डर नही सताता-

सारी शर्म छोड़ दो और बेच डालो खुद को भरे बाजार

केवल तभी

तुम उम्मीद कर सकते हो

ईश्वर को पाने की

जाउंगी भरे बाजार

हाथ में मंजीरा

और कंधे पर वीणा लिए

मैं जाउंगी भरे बाजार

कौन रोक सकता है मुझे

मेरी साड़ी का पल्लू गिरता है

तब भी मैं जाउंगी भीड़ भरे बाजार

बेपरवाह, बिना सोचे, बिना विचारे

दलित संत कवयित्रियों की लड़ाई मंदिर प्रवेश से लेकर भगवान पूजने के अधिकार की होते हुए भी ईश्वर के पक्षपाती रवैये के धिक्कार की भी है क्योंकि वे इस बात को समझती है कि ईश्वर भी उनकीदलित स्त्री होने की पीड़ा को नहीं खत्म कर सकता! बांग्ला भाषा की धोबी जाति की दलित कवयित्री रामी कहती है --

तूफान को उन लोगों के सिर पर गिर जाने दो

जो अपने घरों में छिपे, अच्छे लोगों को कोसते है

मैं और ज्यादा इस अन्याय की भूमि पर नही रह सकी

मुझे वहां जाना है जहां यातनाएं न हो

दलित कवयित्री रामी के साथ विडम्बना यह है कि आज रामी रचित दुर्लभ पद यदि मिल भी जाये तो वह उनके पति व सुप्रसिद्ध वैष्णव कवि चंडीदास के पदों में समाहित है। हमेशा से ऐसा ही होता आ रहा है कि यदि पति-पत्नी दोनों ही समान काम करते हो तो महत्ता पति को ही मिलती है। यही भक्त कवि रामी के साथ भी हुआ है। इसलिए बहुत खोज करने पर भी उनके पद नही मिलते है। हाथ लगती है तो केवल जनश्रुतियां, किस्से-कहानियां और किवदंतियां। मध्य काल में और भी अनेक दलित संत कवयित्रियॉ हुई है जिनमें कई के नाम हम जानते हैं और कई को अतीत के गर्भ से खोजना बाकी है। परन्तु अब वह समय दूर नही कि इतिहास के गर्त में छिपी इन साहित्यकारों को वह उचित स्थान जो अभी तक नही मिला, भविष्य में जरुर मिलेगा।

अब सवाल यह उठता है कि क्या कारण है कि ये दलित कवयित्रियॉ अपने चिंतनशील और वैचारिक लेखन के बावजूद साहित्यिक समाज में अपनी जगह नही बना पाई। शायद इसका मुख्य कारण यही था कि इनदलित कवयित्रियों के प्रति शोधकर्ताओं और इतिहासकारों का रवैया भेदभावपूर्ण था तथा वे जातीय पूर्वाग्रह से ग्रसित थे। ब्राह्मणवादी पितृसत्तात्मक समाज में दलित महिलाओं का स्थान सबसे निम्न होने के कारण उनके प्रति दृष्टिकोण हेय था।

ऐसा नही है कि दलित स्त्री के साथ पक्षपात केवल साहित्य के क्षेत्र में ही हुआ हो। साहित्य के साथ साथ विभिन्न सामाजिक, राजनैतिक आंदोलनों में भी इसी पूर्वाग्रहों चलते उनकी हिस्सेदारी व नेतृत्व की तो बात दूर है उनका नाम तक का वर्णननहीं मिलता है। इसी वजह से दलित संत कवयित्रियों के साथ-साथ दलित महिला आन्दोलन की नेत्रियों और कार्यकर्ताओं की भी किसी भी इतिहास में चाहे वह दलित इतिहास हो या गैरदलित दोनो में, उपस्थिति शून्य दिखाई जाती है। दलित महिला आन्दोलन और लेखन की एक लम्बी परम्परा रही है, अब साक्ष्यों का भी अभाव नही है, आज दलित महिलाएं बडी शिद्धत और प्रतिबद्धता से अपने अस्तित्व और अस्मिता के सवालों से जूझने के साथ उन्हें उठा ही नहीं रही बल्कि उन पर विमर्श भी चला रही है। दलित महिला आन्दोलन के अपने आदर्श रहे हैं, सावित्रीबाई फुले से लेकर रमाबाई अम्बेडकर और अन्य दलित महिला नेता। आज भी हम दलित-गैरदलित महिला आन्दोलन पर चर्चा करते समय विदेशी विचारकों की तरफ मुंह उठाकर देखना बंद नही करते जबकि भारत में एक से एक दलित व गैर दलित महिला विचारक रही हैं। क्या हम तारा बाई शिन्दे, पंडिता रमाबाई ओर सावित्रीबाई फुले को भूल गए जिन्होंने विपरीत सामाजिक और स्त्री विराधी परिस्थितियों में काम ही नही किया अपितु स्त्रियों के पक्ष में भी परिस्थितियां बनाने भरपूर कोशिश की। सावित्रीबाई फुले का दलित- गैरदलित महिलाओं के लिए विद्यालय खोलना, विधवा आश्रम चलाना अपने आप में क्रांतिकारी उपलब्धियां है। हम नारी आन्दोलन की शुरूआत 19वीं शताब्दी के उत्तरार्ध से मानते है जबकि दलित महिला आन्दोलन भारत में बहुत पुराना है। दलित फेमनिस्ट मूवमेंट की शुरूआत हम बौद्धकाल से ही मानते है। आज भी भारतीय महिला आन्दोलन की उच्चवर्गीय व उच्चवर्णीय अगुवा महिला नेता, दलित महिला आन्दोलन के नेता व उनके ‘आईडियल को संम्पूर्ण नारीवादी आंदोलन का आई़डियल मानने को तैयार नही है। दलित महिला आन्दोलन की खासियत है कि वह अपने मुक्ति के सवाल को सामाजिक और आर्थिक प्रश्न से जोड़कर देखता है। दलित महिला आन्दोलन के लिए घरेलू हिंसा के साथ-साथ सामाजिक हिंसा भी उतनी ही महत्वपूर्ण है, क्योंकि दलित महिलाएं रोज-रोज गांवों-शहरों में फैक्ट्रियों- खेतों में दलित स्त्री होने के कारण अपमान शोषण और अत्याचार की शिकार होती है। दुख की बात है कि इस सामाजिक हिंसा के सवाल को महिला आन्दोलन उस प्रतिबद्धता के साथ नही उठाता जितना कि घरेलू हिंसा को।

दलित महिला आन्दोलन महज 200 साल पुराना न होकर सदियों पुराना है, जिसमें सर्वप्रथम बौद्धकालमें दलित वर्ग की, थेरी सुमंगला और पूर्णिमा दासीके द्वारा लिखी गई कविताओं को, हम दलित नारीवाद की प्रथम सशक्त अभिव्यक्ति मानते है।

आज दलित स्त्रियां उच्चपद पर होने के बावजूद चाहे वह राजनैतिक हो शैक्षिक या फिर अन्य कोई, उन्हे जिस तरह से समाजिक हिंसा का शिकार होना पड़ रहा है वह आंकड़ा दिन प्रतिदिन बढ़ता जा रहा है। दलित छग्गीबाई सरपंच बनने के बाद भी अपमानित होती है, उड़ीसा में दलित बच्ची ममतानाईक को साईकिल से स्कूल जाने पर उससे साइकिल छीन कर बेइज्जत किया जाता है। डायन, चुडै़ल बताकर आज भी दलित आदिवासी महिलाओं को पत्थरों से मार दिया जाता है। बेड़िनी और बांछड़ा जाति की औरतों को जातिगत पेशे के नाम पर वेष्यावृति में धकेला जा रहा है। देवदासी के नाम पर दलित महिलाओं के शोषण का सिलसिला अनवरत जारी है। भारतीय महिला आन्दोलन के लिए दलित महिलाओं के मुद्दे जैसे मन्दिर, पानी की लड़ाई, सामाजिक यौन शोषण अस्पृष्यता कोई अहमियत नही रखते। मन्दिर पानी के मुद्दे उनके इसलिए अहमियत नहीं रखते क्योंकि उन्हें जन्म से ही जाति आधार पर ये सुविधाएं प्राप्त है। अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस जो कि प्रत्येक वर्ष आठ मार्च को मनाया जाता है इतने सालों में मंहगाई से भ्रूण हत्या तक मुद्दें बने पर दलित महिलाओ के मुद्दों को कभी प्राथमिकता नही मिली। क्या इसका कारण हम यह माने भारतीय महिला आन्दोलन अति उच्च शिक्षित मध्यम वर्ग की महिलाओं द्वारा चलाए जा रहें है। इसलिए उसमें उसी वर्ग की भागीदारी रही, और मुद्दे भी उन्ही के द्वारा प्रायोजित थे। पर ऐसा भी नही हैं, भागीदारी तो दलित पिछड़ी महिलाओं की बहुत अधिक रही पर लीडरशिप और मुद्दे उनके नही थे। किसी भी आन्दोलन में चाहे वह जनवादी हो राष्ट्रीय आन्दोलन, दलित महिलाओं ने अपनी अहम भूमिका निभाई है। सहभागिता के नाम पर वे भीड़ के रूप में आन्दोलन में जुड़ी रही।

दांडी यात्रा में गांधी जी के हजारों संख्या में दलित महिलाओं ने भागीदारी निभाई। नमक सत्याग्रह में 80,000 लोग गिरफ्तार किए गए जिनमें 17,000 महिलाएं थी जिनमें सर्वाधिक संख्या दलित व गरीब महिलाओं की थी। देश की आजादी के लिए अपने प्राण न्यौछावर करने वालो में झलकारी बाई, उदादेवी पासी, रानी अवन्तीबाई लोधी, वीरांगना महावीरी देवी, सिनगी दई, कइली दई, फूलों, झानों, रानी गूडियालों देवमनी उर्फ बंधनी, राजस्थान की वीर बाला काली बाई आदि अनेक नाम मिल जायेगे। जिन्होने अकेले-अकेले कई-2 मोर्चों पर संघर्ष किया। परआज भी आजादी की लड़ाई में उन्ही शिक्षित सभ्य और ऊॅच घरानों की महिलाओँ के नाम ही गिनाएं जाते है। जो समाज, घर व अपने परिवार की अच्छी सामाजिक-आर्थिक-राजनैतिक हैसियत होने के कारण जुड़ी थी। दूसरी ओरइन हैसियतों से वंचित दलित वंचित गरीब समुदाय की इन औरतों को याद भी नही किया जाता है। यह पूर्वाग्रह साहित्य से लेकर समाज में गहरे तक व्याप्त है।

डा0 अम्बेडकर का समय दलित महिलाओ की अपनी व समाज की स्वतन्त्रता समानता को लेकर की गई सक्रिय भागीदारी का स्वर्ण काल है। परन्तु दुःख इस बात का है कि अम्बेडकर कालीन 30-40 साल चले दलित आन्दोलन में इस आन्दोलन में लाखो-लाख शिक्षित-अशिक्षित घरेलू गरीब मजदूर किसान व दलित शोषित महिलाएं जुड़ी। केवल वे दलित आन्दोलन में ही नही जुड़ी अपितु उन्होंने अलग से दलित महिला संगठनों की स्थापना भी की। 25 दिसम्बर 1927 को चावदार तालाब के महाड़ सत्याग्रह में ढाई हजार दलित औरतो ने भाग लिया। 12 अक्टूबर 1929 को डा0 अम्बेडकर और दलित महिला नेता तानुबाई के नेतृत्व में हजारों महिलाओं ने पूना के पार्वतीबाई के मन्दिर में प्रवेश करते हुए लाठी- डंडे खाये। नासिक के कालाराम मन्दिर प्रवेश के दौरान एक पुजारी द्वारा दलित महिलाओं को धक्का मारने पर एक दलित महिला ने पुजारी के मुंह पर सनसनाता थप्पड़ जड़ दिया था। इस आन्दोलन को सम्बोधित करते हुए राधाबाई बडाले नामक सत्याग्रही ने अपने ओजस्वी भाषण में कहा- हमें मंदिरों मे जाने का, पनघट से पानी पीने का, भरने का अधिकर मिलना चाहिए यह हमारा सामाजिक हक है। शासन करने का राजनैतिक अधिकार भी हमें मिलना चाहिए। हम कठोर सजा की चिन्ता नही करतीं । हम देश भर की जेलों को भर देंगे। हम लाठी गोली खाएंगे। हमें हमारा हक चाहिए। योद्धा कभी अपनी जान की चिन्ता नही करता। गुलामी के साथ मिल कर जी गई जिन्दगी से मौत बेहतर है। हम जान दे देगें मगर अधिकर छीन कर रहेगें।

दलित महिला आन्दोलन अस्पृष्यता, लिंगभेद, असमानता के खिलाफ लड़ता हुआ दलित महिलाओं को स्कूल, कालेज. हॉस्टल खोलने के साथ पत्र-पत्रिकाओं में लिखने की प्रेरणा देता रहा। इस आन्दोलन में कौशल्या बैसन्त्री, बेबीताई काम्बले, सुलोचना डोगरे, सीताबाई गायकवाड़, तानुबाई काबले, राधाबाई बरालै और भी अनेक दलित नेत्रियां थी, जिनके नामों को अगर मैं गिनाने लगूं तो सूची- बहुत लम्बी हो जायेगी। यहां यह सवाल भी महत्वपूर्ण है कि अम्बेडकर के समय चला दलित महिला आन्दोलन 56 के बाद एकदम रूका क्यों नजर आने लगा? वह वास्तव में रूका था या दलित आन्दोलन की कमी थी जो वह दलित महिलाओं के आन्दोलन व उनके मुद्दों को उचित जगह नही दे पाया। बाबा साहब के साथ आंदोलन में इतनी बडी सख्या मे जुड़ी दलित महिलाएं उनके परिनिर्वाण के बाद एकाएक घरों में क्यों लौट गई? इसमें कोई शक नही की दलित आंदोलन भी अन्य आन्दोलनों की तरह दलित स्त्री को बराबरी की हिस्सेदारी देने में नाकाम रहा।

दांडी यात्रा में गांधी जी के हजारों संख्या में दलित महिलाओं ने भागीदारी निभाई। नमक सत्याग्रह में 80,000 लोग गिरफ्तार किए गए जिनमें 17,000 महिलाएं थी जिनमें सर्वाधिक संख्या दलित व गरीब महिलाओं की थी। देश की आजादी के लिए अपने प्राण न्यौछावर करने वालो में झलकारी बाई, उदादेवी पासी, रानी अवन्तीबाई लोधी, वीरांगना महावीरी देवी, सिनगी दई, कइली दई, फूलों, झानों, रानी गूडियालों देवमनी उर्फ बंधनी, राजस्थान की वीर बाला काली बाई आदि अनेक नाम मिल जायेगे

आज दलित महिलाओं के सामने पितृसत्ता जातिवाद, निरक्षरता, तंगहाली और पूर्वाग्रह चुनौतियों के सामने खड़े है। यह पूर्वाग्रह समाज से लेकर साहित्य व आन्दोलन से लेकर वैचारिक धरातल पर बिखरे पड़े हैं। दलित साहित्य जहां एक ओर उसकी छवि उत्श्रृंखल कामचोर, पेटू आदि खीचने मे व्यस्त है वही दूसरी ओर उसकी क्षमता व प्रतिभा को नित नये फतवों से नेस्तनाबूद करने की साजिश रच रहा है। जिस आजादी और मुक्ति का स्वप्न लेकर दलित साहित्यकार दलित साहित्य को समृद्ध कर रहा है उन्ही मूल्यों के खिलाफ, दलित स्त्री कोदलित पुरूष परतन्त्रता की बेड़ियों मेंजकड़ना चाहता है। यौन शुचिता के नाम पर वह उसे अपने पांव की जूती व अपने उपभोग की वस्तु बनाकर सुरक्षित रखना चाहता है। मुझे उन दलित साहित्यकारों की बु़द्धि पर तरस आता है जो बार-बार दलित महिला लेखिकाओं को और सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओं को अहसास कराने में कोई कसर नही छोड़ते कि दलित महिलाएं निपट मूर्ख, अक्षम, सवर्णो की गोद में बैठकर दलित पुरूष को सताने वाली होती है। वे उत्पीड़क और उत्पीड़ित का अन्तर भूल गए है। उन्हें बार-बार अहसास होता है आराम से गटकी जा रही घी चुपड़ी रोटी में ये आधा हिस्सा मांगने वाली कहां से टपक गई और अगर मांगती है तो गिड़गिड़ा कर दयनीय होकर क्यों नहीं मांगती, सिर ऊंचा करके क्यों मांगती है?

दलित महिलाओं के सामने दलित पितृसत्ता भी एक गम्भीर चुनौती है, जिसका आज सजग सचेत होकर दलित साहित्यकार व सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता विरोधकर रहे है।

दलित साहित्यकार दलित नारीवाद को बार-बार अपनी जातीय गुलामी का कारण मान रहे है। दलित स्त्रियों के प्रति मीडिया से लेकरशासन-प्रशासन, पुलिस-न्यायप्रकिया अपनी पूर्वाग्रह ग्रसित भूमिका निभा रहे है। साथिन भंवरी बाई के साथ हुएबलात्कार के अन्तहीन उत्पीड़न में पुलिस से लेकर कोर्ट ने अपनी भूमिका बहुत ही हास्यास्पद तरीके से निभाई। जयपुर के जिला एंव सत्र न्यायधीश ने तो भंवरी के बलात्कार को झूठा कहते हुए यहां तक कह दिया कि ‘‘ऊंची जाति के लोग नीची जाति की स्त्री के बदसलूकी कैसे कर सकते है। फिर वे बड़ी उम्र के वयस्क है कोई बच्ची तो नहीं, ऐसे लोग कभी बदसलूक नही हो सकते।“ आज भी भंवरी लड़ रही है ।वह थकेगी नही और वह लड़ती रहेगी।

पिछले दिनों खैरलाजी में दलित स्त्रियों सुरेखा और प्रियंका की बलात्कार के बाद की गई निर्मम हत्या को प्रशासन, पुलिस, मीडिया व स्त्री संगठनों ने जिस हल्के स्तर से लिया वह अत्यंत चिंतनीय ही नही निंदनीय भी है। दलित समाज के सामने खड़ी चुनौती भूमंडलीकरण, आरक्षण, साम्प्रदायिकता, नीजिकरण दलित स्त्री के लिए भी चुनौती है। चाहे साम्प्रदायिक दंगे हो या निजीकरण और भूंमडलीकरण के बढ़ते प्रभाव से खत्म होते रोजगार के अवसर, या फिर आरक्षण, इन सबसे वह ही सबसे अधिक प्रभावित होती है। भूंमडलीकरण, बाजारीकरण के चलते उसके श्रम की कीमत दिन पर दिन कम होती जा रही है, जिसके कारण उसके परिवार पर व उसके ऊपर इसका सीधा असर पड़ रहा है। आर्थिक चुनौतियां सुलझने की जगह और उलझ रही है। घर और बाहर थोड़ा हो या बहुत उसे ही मैनेज करना है। दलित स्त्रियों की शिक्षा की दर बहुत नीचे है, वे अधिकांशतः खेत और फैक्ट्रियों में अल्प वेतन पर काम कर रहीं है। विकास के नाम पर उसे जल, जंगल, जमीन से वंचित किया जा रहा हैं। दलित आदिवासी लड़कियॉ देह व्यापार में और घरेलू कार्यों की भट्टी में जबरदस्ती धकेली जा रही है, जहां उनके वेतन मान से लेकर काम के घण्टे व छुट्टियों तक नियत नही है।

अधिकांश दलित महिला आन्दोलन व उनके मुद्दों को महिलाओं के गैर सरकारी संगठनों द्वारा जिस तरीके से पेश किया जा रहा है वह भी चिंतनीय है। इन गैर सरकारी संगठनों द्वारा उठाऐ जा रहे सवाल फंड पर निर्भर करते है, मुद्दे की गम्भीरता पर नहीं । आज अनेक गैर सरकारी महिला संगठन दलित महिलाओं के मुद्दे जैसे देवदासी व खेती मजदूरी के सवाल पर काम कर रहे हैं। पर उनका नजरिया दलित महिलाओं की समस्याओं को समाजिक दायरे में न देखकर व्यक्तिगत रूप से देखा जा रहा है। जातिगत पेशे जैसे बेडनी या देवदासी जैसे मुद्दों को व्यक्तिगत स्वतन्त्रता के साथ ना जोड़कर सामाजिक संदर्भो में देखा जाना चाहिए जैसे स्त्री मुक्ति का सवाल व्यक्तिगत ना होकर सामाजिक है। इस बात को मैं इस तरह समझती हूं।

जैसे यदि कोई 18 साल से ऊपर की महिला सोच विचार के स्वेच्छा से देवदासी बनना चाहे तो हलांकि इसमें भी मैं देह को साधन बनाने के पक्ष में नही हूं, क्योंकि देह की अपनी गरिमा होती है चाहे वह स्त्री की हो या पुरूष की। परन्तु एक जाति की ही औरतें देवदासी या बेड़नी या बार-बाला बनने के लिए मजबूर हो तब हम उस मजबूरी को व्यक्तिगत स्वतन्त्रता का मुद्दा नही बता सकते।

इस चौतरफा शोषण के खिलाफ लड़ने के साथ-साथ उसे अन्य महिला समूहों व विचारधाराओं के अलावा उसको अपनेसमाज-परिवार की मुक्ति के साथखुद की मुक्ति और बराबरी की भी लड़ाई लड़नी है। इन सबके बीच वह कैसे इन सब मुद्दों पर अपना तालमेल बैठायेगी,यह भी चिंतन का विषय है आज दलित महिलाओं से जुडे मुद्दे चाहे वह महिला रिर्जेवेशन का मुद्दा हो या कोई अन्य स्त्री मुद्दा, इनके नाम पर उसे अन्य महिला संगठनों द्वारा उसे बार-बार कहा जाता है कि जाति के नाम पर महिला आन्दोलन को दो हिस्सों में मत बांटों या फिर एक बार महिला आरक्षण बिल पास होने दो तब बात करेगे। यही बात जब वह अपने घर परिवार के जाति भाईयों से कहती है तो उसका यह कहकर मजाक उड़ा दिया जाता है कि“बड़ी-बड़ी गुलामियों को छोटी-छोटी आजादियों से मत तोलो” या व्यंग्य में “इतनी छोटी कहां हैमेरी आजादी कि तुम्हें और तुम्हारे जैसों को पूरी जगह ना हो” तो मेरा मानना है दलित स्त्रियों के चिंतन और संघर्ष की अत्यन्त कठिन है, पर वह लड़ रही है और लड़ती रहेगी। और अंत में निर्मला पुतुल की कविता के साथ दलित-आदिवासी महिलाओं का एक सशक्त वक्तव्य जिसके लिए वे हरदम तैयार रहेगी --

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इस्लाम में तस्वीर और मूर्ति की मनाही अगर है तो क्यों है?

इस्लामी धर्मग्रंथ और मान्यताएं तस्वीर और मूर्ति बनाने पर किस तरह की राय रखते हैं

24 मई 2015 · 14:00 संशोधित - 04 मई 2016 · 15:29राकेश कबीर

इस्लामी धार्मिक ग्रंथ कुरान में तस्वीर या मूर्ति बनाने पर प्रतिबंध का ज़िक्र ही नहीं है. अगर प्रतिबंध है तो किसी चित्र या मूर्ति की पूजा करने पर. इसके उलट कुरान में तो मूर्तियों का ज़िक्र ही मिलता है.

ईश्वर के चित्र और मूर्ति बनाने की मनाही तो इन तीनों धर्मों में अभी भी है लेकिन, समय के साथ यहूदियों और ईसाइयों ने अपने धर्मों के प्रवर्तकों - हजरत मूसा और ईसा - की तस्वीर और मूर्ति को वैध मान लिया है. जबकि मुस्लिम समुदाय ने हज़रत मुहम्मद के चित्र या मूर्ति को कभी जायज़ नहीं माना. इसके साथ ही इस्लाम में तस्वीरों की मनाही अल्लाह और पैगंबर मुहम्मद तक ही सीमित न रहकर हर तरह के चित्रों और मूर्तियों पर लागू हो गई. हालांकि इस्लाम के सबसे पवित्र धार्मिक ग्रंथ कुरान में तस्वीर या मूर्ति बनाने पर प्रतिबंध का ज़िक्र ही नहीं है. अगर प्रतिबंध है तो किसी चित्र या मूर्ति की पूजा करने पर. इसके उलट कुरान में तो मूर्तियों का ज़िक्र ही मिलता है. जैसे हजरत सुलेमान का महल मूर्तियों से सुसज्जित था. लेकिन इन मूर्तियों की इबादत नहीं की जाती थी. इन्हें मात्र महल की शोभा बढ़ाने के लिए लगाया गया था.

इस्लाम में चित्रों की मनाही का ज़िक्र सिर्फ हदीस (सहीह अल-बुखारी) में मिलता है. इसके मुताबिक एक बार हजरत मुहम्मद यात्रा से घर लौटे तो अपनी पत्नी आयशा के कमरे पर एक पर्दा देखा जिस पर चित्र बने थे. इसे देख उन्होंने गुस्से में कहा - अशहदु अल-नासा अज़ाब अल-यौम अल-कियामा अल-मुस्सविरून (क़यामत के दिन तस्वीर बनाने वालों को सबसे सख्त सजा मिलेगी). हदीस की इसी दलील पर इस्लामी विद्वान तस्वीरों को प्रतिबंधित मानते हैं.

सवाल उठता है कि इस्लाम को मानने वाले तस्वीर और मूर्तियों के सवाल पर इतने अधिक संवेदनशील क्यों हैं? इसे समझने के लिए हमें इस्लाम से पहले के अरब समाज की धार्मिक मान्यताओं पर एक नजर डालनी होगी तो इसके कारण स्पष्ट होने लगते हैं.

जब हजरत मुहम्मद से उनके अनुयाइयों ने पूछा कि हे पैगंबर! वह ईश्वर जिसकी इबादत का हुक्म आप देते हैं, कैसा है? तो उन्होंने चार आयतों में उस सर्वशक्तिमान, सर्वव्यापी ईश्वर का वर्णन किया

अरब लोग एक साल को 360 दिन का मानते हैं और इस्लाम से पहले के यहां के समाज की धार्मिक मान्यताओं में हर दिन के लिए एक देवी या देवता मुक़र्रर था. यानी इस समाज में 360 मूर्तियों की पूजा हुआ करती थी. इनमें अल्लाह नाम के देव का स्थान सबसे ऊपर था. इसके बाद तीन देवियों - अल-लात, मनात और अल-उज़्ज़ा का स्थान आता था. इतने देवी-देवताओं को मानने वाले समाज में जब हजरत मुहम्मद से उनके अनुयाइयों ने पूछा कि हे पैगंबर! वह ईश्वर जिसकी इबादत का हुक्म आप देते हैं, कैसा है? तो उन्होंने चार आयतों में उस ईश्वर का वर्णन किया, उसे अल्लाह के नाम से पुकारा और कहा :

कुल हु वल्लाहु अहद - कहो कि वह एकेश्वर है

अल्लाहु समद - वह अमर है और हर कारण का कर्ता है

लम यलिद व लम यूलद - न वह किसी कोख से जन्मा है और न ही कोई उसकी कोख से जन्मा

व लम यकुन लहू कुफुअन अहद - और उस जैसा कोई और नहीं

ये चार आयतें कुरान के इखलास नाम के 112 वें अध्याय की हैं. इस्लामी मत के अनुसार यह तर्कसंगत लगता है कि जो बहुआयामी हो, जिसका कोई आदि और अंत न हो और जिसके जैसा कोई न हो, ऐसे सर्वशक्तिमान और सर्वव्यापी आराध्य को चित्र या मूर्ति के सीमित दायरे से देखा-समझा नहीं जा सकता. पैगंबर मुहम्मद के जीवनकाल में जब भी इस विषय पर कोई सवाल खड़े हुए तो उसका समाधान खुद उनके द्वारा हुआ. पैगंबर की मृत्यु के बाद इस्लामी मसलों का समाधान इस्लाम के चार खलीफा - हज़रात अबू बकर, उमर, उस्मान और अली के द्वारा किया जाता था.

जो बहुआयामी हो, जिसका कोई आदि और अंत न हो और जिसके जैसा कोई न हो, ऐसे सर्वशक्तिमान और सर्वव्यापी आराध्य को चित्र या मूर्ति के सीमित दायरे से देखा-समझा नहीं जा सकता

धर्म के दो मुख्य आयाम हुआ करते हैं – एक उसका बाह्य स्वरुप और दूसरा उसका अंतस. किसी विचार के बाह्य स्वरुप की भौतिकता को तो आकार, रंग या प्रतीक चिह्नों से दर्शाया जा सकता है. जैसे हिंदू धर्म में छाप, तिलक आदि, यहूदी धर्म की विशिष्ट टोपी, ईसाइयत में सलीबी लॉकेट और इस्लाम में दाढ़ी और पहनावा. लेकिन मनुष्य धर्म के अंतस की तस्वीर बनाने में अक्षम है. शायद इसीलिए इस्लाम मानता है कि तस्वीर बनाना जायज नहीं. मुस्लिम विद्वान मानते हैं कि ईश्वर के गुणों की अनुभूति तो हो सकती है लेकिन उनकी अभिव्यक्ति संभव नहीं है और यह दलील मुस्लिम समाज को सर्वमान्य है.

जैसा कि अन्य धर्मों में भी देखने को मिलता है कि अपने शुरूआती दौर को छोड़कर धर्म, संप्रदायों में बंटने लगता है. जैसे ईसाइयों में कैथोलिक और प्रोटेस्टेंट, हिंदुओं में वैष्णव और शैव, बौद्ध धर्म में हीनयान और महायान. इस्लाम भी इस संप्रदायवाद से अछूता नहीं रहा. सन 661 के आसपास, जब इस्लाम के चौथे खलीफा हज़रत अली का निधन हुआ तो धर्म के कुछ पहलुओं को लेकर विवाद होने पर शिया संप्रदाय की नींव पड़ी और इस्लाम की दो मुख्य धाराएं - शिया और सुन्नी - अस्तित्व में आईं. बाद में इन दो विचारधाराओं का अस्तित्व नदी के उन दो तटों के जैसा हो गया जिनकी मंज़िल तो एक ही है लेकिन मिलना असंभव.

इस्लामी जगत में सुन्नी संप्रदाय के अनुयायी बहुसंख्या में हैं जबकि शियाओं की जनसंख्या केवल 12 प्रतिशत ही है. शिया संप्रदाय का वैचारिक नेतृत्व ईरान करता है. तस्वीर और मूर्तियों के मसले पर शिया समाज और खासकर ईरानी समाज व राज्य व्यवस्था का रवैय्या काफी उदार लगता है. यहां हर घर में हज़रत अली की तस्वीर का पाया जाना उनकी अस्मिता का हिस्सा बन गया है. शिया विचारधारा के लोग पैगंबर के बाद अली को अपना प्रेरणास्रोत मानते हैं. अली के व्यक्तित्व को वे कुछ इस तरह बयान करते हैं - ला फतहा इल्ला अली, ला सैफ इल्ला ज़ुल्फ़क़ार (नहीं है विजेता कोई अली जैसा और कोई तलवार अली की ज़ुल्फ़क़ार तलवार सरीखी नहीं). शियाओं का अली प्रेम सुन्नी संप्रदाय के विरोध का एक मुख्य कारण माना जाता है. सुन्नियों का मानना है कि शिया संप्रदाय इस्लाम के मूलभूत एकेश्वर के सिद्धांत को नकारता है. शिया इस आक्षेप को स्वीकार नहीं करते.

मान्यताओं पर ठेस लगना स्वाभाविक है लेकिन उस पर प्रतिक्रियाएं किस हद तक जायज़ हैं इस बारे में पैगंबर मुहम्मद के जीवन काल की एक घटना और इसी सिलसिले में कुरान के कौसर नामक 108वें अध्याय की तीन आयतें भी हैं.

किसी भी व्यक्ति, समाज या राष्ट्र की आस्था को ठेस पहुंचने पर अक्सर प्रतिक्रिया देखने को मिलती है. इस्लाम इस मामले में कुछ अधिक संवेदनशील प्रतीत होता है. अयातुल्लाह खुमैनी द्वारा सलमान रश्दी के खिलाफ मौत का फ़तवा देना इसी का एक चर्चित उदाहरण है. मान्यताओं पर ठेस लगना स्वाभाविक है लेकिन उस पर प्रतिक्रियाएं किस हद तक जायज़ हैं इस बारे में पैगंबर मुहम्मद के जीवन काल की एक घटना और इसी सिलसिले में कुरान के कौसर नामक 108वें अध्याय की तीन आयतें भी हैं.

मुहम्मद साहब की संतानों में पुत्र नहीं थे और जो हुए वे बचपन में ही चल बसे. इस्लाम पूर्व अरब समाज में पुत्र विहीन पुरुष को पौरुष विहीन माना जाता था. समाज के दूसरे लोग इस्लाम के अनुयायिओं को ताना देते हुए कहते थे कि तुम्हारा पैगंबर तो ‘अबतर’ है यानी पौरुषहीन, वंश विहीन है. इस बात से आहत होकर जब वे पैगंबर के पास पहुंचे और पूछा कि हम गैर मुस्लिमों के कटाक्ष पर क्या रवैया अपनाएं तो इस सवाल के समाधान हेतु तीन आयतें अवतरित हुईं :

इन्ना आतैनाकल कौसर - हमने तुम्हें (बेटी के रूप में) स्वर्ग की नदी कौसर प्रदान की है

फसल्ले ले-रब्बेक वनहर - इसलिए मेरी भक्ति करो

इन्ना शानिअका हुवल अबतर - और जो तुम्हें वंश विहीन कहते हैं वे खुद ही वंश विहीन हो जाएंगे

इस आसमानी फरमान के तहत उस समय के मुस्लिम समाज ने अपनी भावनाओं पर ठेस पहुंचने वाली बातों को या तो नज़रअंदाज़ किया या गैर-मुस्लिमों के साथ संवाद ही किए. लेकिन आज इसका उलटा होते दिखता है जोकि जाहिर तौर पर ऊपर लिखी आयतों और उनके संदेशों के विपरीत है.

Say no to Hindu Festival/Rituals

Hindu festivals and Buddhist converts

Written by Deekshit

Deekshit

इसको भरनेवाले जन को

सर्वस्व-समर्पण करना है।

अपना तन-मन-धन-जन-जीवन

माता को अर्पण करना है।

(Those who fill this form, shall renounce everything; surrender their body, heart, mind, and life to the motherland.)

पर यह साधारण पत्र नहीं,

आज़ादी का परवाना है।

इस पर तुमको अपने तन का

कुछ उज्जवल रक्त गिराना है!

(But understand, this is not an ordinary paper.

This is a warrant of freedom, on this letter you have to shed your own blood.)

वह आगे आए जिसके तन में

खून भारतीय बहता हो।

(Step forward, if the blood rushing through your veins is Indian).These are the lines from Gopal Prasad Vyas' poem Khooni Hastakshar, dedicated to the Azad Hind Movement led by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.

However, when I listen to this poem, I relate it to the 'Human emancipation movement' led by Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar in India. What was his last and most important move for the emancipation of millions of Dalits in India? It was the conversion to Buddhism from Hinduism. Was it only for the Dalits of Maharashtra? Definitely not! Though Babasaheb could physically give Deeksha of Buddhism only in Nagpur and Chandrapur (on 14th and 16th October 1956 respectively, to nearly 2 million Dalits), the plan was much bigger.

The conversion was planned on 14th December at Mumbai, followed by many different cities in India. This could not happen as Babasaheb attained nirvana on 6th December 1956, due to which the plans for the remaining conversion ceremonies came to a standstill. People still lament the death of Babasaheb – they feel that if he had lived longer, India would have seen at least 25 million Buddhists. This may be true, but when Dhamma has to reach people, it reaches them in many ways, and one of them had been shown by Babasaheb himself. When he converted along with lakhs of people at Nagpur, he established the judicially written 22 vows. Through these 22 vows, Babasaheb gave power to the common people to help other Dalits throughout India convert to Buddhism. It was the righteous duty of the people of Nagpur and Chandrapur to become messengers of Modern Indian Buddhism like Mahendra and Sanghmitra (the children of Samrat Asoka) and spread Buddhism in India with the help of the 22 vows. Was it that difficult to spread it or was it too difficult for the people in Maharashtra itself to accept?

The question has multiple answers. But those who understood and followed the 22 vows, knew what Babasaheb expected from them. The lines of the above poem are relevant here - though Babasaheb did not ask Dalits for their blood, he expected pure loyalty towards the movement. He wanted Dalits to embrace Buddhism by embracing the 22 vows, and for that, he expected wholehearted dedication from the Scheduled Castes and Tribes of India. The SCs and STs of India were never Hindus by birth but were Untouchables and tribals. Through the 22 vows and Buddhism, Babasaheb gave them power and self-reliance. The vows were not about mere stubbornness to leave Hinduism. Rather, they aimed to give a new life to the Dalits and Adivasis of India. As that was not an easy task, Babasaheb appealed only to those who could willingly embrace the vows and later follow them with full dedication.

The 22 vows are:

1. I shall not consider Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh as God nor shall I worship them.

2. I shall not consider Ram and Krishna as God nor shall I worship them.

3. I shall not believe in Gouri-Ganesh and other Gods and goddesses of Hindu Religion nor shall I worship them.

4. I don't have faith incarnation of God.

5. I believe that Buddha is an incarnation of Vishnu, is a false and malicious propaganda.

6. I shall not perform shraddha, nor shall I give pind-dan.

7. I shall not practice anything which is against and different from Buddha's Dhamma.

8. I will not perform any rituals to be performed by Brahmins.

9. I believe that all human beings are equal.

10. I shall make efforts to establish equality.

11. I shall follow the Eightfold path as told by the Buddha.

12. I shall practice ten Paramitas as told by the Buddha.

13. I shall have compassion and loving kindness for all living beings and protect them.

14. I shall not steal.

15. I shall not tell lies.

16. I shall not commit any sexual misconduct.

17. I shall not consume liquor/intoxicants.

18. I shall lead a life based on Buddhist principle of wisdom, precepts, and compassion.

19. I denounce Hindu religion which is harmful to my development as a human being and which has treated human beings as unequal and lowly, and I accept Buddha's Dhamma.

20. I am convinced that Buddha's Dhamma is Saddhamma.

21. I believe that I am taking new birth.

22. I commit that henceforth I shall act as per Buddha's principles and teachings.

Those who follow the above-mentioned vows are said to be Indian Buddhists.

For rational people, it is difficult to deny Babasaheb for their own small pleasures or selfish motives. It can be said that the first generation of converts was very much dedicated to the spread of Buddhism, whereas the second and third generations have almost forgotten the vows! There are exceptions among them who are wholeheartedly dedicated to the spread of Buddhism as expected by Babasaheb, but the situation should have been the other way around, with Hinduism-followers among the converts being the exceptions.

Today we see that second and third generation Buddhists have become Buddhists only for namesake, while increasingly enjoying Hindu culture. The chariot of Ambedkar's Buddhist/Anti-brahminical movement is being dragged back by none other than such so-called Buddhists, and they have their own arguments for modifying the expectations of Dr.Ambedkar. The frequently heard arguments are: We do Hindu celebrations for our kids. We just wear traditional dresses and wish people; we are not celebrating. We do this because in our office, everyone comes dressed up and we can't go shabby. We like the festivity. We believe in sarva dharma samabhav (most comic), etc.

When a 22 vows-following Buddhist asks them about their non-Buddhist behaviour, they often get offensive, and even stop talking to such practicing Buddhists, hate them and what not! But do they stop to think why he or she was explaining to them that they should not behave like a Hindu? Do they ever feel connected to the struggle of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar? Do they ever give a thought about why Babasaheb expected us to not take part in any Hindu activities? Doesn't their celebration of Hindu festivals give more power to Brahminical movements and suppress the Anti-Brahminical or Buddhist movement in India? Aren't they setting a wrong example for other Dalits who are yet to convert to Buddhism and are on the verge of accepting it?

Babasaheb proved to the world that Scheduled Castes were Ex-Untouchables, and since touching them polluted the Hindus, they were never a part of Hindu society, Hindu culture or Hindu festivity. Being attracted to the Hindu (Brahminical) movement and making it stronger in spite of this knowledge, is a huge loss for the Anti-Brahminical and Buddhist movements in India. Rather, the youth of Nagpur, Chandrapur and Maharashtra should stand as examples to the Dalit brethren in the country, by following the 22 vows and being part of the Buddhist movement, thus encouraging others to embrace Buddhism fearlessly. It is only when they follow the 22 vows that others can gather the courage to do the same and walk on the path of emancipation shown by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. There is a big responsibility on the shoulders of the youths whose forefathers had embraced (Anti-Brahminical) Buddhism along with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can celebrate important dates in history like 14th October, and the birth anniversaries of all leaders and historical figures who led Anti-Brahminism movements. If they are following Babasaheb (and they should for their own dignity), they must walk on the path of Buddhism shown by him in its purest form. The Dalit Bahujans of India have been given an identity by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. They had no identity earlier - they were just untouchables. They got a Buddhist identity because of Babasaheb, and it is the righteous duty of such Bahujans to respect this new identity and the 22 vows, in order to create a distinct ideal society. Yes, it will not be easy to leave certain pleasures aside, but pleasure at the cost of one's dignity is never justified. Once the converted Buddhists form their own distinct identity from caste Hindus, the Bahujans throughout India will definitely walk towards the pure path of Buddhism.

Babasaheb declared at Yeola on 13th October 1935, "Though, I was born a Hindu, I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu". Then why do the second and third generation Buddhists want to die as Hindus?

Major fabrications by Brahmins

by patriotindians

Brahmins has been fabricating the real work or different linguistic race in their favor from their race of hegemony. They prefixed and post fixed many favored terminologies with their name to promote their race and for racial hegemony under the ground of literature and history hegemony. They mostly use the word bed/ved, dev/deb, bra, brahm, brahma, bramhi, bramhana, brahman etc. as prefix or postfix to real work of different linguistic race of India. They translated many works of different linguistic race to Sanskrit and claimed its all their intellectual property as root origin where itself they theft the intellectual properties of other linguistic race and fabricated the original source. They not only fabricated the intellectual properties even they fabricated identity & history of other original sources.

Like this “Ayurgyan” fabricated as “Ayurved.” Ayurgyan has no relation with Veda or Vedas, it’s the Indian herbal medicinal knowledge from decades but they bag it in to their favor post fixing “veda” to “Ayur.” Caraka-Saṃhitā & Suśruta-saṃhitā both are from the Buddhist origin; so Ayurgyan even was composition work of Buddhism but had fabricated by Brahmanism to promote Vedism renaming it as “Ayurveda.”

Many intellectual think tanks of ancient India from different linguistic race were known as Sadhu, Rishi and Munis but they were not all Brahmins or promoters of Brahmanism or vedism. An intelligent think tank will never troll violence, lies, irrationality, injustice, blind belief, discrimination, deceptions, delusions and stupidity. You can find thousands of examples like this. So never trust Brahmanic literature & history. You can find many irrational & baseless facts or full of lies and bluffed based articles or literatures trolling all over in our Indian race, on internet, even in Wikipedia by Bramhanic writers or Brahmin inspired and influenced writers, but you have to accept the knowledge according to your rational interpretations. Most of them are only bluffs, lies, blind beliefs, irrationality and fabrications. Never believe instantly Brahmanism literatures & history those are written by them or written in the direction or influence of Brahmins; most of them are honey coated sweet lies & fabrications. But after keen observations and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reasons and truths after your proper interpretations then accept it. Brahmins even fake claimed about the letters used in Ashoka pillars as “Brahmi” where there is no reason exists why its Brahmi? Why a Brahmanism hater use “Brahmi” in his stone inscription? If Brahmi letters were there, then why Vedas were not translated to Brahmi? Brahmi word prominently streamed from the word “Bramha or Brahmana” terminology. Today’s Hindi or Devnagari is originally Nagari which is prefixed by Dev by Brahmins oligarchs for racial hegemony. There is no word “Hindu” or “Hindi” exist in Indian scriptures till Islamic invaders invaded India. Islamic emperors propagated the word “Hindu” and largest spoken language “Nagri/Nagari” renamed as Hindi and Brahmins copyrighted to it, as their intellectual property. Nagari is nothing but popular language of Ashokan empire which has root to language Pali. Brahmin made Nagari to Devanagari and translated the Veda in this language. Sanskrit linguistic race had not developed their own alphabets it’s the reason why we don’t get any Vedic inscription emblem from oldest contexts. They just bluffed and hyped Sanskrit and Vedas are oldest and others are streamed from Sanskrit. India has 122 major languages and more than 1599 other languages. No instrument or tool is there to detect which is oldest one. If we take consideration to popular languages as the most frequently used language and from oldest origin due to its popularity then Sanskrit has only 14,135 people those reported Sanskrit as their native language in the 2001 census of India. If we consider with an argument with the time civilization & language disappears then it’s also not fit for Sanskrit; because even giving favor to Brahmanism and Vedic Civilization Sanskrit still not a popular language which shows, it’s just one language from thousands linguistic race of India but not a major language. Sanskrit has importance in our race only due to Brahmins hegemony because vedic dictators used the Sanskrit langue as their mother tongue. Nobody can proof our deities or historic identities Shiva, Rama, Krishna was talking in Sanskrit language or their mother tongue was Sanskrit. Chanting in Sanskrit to Hindu deities is only a hegemony of Vedic Brahmins to pagan deities of different linguistic race to fool and rule their followers. Rama belongs to UP so his mother tongue may be from one of the language used by Uttar Pradesh civilization i.e. major native languages of the state being Nagari, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, Braj Bhasha, Kannauji and the vernacular form of Khariboli. Krishna belongs to Yadu or Yadav clan so he is a prime identity from Bihar it’s because Yadav are prime race from Bihar so his mother tongue may be Nagri, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Bajjika, or Angika. Shiva is a prime identity from Himalayan region because most of his artistic impression portrayed with Himalaya and many Indian scriptures also claims he is from Kiratian race. The Kirat or Kirati or Kiranti or Kirant people are indigenous ethnic groups of the Himalayas extending eastward from Nepal into India, Bangladesh, Burma and beyond. So mother tongue of Shiva may be from one language spoken in these linguistic race. All these identities take major roles in our Indian religious scriptures as life guiders where in truth most of them are just used as lead character for creating moral fictions with rare truths to guide the lives of their followers.

Dussehra Diwali Versus Vijyadashmi and Deepdan-Utsava

This month the Hindus celebrate two of their main festivals: Dashahra and Diwali. The Buddhists celebrate Vijayadashmi and Deepdan-utsava respectively on the same days. The Brahmanist scholars claim that on the day of Dussehra, Rama, one of their Avatars, had assassinated the King Ravana who had abducted his wife Sita. As per the legend, Shrupnakha, sister of King Ravana had made an offer of marriage to Ram and Laxman. In ultimate response, the duo cut her nose, ears, and the breasts. (lPphjkek;.k 37) In retaliation, the King took away Sita and kept her in ‘safe custody’ in Ashokavan. They claim that on the day of Dussehra the ‘evil’ Ravana was defeated by the ‘good’ Ram.

I make no comments as to who was good or evil. I leave it to the prudence of the wise readers.

The Hindus also claim that after 20 days of assassination, the trio returned to Ayodhya after completing punishment of exile of 14 years. Hence the people of Ayodhya lit lamps to express their joy.

I have been a student of Law and also a lay disciple of the Buddha. Both of them command that nothing should be accepted as truth unless and until reliable evidence is produced in support of the claim. All courts of the world act upon this principle. Hence let us examine the evidence available.

The first claim of the Brahmanists/Hindus:

They have one epic namely Ramayana written by Sage Valmiki. It is generally believed and accepted that Ramayana is the first book on the story of Ram-Ravana. Its Balkand contains the full episode of imposing a punishment of 14 years exile on Ram. Sumantra (an all in one: Minister, driver, cook, servant) of Dashrathvouched: it is the pleasant month of Chaitra and that Bharata too is out of Ayodhya so it is an appropriate time to do coronation of Ram. Dashrath readily accepted the proposal. When preparations were in full swing, Kakeyi them other of Bharat and the 3rd wife of Dashrath came to know of their secret plan.

Rama was fully aware of the fact that he was not legal heir to the throne as his father had married Kakeyi on the pre-condition that only a son born out of the womb of Kakeyi would occupy the throne. (Balkand-107) Naturally, Kakeyi got furious over this plan of Dashrath and Rama who were conspiring to deprive her son of his legitimate right. Hence she demanded punishment of 14 years exile for Rama. The very next day Rama was exiled.

The Balkanda does not mention the day of the month of Chaitra when Rama was exiled. However, Yudhkanda (Chapter on battle-127) says that Rama came back on 6th Day of the month. Here it is appropriate to mention that Bharat son of Kakeyi and legitimate heir to the throne had vowed to end his life if Rama delayed his return even by a single day. Hence, analyzing these facts, Rama was exiled on 6th day of Chaitra and he returned only on 6th day of Chaitra after 14 years. As per the story, Rama assassinated King Ravana 20 days prior to his return. If we deduct 20 days from 6thChaitra, it comes 16thday of Phalguna month.

The months of Phalgun and Chaitra always correspondence to the period of February to April whereas Dussehra and Diwali are always celebrated in the months of Ashwin and Kartik i.e. September and October.

Moreover, the 16th day of lunar month is always a day after Amavasya (no moon night) whereas Dussehra is always celebrated on 10th day!! In no way, the next day after amavasya could be the 10th day of the month. Even in Georgian calendar 10th day can never happen on the 16thday of the month!! Thus the events of exile, assassination, and return occurred in the months of March April only.

Is it not the largest fraud by which 50 crore Hindus are made to believe that the festivals of Dussehra and Diwali held in September-October are connected wit the murder of King Ravana and thereafter return of Rama in March-April? Sadly, all Brahmanists; right from the Radhakrishanan like scholars to roadside fortune teller conspire to make fool of the Hindus!!

Thus the Brahmanic festival of Dussehra is baseless, bogus and fraud with the public.

So far as the claim of burning lamps due to return of Rama is concerned, the Yudhkanda (130) contains the episode of Rama’s return to Ayodhya. It nowhere mentions even the slightest enthusiasm in the public due to Rama’s return. Not a single person went to receive the trio, what to talk of burning of lamps in joy!! Ultimately Shtrughan (the youngest stepbrother of Rama) had to issue decree that the Minister should carry Brahmins and the Ganikas (prostitutes) to receive the trio.

Not only the Yudhkanda, but also the whole of the Ramayana does not contain a single occasion, say birth marriage etc of Rama, when public ever lit a single lamp to commemorate the event related to Rama. It appears the custom of burning of lamps to express joy was not a part of Aryan life.

The burning of lamps for his return is simply a concocted claim!! Perhaps it will be most appropriate to echo one of the dialogues of an ad : No Uloobanaying!! Don’t make fool of us.

At some places like Bengal, the people worship “Goddess of Power” (Durga, Chandi, Kali, Chamunda, Vaishnoetc) on the day of Dussehra as they claim/believe that on this day their goddess assassinated Mahishasur or Rakatbeej or such other Asuras. One story says that whenever drops of Rakatbeej’s blood touched the earth, anew soldier grew up from each droplet. Hence one of the goddesses drank whole of the blood from his severed neck before even a single drop could ooze out!! Hence, at some places, the devotees (shaakat) build cutouts of their goddesses sipping blood from the severed neck as we sip juice thru a straw.

So far as this event is concerned none claims that Dussehra got started due to such heinous sipping of blood by their Devis. All Hindus relate it with the assassination of Ravana.

Dr Ambedkar commented (Writings and SpeechesVol-III) that it is strange that the Brahmins sidelined their male gods and brought forth their female counterparts to fight against the Asuras. Another strange point is that the Brahmins have three main Gods ; Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv but they coined stories that these goddesses are married to Shiv only who is a god of Shudras. He found it a riddle as to why did Brahmins do so. I think the Brahmins have done so with an ulterior motive that the Shudras should get a message that the killers of their heroes have been ladies of their god. Hence they should accept the murders as legitimate godly action and should not raise any voice of protest against the heinous murders. Undoubtedly they succeeded in their designs.

So far as calling these women as “Goddess” is concerned, Guru Granth Sahib (P. 871) gives the most appropriate answer. It says “Shaakatki uhpindpayan, hamaridrishtipadetrikhdayan” i.e. she is body and soul of the shaakat (devotee of goddess of power) but in our view she is a bloody witch.

The cutouts of these blood sipping Devis, displayed in Puja-pandals prove the words of the GGSto be true.It is otherwise very shocking that the peace-loving Hindus celebrate the events of murders or blood sipping as their festivals!!

This point is also worth mentioning here that the murder of the King Ravana was planned much before the birth of Sita. (Balkand 15) Abduction or no abduction, King Ravana was going to be finished by all means like the story of The Wolf and the Lamb. Rama was specifically produced for this specific purpose. (ibid)

Historical Facts

The above said is what is mentioned in the mythology. Now let’s examine what history points out about these festivals.

The first book available on history of India is “Indika” written by Megasthenese, the Greek ambassador in the court of Emperor Chandergupat Maurya. He writes that Brahmins came to India under the leadership of Divodas about 2 centuries before the Buddha. They settled near Indicus (a hilly area in Afghanistan), then border of India.They came to plains but could not bear the heat. Hence they settled their colonies in the foothills of the Himalayas. A few of them reached up to Kapilvastu also.

Alexander conquered this area and appointed Saluecus as Governor of the area. When Emperor CGM defeated Saluecus, he married his daughter to the Emperor and donated this Brahmin colony as dowry to the couple. Thereafter, the Brahmins entered India with impunity. The result was astounding one. The Buddha encountered only 2-3 bloody yags in his 45 years Dhamma-prachar stint but after the dowry event the spread of Brahmins and their bloody yags was so fast that Emperor Ashoka had to issue decrees specifically banning slaughters in the yags!!

As far as festivals are concerned, Megasthenese wrote that Beas was considered as sacred river and people used to take holy dip on the full moon day. He also mentioned Ganga and Jamuna rivers but he did not mention them as sacred. Also he mentioned no pilgrimage on their banks. The Buddhist and Jain monks were given respect in the society. Only name of any religious personality he mentioned is that of the Buddha. He did not mention anything like Dussehra Diwali Vijayadashmi or Deepdanotsava. Hence it is presumed that no such festival had startedby that time.

Next books available on Indian history are the travel records of the Buddhist monks of China who visited India from 399 CE to 695 CE. First came Bhante Fahiyan (399-414 CE) then came Bhante Huen Tsang (629-645 CE) then came Bhante Itsing (671-695 CE).

They all visited each nook and corner of India but none mentioned any festival like Dussehra or Diwali been celebrated by the Brahmanists. They did mention in detail the grand celebrations made on the 10th day of Ashwin and gifting of lamps to the Buddha Viharas (Bhikkus) by the general public. So it is evident that till 700 AD no Brahmanic Dussehra nor Diwali had taken birth.

In 1000 CE came Al-Baruni, a real historian who travelled throughout India and wrote in great detail each and every habit of the Indians in his book Kitab-ul-Hind. He went to the extent of writing that Indians seek permission not to enter the house of known fellow but while leaving the house. And that when a boy is born, it is the husband who is given nourishment and not the wife who gave birth!!

He mentioned as many as 32 festivals which Indians used to celebrate. Surprisingly Dussehra does not find a place in the list. Dipawali is mentioned but reason is an astonishing one. People lit lamps on the night of Amavasya (no moon night) of Kartik (Oct/Nov) because on that day Emperor Bali escaped from the prison of the Devas. People lit lamps not only on their homes but also on the road-crossings so that the Emperor could see the path to his palace or a house of any of his subject!!

Thus by that time, the burning of the lamps had not been concocted with the arrival of Rama. And burning of effigies of King Ravana and his family members too had not started by that time.

It will not be out of context to mention here that King Bali was great grandson of King Harinyakashap and son of Bhante Virochan. The Buddhist literature mentions Bhante Virochan as an Arhataandgreat scholar of Dhamma. King Bali followed path of his sage father. Even today laity of India sing prayers on the day of Dipawali requesting King Bali to return to his empire and do justice to all. Thus till 1000 CE, burning of lamps on Diwali day had related with Buddhist tradition only.

About 500 years later came the Mughals. Babar wrote Babarnama. He made no mention of Dussehra or Diwali or Vijayadashmi. Yes, he did mention a tradition performed by females on the evening of Kartikamavasya (no moon night of Oct/Nov month). The ladies used to lit lamps under the Peepul (banyan) tree. Needless to mention here what relation Peepul tree has withBuddhism. It is as sacred to them as cow is to the Hindus.

Thereafter, his grandson Akbar wrote Akbarnama. He mentioned in detail playing Holi but made no mention of Dussehra or Diwali or Vijayadashmi. He enjoyed Holi not for religious fervour but just to enjoy the company of the gopis.

Only when Tulsi wrote Ramcharit in Hindi dialect, Rama gained popularity among the masses. It was just like Dr Ambedkar gained popularity after Sahib Kanshiramfounded DS4 and BSP in 1980s. History bears evidence to the fact that the Brahmans of Varanasi did not allow Tulsi to sit on the banks of the Ganga river and write his poem in Hindi. He had to seek asylum in a Mosque and write Ramcharit there. Even food too was provided by the Muslims to him during his stay there.

In 1625 one Meghbhagat, a disciple of Tulsi wrote the drama which is now played as Ramlila. In that drama, the event of the burning of lamps on Rama’s return was inserted. Sadly, in the initial times, the actors were sacrificed in the name of the deity whose role one performed. However, later on, this custom was discontinued. (India and Its Inhabitants P. 285)

When the European scholars came to India, they were amazed to see strange customs and festivals of India. They wrote extensively with minute details of the rituals performed in celebrating these festivals. The book written in 1854 mentions playing of Ramlila but not burning of effigies i.e. Dussehra. The book written in 1904, for the first time, mentioned burning of effigies fitted with crackers.

Here this point is worth noting that in 1925 RSSS was founded. Hence there is every possibility that those who started burning of effigies, had founded the RSSS.

Thus the Dussehra is just a century old festival. The Diwali has no link, whatsoever, with the story of Rama of theso-called Dwaparage. The dates mentioned in Ramayana very explicitly establish this fact.

Buddhist Claim

Let us now examine the evidence available in Buddhist literature.

Vijayadashmi

Baba Sahib Dr Ambedkar, the most brilliant scholar of Buddhsim, regained refuge in Buddhism on the day of Vijayadashmi. While explaining why did he choose this particular day, he stated that on this day of Vijayadashmi, Emperor Ashoka had formally adopted Buddhism and solemnly affirmed to spread the message of humanity as taught by the Buddha.Hence he chose the same auspicious day for home-coming i.e. adopting path shown by the Buddha.

If we go by the history, the Edicts engraved by the Emperor on rocks and pillars, are evidence to the fact that the festival of Vijayadashmi was initiated by him. Rock Edict (8) states (also mentioned by Megasthenese in Indika) earlier the Kings used to go out for hunting or on luxurious tours. Now I discontinue that practice. Henceforth, I shall proceed on Dhamma journey.

Every fourth year, after celebrating the anniversary of his adopting the Buddhism, he would set out for Dhamma journey i.e. moving out of the palace and meeting general public and Bhikkus and listening to their experiences of Dhamma. Gradually this custom became an annual function and spread to the whole of the Buddhist world.

When Bhante Fahian started his journey in 399 CE, for the land of the Buddha, he found this festival being celebrated with great enthusiasm in Khotan itself, a famous province of China. Right from Khotan to Madras and from Sindh to Bengal, he found this festival being celebrated on the day of Vijayadashmi i.e. 10th day of Ashwin month.

While giving details of the festival he writes that almost in every big city a Rath-yatra is performed. (RathYatra = A procession in which devotees place idols of their Heroes on chariots and pull them thru the streets). At different places the festival continued for a different period ranging from 3 days to 30 days. In Khotan it was celebrated for a week, in Patliputra for 3 days and in Mathura, Jallandhar etc places for a month.

The grandest function was held at Palimbuddha (in SanskritPatliputra, now Patna). It was known as Capital of Dhamma like Vatican. The Chinese Bhikkus wrote that on the 8th day of Aswin month the procession used to start from the Vihara where the Emperor had been solemnized in Dhamma. The main chariot had a 30-40 feet wide square base. A 70 feet high and seven storey Vihara of the bamboos was built over it. At the top storey three idols were placed, one each representing the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha. The idol of the Sangha was placed in the shape of a Boddhistava as it was the endeavour of every Bhikku to achieve the stage of Boddhistava. The idol of the Dhamma was placed in the shape of a woman because it is the mother who initiates the child on the path of morality.Many more chariots were also built by different Viharas.

On the start of the function, the Emperor, Ministers and family members would reach the DeekshaVihara. They would take off their crowns and jewelry outside the Vihara and enter it like a common man. They would draw the chariot out of the Vihara and hand it over to the public. Thereafter, the public would pull it to the main Vihara, singing and dancing thru the streets. For three days people would assemble in the main Vihara where Bhikkus would arrive from all over the world. Discussions used to be held and the Bhikkus would answer the queries. After 3 days i.e. on the 10th day of the month, the chariot was pulled back to the Deeksha Vihara. This chariot was called the “Vimana”

This practice was in vogue even during 7th century when other Bhantes visited India.

Deepdan-utsava

The Bhikkus used to stay at main centers/cities till the comingAmavasya (no moon night) after Vijayadashmi. They used to discuss their experiences with the gathering of the Bhikkus. Next day after the Amavasya, the Varshavasa was deemed to be over. That day the Bhikkus used to formally leave the place of their stay and start wandering again. (In India during rainy season, all the rivers were flooded. During Buddha’s times there were no metalled roads. Hence he had directed all the Bhikkus to stop wandering for 4 months and stay at one Vihara. This four months period is called Varshavasa.)On that day people used to donate lamps in the Viharas and it was called Deepdan-utsava i.e. Festival of Gifting Lamps.

Chinese Bhantes wrote that the lamps donated by the laity were such that their flame would not put out by the wind or rain. Prima facie, it would appear to be a false tall claim as no glass covers were used in those days. BUT we Indians have always been expert in making wonderful objects. See the Ashoka-pillar built of pure iron, standing opposite the Qutub Minar in Delhi. Rust has failed to touch it though it has been standing for 2300 years in rain, sun and dust!!

So the people of India designed a lamp that would keep burning even in rain and wind. It is called “Ghudla”. Even today, it is sold with the earthen lamps at the time of Diwali/Deepdan-utsava..Surprisingly, the Brahmanists spared Ghudla from tagging any of their fables.Ghudla is made in the shape of a Satupa with one side opening. A burning diya/lamp can placed there safe from wind and water.

As per ancient Buddhist literature, Emperor Ashoka too gifted such lamps to the Bhikkus/Viharas. Though the Brahmanists completely uprooted Buddhism from India, the custom of gifting lamps continued in two ways. First one in the shape of Ghudla. Even today people do purchase a Ghudla. As no Vihara exist, they gift it to the female children. (Notable point : Female representedDhamma in Rath-yatra). Almost in every house the lighting begins afterburning of lamps in the Ghudla. First of all, people pay reverence before it and then lit other lamps.This is the same practice as our Buddhist forefathers used to observe in ancient times.

The second custom is visible in the shape of burning of lamps in ruins or open ground. When Sankar razed BuddhistViharas in 800 CE, people used to go there, arrange a few bricks and lit lamps over them. Today people go out in open ground, collect a few bricks, arrange them in the shape of a wall/room and lit lamps over them. They sit there silently. The long time of 12 centuries has erased from their memories the actual purpose of lighting the lamps. Earlier they used to pray for the restoration of the Vihara, now they pray for their own house.But they follow their ancestors’ custom!!

Thus the festivals of Vijayadashmi and Deepdan-Utsava are purely Buddhist festivals. As the Brahmanists have concocted a story of Vishnu (the rapist of Ma Vrinda) taking avatar as Buddha, so have they concocted stories about these festivals also. There is one filmy song:“Kapdahaidesi, muharlagi Japan ki, Jai Bolo Beyimanki.” i.e. the cloth is Indian but the cheats have fixed stamp of Made in Japan over it. Similarly, the beyimans have put theirs stamp over the Buddhist festivals.

Before closing my submissions, I would like to make another revelation about the Beyimans who distorted name of the Buddhist Emperor. The full name of the Emperor is “Devaam-nampiya Piyadassi Ashoka”. Throughout the whole worl, this is the Rule of Grammar that proper name cannot be translated. But while translating his Edicts, the Beyiman scholars translated, also the name of the Emperor!! First they Sanskaritized it as DevanaamPriyaPriyadarshi Ashok, then they translated it as Beloved of gods Ashok.

Thus the Beyimans fixed their stamp of gods over the most rational King of the world. He is the only Ruler who could dare uproot the religious place where the priests of his own religion have made a concocted claim about the Buddha. There is one SankasiyaVihara. The monks of the Vihara spread a concocted story that the Buddha descended from the heaven thru a stair. On reaching the Earth, the stair submerged in the ground of the Vihara and a few steps were visible. The rationalist Emperor did not like such lies. So he ordered to dig out the full stair. Only a few more steps were found.

And the Beyimans translate his name as Beloved of gods!! Whereas the Dhamma he followed does not believe in any God or gods. Being a Buddhist, such acts of cheating hurt me to the core of my heart. I have no malice against anyone but when Beyimans put their stamp over my forefather, it is my pious obligation, as a true son, to put an end to the stamp itself.

Author – Kuldip Kumar

ब्राह्मणों के 8 प्रकार जानिए कौन से...

अनिरुद्ध जोशी 'शतायु'|

प्राचीन काल में हर जाति, समाज आदि का व्यक्ति ब्राह्मण बनने के लिए उत्सक रहता था। ब्राह्मण होने का अधिकार सभी को आज भी है। चाहे वह किसी भी जाति, प्रांत या संप्रदाय से हो वह गायत्री दीक्षा लेकर ब्रह्माण बन सकता है, लेकिन ब्राह्मण होने के लिए कुछ नियमों का पालन करना होता है। हम उस ब्राह्मण समाज की बात नहीं कर रहे हैं जिनमें से अधिकतर ने अपने ब्राह्मण कर्म छोड़कर अन्य कर्मों को अपना लिया है। हालांकि अब वे ब्राह्मण नहीं रहे लेकिन कहलाते अभी भी ब्राह्मण ही है। >

स्मृति-पुराणों में ब्राह्मण के 8 भेदों का वर्णन मिलता है:- मात्र, ब्राह्मण, श्रोत्रिय, अनुचान, भ्रूण, ऋषिकल्प, ऋषि और मुनि। 8 प्रकार के ब्राह्मण श्रुति में पहले बताए गए हैं। इसके अलावा वंश, विद्या और सदाचार से ऊंचे उठे हुए ब्राह्मण ‘त्रिशुक्ल’ कहलाते हैं। ब्राह्मण को धर्मज्ञ विप्र और द्विज भी कहा जाता है।> उपनाम में छुपा है पूरा इतिहास

1. मात्र : ऐसे ब्राह्मण जो जाति से ब्राह्मण हैं लेकिन वे कर्म से ब्राह्मण नहीं हैं उन्हें मात्र कहा गया है। ब्राह्मण कुल में जन्म लेने से कोई ब्राह्मण नहीं कहलाता। बहुत से ब्राह्मण ब्राह्मणोचित उपनयन संस्कार और वैदिक कर्मों से दूर हैं, तो वैसे मात्र हैं। उनमें से कुछ तो यह भी नहीं हैं। वे बस शूद्र हैं। वे तरह तरह के देवी-देवताओं की पूजा करते हैं और रा‍त्रि के क्रियाकांड में लिप्त रहते हैं। वे सभी राक्षस धर्मी भी हो सकते हैं।

2. ब्राह्मण : ईश्वरवादी, वेदपाठी, ब्रह्मगामी, सरल, एकांतप्रिय, सत्यवादी और बुद्धि से जो दृढ़ हैं, वे ब्राह्मण कहे गए हैं। तरह-तरह की पूजा-पाठ आदि पुराणिकों के कर्म को छोड़कर जो वेदसम्मत आचरण करता है वह ब्राह्मण कहा गया है।

3. श्रोत्रिय : स्मृति अनुसार जो कोई भी मनुष्य वेद की किसी एक शाखा को कल्प और छहों अंगों सहित पढ़कर ब्राह्मणोचित 6 कर्मों में सलंग्न रहता है, वह ‘श्रोत्रिय’ कहलाता है।

4. अनुचान : कोई भी व्यक्ति वेदों और वेदांगों का तत्वज्ञ, पापरहित, शुद्ध चित्त, श्रेष्ठ, श्रोत्रिय विद्यार्थियों को पढ़ाने वाला और विद्वान है, वह ‘अनुचान’ माना गया है।

5. भ्रूण : अनुचान के समस्त गुणों से युक्त होकर केवल यज्ञ और स्वाध्याय में ही संलग्न रहता है, ऐसे इंद्रिय संयम व्यक्ति को भ्रूण कहा गया है।

6. ऋषिकल्प : जो कोई भी व्यक्ति सभी वेदों, स्मृतियों और लौकिक विषयों का ज्ञान प्राप्त कर मन और इंद्रियों को वश में करके आश्रम में सदा ब्रह्मचर्य का पालन करते हुए निवास करता है उसे ऋषिकल्प कहा जाता है।

7. ऋषि : ऐसे व्यक्ति तो सम्यक आहार, विहार आदि करते हुए ब्रह्मचारी रहकर संशय और संदेह से परे हैं और जिसके श्राप और अनुग्रह फलित होने लगे हैं उस सत्यप्रतिज्ञ और समर्थ व्यक्ति को ऋषि कहा गया है।

8. मुनि : जो व्यक्ति निवृत्ति मार्ग में स्थित, संपूर्ण तत्वों का ज्ञाता, ध्याननिष्ठ, जितेन्द्रिय तथा सिद्ध है ऐसे ब्राह्मण को ‘मुनि’ कहते हैं।

उपरोक्त में से अधिकतर 'मात्र'नामक ब्राह्मणों की संख्‍या ही अधिक है।

सबसे पहले ब्राह्मण शब्द का प्रयोग अथर्वेद के उच्चारण कर्ता ऋषियों के लिए किया गया था। फिर प्रत्येक वेद को समझने के लिए ग्रन्थ लिखे गए उन्हें भी ब्रह्मण साहित्य कहा गया। ब्राह्मण का तब किसी जाति या समाज से नहीं था।

समाज बनने के बाद अब देखा जाए तो भारत में सबसे ज्यादा विभाजन या वर्गीकरण ब्राह्मणों में ही है जैसे:- सरयूपारीण, कान्यकुब्ज , जिझौतिया, मैथिल, मराठी, बंगाली, भार्गव, कश्मीरी, सनाढ्य, गौड़, महा-बामन और भी बहुत कुछ। इसी प्रकार ब्राह्मणों में सबसे ज्यादा उपनाम (सरनेम या टाईटल ) भी प्रचलित है। कैसे हुई इन उपनामों की उत्पत्ति जानते हैं उनमें से कुछ के बारे में।

*एक वेद को पढ़ने वाले ब्रह्मण को पाठक कहा गया।

*दो वेद पढ़ने वाले को द्विवेदी कहा गया, जो कालांतर में दुबे हो गया।

*तीन वेद को पढ़ने वाले को त्रिवेदी कहा गया जिसे त्रिपाठी भी कहने लगे, जो कालांतर में तिवारी हो गया।

*चार वेदों को पढ़ने वाले चतुर्वेदी कहलाए, जो कालांतर में चौबे हो गए।

*शुक्ल यजुर्वेद को पढ़ने वाले शुक्ल या शुक्ला कहलाए।

*चारो वेदों, पुराणों और उपनिषदों के ज्ञाता को पंडित कहा गया, जो आगे चलकर पाण्डेय, पांडे, पंडिया, पाध्याय हो गए। ये पाध्याय कालांतर में उपाध्याय हुआ।

*शास्त्र धारण करने वाले या शास्त्रार्थ करने वाले शास्त्री की उपाधि से विभूषित हुए।

*इनके अलावा प्रसिद्द ऋषियों के वंशजो ने अपने ऋषिकुल या गोत्र के नाम को ही उपनाम की तरह अपना लिया, जैसे :- भगवन परसुराम भी भृगु कुल के थे। भृगु कुल के वंशज भार्गव कहलाए, इसी तरह गौतम, अग्निहोत्री, गर्ग, भरद्वाज आदि।

*बहुत से ब्राह्मणों को अनेक शासकों ने भी कई तरह की उपाधियां दी, जिसे बाद में उनके वंशजों ने उपनाम की तरह उपयोग किया। इस तरह से ब्राह्मणों के उपनाम प्रचलन में आए। जैसे, राव, रावल, महारावल, कानूनगो, मांडलिक, जमींदार, चौधरी, पटवारी, देशमुख, चीटनीस, प्रधान,

*बनर्जी, मुखर्जी, जोशीजी, शर्माजी, भट्टजी, विश्वकर्माजी, मैथलीजी, झा, धर, श्रीनिवास, मिश्रा, मेंदोला, आपटे आदि हजारों सरनेम है जिनका अपना अलग इतिहास है।

ब्राह्मणों की देवियों के गुण

1. सभी देवियाँ वेश्या है.. जिस भी देवी का जिस भी देवता या राक्षस पर दिल आया उसके साथ सभी देवियों ने शारीरिक सम्बन्ध बनाये..

2. आदि शक्ति ने अपने ही पुत्रों के साथ शारीरिक सम्बन्ध बनाये.. और महान देवी कहलाई.. अर्थात काम वासना की पूर्ति के लिए ब्राह्मणों की देवियों ने अपने पुत्रों को भी नहीं छोड़ा..

3. ऋग्वेद के अनुसार कुछ देवियाँ तो नंग्न अवस्था में रहना पसंद करती है... और हमेशा कामातुर रहती है.. और देवता या अपने अर्ध नग्न दासों के sath रहती है..

4. ऋग्वेद के अनुसार किसी भी देवी की शर्म नहीं आती हमेशा मर्दों के साथ मस्ती करती रहती है..

5. ब्राह्मण देवियाँ काम वासना के पूर्ति के लिए अपने पिताओं को भी नहीं छोड़ती.. सरस्वती इसका उतम उदाहरण है..

6. सभी देविया सिर्फ देवताओं के साथ रमण करती है और राक्षसों अर्थात शुद्रो अर्थात मूल निवासियों पर ही अत्याचार करती है..

7. सभी देवियों ने सिर्फ मूल निवासी राजाओं का ही मारा... महिषासुर भारत के मूल निवासी राजा थे.. ये बात विज्ञान द्वारा भी प्रमाणित हो चुकी है...

8. सभी देवियों के 4 या ज्यादा से ज्यादा हाथ है... वैसे इतने सारे हाथ आये कहा से ये बात आज तक साबित नहीं हुई.. और ना ही विज्ञानिकों ने आज तक स्त्रियों की किसी ऐसी प्रजाति का पता चला है जिसके 2 से ज्यादा हाथ हो... अर्थात विज्ञान भी इस बात को नहीं मनाता..

8. सभी देवियाँ हाथों मैं हथियार लिए रहती है.. अर्थात सभी देवियाँ हिंसक है.. यदा कदा मार काट करती ही रहती है....

9. कोई भी देवी बच्चे पैदा नहीं करती.. कोई सोने चांदी के सिक्के पैदा करती है तो कोई जानवरों को पैदा करती रहती है.... जो की वैज्ञानिक रूप से भी प्रमाणित नहीं है..

10. सभी देवियाँ 24 घंटे जानवरों पर बैठी रहती है.. उन जानवरों से भी उलटे सीधे काम करवाती है.. अर्थात इन देवियों को निरह जानवरों पर भी कोई तरस नहीं आता..

11. ऋग्वेद और साम वेद के अनुसार सभी देवियाँ जानवरों की बलि मांगती है, और जानवरों का मांस खाती है.. अर्थात किसी भी देवी के मन में निरह जानवरों प्रति भी दया भाव नही है..

12. ऋग्वेद के अनुसार.. नवरात्रों के अनुष्ठान के पश्चात् गाय, बैल, सांड या भेंसे की बलि देना जरुरी है.. क्योकि जब ब्राह्मण उस मारे गए बैल, गाय या भेंसे का मांस खाता है तो उसी मांस से इन देवियों की शक्ति प्राप्त होती है....

ब्राह्मणों की देवियों के इतने सारे गुण जानने के बाद भी क्या आप लोग इन ब्राह्मण देवियों की पूजा करना पसंद करोगे??

दोस्तों, में दीक्षा बी. चमार सभी बहुजनों से प्रार्थना करती हूँ कृपया ब्राह्मणों के झूठे पाखंड पर विश्वास न करे... जब हम हिन्दू है ही नहीं तो हिन्दू त्योहारों को क्यों मनाये...?? इतनी गिरी हुई और घटिया देवियों का पूजन क्यों करे..??? ये ब्राह्मण ना कभी हमारे शुभचिंतक थे, ना है.. और ना कभी होंगे.. ब्राह्मणों का बहिष्कार करे... ब्राह्मण त्योहारों का बहिष्कार करे...

धर्म व्यवस्था हमारे समाज के पतन के लिए मुख्य रूप से जिमेवार है.. इस ब्राह्मण धर्म के पाखंड से बाहर निकले.. तार्किक बुद्धि का प्रयोग करे... विज्ञानिक सोच रखे.. अपने बच्चों को ब्राह्मण धर्म की सचाई बताये... अपने लोगों को ऐसे पाखंडी धर्म की सचाई बताये...

आओ सब मिल कर अपने समाज को जगाये..

भीमा राव के सपनों का भारत बनाये....

— with Vinod Nikalje

एकता जोशी

शिवरात्रि/समुन्द्र मंथन की वास्तविकता-

ऋग्वेद मे शिव जन( कबीले )का वर्णन है जो हिमालय के आसपास पहाड़ी क्षेत्र में रहता था ।इस जन का हर एक व्यक्ति शिव कहलाता था।इसी शिव जन में रूद्र नाम के एक व्यक्ति का जन्म हुआ इस कारण रूद्र को शिव कहा गया।रूद्र का जन्म कब हुआ और उसके माँ बाप कौन थे इसका वर्णन वेदों में नही है।

जब आर्य-अनार्य युद्ध(देवासुर संग्राम)अर्थात ब्राह्मणों के पूर्वज देवो और तुम्हारे पूर्वज असुरो के बीच युद्ध चल रहा था तो इस युद्ध में आर्यो की हार होने लगी ।अनार्यो ने आर्यो के जीते हुए भाग पर पुनः कब्ज़ा कर लिया था। आर्यो(ब्राह्मणों) की स्त्रियां,पशु,वेद भी अनार्यो(तुम्हारे पूर्वजो) के कब्जे में आ गए तो आर्यो ने समझोता करने में ही अपनी भलाई समझी अर्थात आर्यो ने अपनी हार को एक समझोते में बदल दिया। यह समझोता समुद्र के किनारे मंदार पर्वत के निकट किया गया। इस समझोते में अनार्यो के मुखिया आपके पूर्वज राजा बलि थे तथा अनार्य शिव(रूद्र) और शेष नाग(यह कोई सर्प नही था,नाग वंशी आदमी था) ने मध्यस्था का काम किया ।

इस संमझोते में आर्यो ने अनार्यो के साथ पूर्व नियोजित छल किया...

आर्यो (ब्राह्मणों)के मुखिया विष्णु ने अनार्य असुरो(तुम्हारे पूर्वजो) को सुरा पिलाकर बेहोश कर दिया , फिर तुम्हारे पूर्वज शिव को विष पिलाकर खून कर दिया तत्पश्चात आर्य अपने वेद,स्त्रियां,पशु ले भागे। यह फाल्गुन मास चतुर्दशी का दिन था।

शिव को देखने के लिए अनार्य शिव जनो को भीड़ इकठ्ठा हुई। वे रूद्र को याद करते रहे और रात भर रोते रहे। इस तरह हर वर्ष शिव जन रात भर बैठकर रूद्र के मारे जाने का दुःख मानाने लगे और उनके गीत गाने लगे। इस प्रकार आगे चलकर इस रात्रि का नाम" शिव रात्रि" पड़ गया।

ब्राह्मणों ने आपके पूर्वज और आने वाली पीढ़ी को गुमराह करने के लिए समुद्र मंथन की मनगढ़ंत कथा बनाई और कहा कि शिव (रूद्र)विष पीकर मरे नही थे,वे अमर हो गए थे। उन्होंने विष को गले से नीचे उतरने नही दिया इस तरह उनका गला नीला पड़ गया। इस कहानी के बाद ब्राह्मणों ने शिव का एक और नाम नीलकंठ रख दिया जिससे लोग भ्रमित हो जाए।

भारत का इतिहास गवाह है कि गंगा नदी हिमालय से निकली है लेकिन ब्राह्मणों ने कथा गढ़ी कि गंगा नदी शिव की जटाओ से निकली है। इस तरह ब्राह्मणों ने रूद्र का एक और नाम रख दिया-गंगाधर

पशुपति की उपाधि तथागत गौतम बुद्ध को दी गयी थी। ब्राह्मणों ने नेपाल में बुद्ध मंदिर पर कब्ज़ा करके इसको शिव मन्दिर में बदला और शिव को पशुपति शिव बना दिया।इस प्रकार शिव का एक और नाम हो गया- पशुपति शिव

तथागत गौतम बुद्ध को पीपल के पेड़ के नीचे ज्ञान प्राप्त हुआ था इसलिए हीनयानी बौद्ध पीपल के पेड़(बोधि वृक्ष) की पूजा करते थे। बौद्ध धर्म का इतिहास मिटाने के लिए ब्राह्मणों ने इसी पीपल के पेड़ के नीचे एक पत्थर रखकर इसको शिव से जोड़ दिया और नाम रखा पिपलेश्वर महादेव। इस तरह शिव का एक और नाम हो गया-पिपलेश्वर महादेव।

ब्राह्मणों ने बौद्धों से बोला कि ईश्वर है उसने ये संसार बनाया है। आपको पैदा किया है। बौद्धों ने बोला कि ईश्वर कल्पनामात्र है वो कुछ नही होता है। ये संसार प्राकृतिक है। सृष्टि लिंग-योनि की क्रिया-कलापो से चलती है।इस तरह ब्राह्मणों ने शुंग वंश काल के बाद लिंग-योनि की मूर्ति बनाकर तुम्हारे पूर्वज बौद्धों से ताकत के बल पर पूजवाई। आठवी शताब्दी में दक्षिण भारत केरल में शंकर नाम का एक आचार्य हुआ जिसका बौद्धों से झगड़ा हुआ और वह केरल छोड़कर उत्तर भारत में आ गया। उसने उत्तर भारत में ब्राह्मणों का एक ग्रुप बनाया और केदारनाथ के बौद्ध मंदिर/विहार पर कब्ज़ा करके बुद्ध की मूर्ति और अन्य बुद्ध प्रतीकों को ध्वस्त कर दिया तत्पश्चार वहां के बौद्धों से लिंग-योनि की मूर्ती पूजवाई। आगे चलकर लोग इस मंदिर को शंकर नाम के आचार्य के नाम पर शंकर का मंदिर बोलने लगे। इस तरह इस शंकर नाम के आचार्य ने तीन अन्य बौद्ध धामो को ध्वस्त करके ब्राह्मणों के चार व्यावसायिक केन्द्रो में बदला।आज ये व्यावसायिक केंद्र ही ब्राह्मणों के चार धाम है।

बारहवी शताब्दी के बाद लिंग-पुराण की रचना हुई और इन लिंग योनि की पूजा को कपोलकल्पित कहानी द्वारा शिव से जोड़ दिया गया। शिव के मुख से कहलवाया गया कि मेरे लिंग(शिव लिंग) की पूजा करो। 12 व्यावसायिक केन्द्रो को 'ज्योति लिंग' बना दिए गए....

केदारनाथ का लिंग- योनि मंदिर जो आगे चलकर शंकर नाम के आचार्य के नाम पर शंकर मंदिर कहलाया था, वो भी शिव से जोड़ दिया इस तरह शिव का एक और नाम हुआ -शंकर

बौद्ध धर्म को आघात पहुंचाकर ब्राह्मण धर्म के परिवर्तित रूप( हिन्दू धर्म) की वास्तविक नीव इसी शंकर नाम के आचार्य ने रखी ,इसको संक्षेप में शंकराचार्य कहा जाता था।इसके बाद हिन्दू धर्म के जितने भी ब्राह्मण ठेकेदार बने उनको शंकराचार्य कहा जाने लगा.....

आज तुम अपने ही पूर्वज रूद्र(शिव) के मरण दिन को ख़ुशी के रूप में मना रहे है और ब्राह्मण बेवकूफ बनाकर धन कमा रहा है। इस दिन शिव का जन्म,शिव की शादी और समुन्द्र मन्थन का दिन बताकर इसको "महाशिव रात्रि" बताता है।शादी और जन्म तो और लोगो का भी हुआ है लेकिन कोई भी अपने शादी या जन्मदिन को रात्रि के रूप में नही मनाता है। फिर ये ही दिन रात्रि क्यों बना ...?

पूरे देश में ये फैलाया जा रहा है.

ब्राह्मण किस तरह से भोले भाले अंजान लोगों को बेवकूफ बना सकता है, ये एक वर्तमान उदाहरण है.

असल में तथाकथित छठ माता, महाभारत के एक चरित्र कुंती की प्रतीक है जो कुंवारी होते हुये भी सूरज नाम के व्यक्ति से शादी के पहले के सम्बन्ध से प्रेग्नेंट(पेट से) हो जाती है।

सच ये है की, खुद प्रेग्नेंट है इस बात की कुंती को समझने में देरी हो जाने से, कर्ण नाम का पुत्र पैदा करती है।

महाभारत की इस घटना ( सूर्य से वरदान वाली जूठी कहानी) को इस दिन मंचित किया जाता है. जो परम्परा का रुप ले लिया है.

शुरू में केवल वो औरतें जिनको बच्चा नहीं होता था, वही छठ मनाती थी तथा कुंवारी लड़कियां नहीं मना सकती थीं क्योंकि इसमे औरत को बिना पेटिकोट ब्लाउज के ऐसी पतली साड़ी पहननी पड़ती है जो पानी में भीगने पर शरीर से चिपक जाय तथा पूरा शरीर सूरज को दिखायी दे जिससे कि वो आसानी से बच्चा पैदा करने का उपक्रम कर सके.

सूरज को औरतों द्वारा अर्घ देना उसको अपने पास बुलाने की प्रक्रिया है जिससे उस औरत को बच्चा हो सके.

ये अंधविश्वास और अनीति की पराकाष्ठा है कि आज इसको त्योहार का रुप दे दिया गया है तथा आज कल अज्ञानी एवं अंध विश्वासी आदमी तथा कुंवारी लड़कियां भी इस भीड़ में शामिल हो गये हैं.

ज्ञात हो कि ये बीमारी बिहार से सटे यू पी के जिलों में भी बड़ी तेजी से फैल रही है।

आशा है कि इस पोस्ट को पढ़ने के बाद देश कि औरते इस बीमारी का शिकार होने से बचे I

Dalit families refuse to take part in Sidi ritual

Sathish G.T.

HASSAN

A file picture of the wooden pole which had broken, killing a youth while playing Sidi in Belur taluk in April 2016. | Photo Credit: File photo

‘It is a reality show entertainment at the cost of our pain’

A section of Dalit families that has been taking part in the risky ritual of Sidi during the annual fair at Hariharapur in Holenarsipur taluk has refused to do so this year. The ritual involves men being tied to a wooden pole with the help of a hook inserted into their body and women walking with their mouths locked with iron hooks.

The annual fair of the local deity — Udusalamma (Durga Parameshwari) — has been scheduled for March 24 and 25 this year. Hassan district unit of the Dalit Hakkugala Samiti has submitted a memorandum to the district administration and the tahsildar of Holenarsipur to avoid the “inhuman” ritual during the fair this year. The memorandum was submitted based on the opposition from a section of Dalit families that has been participating in Sidi for several years.

During the festival, normally four Dalit men play the Sidi, where they are tied to a wooden pole, while women members of their families participate in a procession with their mouths locked with iron hooks. Those playing Sidi have to be on fast for at least five days before the festival as it believed to help in piercing the iron hook into their skin. “All these years we have continued with this tradition because our parents did. Now, I wish this is stopped, I don’t want my children to continue with this,” said a Dalit man. He wants the government to intervene to stop the ritual. “Last year, we were expecting officers to stop this tradition. However, by the time officers visited our village, the ritual had already begun,” he recalled.

The Dalits participating in the fair have another disadvantage that they cannot celebrate the occasion like others. “We have to be on a fast for five days prior to the festival, and even on that day, we suffer pain because of the iron hooks pierced into our body. We have to play Sidi for the entertainment of others. For those participating in the fair, it is a reality show entertainment at the cost of our pain,” he said. Even if someone falls unconscious because of having been on a fast, he/she will be blamed for showing disrespect to the deity.

M.G. Pruthvi, district convener of the samiti, told The Hindu, “We have appealed to the district administration to stop the practice this year. We are not opposed to the religious event. However, it should be without any inhuman practice. Last year, a youth died while playing Sidi at Hebbal .

Belur taluk.”

The anti-superstition Bill proposed by the State government bans all inhuman rituals. How castiest readings of Holi trivializes the festival.

Brahmins

Disclaimer: This blog exposes who are really Brahmins and what are their contribution to Indian race. It can hurt to approximate six crores Brahmins out of 126 crores of Indians, those are majorly ignorant about their ancestors evil contributions to Indian race for which India stagnated till to date. This website does not claim all Brahmins are having evil ideology but being a part of the evil race knowing their persecution to others is severely bad, is also one kind of sleeping support to that evilness or racial crimes. Knowing to their evil contribution to Indian society and not having any try for reformation shows negligence of supporting crimes by the liberal Brahmins. More than 90% Brahmins may even don’t know why they are Brahmins, so whatever they did they were told or commanded by their authorities to do so; In this case they are abettors of racial crimes due to their authorities, those passed the evil information with the miscarriage of guidance to exploit others according to their wish. So evil Brahmins authorities those passed to their descendants knowing its bad to others or to Indian society is prime accused and the website name them as crook Brahmins. The citizens of India with surnames of Brahmins and with the professions other than priests without supporting and promoting the ideology of Purusha Sukta is departing them from these Crook Brahmins. This website exposes crook Brahmins those wants to establish racial hegemony to democratic India as like they had been doing to non-sovereign India, implementing their old idiotic Vedic & Manusmritic ideology to Indian race. If you don’t want to know the evil contribution of Brahmins to Indian race then stop reading the website here. Saying truth is not hatred speech; but some crook Brahmins and their vedic supporters and promoters wants to suppress the truth in the name hatred speech punishable by law even saying truth for social reformation. The Constitution of India and its hate speech laws aim to prevent discord among its many ethnic and religious communities. The laws allow a citizen to seek the punishment of anyone who shows the citizen disrespect “on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever”. The laws specifically forbid anyone from outraging someone’s “religious feelings”. This is the reason why Indian constitution even indirectly give permissions to promote and support antisocial activities done by the cunning religious races and itself religions in the name of hate speech bans. Saying truth and claiming justice against antisocial activities by religious communes are not crimes; so saying truth if someone’s “religious feelings” is outraged they must have to proof the truth claimed is false otherwise they are accused of promoting religious crimes. Section 295 A of IPC stops hate speech but not banning telling the truth. If it bans telling truths then we have no rights to condemn any kind of terrorist activities done in the name of any religion or race or group; so in that case we even don’t have right to condemn ISIS for their evil deeds. All Brahmins are not crooks and even they don’t know why they are Brahmins. The blog helps to make transparent who are the crooks among the Brahmins those are curse to Indian race. Contents of this website should not be taken or subjected or constitute or construed as abusive, enticing or promoting hate or violence against any particular race, nationality, religion or lifestyle; illegal, threatening, harassing, annoying or disrupting, hateful, defamatory, libelous, slanderous, scandalous or injurious to the reputation of any person or entity, and only be constitute or construed as facts of knowledge which need to be discussed for mankind to decline harm full believe structure of Human-beings. Nature has given humanity the ability to think, to evaluate, to imagine, to compare and contrast and then come to conclusions based upon knowledge. This is what differentiates the faculties of human beings from the other members of the Animal Kingdom. The motive of this website is for establishing our global and National peace, unite humanity, strengthening the securities and establishing peaceful life. Website is against the irrationalities in religions and races. Strictly mentioned don’t read if you don’t like; nobody (writer or it’s promoters) will be responsible if it hurts to your existing beliefs or any conflicts in any forms due to this website though your state laws may enforces it as offenses. Reading this website means you are aware about the disclaimer of the website and bound to accept and agreed; that, you will not misuse the information in any means and in any forms. The information in this website will be only taken as the knowledge for discussion and interpretation for the eradication of irrationality in Human belief system that arises due to God beliefs in different parts of the world; So solely take this website at your own risk. Readers are requested to have the intellectual inquisitiveness, to persevere, to continue reading and investigating.

BRAHMINS HEGEMONY IN INDIA

छल और बल जयते

In the world we are having population of more than 700 crores i.e. more than seven billions. In this 7 billion peoples we are having different countries those are belongs to different races or social groups according to their adopted religions and linguistic race. Different racial groups are having their own way of social life. Now we have to locate where the Brahmins hails from? We can’t find anywhere in the world expect India i.e. one from 267 sovereign and non-sovereign countries. It’s confirmed that Brahmins are belongs to only from India. Now question arises what is the population of Brahmins in India? Since caste based census by India is absent to till date it is estimated from unofficial sources that they are about 6 crores out of 1,267,401,849 as of July 1 2014 Indian populations. Let’s go to investigate the origin of Brahmins race from Indian history. Brahmin is a varna (caste) in Hinduism specializing as priests, teachers (acharya) and protectors of sacred learning across generations according to wikipedia. Brahmins traditionally were responsible for religious rituals in temples, as intermediaries between temple deities and devotees, as well as rite of passage rituals such as solemnising a wedding with hymns and prayers. Here point to be noted is, the caste or fourfold caste system is only empowering them as Brahmins, if there is no castes, there is no Brahmins; in other means If there had no castes then there would not have been Brahmins or other three Bramhanic social classes. Then what is caste and where it streams from and who were its originators? The caste system hails from Purusha sukta (puruṣasūkta) hymn 10.90 of the Rig-Veda. What Purusha sukta tells about?

The first two verses of the Purusha sukta, with Sayana‘s commentary. Page of Max Müller’s Rig-Veda-sanhita, the Sacred Hymns of the Brahmans (reprint, London 1974).

स॒हस्र॑शीर्षा॒ पुरु॑षः । स॒ह॒स्रा॒क्षः स॒हस्र॑पात् ।

स भूमिं॑ वि॒श्वतो॑ वृ॒त्वा । अत्य॑तिष्ठद्दशांगु॒लम् ॥

पुरु॑ष ए॒वेदग्ं सर्वम्॓ । यद्भू॒तं यच्च॒ भव्यम्॓ ।

उ॒तामृ॑त॒त्व स्येशा॑नः । य॒दन्ने॑नाति॒रोह॑ति ॥

ए॒तावा॑नस्य महि॒मा । अतो॒ ज्यायाग्॑‍श्च॒ पूरु॑षः ।

पादो॓‌உस्य॒ विश्वा॑ भू॒तानि॑ । त्रि॒पाद॑स्या॒मृतं॑ दि॒वि ॥

त्रि॒पादू॒र्ध्व उदै॒त्पुरु॑षः । पादो॓‌உस्ये॒हा‌உ‌உभ॑वा॒त्पुनः॑ ।

ततो॒ विष्व॒ण्-व्य॑क्रामत् । सा॒श॒ना॒न॒श॒ने अ॒भि ॥

तस्मा॓द्वि॒राड॑जायत । वि॒राजो॒ अधि॒ पूरु॑षः ।

स जा॒तो अत्य॑रिच्यत । प॒श्चाद्-भूमि॒मथो॑ पु॒रः ॥

यत्पुरु॑षेण ह॒विषा॓ । दे॒वा य॒ज्ञमत॑न्वत ।

व॒स॒ंतो अ॑स्यासी॒दाज्यम्॓ । ग्री॒ष्म इ॒ध्मश्श॒रध्ध॒विः ॥

स॒प्तास्या॑सन्-परि॒धयः॑ । त्रिः स॒प्त स॒मिधः॑ कृ॒ताः ।

दे॒वा यद्य॒ज्ञं त॑न्वा॒नाः । अब॑ध्न॒न्-पुरु॑षं प॒शुम् ॥

तं य॒ज्ञं ब॒र्॒हिषि॒ प्रौक्षन्॑ । पुरु॑षं जा॒तम॑ग्र॒तः ।

तेन॑ दे॒वा अय॑जंत । सा॒ध्या ऋष॑यश्च॒ ये ॥

तस्मा॓द्य॒ज्ञात्-स॑र्व॒हुतः॑ । संभृ॑तं पृषदा॒ज्यम् ।

प॒शूग्-स्ताग्‍श्च॑क्रे वाय॒व्यान्॑ । आ॒र॒ण्यान्-ग्रा॒म्याश्च॒ ये ॥

तस्मा॓द्य॒ज्ञात्स॑र्व॒हुतः॑ । ऋचः॒ सामा॑नि जज्ञिरे ।

छंदाग्ं॑सि जज्ञिरे॒ तस्मा॓त् । यजु॒स्तस्मा॑दजायत ॥

तस्मा॒दश्वा॑ अजायंत । ये के चो॑भ॒याद॑तः ।

गावो॑ ह जज्ञिरे॒ तस्मा॓त् । तस्मा॓ज्जा॒ता अ॑जा॒वयः॑ ॥

यत्पुरु॑षं॒ व्य॑दधुः । क॒ति॒था व्य॑कल्पयन् ।

मुखं॒ किम॑स्य॒ कौ बा॒हू । कावू॒रू पादा॑वुच्येते ॥

ब्रा॒ह्म॒णो॓‌உस्य॒ मुख॑मासीत् । बा॒हू रा॑ज॒न्यः॑ कृ॒तः ।

ऊ॒रू तद॑स्य॒ यद्वैश्यः॑ । प॒द्भ्याग्ं शू॒द्रो अ॑जायतः ॥

च॒ंद्रमा॒ मन॑सो जा॒तः । चक्षोः॒ सूर्यो॑ अजायत ।

मुखा॒दिंद्र॑श्चा॒ग्निश्च॑ । प्रा॒णाद्वा॒युर॑जायत ॥

नाभ्या॑ आसीद॒ंतरि॑क्षम् । शी॒र्ष्णो द्यौः सम॑वर्तत ।

प॒द्भ्यां भूमि॒र्दिशः॒ श्रोत्रा॓त् । तथा॑ लो॒काग्म् अक॑ल्पयन् ॥

वेदा॒हमे॑तं पुरु॑षं म॒हांतम्॓ । आ॒दि॒त्यव॑र्णं॒ तम॑स॒स्तु पा॒रे ।

सर्वा॑णि रू॒पाणि॑ वि॒चित्य॒ धीरः॑ । नामा॑नि कृ॒त्वा‌உभि॒वद॒न्॒, यदा‌உ‌உस्ते॓ ॥

धा॒ता पु॒रस्ता॒द्यमु॑दाज॒हार॑ । श॒क्रः प्रवि॒द्वान्-प्र॒दिश॒श्चत॑स्रः ।

तमे॒वं वि॒द्वान॒मृत॑ इ॒ह भ॑वति । नान्यः पंथा॒ अय॑नाय विद्यते ॥

य॒ज्ञेन॑ य॒ज्ञम॑यजंत दे॒वाः । तानि॒ धर्मा॑णि प्रथ॒मान्या॑सन् ।

ते ह॒ नाकं॑ महि॒मानः॑ सचंते । यत्र॒ पूर्वे॑ सा॒ध्यास्संति॑ दे॒वाः ॥

अ॒द्भ्यः संभू॑तः पृथि॒व्यै रसा॓च्च । वि॒श्वक॑र्मणः॒ सम॑वर्त॒ताधि॑ ।

तस्य॒ त्वष्टा॑ वि॒दध॑द्रू॒पमे॑ति । तत्पुरु॑षस्य॒ विश्व॒माजा॑न॒मग्रे॓ ॥

वेदा॒हमे॒तं पुरु॑षं म॒हांतम्॓ । आ॒दि॒त्यव॑र्णं॒ तम॑सः॒ पर॑स्तात् ।

तमे॒वं वि॒द्वान॒मृत॑ इ॒ह भ॑वति । नान्यः पंथा॑ विद्य॒ते‌உय॑नाय ॥

प्र॒जाप॑तिश्चरति॒ गर्भे॑ अ॒ंतः । अ॒जाय॑मानो बहु॒धा विजा॑यते ।

तस्य॒ धीराः॒ परि॑जानंति॒ योनिम्॓ । मरी॑चीनां प॒दमिच्छंति वे॒धसः॑ ॥

यो दे॒वेभ्य॒ आत॑पति । यो दे॒वानां॓ पु॒रोहि॑तः ।

पूर्वो॒ यो दे॒वेभ्यो॑ जा॒तः । नमो॑ रु॒चाय॒ ब्राह्म॑ये ॥

रुचं॑ ब्रा॒ह्मं ज॒नय॑ंतः । दे॒वा अग्रे॒ तद॑ब्रुवन् ।

यस्त्वै॒वं ब्रा॓ह्म॒णो वि॒द्यात् । तस्य॒ दे॒वा अस॒न् वशे॓ ॥

ह्रीश्च॑ ते ल॒क्ष्मीश्च॒ पत्न्यौ॓ । अ॒हो॒रा॒त्रे पा॒र्श्वे ।

नक्ष॑त्राणि रू॒पम् । अ॒श्विनौ॒ व्यात्तम्॓ ।

इ॒ष्टं म॑निषाण । अ॒मुं म॑निषाण । सर्वं॑ मनिषाण ॥

तच्चं॒ योरावृ॑णीमहे । गा॒तुं य॒ज्ञाय॑ । गा॒तुं य॒ज्ञप॑तये । दैवी॓ स्व॒स्तिर॑स्तु नः । स्व॒स्तिर्मानु॑षेभ्यः । ऊ॒र्ध्वं जि॑गातु भेष॒जम् । शं नो॑ अस्तु द्वि॒पदे॓ । शं चतु॑ष्पदे ।

Purusha is described as a primeval giant, not unlike Norse Ymir, that is sacrificed by the gods (Purushamedha) and from whose body the world and the varnas (castes) are built. He is described as having a thousand heads and a thousand feet. He emanated Viraj, the female creative principle, from which in turn the world was made. In the sacrifice of Purusha, the Vedic chants were first created. The horses and cows were born, the Brahmins were made from Purusha’s mouth, the Kshatriyas from his arms, the Vaishyas from his thighs, and the Shudras from his feet. The Moon was born from his spirit, the Sun from his eyes, the heavens from his skull. Indra and Agni emerged from his mouth.

FABRICATION OF BUDDHIST IDENTITY JAGANNATH TO VEDIC; PROMOTING IT AS AVATAR OF VISHNU.

The origin of Rig Veda is only in India so Vedic creation theory limited to only Indian origin, though itself creation theory is unscientific, irrational, imaginative and full of stupidity, it is never tried for rectification though detected by many scholars; which implicates racial conspiracy for organized benefits by promoting it generation to generation only by Brahmins. Some scholars even claims Purusha Sukta was not in Rig veda but later it had inserted or fabricated by only Brahmins. Whatever the reason may be but its truth the fourfold caste system streams from this definition. Since the definition is in favor of Brahmins it implies its the creation of some Indian clever humans those are in psychological term equivalent to Sociopaths. They first certified themselves as Brahmins positioning them in social first rank and rest according to beneficial order to them as per their economical and educational skills or according to their professions for their personal and organized benefits. It means some humans form any social groups in our ancient India created this definition according to their favor to dominate other social groups for racial hegemony. Their motive was to divide society symbolizing according to the important body parts of a human with social pivotal professions to administer the social groups according to their favor. If it had been great social management system, it would have been accepted by other parts of the world and same theory could have been found everywhere and learned by others. Since it has been highly protested in India till to date from past it implicates it has been implemented by forceful enforcement with clever intentions or with evil motives for organized benefits. Purusha Sukta is only a mind born assumption theory by some so called clever think tanks those belongs to only Indian specific tribal race or specific social group form Indian origin. Since Rig Veda and Manusmriti are all the creation of inhabitants of Indian origin by specific social groups or linguistic race, it proofs that the creation and implementation age of the Caste system or Brahmanism is equivalent to the date of creation of Purusha sukta and the time frame when it had implemented in the whole social groups of India. According to some scholars Rigveda had composed, most likely between c. 1500–1200 BC, though a wider approximation of c. 1700–1100 BC has also been given but without any valid confirmations with logic in public domains; where the oldest manuscript in the Pune collection dates to the 15th century. The Benares Sanskrit University has a Rigveda manuscript of the 14th century. Earlier manuscripts are extremely rare; the oldest known manuscript preserving a Vedic text was written in the 11th century in Nepal. Since Vedas are not common to their followers it implies it is not the origin of the Hindu faith, for which we can estimate more than 99% Hindus may not know what are actually written in these Vedas but just having a prima facie knowledge that Vedas are the origin of Hindu faith as promoted and commanded by Hindu spiritual authorities to polarize them as Hindus and Vedas are the root scriptures of Hinduism. If Vedas are root scriptures of Hinduism why their followers don’t know what are written in Vedas? How many Hindus knows about Purusha Sukta that tells about fourfold caste system and how Hindus are created? Its because Vedas are scriptures of specific social group from Indian origin that had been imposed by force to whole India as political and racial benefits. Since Caste system had politically implemented by Pushyamitra Shunga through Brahmans constitution “Manusmriti” in his ruling age, so we can say the birth time of political caste system is equivalent to the reign age of Pushyamitra Shunga or the creation and implementation age of Manusmriti i.e. majorly in 185 – c. 149 BCE. It means before this period, there was no caste system in many linguistic social groups of the India. It means, there was no Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishiyas and Shudras in non-Bramhanic or non-Vedic regions where Brahamins could not capture the social groups for their administrative dominance. Before the Bramhanism or Vedism, tribal idol care takers or worshipers were called as only priests or “Pujaka” or “Pujari” but not Brahmins and there was no vedic chants in their worshiping methods. Ruling social identity in the social group were only called as kings or tribal chiefs but not as Kshatiryas. People with trading professions were called merchants or Businessmen but not as Vaishyas. Peoples with other professions had no name like Shudras and there was freedom of professions. The social identities of peoples were like other countries according to their skills and adopted professions without any hereditary adoption of professions as mandatory protocols. There was no compulsory acceptance of their forefathers professions or labeling surnames according to their ancestral professions. We don’t say priests or clerics of other religions as Brahmins. We don’t say businessmen out of Hindu social groups as vaishyas and kings to Kshatriyas. According to Vedic rules those are not a part of vedic implemented fourfold caste system social groups, all are called Atishudras i.e. even degraded to Shudras its the reason why foreigners or non-Hindus are not allowed to Hindu temples after Bramhanic capture to Pagan deities of other linguistic social groups. Surname convention are created in medieval age to differentiate different racial professionals according to their hereditary acceptance of the ancestral professions. There was no surnames in Ramayan and Mahabharat age its the reason why we can’t find any surnames to their names. We don’t say Lord Rama to Rama Sharma or Rama Yadav or Rama Singh or Lord Krishna to Krishna Yadav or Krishna Acharya or Krishna Ambedkar. Even major ancient Kings and Rishis etc. had not their surnames.

According to Purusha Sukta definition of creation it proofs how weak and poor standard of wisdom used for this philosophy; again that implies, it is not only from a blind beliefs origin but also from irrational origin of their so called mind born imaginative wisdom. Purusha sukta is unscientific and from stupid wisdom origin. It is not mentioned where this “cosmic man” hailed from. Where itself God hailed from and who were those prime Gods? Why it is sacrificed? If they sacrificed then to whom they sacrificed? And who sacrificed? How it is possible a cosmic man had thousands of heads and thousands of feets etc. ? How female creative principle had happened? How could it be possible, sacrificing a “cosmic man” all the world made from his body parts? How it’s possible sacrificing a “cosmic man” Vedic chanted can be created? How horses and cows were born by sacrificing “cosmic man”? How and why? the Brahmins were made from Purusha’s mouth, the Kshatriyas from his arms, the Vaishyas from his thighs, and the Shudras from his feet? Is it really possible sacrificing a “cosmic man” all these can be created? How the Moon was born from his spirit? and the Sun from his eyes? The heavens from his skull? and how breath became air? If the cosmic person was able to breathing then how itself breath became air? Where breathing of cosmic person itself proofs air was present before his breath being air. How Indra and Agni emerged from his mouth? Its simply a hypocrisy imaginative bogus principle of creation theory by some stupid so called intellectual scholars those recognize them as Brahmins. Some Scholars also says Veda was with some other versions and some so called stupid scholars had corrupted them and added fourfold caste system and other selfish things for self and organized benefits. Whatever the case; since it all happened in Indian origin, in simple definition we have to admit, some peoples from ancient Indian origin those were belongs to specif demography region in the age of kingdoms or tribes classified themselves as superior to others naming them as Brahmins to dominate others by not only socioeconomically but also educationally, judicially, and politically etc. with hook and crook (छल और बल) ideology. Since they are now only 6 crores of total Indian population, we can guess what might be their population in the age of Vedism. The population of the territory that became the British Raj was 100 million by 1600 and remained nearly stationary until the 19th century. The population of the Raj reached 255 million according to the first census taken in 1881 of India. If we calculate maximum 5% Brhamins were there in British Raj then their population will be some thing like 50 Lakhs in 1600AD and if we will go further to the age of Pushyamitra Shunga i.e. 185BC-149BC then it would be even less than 50 thousands. Having less populated commune origin indicates the Brahmanism ideology had created by specific group of people for their evil motives to rule other inhabitants surround to them. They were self claimed super race to dominate others for their self and organized benefits. According to their Vedic division Shudras (more than 80%) were more than Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishiyas which implies the India is majorly belongs to Shudras not to this minority communes. Later in medieval age i.e. after the age of Ashoka and Pushyamitra Shunga or after declination of Buddhism when Brahmins age was in its extreme regime in the medieval age of Bhakti movement or Puranic age of Brahmins, few Shudras and Athishudras those were little bit educated and clever than other Shudras and were from mixed breeds with Shudras and wanted a favorable positions they uplifted themselves to higher castes by hook and crook or with favoritism with the mutual understanding by Brahmins departing themselves from Shudras but all remained underneath the Brahmin’s caste but remains a controversy about their real class. In puranic age Brahmins linked purusha sukta with Bramha. Majorly famous Puranas were created after the declination of Buddhism in India. As an example Markandeya Purana to c. 250 CE (with one portion dated to c. 550 CE), Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c. 350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c. 450 CE, Brahmanda Purana to c. 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c. 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. 600–1000 CE, the Padma Purana (Srishti Khand, Patal Khand and Uttar Khand) was compiled between the 4th and 15th century, Bhavishya Purana, Yama Samhita, Mahabharata and Brihad Parashar Smriti etc. had created to promote Bramhanism or Sanatana Dharma. According to post vedic caste definition, Brahmins said that Brahma, the Creator, having established the four varnas i.e. Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra from his mouth, arms, thighs and legs. Later Brahmin added new mind born story for uplifting mix breeds clever Shudras those were rival to their castesm including a story of Yama and his record maintainer Chittagupta. According to Brahmins, Bramha ordained Dharamraj ( also called Yamraj, the god of death) to keep record of the deeds — good and evil — of all life-forms born and yet to be born on the earth, in the heavens above and in the lands below. Dharamraj, however, complained, “O Lord, how can I alone keep record of the deeds of the beings born into lakhs and lakhs of yonis (life-forms) in the three worlds? (Swarga(heaven), Martya(land) and paatal (under land)).” Brahma then closed his eyes, meditated for a while and lo and behold! there appeared a radiant figure with a quill-pen in one hand and an ink-pot in another. Brahma named him Chittagupta for he was conceived in his cognitive-self (chitta) and he was lying in Him, dormant and secret (gupta). He was born of Brahma’s body (kaya) and so the Lord decreed that his progenies be called Kayasthas. He was assigned to work as a minister, to write and record for Dharamraj Yama. Thus, the fifth varna, the Kayastha, came into existence those were designated to this uplifted clever Shudras. Kayasthas were majorly in chaos for their castes whether they are belongs to Shudra or Kshatriya or Brahmin? There is no fifth Varna according to Purusha Sukta so this fifth varna is a fabrication. According to some scholars Kayasthas are “Pratiloma and Biloma descendants,” or inter-caste descendants. The truth is they know they are belongs to Shudra but protesting them will be problem to their Brahmanism so better create a story in that way that neither they will be designated to Brahmins but will limit their circumference to Shudra to Kashtriya. According to Purusha sukta they are neither belongs to Kings family nor to Merchants or from Brahmins so they straight way fall in to Shudra or Atishudra but due to favoritism of Brahmins they departed them as kayastha so that they won’t fight as anti Bramhins and caste system can be well maintained in the society without any disturbance. Its the reason why some parts of India Kayasthas are Shudra and in some parts they are Kshatriya according to level of dominance of Brahmins hegemony and according to their certification. Some kingdoms or tribal races those were designated as Shudras and Atishudras kingdoms by Vedic Brahmins had even uplifted themselves as upper castes below to Brahmins by mutual understanding certification by them. Rajputs, Gurjars, Yadavas and Jats are good examples for this kind of conversion. It was a conspiracy something like, creating a barrier, Shudra against Shudra i.e. uplifted Shudra can even exploit Shudra those are not elevated. Brahmins Bramha’s Chittagupta Kayastaha theory was not there in the age of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha but in post vedic Brahmins age Buddha even became kayastha departing him from AtiShudra and later Kayastha Kshatriya so that Shudra can’t feel proud of him that he was Shudra in post Vedic popularity of Buddha.

Since Brahmins history in Hinduism as specializing priests, teachers (acharya) and protectors of sacred learning across generations they are only creator of this philosophy. The philosophy of this kind of creation is intentionally made without any base to fool and control the social groups by some intellectual thugs for their personal and organized benefits as a race. I have no intention to condemn them without any base though their evil intention implies them as intellectual thugs or antisocial intellectuals or in psychological term racial sociopaths. They implemented this theory as an authority of intellectuals to ignorant and innocents to manage them according to their wish. Since Rig-Veda had written in Sanskrit according to evidences and there is no proofs till exist it had translated from other language to Sanskrit it show those were using Sanskrit as their communicative language were prime promoters of Vedic philosophy. Since the writers of Rig-Veda tradition associates as rishis so we can say these were the rishis those were designated themselves as Brahmins. It is said Angiras, Kanva, Vasishtha, Vishvamitra, Atri, Bhrgu, Kashyapa, Grtsamada, Agastya, Bharata were the prime writer of this Veda. It is clear some rishis or intellectual think tanks of ancient kingdoms proclaimed themselves as Brahmins or super intellectuals promoting their written Vedic Philosophy, but all rishis were not belongs to Brahmins or had a certification of Vedic caste system. The Manuscripts of Rig-Veda are not so old as we are told by Vedic promoters comparing even to Buddhism Manuscripts. There are, for example, 30 manuscripts of Rigveda at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, collected in the 19th century by Georg Bühler, Franz Kielhorn and others, originating from different parts of India, including Kashmir, Gujarat, the then Rajaputana, Central Provinces etc. They were transferred to Deccan College, Pune, in the late 19th century. They are in the Sharada and Devanagari scripts, written on birch bark and paper. The oldest of them is dated to 1464AD. The 30 manuscripts of Rigveda preserved at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune were added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2007. But recently an important archaeological discovery was made, consisting of the earliest known Buddhist manuscripts, recovered from the ancient civilization of Gandhara in north central Pakistan (near Taxila just south west of the capital Islamabad). These fragments, written on birch bark, are dated to the 1st century and have been compared to the Dead Sea scrolls in importance. Donated to the British Library in 1994, they are now being studied in a joint project at the University of Washington. We can find many Buddhist evidence and inscriptions dated to Asoka period i.e. about to 232 BC but we can’t find any Vedic inscriptions and their evidences across the country as they claim older than other ancient faiths originated in India. Astonishingly even Sanskrit has not having their own letters. They use Hindi that is possibly letters of popular ancient language now claimed as Hindi or Devnagari for their manuscripts. It all proofs there is a conspiracy of racial hegemony to Indian race by Brahmins. Now let’s talk about how many peoples in India speaks Sanskrit as their mother tongue. It’s because they are the root clan of the Vedic philosophy as an inheritance. In the 2001 census of India, only 14,135 people reported Sanskrit as their native language It means Sanskrit spoken peoples are even less than presently population of Brahmins! Why? If Brahmins those are officiating Hindu rituals in different parts of the India don’t have their mother tongue as Sanskrit? It expose another truth that those Brahmins are now populate as 6 crores are not all from a single Bramhanic origin! Whey titles of Brahmins changes with changing the linguistic race? And Brahmins has different sects? Why Bhumihar Brahmin, Bengali Brahmins, Kulin Brahmins, List of Telugu, Brahmins, List of Maithil Brahmin, List of Kashmiri Pandits, List of Goud Saraswat, Brahmins, List of Deshastha Brahmins, List of Chitpavans, List of Iyengars, List of Iyers, List of Deshastha Brahmin surnames, List of Saraswats are present? What exactly it means? It means Brahmins is not a race from any single origin. It is adoption of a commune according to their designated profession defined in Rig-Vedic Purusha sukta 10.90 in the time of implementation. Now question arises how it all happened? For this we have to go past history who and how rig-Vedic philosophy had implemented to present India.

India officially the Republic of India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area (3,287,590 km2), the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Religion in India is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. India is the birthplace of world’s four major religions; namely Hinduism (15% of world population), Buddhism (7.1% of world population), Jainism and Sikhism. Religion has been an important part of the country’s culture throughout India’s history. Its estimated approximately Hinduism holds 78.35%, Islam 14.88%, Christianity 2.5%, Sikhism 1.9%, Buddhism 0.9%, Jainism 0.4% and other holds 0.9% of Indian population.

Demography of British India i.e. present Pakistan + India + Bangladesh was a place of many kingdoms or princely states in the “age of Kingdoms,” and “age of exploration,” without any National name as like today’s India (Name given by British which is derived from the word Indus/Sindhu, a river that flows through Pakistan, the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat, and western Tibet), Hindustan (Given by the Islamic emperors, which indirectly says slave to Islam i.e. land (Stan) of Hindus or dweller of Shindhus, and the word Hindu is derived from Sindhu, a river that flows through Pakistan, the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat, and western Tibet, without any religion brand, like presently dedicated or hijacked to Vedism or Santana Dharma) and Bharat (1. Given by Vedic promoters claiming younger brother of Rama i.e. Bharat was the emperor of British Indian demography once upon a time, but according epics he was a king of only Ajodhya/Ayodhya which is a city i.e. a tiny part of present India at the south end in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya used to be the capital of the ancient Kosala Kingdom., 2. Other theory is; it is named as Bharat because Jain’s first Tirthankar Lord Rishabhadev’s eldest son Bharat Chakravorty had ruled to the land long and long days back where exact time and area of demography is unknown; according to Jains, Jain Dharma is an ancient religion & even older than Vedic-Hinduism., 3. Another claim is, long days back in history, the land had ruled by a brave like lion emperor Bharat, where exact time and area of demography is unknown. He was the founder of the Bhārata dynasty and thus an ancestor of the Pandavas and the Kauravas in the Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata. Vedic supporters claim, the Bhāratas are prominent tribe in the Rigveda, the story of Bharata is first told in the Adi Parva of Mahabharata, wherein he is the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala).

Majorly Sindhu/Indus River has been used as an emblem or symbol to recognize the dwellers of this river’s side gigantic plane without affiliation to any religion. Sindhu is a river without relating to any faith or religion, which is badly used to represent a faith for communal benefits in Hinduism. These names had been given by their respective governments in their regime when they were in the power to this big demographic area according to their favor. India is practically unification of many kingdoms, tribes and nomadic groups. These kingdoms, tribes and nomadic groups had their own language, literature, social administration, heritage, with or without any faith system, art and culture etc. in their individual regime. Now we recognize major kingdoms, tribes and nomadic groups as a State or province according to their respective languages like Hindi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Guajarati, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bihari, Odia, Sanskrit etc. etc. These kingdoms, tribes and nomadic groups had always involved with the warfare to enlarge their demography for acquiring resources. Kings, tribal chiefs and nomadic chiefs were the head of their social commune. The largest kingdom had ever ruled in this demography was by King Ashoka (269 BCE to 232 BCE). Ashoka reigned over a realm that stretched from the Hindu Kush mountains in the west to Bengal in the East and covered the entire Indian subcontinent except parts of present day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Emerging with the demographics, amalgamations of their art of living was also taking an evolution. According to historic literature evidence we come across the race those were using Sanskrit as their communicative language had written Vedas those were a smallest part of this largest demography. Now even Sanskrit is spoken by some people which is approximately or even less than 1000 in Uttarakhand and in some village like Mattur or Muttoor (Karnataka), Hosahalli (Karnataka), Jhiri (Madhya Pradesh), Mohad (Madhya Pradesh), Baghuwar (Madhya Pradesh). Vedas are the proofs of these Sanskrit using clan was believing in Rig Vedic fourfold class system. These Vedic supporters had always trying to implement their fourfold caste system to administrate the reined kingdoms society and always were considering the non-implemented society as out castes or Atishudras. Vedic philosophy is based on the faith of God that implements theocracy according to their distribution of occupation maintained by Purusha Sukta as Brahmin, Ksatriya, Vaisyas and Sudra as I mentioned above. They were implementing this theory to the society to administrate the kingdom after they rein it. According to their creation story of Veda, it describes the division of the primordial being Purusha into the four castes “for the protection of this whole creation”. Brahmins were born from the mouth, Ksatriyas from the arms, Vaisyas from the thighs and Sudras from the feet. Each one of these castes from the beginning was assigned a particular purpose and station in life. Brahmins (priests) were to recite and teach the Veda, offer and officiate at sacrifices, and receive gifts, while Ksatriyas (warriors) were charged mainly with protecting others, and Vaisyas (merchants) were to engage in “trade, money lending or any kind of actions of buying and selling goods and services.” These first three castes constituted the ‘twice-born’ who had, if they led pure lives, fairly decent chances of going to heaven but Sudras as lower castes those were treated as menial which will serve to these three upper castes without touching to them and have no chance for any change for their present life. Brahmin, Ksatirya and Vaisyas are known as upper castes those enjoy services of lower castes and lower caste had to serve them without dignity, equality, education, liberty and property. Change of occupation and social status strictly prohibited in Vedic believes. It means Brahmins can’t be degraded to Sudra and Sudra can’t get the position of Brahmin and vice versa for the other two castes Ksatriyas and Vaisyas.

Those were not belongs to a part of their society i.e. not a Brahmin or Ksatriya or Vaisya or Sudra were considered as out castes or Atisudras those were even treated as worse than animals and even more degraded and cruel ways as they like. In their age of Vedism, Kingdoms without having Vedic management system were considered as kingdoms of Atisudras.

In the age of kingdom the largest kingdom had acquired by the king Ashoka who was a king of Mauryan Dynasty, was a kingdom of Atishudra as per the Vedic philosophy; it’s because Mauryans had declined the Vedic beliefs. Vedism is a faith of “discrimination and violence” as its base, whose masterminds were only Vedic promoter Brahmins. Vedic implementer Brahmins and Vedic adopted Brahmins of different princely states have no biological relationship to each others, so adopted Brahmins are also victims of Vedic classifications; and enjoyed so called high status reserved by Vedic class system by maintaining and promoting the cruel rules of discrimination for personal and communal benefits. Many Hindu followers even don’t know cow slaughtering was an occupation of Brahmins in the age of Vedism. Brahmins were officiating Bali (sacrifice) for fulfilling the desires of followers by offering to their loving deities. Balis (sacrifices) were eaten by Brahmins in that days. Sacrifice is a normal word in Vedism. You can find also terms like gomedha (cow sacrifice), ashwamedha (horse sacrifice), purushamedha (man sacrifice) in Veda and many Vedic imposed Hindu scriptures. Another example is the Sanskrit scripture Bhagavad Gita which was inserted into an epic called the Mahabharata which had written by ved Vyasa that teaches justice by violence. The story of Mahabharata is fight between cousin brothers for justice. Every human will agree, taking alcohol as bad habits and gambling is a crime and sin but story starts with the gambling and ends with the justice for Pandavas those had defeated in gambling; lord Krishna helped Pandavas to make them win against thousands of lives in the war for a simple crime i.e. insulting or outraging modesty of a woman is ridicules and foolishness justice ever made in ancient history. Against the one woman’s modesty i.e. Drupadi, thousands and thousands of innocent women and children lost their innocent husbands and fathers, mothers lost their sons, sisters lost their brothers, is which kind of justice by Lord Krishna only he knows or if its said by itself writer in the name of Krishna then he knows, which reflects the level of understanding of these identities and its promoters. How a divine identity with the position of God supported gamblers to kill millions of innocents in the war is a good example how violence is taught in the name of morals in Hinduism.

Buddha had born in India and was a great opposer to Vedism. He had declined to the concept of God and worshiping of idols, animal sacrifices and even had declined to fourfold caste system of Vedism. Buddha was a great follower to good human values, perfect justice, meditations, and even was a dedicated follower to good knowledge or intelligence and rationality. Vedism begins with fourfold caste system i.e. classifying humans in four groups which creates human discrimination and social disharmony, violence i.e. different kind of animal sacrifices, bribe to God for fulfilling their desires etc.; Even in many Vedic chants we can see the use of word “Swaha/Svāhā/Svadha/Soha” means destroy or kill or finish as per the worshiping activities done by a priest at Hindu ceremonials or Yajyen/Havan i.e. whenever fire sacrifices are made, svāhā is chanted repeatedly, but their scholars explain different meaning for this word as per their understandings like, “let it be,” “hail,” “well said,” “so be it,” “verily,” “I prostrate myself,” “how wonderful!” etc., some even claims Svaha is a minor goddess, wife of Agni. Buddha’s path starts from non-violence, equality; freedom of thought, speech and life; kind, calm, peace, share, care and loving to each other without any discrimination etc. where Vedic base is violence, bribe to God and discrimination, favoritism, nepotism etc. as its prime base. Ashoka (269 BCE to 232 BCE) had embraced the Buddhism. It’s the Ashoka who was the king of violence became nonviolent after embracing the Buddhism and propagated this attitude to his kingdom without any force or violence. It’s in human history only one religion which had been spread or propagated i.e. Buddhism without any violence or force to different parts of the world. He had propagated Buddhism as his National religion without any force and had made lot of emblems of Buddhism as Shrines, Stupas, Viharas, and Monasteries etc. for good art of living without any violence. Buddhism became National religion to Kingdom of Ashoka; even till to date we see many emblems of Buddha in different parts of India though it had been ruined a lot by Vedic and Islamic promoters. He became supporter of, “use of human intelligence and force should be benefits or protection of the mankind not for destruction of mankind and Nature.” He had propagated the Buddhism outside of kingdoms; this is the reason why we come across China, Japan, Sri Lanka, South Korea etc. Nations with Buddhist followers. Since non-violence is one of the prime value of Buddhism, he had banned the Bali and punished the Brahmins not to conduct sacrifices and eating of the meats as holy food or Prasad. Buddhism and Jainism strongly support non-violence, and Buddhism also declines human discrimination in any ground. Buddha was supporting to class-less society and had declined the Vedic fourfold caste system and Brahmins hegemony. He was supporter of good human values without any kind of discrimination; and had declined existence of God. We can say Buddha as, “well recognized ancient Psychologist” and an “Atheist” who had enlightened with good human values. I said Buddha as an atheist its because Buddha never believed in God and had taken it as absurd. Atheists are more better than theists comparing with their human values, knowledge and use of human force and intelligence. History is the evidence theists are more violent than atheists and cause for many social evils and pains. Buddha had said; do not believe blindly in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything blindly simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe blindly in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe blindly in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe blindly in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. Which is a modern thought of scientific world. He had also told if my verses are wrong after observation then discard it. This is the reason why Ashoka followed the same thing for his kingdom without adopting Vedic faith. He had forced to citizens to care the Nature and old age persons, must responsible for maintenance of old age parents and dependents, must respect to elders and stop cutting trees etc. and was promoting for forestations or plantation of trees. He had declined any kind of animal sacrifice in his regime and was punishing with hardcore punishments for neglecting this law. Due to fear of punishment many Brahmins became vegetarian and it’s became a puritanical part to their evolution. Later Vedic adoptee or labeled Brahmins also started to worship cows as divine saying Gomata (Cow is our mother) even considered its poops i.e. cow dung and cow pee are all divine and sacred. When Vedic Brahmins lost their job Ashoka helped them to join his army for livelihood. Many Brahmins joined the army of Ashoka and one Brahmin named Pushyamitra Shunga also became chief commander of Ashoka’s army. Suppression to Brahmins had created the deep internal betrayal in their heart and they were seeking for a revenge. They got this chance after the Ashoka’s regime, when his non-violent Buddhist descendant ruled the kingdom; when most of his family members were busy in spreading Buddhism in different parts of the world; This Brahmin chief commander of Ashoka kingdom dishonestly beheaded mercilessly to descendant of Ashoka named Brihadratha and proclaimed himself as the king of “kingdom of Ashoka,” and changed all the things in favor of Brahmins implementing irrational Manusmriti. Banabhatta in his Harshacharita says, Pushyamitra, while parading the entire Mauryan army before Brihadratha on the pretext of showing him the strength of the army, crushed his master, Brihadratha Maurya. When he implemented forcefully the faith of Vedic fourfold caste system to Many Ashokan’s linguistic races the citizens divided in to four classes according to their profession they were doing at that time. So tribal priests or idol care takers became Brahmins. It’s the reason why we get different kind of linguistic Brahmins with different surnames. Kings of different united Asoka’s kingdoms designated to Kshatriyas. Those were professing business in that time designated to Vaishyas and rest are Shudras and Atishudras. It is said in one day Pushymitra Shunga had killed more than 70,000 innocent Buddhist monks and had declared 100 gold coins for one Buddhist monk’s head. Vedic Brahmins were the first radical terrorist those had done Buddhist monks genocide in India to eradicate the Buddhism from India in that age of kingdoms. It might be the first radical terrorism in the world. He terrorized the kingdom of Ashoka by forcefully implementing Vedic beliefs to the kingdoms those were part of the largest kingdom of Ashoka. He tried to destroy all the emblems of Buddhism as much as he can in kingdom of Ashoka. Many Hindu temples we see may be a Buddhist shrine before Vedism implemented to the land. Vedic promoters destroyed, fabricated and contaminated Buddhist culture in India in every means after that Islam did the same with the Vedic culture or with the Sanatan Dharma. Pushyamitra Sunga (185–149 BCE), the dishonest cruel Brahmin chief commander of Ashoka’s kingdom terrorized to those acquired kingdoms of Ashoka in such a way, that Buddhism became a relic in India, and India is having all the problems till to date due to this reason. Vedic faith is the faith that had been implemented with the shine of swords as Islam had implemented in India. He suppressed Shudras and AtiShudras implementing hardcore punishments to them and privileged Brahmins with different reservation implementing cruel Manusmriti i.e. the constitution of Brahmins. He suppressed Shudras and Atishudras banning right to good life, liberty, education, property, dignity, equality, opportunity etc. for long decades; it’s the reason why Shudras and AtiShudra became suppressed, illiterate, uneducated and poor after regime of Ashoka. If Aryan Invading theory is correct as claimed by some scholars, then its also like a foreign religion as Islam and Christianity. Vedic promoters started to include many famous identities of different smallest kingdom, those were super identities as pagan deities in their religious culture. Whether it is belongs to real or a part of story or popular hearsay or a fiction or imaginative/mind born all became spiritual icon to their Dharma if they considered it as beneficial to them. Initially it was named as Sanatan Dharma and after that it is renamed as Hinduism which is in practical, Vedism imposed on paganism or belief of many famous local deities to a religious communal beliefs as a brand. They included major famous local identities as the part of their religious culture like Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Ganesh etc. those were pagan deities with imaginative or mind born identities which won’t be found in any Vedic scriptures but later Vedic supporter added them as super powers and icons of Dharma as Avataras or incarnation and reincarnation in their philosophy with super coated honey lies and created many literature as resources of faith, with con-literature or honey coated lie literature and many festivals and ceremonials so that the followers won’t get time to find out their exploitation logic due to busy life and enjoyment of celebrations. Now according to Vedic philosophy Rama is belongs to Kshatriya who was a son of impotent king Dasharatha had made suicide due to his own conjugal disturbances and had fought for wife Sita who had been abducted by Ravana. He got her back with exchange of thousands innocents life in the war saying it as justice against the outraging modesty of his own wife. Krishna who was belongs to Yadu clan is belongs to OBC (other back word class) which is Vedic Sudra according to their fourfold caste division. Lord Shiva belongs to kiratians which is ST (Sheduled tribe) or Atishudra so his imaginative or artificial or mind born son God Ganesh is also belongs to ST according to Vedic division. No God will never tell to worship his private part where he piss or excretes or passes his residual or impure elements of the body and use the body part for reproductions, i.e. penis of Shiva, which is famous as “Shiva Linga” but these hypocrites Vedic promoters fooled their ignorant and innocent followers telling them the penis of Lord Shiva as divine. They brain washed the followers mind in such a way that, if they are told anything in the name of God they blindly accepted that without any interpretation and understanding, which is one kind of mental illness that makes a follower psychologically logical blind; and follower with millions with this problem is nothing but mass hysteria. How a private part of a God could be an emblem of divine source? Which kind of divinity is there where Lord Shiva passes his urine? Is really stupidity and ridiculous. Those are promoting all these things in the name of spirituality knowingly or without knowledge either stupid scholars or criminals. Majorly Vedic lower caste deities are famous in the Hinduism, not a single Brahmin God worshiped except Brahma which is biologically impossible i.e. man with remaining four heads. Brahma had five heads but one head had slain by Shiva and that fell down in Badrinath in Uttarakhand. Now this fifth head can be seen as Brahma-kapal a stone which is used to fool their followers, victimizing as, their forefathers will be sent to heaven if it is worshiped. According to Vedic promoters Brahma is the creator of the universe, Saraswati, who became the wife of her own father, was the daughter of Brahma. There are two stories about her genesis in the “Saraswati Purana”. One is that Brahma created his beautiful daughter Saraswati direct from his “vital strength” or seminal fluid. The other is that Brahma used to collect his semen in a pot whenever he masturbated fixing his carnal eyes on the celestial beauty Urvasi. Brahma’s semen in the pot gave birth to Saraswati. Thus, Saraswati had no mother. This daughter of Brahma is the Hindu goddess of learning. When Brahma saw the beauty of Saraswati he became amorous. To escape from her father’s passionate approach Saraswati ran to the lands in all four directions, but she could not escape from her father. She succumbed to Brahma’s wish. Brahma and his daughter Saraswati lived as husband and wife indulging in incest for many years. They had a son Swayambhumaru. Swayambhumaru made love with his sister Satarpa. Through the incest of Brahma’s son and daughter Brahma got two grandsons and two grand-daughters. There is only one recognized temple of Brahma or Brahma Mandir situated at Pushkar in the Indian state of Rajasthan, close to the Pushkar Lake where hardly followers goes to worship. Though thousands and thousands of Hindu temples are there, Adi Shankara (788–820 CE), a Keralian Nambudiri Brahmin, a Hindu philosopher and theologian, a prominent spiritual Hindu leader from India had certified four places as four sacred pilgrims for Hindu followers i.e. Char-Dham temples, which are Badrinath (supporters claims, date of built is in 9th century CE but architectures shows it’s a temple of few centuries back), Rameshwaram (12th century CE), Dwarka (15th- 16th century) and Jagannath-Puri (Date of built is 1161 CE i.e. in 12th century CE) placing his four Shankaracharya Peeth (Seats) at the Chaar Dham school of Hinduism. He organized the Hindu monks under four Maṭhas (Sanskrit: मठ) (monasteries), with the headquarters at Dvārakā in the West, Jagannatha Puri in the East, Sringeri Sharada Peetham in the South and Badrikashrama in the North. There is a belief among the Hindu community that a yatra or visit to the Char Dham washes away all the sins of a person and takes him to ‘Moksha'(release from the cycle of rebirth impelled by the law of karma). It is also believed that a Hindu must visit these pilgrimage sites once in his lifetime to wash all its sins. Many pagan faith creators also added their own deity as a part of Hindu religious culture; for an example Gadhimai in north India had created by an accused worshiper named choudhury where Hindu sacrifices more than 200000 animals in its ceremonial festival. Some Indian humans also claim themselves as human personification of God and get worshiped as living God by their followers and rule their empire of faith; Once they are dead they are also getting the same position like old deities as Shiva, Vishnu, Bramha, Krishna etc., which is really irrational and ridiculous. According to the Hindu believers there were 330000000 deities in Hindu faith; now new human deities are increasing the numbers of Hindu deities day by day, where exact number of present Hindu deities are not maintained and unknown. Many clever or knave faith creators used the three male identities i.e. Bramha, Vishnu and Maheswar or Shiva as source God to his/her created God or deity as Avatar; like so, many famous Goddess like Lakshmi, Kali and Jagadamba or Durga are also used as source deity for their created Goddess as Avatara or as reincarnation with honey coated lie stories with rich literature or rich praising motivational words that tells about miracles of identity and services can be achieved by that deity to motivate the followers. Swaminarayan Akshardham, (Date of built: 6 November 2005) a temple complex of New Delhi, is the world’s largest comprehensive Hindu temple, located near the banks of the holi river Yamuna, whose 3,000 volunteers helped 7,000 artisans to construct Akshardham for Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). This temple is dedicated to a Brahmin or priest caste of Sarvariya named Swaminarayan (3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, as its prime idol in the temple. The monument and complex has carved pillars, nine domes, and 20,000 murtis or idols, including Sita Ram, Radha Krishna, Shiv Parvati, and Lakshmi Narayan etc. as secondary idols. It attracts the followers due to its largest magnificent architecture and used to motivate the followers about the Hindu religious culture, spirituality and faith of Swaminarayan as Vedic promoter. Swaminarayan as its prime god idol, disrespects all the famous Hindu religious idols believed by Hindu flowers. It proves if you have money then you can control the mind of faith followers the way you like. Swaminarayan is viewed as God (Purushottama) by BAPS followers. What benefits or miracles did this identity to India? Which kind of super identity it is? Why should all Hindu followers submit themselves to this identity as God? It’s all stupidity by Vedic supporters and promoters those make fools to their followers for their ignorance and innocence for their selfish and organized benefits; that directly proofs Vedic hegemony over the land.

It all proofs Brahmins are mostly the race of crooks. Brahmins those are not crooks they even don’t like Brahmin Caste. Brahmins are the race of guileful priests, conspirators, stupid scholars, knaves, crooks, Megalomaniacs, Psychopaths, irrationality, blind beliefs, discriminators, lies promoters and spreaders, cheaters, exploiters, crueler, atrocities, corruptions, favoritism, nepotism, traitors, racial ego and status addicts, prestige hunger, greed, rapists (creator of Deva Dashi pratha that forces a girl in the profession of prostitution from her childhood), extremists, orthodox, radicals, terrorists (Brahmins had massacre to large numbers of Buddhist monks in 185 BC, it was world’s first radical attack to a religious group by a religious group) etc. etc. you can’t count their crimes to Indian race. They are curse of Indian race. Whenever they ruled dishonestly to a great empire, the empire always got destroyed. Example is Mouryan Empire destroyed by dishonest Brahmin Pushyamitra Shunga and Marataha Empire destroyed by Chitpavan Brahmin Balaji Baji Rao and his fellow-castemen. Shudras were always great empire makers examples are, Chandragupta and his grandson Ashoka i.e. founder of Mauryan Empire which is now known as India, and another is Maratha Empire by Chhatrapati Shivaji which is well known as Maharastra, now is a part of India. Brahmins are still thinking all Hindus are fools and won’t recognize their real face behind their own created self-claimed noble mask. Don’t believe in Brahmins written literature and history, and even Brahmins influenced writer’s literature and history, they are majorly corrupt and lies.

Reason of Exposing Brahmins:

Purusha sukta or fourfold classification to society by Rig-veda is unscientific and from stupid wisdom origin.

Maintaining this Pursha Sukta is possible in India due to only Brahmins. These 6 crores Brahmins devastating the lives of 120 crores peoples of India till to date implementing and maintaining Purusha sukta by their hook and crook ideology. They use Hindu polarization theory to feed the innocent and ignorant followers mind to exploit them for their personal and organized benefits.

To decline spreading lies, conspiring for personal and organized benefits, blind beliefs, superstitions, exploitation, irrationalities, discrimination, miss carriage of information , cheating, cruelties, atrocities, corruptions, favoritism, nepotism, traitors, racial ego and status addiction, social prestige hunger & self-claimed great by birth, claiming of Scholar(Pandit) by birth and studying Hindu scriptures, greed for personal benefits using religion, raping women making them deva dashi (creator of Deva Dashi pratha that forces a girl in the profession of prostitution from her childhood), extremism, orthodox, radicalism, Hindu terrorism and different kind of antisocial activities done by Brahmins in the name of Hinduism/ Religion, custom, culture, and heritage till to date in India.

Declining Brahmins trap on Legislative, Executive, Judiciary, Army, Police, News media and Literature for personal and organized benefits.

Declining racial hegemony by 6 crores Brahmins to 120 crores peoples of India.

Declining anti-national activities by Brahmins. Crook Brahmins are only the root cause of destroying social integrity and for social disharmony on the ground of castes and religion.

INDIA GOT DIVIDE DUE TO BRAHMINS

Congress was Brahmins dominated party in those days.

Muhammad Iqbal, was one of the first to propose (1930) the creation of a separate Muslim India.

Gandhi was born into the vaishya (business caste) got popular for freedom movement in British India. Britisher were about to leave India because huge losses in World War II and problem in managing India due to loss of budgets with pain from freedom movement. Dirty communal politics of Brahmins Vs. Islam divided India in to two countries as Pakistan and India as an ending result. How Islamic emperors and British ruled over India for more than 300 years each without any communal disturbances? When country is given to our people it got divided from the beginning! What does it mean? Major invaders never did any division when they ruled the India, but our own leaders divided India for their political mileage and organized benefits which implicates invaders were very integrated than our political leaders. Major Islamic emperors never returned to their country, they invaded and became the permanent resident of India; their collected taxes form the citizens majorly invested in our country but after the independence our dishonest politicians had been looted more than 50 trillion dollars from our country according to Wikileaks and other sources, and used for their self and organized benefits. Since independence, India has been majorly ruled only by Brahmin PMs. Major Brahmins scholars link themselves to Arayan race means they claim they were invaders like Islam and Britishers, which concludes only Vedic certified Shudras are the root natives of India including tribal priests or idol care takers those converted to Brahmins, ruling class as Kshatriyas and business professionals as Vaishyas from different linguistic races of Indian origin. Division of our country was only due to political benefits under the ground of two major religions ignoring the interest of citizens. There was no poll had taken from the citizens of India by the politicians to divide India. Dividing India under the ground of their religious social identities was the greatest foolishness of our political leaders. Dividing India only was a political decision not the decision of the citizens. Gandhi was a part of this dirty politics with Nehru and Jinnah. He got punished for his accompany to dirty politics by losing his life. Brahmins won and we got two countries with Brahmins hegemony as Congress rule in India. The Hindu Mahasava and its sister organization RSS were underground players to divide India without notice of others. In the late 1920s, the Mahasabha came under the influence of leaders like Balakrishna Shivram Moonje and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Savarkar was a former revolutionary who had been banned from anti-British political activities and opposed the secularism of the Congress. Under Savarkar, the Mahasabha became a more intense critic of the Congress and its policy of wooing Muslim support. The Mahasabha suffered a setback when in 1925, its former member Keshav Baliram Hedgewar left to form the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu volunteer organisation that abstained from active politics. Although ideologically similar to the Mahasabha, the RSS grew faster across the nation and became a competitor for the core constituency of the Mahasabha. RSS leaders were supportive of the Jewish State of Israel, including Savarkar himself, who supported Israel during its formation. Golwalkar admired Jews for maintaining their “religion, culture and language”. If Nathuram Godse was so patriotic as believed and hyped by RSS, then why he not killed itself Jinnah instead of Gandhi? Why RSS is not trying to reunite Pakistan with India instead of bashing Muslims of India terrorizing them with Hidutwa? Hindu Mahashava & RSS did not hurt or kill Jinnah, directly proofs they wanted partition; then why false patriotism by RSS and its wings BJP, BHP & ABVP etc.? These are Deshi ISIS(Indian States of Integrated Saffrons/Sanaatans) or Saffron/Sanatani terrorist or Hindu Jihadist. Why India tolerates these terrorists till to date?

Holi – A Festival To Commemorate Bahujan Burning

Holi – What is it and how did it originate?

It is well known that Holi forms one of the important festivals among the Hindus. It is supposed to be festival of Shudras, and is one of the three most important ones in India, the others being Dasera and Diwali. The Dasera is in honour of killing of Ravana and Divali is in honour of killing of Narakasur and noted pesant king Bali. The purpose of Holi, indirectly, is concerned with killing of Hiranyakashyap. The important elements of the festival of Holi are as follows:-

1. A pyre is burnt.

2. Abuses are showered on people, and other obscenities are observed. Dirt, mud etc. is smeared.

3. Festivities are indulged in to celebrate the victory.

Traditional Account

The puranas give an account of hokika burning. The traditional story is that a powerful King Hiranya Kashyapu sent his sister Holika to kill his ten year old only son Pralhad, as he was worshipping Barhmnic god Vishnu against his wishes. Holika had a cloth which could resist burning. She sits with Pralhad on a pyre. The wind blows wrapping Pralhad with the cloth and Holika is burnrd to death. Holi is supposed to be celebrated to commomorate this event.

Say No To Holi

Purpose of writing puranas

Dr. Ambedkar avers that “This literature arose during the period subsequent to the triumph of Brahmins under the leadership of Pushyamitra” (p.257 W&S vol.3) Original authors were non-brahmin sutas, but later they were ousted by brahmins who made monopoly of it. At that time they were finally edited and extra new subjects, apart from five traditional ones, were incorporated. [W&S vol 3, p.255]. But if you consider the fact that the majority of people were only allowed to know either by reading or hearing, and mostly by hearing, only these so called scriptures and nothing else, it becomes evident that the purpose of these books was rather more for false appeasement rather than information or enlightenment, let alone their progress and liberation, so that they don’t aim and strive for any higher literature. The real purpose of Puranas was to misled the dalitbahujan masses regarding their aspirations to knowledge, to curb down their desire for more information and limit their desires to their paltry needs. BSO has always done that and even now, we see that. An example of Gandhi admonishing the savarna leaders for accepting Agnibhoj, an untouchable in the Congress ministry by saying that this will increase the aspirations of these lowly born harijans is well known.

In practice, the stories in Puranas were used to present a make shift explanation for unexplainable capture of Buddhist monuments by the Brahmnical priests and to tell the dalitbahujans that the Brahmnical values are their own, when in fact, the masses were opposed to these values. It was also used to regularize the usurpation of Buddhist temples and tirthas, and thus misleading masses about their real history and heritage.

The above quoted story of Holika is nothing but an eyewash to hoodwink the dalitbahujans. This becomes clear from two cardinal facts. These are:-

1. That the fire for burning the holi is brought from an untouchable. [Ghurye: Caste and Race in India, 1969, Popular Prakashan Bombay, p. 26]

2. It is noteworthy that the festival of rejoicing ends by touching an untaouchable and the taking a bath. [“Rigvedi”: marathi book – “aryaachya sanaancha prachin va arvachin itihas” p. 366, 1979, pradnya patha shala mandal, Wai-dist. Satara, M.S.]

There is no satisfactory explanation of these vital clues in this festival in the traditional story of Holika and Pralhada.

Obscenity of Holi

The second aspect of Holi is abusing the people. This goes on from about 15 days before the festival begins and goes on till the culmination of atrocities on the second days of holi. This certainly is a relic of old “Hindu” tradition of adding insult to the injury inflicted upon the old rivals of Hinduism, i.e. Jains and Buddhist. The Jains have somehow, adapted themselves and accepted the supremacy of brahmins, but the Buddhist did not and hence are condemned to be the Untouchables.

Present day obscenity

It is camouflaged in fish pond ceremonies and All fools’ conventions and the like, the original traits are seen even today.

The history of Ancient and medieval India is nothing but the history of the struggle for existence of Jains and Buddhists against the tyranny of Brahmanic masters. The trend continues even today. The crucial point of this struggle is that the majority of the oppressed, the ‘shudras and ati-shudras’ of olden days, in Mahatma Phuley’s terminology or ‘bahujans’ of today as they are now called, in Kanshiram’s terminology, sided with the oppressors, not knowing the real enemy, and considering the fetters of their slavery as their ornaments, leading to a situation where the slaves themselves enjoying their slavery and as one modern poet puts it, the prisoners of system guarding the gates of prison. These tyrannies are going on even today, in the name of caste creed and religion.

Are there examples of violence? Plenty! No ‘avatara’ of Brahmanic tradition is without having an arsenal of arms, with a possible exception of ‘unworshipable’ or ‘apujya’ Buddha.

Here we will only consider examples by burning, specially because the fire and atrocities of Holi are concerned with the backward castes.

Among others, Kumarila Bhatta was engaged in life and death struggle against Buddhism [See K.Jamanadas, “Tirupati Balaji was a Buddhist Shrine” 1991, Sanjivan Publications]

Swami Apurvanand, an author from Vivekananda’s tradition, describes, on the authority of an ancient text “Shankara Vijay” by Anandagiri, how Dharmapala, a Bouddha Aacharya of Nalanda Boudha Vidyapitha was defeated in ‘shastrartha’ i.e. interpreting old existing texts, without trying to elucidate new principles, by Kumarila Bhatta. Kumarila, an uncle of Buddhist scholar Dharmakirti, being defeated and humiliated by Dharmakirti, decided to study Buddhist shastras as he thought ‘it is always necessary to study the enemy before attacking it’ and joined Nalanda in the guise of a disciple of Dharmapala, in order to acquire enough knowledge of Buddhism so as to defeat Buddha’s doctrine. After studying Buddhism for some time, he challenged his guru Dharmapala, defeated him in ‘shastrartha’, and saw his guru embrace ‘tushanal’ i.e. a funeral pyre made up of hay and dry wood. Dharmapala declared before being burnt alive, “I am defeated by brilliance of Kumarila, but still I believe in supremacy of Buddha’s doctrine, I am not deviated at all from Buddha, His Dhamma or His Sangha, and so I would renounce my life rather than renounce Buddhism”. This is an account from a Brahmanic book and not from a Buddhist one. Shastrartha, Swamiji tells us, involved scholarship i.e.. an ability to quote from ancient texts, literary acumen, ability to debate and argue without cause, without logic, demonstration of so called yogic powers etc. [Swami Apurvananda, “Aacharya Shankara” 2nd edition. 1989, (Marathi translation of Bengali book), Ramakrishna Matha, Dhantoli, Nagpur, p. 94 ff.]

Swami Vivekananda has described how Aacharya Adi Shankara used to enjoy the burning of Buddhist monks after defeating them in shastrartha. This is what he says : “And such was the heart of Shankara that he burned to death lots of Buddhist monks by defeating them in arguments. What can you call such an action on Shankara’s part except fanaticism.” [Vivekananda: Complete Works vol. VII, p. 117 ff.]

Jains were impaled

It is reported that about eight thousand Jains were killed by impalement when they did not agree with Brahmins’ ideology and what is more important is that this incident was celebrated and commemorated by perpetuating a festival in temple of Madurai, which goes on even today. [K.A.N. Sastri – History of South India]. This can denote why 6th of December, ‘A day of Mourning’ by millions of Bahujan followers of Ambedkar, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Muslims, was converted in a ‘Day of Victory’ by Brahmins over the demolition of Babari Mosque.

Garoba

There is a practice of Garoba in Maharashtra. On the evening of color festivities, garoba is celebrated by an assemblage of persons tired of ‘colour’ and dirt and mud. The function is always celebrated outside the town on an open ground either on, or near the cremation ground.

A ‘gar’ literally means a hook. A vertical pillar is erected to which an horizontal bar is attached. On one end of this horizontal member is a hook. On this hook is attached a big fruit like a pumpkin or a big brinjal, symbolic of a person condemned to be punished. The other end has rope which is held by the people who move and rotate the whole contraption so that the victim on the hook is strangulated and onlookers, among the chanting of songs called ‘ganas’, and beating of drums, shower ‘chana’ i.e. grilled gram grains, symbolic of throwing of stones. The author has seen this celebration with a pumpkin on the hook, in his childhood. In olden days, it was said by the elders who actually witnessed this, that an actual human being was hanged. Rajanikant Shastri [in his hindi book “Hindu jati ka utthan aur patan”, Kitab Mahal, 1993, pp. 208 ff.] describes 12 cruel practices of Hindus, which were banned by British Govt. in mid ninteenth century. One of them called “charak puja” is the same, what we in Maharashtra call Garoba.

Some examples of Brahmanic sexual exploitation

According to Ramanika Gupta, in certain parts in Bihar, even now, a new dalit bride has to spend the first night with the village head man. [Sugawa, p.69] A bazaar is organized in Dholpur for sale of Dalit girls. [Sugawa, p. 69]

Kamble describes a custom called Okali. On first or second Saturday comming after the Hindu New Years Day (Gudhi padawa), the devadasis, who are mostly daltbahujans, were openly sexually enjoyed in public, about hundred years ago. This is now replaced by another tradition called “Okali”, which was in vogue till 1987. It is a festival like ‘Rang Panchami’. The young boys from higher castes assemble around a pool of coloured water in front of town temple. Young devadasis in the town stand in front of them in a row, and each receives a sari, a choli and a flower garland. The coloured water is poured over the devadasis who appear virtually naked as the cloths given to them are very thin, scanty, delicate and transparent. The boys play with the bodies of devadasis as they like, doing everything just short of sexual intercourse. All assembled enjoy the scene. This happens in the name of god ‘Bili Kallappa’. [Uttam Kamble, Sugawa, p. 81]

Vasant Rajas describes another custom, called “Sidi attu” in town Madakeripura in Karnataka which was in vogue till 1987, when it was banned by the Govt. Here a devadasi is suspended with a hook in her back on one end of a transverse rod placed on a vertical pole planted in ground, and rotated by a rope at the other end. She salutes the gathering, while her garments fly and all the naked lower part of her body is visible to all, for their amusement. This was supposed to bring prosperity to town, and the devadasi used to get a sari, a choli, a coconut and a betel nut, for which she thanked the gathering. [p. 27]

It must be realized that Hinduism is the only religion in the world, which has given religious sanction and provided with religious philosophy to the practice of prostitution. [Sugawa, p. 81]

Festivities

These we see in the form of sprinkling coloured water on each other, dry colours in the form of ‘gulal’ and distributing sweets, and indulging in intoxicants like liquor and ‘bhang’, (i.e. cannabis indica) and gambling in many ways.

Though the sprinkiling coloured water was perhaps in vogue since long time, the name of Lord Krishna got associated with the colouring part of festival, in medieval times. It is said that He was playing his divine “leelas” with the women folk of Brindavana. We can consider these as merely symbols of Brahmanic victory over the original inhabitants of India. It is well known that “Madhura bhakti” was brought to North India from Bengal after “Gitgovind” of Jaydeva, declaring Buddha as an avatara became popular, after fall of Buddhism.

It should become clear from the above account, that this festival, mainly concerns with dalitbahujans. They should try to understand the implied meaning under the tradtions and the slaves should stop enjoying the slavery.

Saint Tukaram

Murder of great rebellious Marathi saint poet Tukaram

Tukaram was the greatest of the Marathi saints of “Varkari” cult, the credit of establishing which is given to Namdeva, and not to Dyandeva as previously thought. This is because it was Dyanadeva who went to Namdeva and not vice versa as put forward by Bahujan historian M. M. Deshmukh. The Brahmanic scholars describe Tukaram very mild, though he was the most rebellious against brahmanic tyranny. Following information is mainly drawn from A. H. Salunkhe’s Marathi book “Vidrohi Tukaram”. He comments that “a lion is depicted by them as a she-goat”. Two hundred years before Karl Marx, at the age of 20, he drowned his mortgage deeds of money loaned to farmers by his family. He criticized Vedic “knowledge”, Brahmanic tyranny and caste supremacy all his life, and was an eye-sore for them. They drowned all his note books of “abhanga”, as his verses were known.

He was preaching against caste and varna system, and talked bitterly against Untouchability. He got Bahinabai, one of his brahmin lady disciples, to translate Sanskrit Buddhist Classic “Vajrasuchi” – a strong critique of caste system – of Ashvaghosha to Marathi.

Tukaram was tried in court of law for the so called offenses of

(1) preaching message of “shruti” though a shudra,

(2) for having brahmin disciples, and

(3) allowing these brahmin disciples to touch his feet.

Though it was reign of Bijapur Sultan, the disputes of non-muslims were conducted under hindu “dharma- sastras” and hindu traditions by brahmins. He was punished by (i) drowning his poetry and forbidding to write more, (ii) confiscating his property, (iii) excommunicating and boycotting him and (iv) driving him out of the town. His property was looted. Later, during Nanasahib Peshava’s Brahmin rule, it was prohibited to sing his abhangas.

Tukaram retaliated by “satyagraha”, he sat on the banks of river for 13 days without food or water. The common masses supported him, assembled around him and the boycott and driving away was futile and ineffectual. The calm was maintained but the situation remained tense. His struggle against brahmanism was continuous for about next 22 years. We have to understand his death occurring under this back ground, at the young age of 42 years.

The day of His death

He had to suffer a lot at the hands of these priestly class tyrants all his life, and ultimately he was taken to “vaikuntha with mortal body”, as they put it and tell the gullible masses that he was taken to vaikuntha in a “vimana”, specially sent by gods, a feat not occurring for any of the Brahmin saints, but only for this shudra. It is written by many that he “disappeared” while doing a “kirtan” on the banks of river, some two furlongs away from the town. Without going into several opinions, for which readers are referred to read Salunkhe’s book in original, all it means is that his dead body was not found. The day was the day of Holi, “dhulvad” as is popularly known, and as “Dhuli vandan” in Brahmanic books, the second day of dark half of month of Falgun. This is the day of obscenity, dirty deeds and drunken bouts, the “garoba” and all that goes with it. It is a wonder, nobody has explained why gods selected this day to send the vimana for him. In any case, for all the dalitbahujan devotees of Tukaram, it is the day of mourning and not of rejoicing, as they presently seem to be doing. It was on this day that their saviour was murdered.

By – Dr. K. Jamanadas, Source – ambedkar.org

Raksha Bandhan: Another form of Slavery

“Ultimate tragedy of mankind is not the brutality of few but the silence of many”. — Martin Luther King

I just came back from the market after having a cup of coffee and while coming back couldn’t resist myself going near to the stalls where lots of people were busy buying Rakhis and other stuff as if shopkeeper was selling those free. Yes, it’s Raksha Bandhan; a festival of slavery is back!

Yes, Raksha Bandhan, a Hindu festival (now infiltrated to almost all other religions including Sikhism and Buddhism) is within few hours. After coming back, I sit down to collect my thoughts over this festival and realities associated with the same festival. Do Sikhism, Buddhism promote Raksha Bandhan? What Dalit-Bahujans have to do with this festival? Do women really feel safe in India? Is it really a women’s festival? Should women stop tying Rakhis? Are there any alternatives to these festivals? There are many questions those are coming to my mind right now.

“The man, who has no sense of history, is like a man who has no ears or eyes”.

First, there is no historical background of festival of this festival. Yes, yes! I do agree most of the festivals (Dusherha, Diwali, Holi etc) we Indians celebrate don’t have any historical background. If a lady tied a thread on king’s wrist & he won lots of battles, that’s just a fiction, not a history and there must be a strong line between fiction and history. (Ohh… not for us, for Indians it’s thin line between fiction and history and we can cross over anytime!). Nor a thread can make someone to win. There is a chanting of holy mantra in Hinduism:

Yena baddho Balee raajaa daanavendro mahaabalah |

Tena twaam anubadhnaami rakshe maa chala maa chala ||

It means, “I am tying a Raksha to you, similar to the one tied to Bali, the powerful king of the demons. Oh Raksha, be firm, do not waver.” How this simple, annually recurring act of tying the Rakhi on one’s wrist can evoke such strong and intense emotions in a person is indeed surprising & interesting!

Now live telecast on television, I’m watching many women going to front and tying Rakhis to the army people to make them strong. (Or they be firm, don’t waver while raping innocent girls, murder women after rape as happened in Kashmir & north eastern states).

Here is common notion set (set by Brahmin-Baniya media) that relation of Brother-Sister is pure love, effective etc but it’s not true as more than 80% of world don’t celebrate this festival & they are strong enough than Indians (here consider under nutrition people also). On the one hand when Indians don’t accept a girl child (consider poor sex ratio here), women society faces discrimination in all respects but afterward thinking of festivals like Raksha Bandhan, Women’s Empowerment Day seems funny to me! Isn’t it funny to note that Raksha Bandhan comes with the warranty of one year? Ohh… I’ll protect you for one year and after that you need to tie a new Rakhi to me if you want me to further protect you as if it’s a mobile recharge card with one year validity!

Raksha Bandhan: Sikhism and Buddhism

“If you want to destroy a society, destroy its history and the society will get destroyed automatically”. — Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Sikhism and Buddhism are the two religions those inspire me the most. But, when I see Sikh women going to Gurudwaras and tying Rakhis to the palki of Guru Granth Sahib or when I see Buddhist women going to Buddhist religious places and tying Rakhis to banyan trees; I feel sad for innocent people.

What was originally a Hindu festival has ignorantly been accepted by Sikhs and Buddhists without questioning the credibility of the festival or without considering what Sikh Gurus or Buddha had said or what Dr Ambedkar said in 22 Vows. Buddha and Sikh Gurus never accepted Hindu customs, rather than accepting they challenged many ritual practices in Brahmanism such as ‘Guru Nanak Dev Ji’ refused to wear a janeu and Buddha challenged caste system. Buddha and all Sikh Gurus had rightly said “You must not only discard the shastras, you must deny their authority & you should have courage to tell Hindus that where they are wrong”.

Sikhs and Buddhist heritage is so rich that in both religions men and women were given equal rights/status from the beginning. Why would women need protection when they can defend themselves? In 1706 A.D. at “Khidrana di dhab”, where the Sikhs were fighting against Mughals and when 40 Sikh men abandoned 10th guru ‘Guru Gobind Singh Ji’ in the time of need their wives took the weapons and came to fight.

Women in Sikhism and Buddhism were treated equal so don’t just fall prey to fake rituals created to destroy rich inheritance of Sikhs and Buddhists.

Raksha Bandhan: Hindrance to the development of women society

“In Hinduism, conscience reason & independent thinking have no scope for development.” — Dr B. R. Ambedkar

When sister ties a thread on the wrist of brother & asks him to protect her in difficulties. Don’t all you think it is showing that women society is not eligible to protect them & women society always needs a help. Isn’t it showing that the women society is inferior & can’t help own-self? (Here consider what Manusamriti says “Before marriage women should be under protection of father, after marriage under protection of husband, after death of husband she should be under protection of children,” i.e. she is never free & can’t do anything on her own will.)

After few days of Raksha Bandhan here comes the “Bhaiya Dhuj” festival, on this day sister prays for long life of brother. But there is no such festival on the day when brother will pray for sister’s long life. Isn’t it a best way to keep women society down & not to give many chances to grow? If women society still needs her brothers to protect her from her husband or if she still looks at the face of brother to get help, then I’ll say there is no meaning of women empowerment (forget about the Dalit women empowerment), which many women organizations are claiming loudly. Raksha Bandhan is itself a Bandhan (hindrance) to the development of women society. In Rig Veda, Ramayana, Manusamriti, Visnusamriti and many other Hindu religious documents women society has been degraded and projected as a ‘sex-object but nothing else’. I would really love that every woman read the book named “Genocide of Women in Hinduism” by Sita Agarwal and then decide do they need to celebrate this slavery?

Raksha Bandhan is celebrated in many parts of India under different names; this is known as Narial Poornima or Coconut Full Moon in Mumbai’s famous beaches. Coconuts are thrown into the sea to propitiate (calm down) the Sea God, Varuna. Interesting, isn’t it? Helping Japan to fight Tsunami?

Rationally thinking do we really need a special day to pour all the love, care, affection and attachment? Can’t we live without such festivals? Yes, celebrate rich history not poor fiction. Poor people spend at least 100’s of rupees on Rakhi’s, albeit of the fact that they can hardly afford to celebrate money-wasting-occasions such as Diwali, Dusherha, Rakhi but still mental slaves are willing to celebrate. These all are the beautifully carved tactics of businessmen & pundit-pujaris to earn money & trap illiterate people. Keep in mind businessmen are not from the downtrodden communities. All these businessmen are highly educated but the fact is only downtrodden – the untouchables – are illiterate. On “Shivratri” give milk to pundit-pujaris, on “Diwali” give sweets to pundit-pujaris, on “Holi” give “bhang” to drink. All these are nothing but the tactics to keep the business of temples running. Till what time all this will keep on going and we’ll keep mum?

Man’s Psyche Must Change

21st century must become synonymous with the time woman finally getting her rightful place in society and her status at home will largely determine her standing in the world. Her needs and aspirations are essential because only then can she give her best to society.

A happy woman will make a loving home and bring up sons and daughters who have a healthy outlook towards life and are not scared to denounce the evils afflicting every little step of their walk towards a peaceful existence. Thus, to begin with there must be democracy in the family.

The husband and wife should work as a team with both partners having an equal say in decision-making. The woman must not be condemned to play the role of a maid to the man – whether it is father, brother husband, father-in-law, brother-in-law or son. Society needs to get rid of lots of shortcomings that have only undermined the position of woman. Just as the practice of sati has been abolished (well, almost), the world would be a far better place if people spent their time in constructive activities rather than collecting dowry by selling their sons or marrying girls off during their childhood and leaving them to their “fate” or satisfying their lust by kidnapping, raping, murdering and dumping newlywed girls on the name of God.

In order to iron out the unevenness in society, the women must be educated and they should learn to assert their rights and shun the injustices heaped on them. The real change will be when man’s psyche undergoes a transformation and both men and women meet mid-way rather than the girl always making all the adjustments.

Let’s break all these illusions, misunderstandings and common notions and celebrate this festival as “Awareness Day”.

(Written on Dated: 12/08/2011 at 6:30pm)

P.S.: Views expressed here in this article are my personal, no-one needs to agree with me. As Buddha said, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason & your own common sense.” (Yes, you are welcome to comment or abuse the power!)

Some Random Thoughts on Diwali – Say No To Diwali

“History of India is nothing but the battle between Buddhism and Brahmanism.” – Dr. B R Ambedkar.

In India, the so called followers of Hinduism are gullible masses, those are following Brahmanism in sugar coated Hinduism. From generation to generation Brahmans have spread crooked stories to befool masses and keep Dalit-Bahujans following Brahmanical culture without even knowing what they are following and doing. All these Brahmanical crooked stories have made such a psychological impact that people are bound to follow these rituals without knowing the reality behind these fraudulent stories.

Hindus say “Light lamps and Laxmi (money) will flow into your house.” How it can be possible that lighting candles will make money to come? (All it would do is pollute the environment but nothing else) If lighting candles make people rich then people who are living in remotest areas, people who don’t have access to electricity since years would have been millionaire or billionaire by now, as they use candles for lighting purpose throughout the whole year!

Jawaharlal Nehru in his book “Discovery of India” (page no. 204-5) writes that the festivals like Holi, Diwali and Dussehra are imitation of the Greek festivals. At page no. 235, Nehru explains that the Brahmins are not a caste but an organisation who would offer their daughters for the guests. At page no. 37, he states “Hinduism as a faith is vague, amorphous, many sided, all things to all men. It is hardly possible to define it, or indeed to say definitely whether it is a religion or not, in the usual sense of the word. In its present form, and even in the past, it embraces many beliefs and practices, from the highest to the lowest, often opposed to or contradicting each other.”

Here are the few facts and realities of Diwali festival:

On this day Great Gana king (tribal) Bali was murdered by Waman- a Brahman. If people do want to celebrate this day, celebrate it on the name of King Bali, a Bahujan virtuous king and remember his contribution.

Another fact is Bhikhu Mahamodgalyayan was murdered by Brahmans on this day.

One more thing to note is after the murder of thousands Buddhists in the rule of Pushyamitra Shung, this day was celebrated as “Eekadashi”. Pushyamitra killed many Buddhists monks, destroyed Buddha Vihars, burnt Buddhist literature in 200 BC. During his times many Buddhist places were converted in Hindu temples. What you wanna celebrate – murders of our fore-fathers or rapes of our women on the religion?

It is also believed that when aryans came to India from Egypt through Iran, China they brought their culture with themselves and the so called “Hindu Vedas” are imitation of Egypt and Iranian books with little bit changes in the rules.

“Ram” on the name of which this festival is celebrated is a fictitious character, even Supreme Court of India has denied the existence of so called “Ram”, and so is there any logic behind celebrating his name? Many scholars do agree that “Pushyamitra Shung” was the so called “Ram Chandar” who imposed inhuman laws on Dalit-Bahujans andstopped their progress. It is also believed that Ramayana was written during his time to befool non Brahmans.

So called “Ram” (Pushyamitra Shung?) killed Shudra rishi – Shambuk, who was practicing meditation. He was killed just because he was from lower caste and lower caste people weren’t allowed to meditate.

Hindus worship Laxmi — Goddess of Money but a recent survey showed that still 70% Indians live on the daily income of Rs.20, what to eat and what to wear? In all other developed countries such as USA, UK etc there are no god and goddess such as Saraswati or Laxmi but still people are literate and rich as compared to Indians. Hindus have embossed the mental slavery, which have shut down all doors of rational thinking. Should I consider crackers before blasting them? There is increase in Asthma patients by 15% every year because of the air pollution, by spending thousands on crackers we are doing nothing but increasing Asthma patients. The problem with Brahmans (Hinduism) is that they can never be rational and ready to be literate. All such festivals make the Indian heritage rich with poor people rather slaves meant for slavery.

“Diwali” is nowhere mentioned in Ramayana of Rishi Valmiki. But term Diwali find place in Jain books and exact dates are mentioned in Jain scriptures. As Buddha Purnima is celebrated, the day of enlightenment of Lord Buddha same way in Jainism “Diwali” is a day of nirvana of Lord Mahavira. But now a day’s whole motive and real facts have vanished in time and gullible people are celebrating it with different motive such as earning money, doing business and misguiding innocent people.

All the fallacious stories – gateway to establish Brahmanical culture – and allied fests look harmless when taken carelessly, but in reality these mythical stories are deadliest weapon to destroy Dalit-Bahujans culture and to impose Brahmanical culture. Once Dalit-Bahujans will lose their identity, they’ll not have any other option but to follow the imposed Brahmanical culture. Hence, we must immediately discard the Hindu rituals, ceremonies, pilgrimages, and festivals those have made us slaves and we should follow the 22 vows given by Dr. B R Ambedkar if we really want see Dalit-Bahujans live with pride and dignity.

Mr. KOVENA rightly said in his book named “The Hidden History” (page no. 19) that “Hindu means thief in Persian language and Hinduism mean country of thieves, Hindus feel proud of being thief.” Stop being trapped in the fake pride.

Makar Sanktanti is an Idol or Dharma Pooja Dalit Should Celebrate Any Idol Pooja

In the day of Makar Sankranti Hindu God Dharma is worshiped. And khichurhi or rice is offered to the God as Bhog (ভোগ). The day after Makar Sankranti the first day in the month Magh from Bengali calendar The Goddess Laxmi devi is worshiped. It is called Baharlaxmi Puja as the idol is worshiped in an open place.

7 Interesting Facts You Did Not Know About Makar Sankranti

Rutu Ladage

Updated: Apr 24, 2017

One of the few Indian festivals that falls on the same day every year according to the Gregorian calender.

Most Hindu festivals follow the position of the moon and are based on the lunar calendar. Thus, the dates of festivals change every year. But Makar Sankranti is a festival which falls on the same day every year as it follows the solar calender. However, once every eighty years, due to revolution, the day is postponed by one day. Makar Sankranti is celebrated on the 14th of January every year (sometimes on the 15th) for now. From 2050, it is predicted that the festival will fall on the 15th January (and occasionally on the 16th).

Xasmin Travels

__LISTSEPARATOR____START_

_Why is it called Makar Sankranti?

On Makar Sankranti, the sun enters the sun-sign of Capricorn or Makara (the Indian rashi). Therefore the 'Makar' in the name. The word 'Sankranti' signifies the movement of the sun from one zodiac sign to another. Thus, the name of the festival literally means the movement of the sun into Capricorn.

Blogspot

__LISTSEPARATOR____START__Day and night are equally long.

As Makar Sankranti is one of the oldest solstice festivals and falls on the equinox, day and night on this day are believed to be equally long. Post the festival, it is officially the beginning of spring or the onset of Indian summer and the days become longer, and nights shorter.

__LISTSEPARATOR____START__Same festival, a million different names.

Though extremely popular as Makar Sankranti, the festival is predominantly a harvest festival and is celebrated throughout India, from north to south and east to west. While Makar Sankranti is most popular in West India, down south, the festival is known as Pongal and in the north, it is celebrated as Lohri. Uttarayan, Maghi, Khichdi are some other names of the same festival.

Wikipedia

__LISTSEPARATOR____START__Why do we consume til-gul?

Makar Sankranti is the festival of til-gul where sesame and jaggery laddoos or chikkis are distributed among all. They are generally accompanied by the saying, "Til-gul ghya ani gud gud bola", which translates to 'eat these sesame seeds and jaggery and speak sweet words'. The festival is one of bonding where every member of society is asked to bury the hatchet with enemies and foes and live in peace. Also, it is a superstition that during the festival, the Sun God forgets his anger on his son Shani and visits him. Thus, by distributing sweets, everyone is asked to spread joy around. Also, since the festival falls in winter, eating of sesame and jaggery is considered beneficial to health as they are warm foods. Thus, it is specifically this sweet that's distributed as it signifies bonding and good health.

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__LISTSEPARATOR____START__Why do we fly kites on Makar Sankranti?

There is a very interesting reason behind the kite-flying. Kite-flying in olden days was generally done in the early hours of the morning, when the sun's rays were bright but not too harsh. Also, during kite-flying, the human body was exposed to the sun for long hours. The early morning sun is considered beneficial for the skin and body. Since winter is also the time of a lot of infections and sickness, by basking in the sun, Hindus believed that the bad bacteria on their bodies would be cleared to a certain extent. Creating a fun way of sun basking where no one would even realise they were reaping benefits was through kite flying. Cool, right?

Hindu Human Rights

__LISTSEPARATOR____START__Pilgrimages

Makar Sankranti generally marks the beginning of the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh while in South India, in Kerala, one of the most austere and difficult pilgrimages of Shabrimala ends on this auspicious day. Other parts of the country too, celebrate by taking a dip in the holy rivers flowing through states to cleanse themselves of sins. It is also believed that if you die during Makar Sankranti, you are not reborn but go directly to heaven.

China Daily

Reality and True fact about Makar Sankranti

By admin

what is Makar Sankranti?Makar Sankranti is a standout amongst the most auspicious days for the Hindus and is celebrated in almost all parts of the nation in heap social structures, with extraordinary dedication, enthusiasm, and exhilaration. The festival of Makar Sankranti traditionally matches with the start of the Sun’s northward voyage (the Uttarayan) when it enters the indication of Makar (the Capricorn). It falls on the fourteenth of January consistently as indicated by the Sunlight based Logbook.

How to Celebrate Makar SankrantiIt is celebrated with a ceremony in southern parts of the nation as Pongal, and in Punjab is celebrated as Lohri and Maghi. Rajasthan and Gujarati turn reverentially upward to the sun as well as offer a huge number of their vivid oblations as wonderful kites all over the horizon. The Festival acquaints kite aficionados worldwide with the fascinating magnificence and social decent variety of India.

Regional Fact about this festival.In Uttar Pradesh, Sankranti is called ‘Khichiri’. Taking a plunge in the sacred streams on this day is viewed as most auspicious. A big one-month long ‘Magha-Mela’ reasonable starts at Prayag (Allahabad) on this event. Aside from Triveni, custom washing likewise happens at numerous spots like Haridvar and Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh, and Patna in Bihar.

In Bengal consistently an exceptionally big Mela is held at Ganga Sagar where the waterway Ganga is accepted to have jumped into the under district and vivified the fiery remains of the sixty thousand precursors of Lord Bhagirath. In Maharashtra, on the Sankranti day, individuals trade multi-shaded mists produced using til (sesame seeds) and sugar and til-laddus produced using til and jaggery.

In Gujarat, there is a custom of offering blessings to relatives. The Gujarati Intellectuals on this auspicious day give grants to understudies for higher examinations in soothsaying and logic. Kite flying has been related to this festival bigly. It has turned into an internationally outstanding occasion.

10 Real Fact about the Makar Sankranti

1. Makar Sankranti is THE Main festival in India that pursues the sunlight based calendar.

This is the motivation behind why it falls on precisely the same date without fail according to the Georgian calendar. For the records, it is celebrated on the fourteenth of January every year.

2. It is being said that 2015 onwards, this festival will be celebrated on the fifteenth of January every year. Indeed, that is genuine on the grounds that this year, Makar Sankranti festivities occurred on January 15, 2015.

3. Overages, the date of Makar Sankranti has changed. A 1000 years back, this festival was celebrated on 31st of December.

4. This adjustment in date happens in view of introduction change in the rotational pivot of Earth.

5. According to Hindu Sunlight based Calendar, the festival is celebrated on first Magh (for the individuals who don’t know about Magh, it is the name of a month according to Hindu calendar).

6. Makar Sankranti is a Festival of Collect and is celebrated on the day after the winter solstice. There is no different festival for the day of the winter solstice in Hindu religion, which is the reason the Hindus consolidate or conflate the winter solstice with the festival

7. Logically, be that as it may, the day for winter solstice in Northern Side of the equator falls somewhere in the range of 21st and 22nd That is, on 22nd December the sun begins its northward voyage with days ending up longer than evenings.

8. Like clockwork, the date for winter solstice one day sooner. This happens due to the adjustment in the introduction of the rotational pivot of Earth. Passing by this estimation, if Makar Sankranti really denoted the day after winter solstice, it would have returned in 300 BCE.

9. Since Makar Sankranti is really a Festival of Collect, which implies that it isn’t generally confined to one territory of India. It is celebrated crosswise over India with most striking festivals occurring in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Delhi and Haryana, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

10. Makar Sankranti is likewise extremely well known in Nepal. According to Bikram Samwat (Nepali calendar), it is celebrated on first Magh and imprints the finish of Push – the not well omened month. Every single religious action in Nepal are totally prohibited in the month of Poush and the festival denotes sun’s northward voyage from its southernmost position.

Peak Secularism in Kerala: NO to Saraswati Puja. Give break for Friday carpet kissing. Celebrate Christmas clowns in classroom.

Jihad

Bahujan Quest for Education and Saraswati Puja

Written by Roshan Padhan

Published on 24 January 2018

Roshan Padhan

Education for the masses in general, and for the children of marginalised sections of society in particular, is something which was not simply provided by some God. Today if we are getting the benefit of education it is only because of the hard fought battle of anti-caste philosophers, starting from Buddha to Savitri Bai, Jotiba Phule, Sahuji Maharaj, Baba Saheb Ambedkar and numerous Dalit, Bahujan people from various states who established free schools, boarding houses and hostels for the students of marginalised sections. When we celebrate some God for this, we not only delegitimize and disrespect the struggle undertaken by these revolutionaries but also become part of the process of invisiblisation of the history of the Dalit, Bahujan.

Starting from the Pre-Vedic and Vedic period when the only texts available were religious texts, and the objective of education was the spread of religion, Dalit, Bahujan were denied education. It was believed that the wrong intonation of mantras will bring disaster to the world and hence except Brahmins no one was allowed to learn Sanskrit. Though Buddha challenged the discrimination in education on the basis of caste and many Buddha Vihars began teaching in vernacular languages, Brahmanism eventually succeeds in perpetuating the discrimination.

After the arrival of the British, anti-caste philosophers got some space for negotiation. Even then they had to struggle for as basic a thing as the entry of Dalit children into schools, establishment of schools in rural areas. Establishment of schools for women and Dalit, Bahujan was fiercely opposed by the so-called nationalist leaders like Tilak. The nationalist leaders demanded separate curriculum for boys and girls according to their assigned gender roles. Even for the children of peasant class and feudal class, there was a demand for separate curriculum. Nationalists argued for vocational education for the children of peasants and liberal education only for the upper caste children. The anti-caste philosophers vigorously fought against such discriminatory policies and succeeded. Today many students from the marginalised sections take this for granted.

These festivals are getting institutionalized and public spaces and funds are being used to perpetuate them, whereas the struggles of Dalit, Bahujan are never remembered or celebrated. For example, the recent circular by Odisha Government on the list of holidays to be followed by schools makes it compulsory to observe certain pujas in the schools. Earlier, only occasions like Republic Day and Independence Day were observed by spending public money and certain pujas were celebrated by collecting fees from students and these were not compulsory to an extent. It becomes more important to challenge the celebration of these festivals in educational institutions as there will be diversion of public money for this in coming years.

Remembering history is not only necessary for the sake of history, but also for the ongoing struggle of students from marginalised sections against the brahmanical government and administration of various educational institutions. Students from these sections are still in a situation where quality education is denied to them because of rapid privatization, increasing fees and low quality of government schools in both rural areas and urban slums. Fellowships meant for the students from marginalised sections are being stopped, seats are being cut, and most of the so called institutions of national importance are not following the reservation policies in admissions and appointments.

Even today organisations like Bhim Army and individuals like Anoop Kumar (Nalanda Academy) are struggling very hard to sustain their autonomous institutions to help the students from marginalised sections. Let’s respect the anti-caste philosophers whose relentless struggle made some dent in the upper caste hegemony in education and give credit where it is due.

References

* Dalit Initiatives in Education, 1880-1992. Eleanor Zelliot

* Compulsory Education and the Political Leadership in Colonial India, 1840-1947. Parimala V.Rao

Dalit students barred from Saraswati puja in Orissa school

February 3, 2009By IANS,

Bhubaneswar : Villagers and teachers did not allow a group of Dalit students to offer prayers to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning, in a school in Orissa’s Kendrapada district, officials said Tuesday.

The matter came to light after authorities begun a probe Tuesday on the basis of the written complaints by the students and their parents to the local police Monday.

Like most of the schools in the state, students and teachers Jan 31 celebrated the annual Saraswati puja at Sidha Marichapali Nodal Upper Primary School at Marichapali village in Kendrapada district, some 100 km from the state capital.

Although all students belonging to upper castes were allowed to offer prayers, as many as 24 dalit students of the school, including six girls, were prevented from participating.

“The teachers of the school and some villagers prevented the dalit students from offering coconuts to the deity, saying that they are dalit and belong to Sheduled Castes,” block development officer (BDO) Narayan Nayak told IANS by phone.

The village has a population of about 500, and about 200 of them are dalits. However, dalit students are not allowed to offer coconuts in the school prayers on the days of Ganesh puja and Saraswati puja since past several years, he said.

“The villagers say they prevented the children because they violated the practice and came with coconuts. The children and their parents have lodged a complaint. We are investigating into the matter,” Nayak said.

Despite India’s constitution outlawing caste discrimination, dalits, comprising 16 percent of the country’s 1.1 billion populations, however, often face mistreatment from upper caste people in many parts of the country.

Last month, priests in a temple in Orissa’s Bhadrak district threw away holy offerings and washed floors after Women and Child Welfare Minister Pramila Mallick, a dalit, visited the temple’s sanctum sanctorum.

The priests said they performed the rituals because Mallik’s entry into the temple made the premises “impure”.

No Saraswati Puja here, we are secular: Kerala varsity to students from North

North Indian students at CUSAT's Kuttanad campus had asked for permission to celebrate Saraswati Puja. The vice-chancellor has turned down their request.

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P S Gopikrishnan UnnithanThiruvananthapuramFebruary 7, 2019

A letter dated February 1 said the varsity couldn't allow religious activities on campus.

HIGHLIGHTS

Students wanted to conduct the puja between January 9 and 11

Can't allow religious activities on campus: CUSAT

Saraswati Puja was celebrated inside the campus till last year

A Kerala varsity has ruled out letting its students in Alappuzha district celebrate Saraswati Puja over the weekend, and told them theirs is a secular campus.

But until last year, the annual festival was celebrated inside the premises of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), which is government-owned but autonomous.

Hindus revere Saraswati as the goddess of knowledge and learning, and North Indian students at CUSAT's Kuttanad campus had asked for permission to conduct the puja honuring the deity betwen January 9 and 11.

CUSAT's vice-chancellor turned down their request, and a letter dated February 1 said the varsity couldn't allow religious activities on campus.

Meanwhile, in faraway Patna, another college has been in the news for a Saraswati Puja event -- albeit for entirely different reasons.

Students from BN College stunned authorities by inviting bar dancers to the celebrations, and a video went viral.

An FIR was filed at against the college hostel's puja committee.

IN A NUTSHELL: CUSAT, a government-owned university in Kerala, has refused to grant its North Indian students permission to celebrate Saraswati Puja on one of its campuses. It said the campus was secular.

Taking a stand for tribal rights: Why I am not celebrating Durga Pujo

Comforting rituals surrounding the festival have a history of violence.opinion Updated: Oct 10, 2016 18:16 IST

Dhrubo Jyoti

Hindustan Times

Devotees throng around a worship place for goddess Durga during Durga Puja festival in Kolkata.(AP)

Like most Bengalis, I grew up with the Durga Pujo. As a child, we didn’t have enough and the five-day festival meant new clothes, eating out and splurging in my mother’s otherwise austere ways. We scouted for Pujo pandals every time we moved to a new town, politely fended off intrusive questions by Bengali uncles for bhog and excitedly rated the number of idols we managed to see.

I was a fat, shy kid with few friends. My mother and I gave each other company: the goddess slaying the demon inspiring some strange courage in a woman jaded by jabs for her divorce. She wasn’t invited for tambola, I wasn’t a part of the cool kids’ Pujo night-outs. Our solitariness kept each other company and grew into camaraderie: maa durga was our accomplice.

When I moved to Kolkata, the occasional indulgence became a headfirst dive into city-wide revelry. My early twenties were spent in all-night pandal hopping, feverishly ticking off famous Pujos from a scribbled list and hunting for early-morning breakfast after a punishing night of walking through galis.

Amidst this, there was little time for thought. Bengalis lurch from one Pujo to other and any critical examination of the only time Kolkata looks pretty is discouraged.

A city that stinks of class bias in even restaurant entry dredges up examples of poor people celebrating to bolster the revelries. Most Bengalis sweep aside any criticism of Pujo by giving it a non-religious colour--it’s not about Hinduism, we are told, it is about having fun and who can disagree with fun?

Except that this isn’t true. Anyone who has been to any pandal anywhere in the world will know scriptures dictate everything: from the hours of arati and the clothes people should wear to the kind of food made and the way Pujo is conducted. Priests are always Brahmins and those helming the Pujo are always married, dominant-caste folks.

Durga is made into a feminist icon: a protector-mother slaying the demons for her 90 million Bengali children. The state’s mother-worshipping culture morphs the goddess into a trope and looks for her in everyday women and actresses till Durga is left selling Marie biscuits on billboards.

Except that, Durga doesn’t stand for every kind of woman and the Pujo is filled with sexist, exclusionary rituals such as Sindoor Khela--made famous by Vidya Balan in Kahaani--where only married (read upper-caste) women can take part.

My mother would tell you Pujo is a battleground to keep out those the genteel Bengali society doesn’t approve: the unmarried, the divorced, the poor. Small rituals such as cutting fruits, preparing or serving bhog or chaperoning the purohit are tools to establish fief and it is only through collective frenzy that we see them as harmless fun.

But the hardest to reconcile is what the festival stands for: the slaying of evil in the form of a blue-green Mahisasur, who occupies so little space in the Pujo-crazy Bengali mindspace that artisans are increasingly doing away with life-size representation of the so-called demon.

Mahisasur isn’t any ordinary adversary: he is seen as a tribal king killed by the Aryan goddess and tribes across Jharhand and West Bengal – known as Asurs – celebrate their fair-minded monarch to this day.

In the imagination of India’s Dalits and tribals, Durga Puja is the grotesque celebration of the murder of their king and the usurping of their land by a foreign power. We may try and whitewash this memory of violence with pop-feminism but it’s not going away.

Every year, thousands of tribals across communities and regions celebrate Mahisasur’s memory and worship him.

Many others even shut their doors and windows and hide for this period to prevent a repeat of the trauma that befell their ancestors. But these alternative imaginations don’t reach the ears of Bengal’s non-religious Pujo organisers.

For the past few years, I have struggled with reconciling this history of violence with the comforting rituals of Pujo that envelope my life. Pujo as an dominant-caste project explains its sexist tropes--caste and patriarchy go together--and also helps us see why a festival celebrated mostly by wealthy landlords even two centuries ago became the region’s cultural signature.

It is in this shape that Pujo represents a continuance of the trend of violence by dominant communities against weaker section--and an endorsement of the subjugation.

This year, when a group of close friends called me for Pushpanjali--offering flowers to the goddess--I dithered. How can you pray to a goddess driving a weapon through the tribal king’s heart and not endorse the centuries of violence on the weaker sections?

How can you forget the daily atrocities against tribals and how they’ve been dispossessed of their homes and livelihoods by the rampaging god of modernization? How do you participate in the celebration of murder?

I made some excuse to my friends and turned up too late for Pushpanjali. I suspect this was my last brush with Durga Pujo celebrations. Letting the glorification of tribal murder fly as culture stops today.

(The views expressed are personal.)

Dalits suffer social boycott in Maharashtra village

By - Pavan Dahat

Suman Tayde, 14-month-old Dipti’s grandmother is growing anxious as the child has gone without milk since Saturday. The village hasn’t run out of supplies, but since October 12, Dalits of Vairagad village in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district have been facing a social boycott. This includes inaccess to the flour mill and other shops in the village.

On Monday, Suman went to Balaji Kunte, a caste Hindu, and tried to convince him to spare some milk for Dipti. Balaji Kunte’s wife told her, “If we give you milk, our caste people would punish us with social boycott.”

“We are living on rice. Now they (caste Hindus) are threatening that the road leading to our locality would be blocked”, said Tulsabai Telgote, Suman’s neighbour. “Frightened by this, our girls have not stepped out of house since Saturday,” Tulsabai added.

On January 26, 2013, caste Hindus in Vairagad refused to allow Dalits to put up B.R. Ambedkar’s photo alongside those of other leaders during the Republic Day ceremony.

“We were silent then but on the day of Maha Shivratri in May this year, they uprooted a Panchashil flag (a Buddhist flag) near the Ambedkar statue. They put up a saffron flag in its place”, claims Jagdish Bhandare, an elderly man. Most of the Dalits in Vairagad are landless laborers, and work in farms belonging to caste Hindus. Since the Maha Shivratri incident, labourers from the Dalit locality haven’t been allowed to work in the farms, they claim.

On October 12, however, tensions flared up with the caste Hindus allegedly attacking Dalits over a dispute. Dalits claim that the upper castes Hindus resorted to verbal abuse of Dalit women, hurled stones at the Ambedkar statue and filed “false complaints of thefts” against Dalit men leading to the arrest of 15 Dalits under different sections of the Indian Penal Code.

“On October 12, some of our women were offering prayers near the Ambedkar statue to the Bodhivruksha tree before leaving for Nagpur to attend the Dhammachakra Pravartan Din ceremony at Deeksha Bhoomi (Celebrations of Dalits converting to Buddhism on October 14, 1956 under the leadership of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar). Some caste Hindus came and spoke to them in a lewd manner”, recalls Ratnabai Wankhede.

“Suddenly, they attacked us. Within five minutes, the village Sarpanch Amol Sathe came with other caste Hindus and started beating us”, she said. Meera received severe injuries on her hand during this attack.

The police who reached the spot lathi-charged the Dalits and not the caste Hindus, they say. “Police even arrested 15 Dalit men on false charges of stealing a Goddess’s ornaments from a temple near the Ambedkar statue. They did not register our complaints”, alleged Meera.

“After the Maha Shivratri incident, autorickshaws did not take us to school. We had to walk for more than three kilometres to our school in Undri village”, said Shivani, a secondary school student adding that some of “them (caste Hindus) wrote abusive words about us and Baba Saheb ( Dr.Ambedkar) on the road leading to our school”.

But the caste Hindus and the police have denied all the allegations. According to Police Inspector Santosh Tale, there is no “boycott” of Dalits in Vairagad village.

“There was a small incident and some political elements are trying to take advantage of the situation by flaring up sentiments. We have arrested 15 people from the Dalit locality and 10 people from the caste Hindu locality for rioting for October 12 incident”, Inspector Tale told The Hindu.

Buldhana Superintendent of Police Shamrao Dihgavkar supported the claims of Inspector Tale and said the situation in the village is peaceful after a “small incident”.

On the false cases of theft on Dalits, the SP said, “Only an inquiry into it can make the things clear.”

Caste Hindus refuted the allegations that there is social boycott of Dalits in the village. “Ours is a peaceful village. It was small incident but some political elements are trying to disrupt peace here”, said Mangesh Sathe, the Sarpanch’s brother.

Amol Sathe, the village Sarpanch, who represents the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been booked and was arrested under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 on Monday.

He has been released but has been prohibited from entering the village, said the SP.

Some of the Dalits don’t want to stay in the village anymore. “Give us alternate land and we will shift out of this place otherwise someday, they (caste Hindus) will kill some of us”, shouted Sindhu Tayade, another woman injured in the October 12 attack, in front of the deputy collector who came to take the stock of the situation.

Courtesy: The Hindu

अशुभ लक्षण

नाक का न दिखाई देना :

ऐसा माना जाता है कि यदि आपकी नाक आपको दिखाई देना बंद हो जाए तो समझिए कि मौत निकट ही है या आप किसी गंभीर बीमारी के शिकार हो गए हैं। यह मान्यता भी है कि सीधे खड़े होकर यदि आपको आपके घुटने दिखाई नहीं देते हैं तो आपका शरीर खतरनाक स्थिति में है।

दरअसल, आप अनियमित जीवन शैली जी रहे हैं, लगातर तनाव में रहते हैं तो आपकी श्वास प्रक्रिया बदल जाती है। श्वास प्रक्रिया के बदलने से आपक कई तरह की गंभीर रोगों का शिकार हो सकते हैं। नाक का दिखाई देना बंद होने का मतलब है कि आपकी शक्ति का तेजी से क्षरण हो रहा है। आपकी तोंद निकल गई है जो आपको आपके घुटने दिखना बंद हो जाएंगे। तो निश्चित ही ऐसे में कृपया आप तुरंत ही खानपान पर रोक लगाकर योग करना शुरू कर दें।

सीटी बजाने का मतलब संकट को बुलाना : ऐसा कहते हैं कि घर में या रात में सीटी नहीं बजाना चाहिए। इससे एक ओर जहां धन की हानि होती हैं वहीं आप किसी अंजान संकट को भी बुलावा देने हैं।

यह भी माना जाता है कि रात में सीटी बजाने से बुरी आत्माएं सक्रिय हो जाती हैं। हालांकि यह धारणा जापान से भारत में प्रचलित हो गई है। भारत में रात में सीटी बजाना अशुभ एवं सांप को बुलाने वाला माना जाता है। कुछ लोग यह भी मानते हैं कि सीटी बजाने से भैरव और शनिदेव रुष्ठ हो जाते हैं। अब इसमें कितनी सत्यता है यह तो हम नहीं जानते।

सुनसान स्थान पर पेशाब करना : ऐसा माना जाता है कि किसी सुनसान या जंगल की किसी विशेष भूमि कर पेशाब कर देने से भूत पीछे लग जाता है।

ऐसे में कुछ लोग पहले थूकते हैं फिर पेशाब करते हैं और कुछ लोग कोई मंत्र वगैरह पढ़कर ऐसा करते हैं। साथ ही लोग नदी, पुल या जंगल की पगडंडी पर पेशाब नहीं करते। भोजन के बाद पेशाब करना और उसके बाद बाईं करवट सोना बड़ा हितकारक है।

अन्य मान्यता :

* नदी, पूल या जंगल की पगडंडी पर पेशाब नहीं करते।

* मान्यता अनुसार एकांत में पवित्रता का ध्यान रखते हैं और पेशाब करने के बाद धेला अवश्य लेते हैं। उचित जगह देखकर ही पेशाब करते हैं।

* भोजन के बाद पेशाब करना और उसके बाद बाईं करवट सोना बड़ा हितकारक है।

जूते-चप्पल का उल्टा होना : जूते-चप्पल उल्टे हो जाए तो आप मानते हैं कि किसी से लड़ाई-झगड़ा हो सकता है? ऐसा माना जाता है कि घर के बारह रखे जूते या चप्पल यदि उल्टे हो जाएं तो उन्हें तुरंत सीधा कर देना चाहिए अन्यथा आपकी किसी से लड़ाई होने की संभावना बढ़ जाती है।

ऐसा होने से बचने के लिए चप्पल उल्टी हुई है तो एक चप्पल से दूसरी चप्पल को मारकर सीधा रखने का अंधविश्वास है। इसी तरह जूते के साथ भी किया जाता है।

जूते से जुड़े अन्य अंधविश्वास :

* जूते या चप्पल को कई लोग नजर और अनहोनी से बचने का टोटका भी मानते हैं इसीलिए वे अपनी गाड़ी के पीछे निचले हिस्से में जूता लटका देते हैं।

* कुछ लोग मानते हैं कि शनिवार को किसी मंदिर में चप्पल या जूते छोड़कर आ जाने से शनि का बुरा असर समाप्त हो जाता है।

* जूता सुंघाने से मिरगी का दौरा शांत हो जाता है।

हड्डी बजाना : इसे हड्डी तोड़ना, चटकाना या कटकाना भी कहते हैं। अक्सर लोग अपनी अंगुलियों की हड्डियों को चटकाते हैं जिसे खोड़ले लक्षण कहते हैं। माना जाता है कि ऐसा करने वाले के हाथों से लक्ष्मी चली जाती है।

अब लक्ष्मी जाती है या नहीं यह तो नहीं मालूम लेकिन कई लोगों को अपने शरीर के हर जगह की हड्डी चटकाने की आदत होती है जिसके चलते एक दिन सभी ज्वाइंट ढीले पड़ जाते हैं और बुढ़ापे में उसकी शक्ति कम हो जाती है। फिर हाथों की अंगुलियों से चाय का कप पकड़ने पर वह हिलेगा। इस तरह से हड्डियों को या अंगुलियों को चटकाना काफी नुकसानदेह होता है। जो कि गठिया को जन्म देती है। एक अध्यन के अनुसार हमारी हड्डियां लिगामेंट से एक दूसरे से जुड़ी होती हैं जिसे जोड़ कहते हैं। इन जोड़ों के बीच एक द्रव होता है जो उंगुलियों के चटकने के दौरान कम हो जाता है। ये द्रव जोड़ों में ग्रीस के समान होता है। जो हड्डियों को आपस मे रगड़ खाने से रोकता है। ऐसे में बार-बार अंगुलियों के चटकने से जोड़ों की पकड़ कमजोर हो जाती है। साथ ही हड्डियों के जोड़ पर मौजूद ऊतक भी नष्ट हो जाते हैं जिससे गठिया जैसे रोग हो जाते हैं।

कुत्तों का लड़ना : आपस में लड़ते हुए कुत्ते दिख जाएं तो व्यक्ति का किसी से झगड़ा हो सकता है। शाम के समय एक से अधिक कुत्ते पूर्व की ओर अभिमुख होकर क्रंदन करें तो उस नगर या गांव में भयंकर संकट उपस्थित होता है।

यदि आप घर से बाहर कहीं जा रहे हैं और आपके पीछे पीछे कुत्ता भी चल दे तो यह किसी अनहोनी का संकेत हैं। अच्छा है कि आप उधर की यात्रा टाल दें। यह भी माना जाता है कि यदि कुत्ता ऐसा करता है तो आप पर मौत का साया मंडरा रहा है। आप किसी गंभीर बिमारी की चपेट में आने वाले हैं या आपके साथ कोई दुर्घटना होने वाली है। हालांकि यह अंधविश्वास ही माना जाता है।

* कुत्ते के रोने को अशुभ क्यों माना जाता है?

-कुत्ते का रोना अशुभ माना जाता है। मान्यता है कि घर के सामने घर की ओर मुंह करके कोई कुत्ता रोए तो उस घर पर किसी प्रकार की विपत्ति आने वाली है या घर के किसी सदस्य की मौत होगी।

कुत्ते से जुड़े अन्य अंधविश्वास :

* मान्यता है कि घर के सामने सुबह के समय यदि कुत्ता रोए तो उस दिन कोई भी महत्वपूर्ण कार्य नहीं करना चाहिए। यदि किसी मकान की दीवार पर कुत्ता रोते हुए पंजा मारता दिखे तो समझा जाता है कि उक्त घर में चोरी हो सकती है या किसी अन्य तरह का संकट आ सकता है।

* यदि कोई व्यक्ति किसी के अंतिम संस्कार से लौट रहा है और साथ में उसके कुत्ता भी आया है तो उस व्यक्ति की मृत्यु की आशंका रहती है अथवा उसे कोई बड़ी विपत्ति का सामना करना पड़ सकता है।

* माना जाता है कि पालतू कुत्ते के आंसू आए और वह भोजन करना त्याग दे तो उस घर पर संकट आने की सूचना है।

* आप किसी कार्य से बाहर जा रहे हैं और कुत्ता आपकी ओर देखकर भौंके तो आप किसी विपत्ति में फंसने वाले हैं। ऐसे में उक्त जगह नहीं जाना ही उचित माना जाता है।

* घर से निकलते समय यदि कुत्ता अपने शरीर को कीचड़ में सना हुआ दिखे और कान फड़फड़ाए तो यह बहुत ही अपशकुन है। ऐसे समय में कार्य और यात्रा रोक देनी चाहिए।

* कुत्ता यदि सामने से हड्डी अथवा मांस का टुकड़ा लाता हुआ नजर आए तो अशुभ।

* संभोगरत कुत्ते को देखना भी अशुभ माना गया है, क्योंकि इससे आपके कार्य में बाधाएं उत्पन्न हो सकती हैं और परिवार में झगड़ा हो सकता है।

* यदि किसी के दरवाजे पर लगातार कुत्ता भौंकता है तो परिवार में धनहानि या बीमारी आ सकती है।

* मान्यता है कि कुत्‍ता अगर आपके घुटने सूंघे तो आपको कोई लाभ होने वाला है।

* यदि आप भोजन कर रहे हैं और उसी समय कुत्ते का रोना सुनाई दे, तो यह बेहद अशुभ होता है।

बिल्लियों का लड़ना : बिल्लियों के बारे में बहुत से अशुभ लक्षण बताए गए हैं। काली बिल्ली रास्ता काट ले तो उसे रास्ते पर कई लोग अपना जाना स्थगित कर देते हैं।

इसी तरह कहते हैं कि जिस भवन में या उसके एकदम पास बिल्लियां प्राय: लड़ती रहती हैं वहां शीघ्र ही विघटन की संभावना रहती है विवाद वृद्धि होती है। मतभेद होता है।

* बिल्ली का रास्ता काटना, रोना और आपस में दो बिल्लियों का झगड़ना अशुभ है?

-बिल्ली का रास्ता काटना : माना जाता है कि बिल्ली की छठी इंद्री मनुष्यों की छठी इंद्री से कहीं ज्यादा सक्रिय है जिसके कारण उसे होनी-अनहोनी का पूर्वाभास होने लगता है।

मान्यता अनुसार काली बिल्ली का रास्ता काटना तभी अशुभ माना जाता है जबकि बिल्ली बाईं ओर रास्ता काटते हुए दाईं ओर जाए। अन्य स्थ‌ित‌ियों में बिल्ली का रास्ता काटना अशुभ नहीं माना जाता है।

जब बिल्ली रास्ता काटकर दूसरी ओर चली जाती है तो अपने पीछे वह उसकी नेगेटिव ऊर्जा छोड़ जाती है, जो काफी देर तक उस मार्ग पर बनी रहती है। खासकर काली बिल्ली के बारे में यह माना जाता है। हो सकता है कि प्राचीनकाल के जानकारों ने इसलिए यह अंधविश्वास फैलाया हो कि बिल्ली के रास्ता काटने पर अशुभ होता है।

बिल्ली का रोना : बिल्ली के रोने की आवाज बहुत ही डरावनी होती है। निश्‍चित ही इसको सुनने से हमारे मन में भय और आशंका का जन्म होता है। माना जाता है कि बिल्ली अगर घर में आकर रोने लगे तो घर के किसी सदस्य की मौत होने की सूचना है या कोई अनहोनी घटना हो सकती है।

बिल्ली का आपस में झगड़ना : बिल्लियों का आपस में लड़ना धनहानि और गृहकलह का संकेत है। यदि किसी के घर में बिल्लियां आपस में लड़ रही हैं तो माना जाता है कि शीघ्र ही घर में कलह उत्पन्न होने वाली है। गृहकलह से ही धनहानि होती है।

बिल्ली से जुड़े अन्य अंधविश्वास :

* लोक मान्यता है कि दीपावली की रात घर में ब‌िल्ली का आना शुभ शगुन होता है।

* बिल्ली घर में बच्चे को जन्‍म देती है तो इसे भी अच्छा माना जाता है।

* किसी शुभ कार्य से कहीं जा रहे हों और बिल्ली मुंह में मांस का टुकड़ा लिए हुए दिखाई दे तो काम सफल होता है।

* लाल किताब के अनुसार बिल्ली को राहु की सवारी कहा गया है। जिस जातक की कुण्डली में राहु शुभ नहीं है उसे राहु के अशुभ प्रभाव से बचने के लिए ब‌िल्ली पालना चाहिए।

* लाल क‌िताब के टोटके के अनुसार बिल्ली की जेर को लाल कपड़े में लपेटकर बाजू पर बांधने से कालसर्प दोष से बचाव होता। ऊपरी चक्कर, नजर दोष, प्रेत बाधा इन सभी में ब‌िल्ली की जेर बांधने से लाभ मिलता है।

* यदि सोए हुए व्यक्ति के ‌स‌िर को बिल्ली चाटने लगे तो ऐसा व्यक्ति सरकारी मामले में फंस सकता है।

* बिल्ली का पैर चाटना निकट भविष्य में बीमार होने का संकेत होता है।

* ब‌िल्ली ऊपर से कूदकर चली जाए तो तकलीफ सहनी पड़ती है।

* यदि आप कहीं जा रहे हैं और बिल्ली आपके सामने कोई खाने वाली वस्तु लेकर आए और म्याऊं बोले तो- अशुभ होता है। यही क्रिया आपके घर आते समय हो तो- शुभ होता है।

घर की छत : जिस भवन की छत पर कौए, टिटहरी अथवा उल्लू घोर शब्द करें तब वहां किसी समस्या का उदय अचानक होता है। यदि घर में कौवा, गिद्ध, चील या कबूतर नित्य बैठते है और छह मास तक लगातार निवास बनाए हुए है तो गृहस्वामी पर नाना प्रकार की विपत्ति आने का सूचक होता है।

यदि सुबह के समय या शाम के समय कौवा मांस या हड्डी लाकर गिराता है तो, समझ लीजिए कि अमंगल होने वाला है और बिमारी, चोट आदि पर धन खर्च होगा। यदि कोई भी पक्षी घर में किसी भी समय कोई लोहे का टुकड़ा गिराता है तो, यह अशुभ संकेत होता है जिसके कारण अचानक छापा या कारावास होने की पूरी पूरी संभावना बनने लगती है। जिस घर की छत या मुंडेर पर कोयल या सोन चिरैया चहचहाए, वहां निश्चित ही श्री वृद्धि होती है।

चूहों का घर में होना अशुभ है :

जिस घर में काले चूहों की संख्या अधिक हो जाती है वहां किसी व्याधि के अचानक होने का अंदेशा रहता है।

यह भी माना जाता है कि चूहे हमारे घर की शांति, समृद्धि को धीरे धीरे कुतर कर खा जाते हैं। अत: चूहों का घर में रहना अशुभ माना गया है।> > यह भी माना जाता है कि यदि घर में काले रंग के चूहे बहुत अधिक तादाद में दिन और रात भर घूमते रहते हो तो, समझ लीजिए कि किसी रोग या शत्रु का आक्रमण होने वाला है।

.

लाल चींटी :

कहते हैं कि धरती पर जितना भार सारी चींटियों का है उतना ही सारे मनुष्यों का है और जितने मनुष्य हैं उतने ही मुर्गे भी हैं। चींटियां मूलत: दो रंगों की होती है लाल और काली। काली चींटी को शुभ माना जाता है, लेकिन लाल को नहीं।

लाल चिंटियों के बारे में कहा जाता है कि घर में उसकी संख्‍या बढ़ने से कर्ज भी बढ़ता जाता है और यह किसी संकट की सूचना भी होती है।

चींटियों को भोजन :

दोनों ही तरह की चींटियों को आटा डालने से कर्ज से मु‍क्ति मिलती है। चींटियों को शकर मिला आटा

डालते रहने से व्यक्ति हर तरह के बंधन से मुक्त हो जाता है। हजारों चींटियों को प्रतिदिन भोजन देने से वे चींटियां उक्त व्यक्ति को पहचानकर उसके प्रति अच्छे भाव रखने लगती हैं और उसको वे दुआ देने लगती हैं। चींटियों की दुआ का असर आपको हर संकट से बचा सकता है।

* लाल चींटियों की कतार मुंह में अंडे दबाए निकलते देखना शुभ है। सारा दिन शुभ और सुखद बना रहता है।

* जो चींटी को आटा देते हैं और छोटी-छोटी चिड़ियों को चावल देते हैं, वे वैकुंठ जाते हैं।

* कर्ज से परेशान लोग चींटियों को शकर और आटा डालें। ऐसा करने पर कर्ज की समाप्ति जल्दी हो जाती है।

* क्या सपनों से शुभ और अशुभ संकेत मिलते हैं?

ज्योतिष लोग सपनों के शुभ और अशुभ फल बताते हैं। इसमें कितनी सच्चाई है यह शोध का विषय हो सकता है, लेकिन यह अंधविश्वास लोगों के बीच बहुत प्रचलित है और लोग इसे मानते भी हैं।

व्यक्ति को अच्छे और बुरे दोनों प्रकार के सपने आते हैं। वैज्ञानिकों के अनुसार ये हमारे शरीर और मन की अवस्था के अनुसार आते हैं। यदि भारी और ठोस आहार खाया है तो बुरे सपने आने के चांस बढ़ जाते हैं। पेट खराब रहने की स्थिति में भी ऐसा होता है। यदि आपकी मानसिक स्थिति खराब है और नकारात्मक विचारों की अधिकता है तब भी बुरे सपने आते हैं।

अन्य अशुभ लक्षण :

*यदि घर के मुख्य द्वार से सांप का प्रवेश होता है तो इसके मतलब है कि गृहस्वामी या गृहस्वामिनी का स्वास्थ्य ठीक नहीं है।

*यदि घर में कोई चोट खाया या घायल पक्षी या उसका कोई काटा हुआ अंग आंगन में गिरता है तो महासंकट आने वाला है।

*घर में यदि कुतिया प्रसव करती है तो यह घर के मुखिया के लिए यह अच्छा संकेत नहीं है। इसके कारण शत्रु की वृद्धि होती है तथा अपने ही परिवार में मतभेद होने लगते हैं।

*यदि घर की छत, दीवार या घर के किसी भी कोने में लाल रंग की चींटिया घुमती या रेंगती हुई दिखाई दे तो समझ लीजिए कि संपत्ति का क्षय होने वाला है या यदि पंख वाली चींटियां हो तो घर में बिना किसी कारण के क्लेश की स्थिति उत्पन्न होने लगती है।

*यदि घर में रसोईघर का प्लेटफार्म का चटक या टूट जाए या फिर चाकला टूट या तड़क जाए तो यह दरिद्रता की निशानी है।

* यदि घर में दूध बार बार जमीन पर गिरता हो, किसी भी कारण से तो घर में क्लेश और विवाद की स्थिति बनती है।

* यदि जिस दिन नए घर में प्रवेश करना हो तो, उसी दिन सूर्योदय के समय कोई भी पशु रोता है तो उस दिन गृह प्रवेश टाल दें यह संकेत शुभ नहीं होता है घर में प्रवेश करते ही दुःख आरम्भ हो जाएंगे।

* शुभ कार्य के लिए विचार चल रहा हो तब यदि छिपकली की आवाज सुनाई दे तो कार्य की असफलता होती है।

*यदि आकाश में तारे टूटते दिखाई दें तो यह स्वास्थ्‍य खराब होने की सूचना होती है। इसी के साथ नौकरी में खतरा एवं आर्थिक तंगी आने लगती है।

* जिस घर में बिच्छू कतार बनाकर बाहर जाते हुए दिखाई दें तो समझ लेना चाहिए कि वहां से लक्ष्मी जाने की तैयारी कर रही हैं।

* पीला बिच्छू माया का प्रतीक है। ऐसा बिच्छू घर में निकले तो घर में लक्ष्मी का आगमन होता है।

* जिस घर में प्राय: बिल्लियां विष्ठा कर जाती हैं, वहां कुछ शुभत्व के लक्षण प्रकट होते हैं।

* घर में चमगादड़ों का वास अशुभ है।

* जिस भवन में छछूंदरें घूमती हैं वहां लक्ष्मी की वृद्धि होती है।

* जिस घर के द्वार पर हाथी अपनी सूंड ऊंची करे वहां उन्नति, वृद्धि तथा मंगल होने की सूचना

..

* जाते समय अगर कोई पीछे से टोक दे या छींक दे तो आप क्यों चिढ़ जाते हैं?

- यदि आप किसी प्रयोजन से जा रहे हैं और कोई टोक दे अर्थात पूछे कि कहां जा रहो? या कहे कि चाय पीकर जाओ या कुछ और कह दे, तो जिस कार्य के लिए आप कहीं जा रहे हैं उस कार्य में असफलता ही मिलेगी।

हालांकि किसी विशेष कार्य के लिए जाते समय गाय, बछड़ा, बैल, सुहागिन, मेहतर और चूड़ी पहनाने वाला दिखाई दे अथवा रास्ता काट जाए तो यह शुभ शकुन कार्य सिद्ध करने वाला होता है।

गरुड़ पुराण में ऐसी बातों का भी उल्लेख किया गया है जिन्हें धर्म में वर्जित बताया गया है। यदि आप इन्हें करते हैं तो आप बर्बाद हो सकते हैं शारीरिक और मानसिक रूप से ही नहीं बल्‍कि आर्थिक रूप से भी। भले ही आप आजमा कर देख लें। जिन्होंने भी गरुड़ पुराण की ये 10 बातें नहीं मानी समझों वह मुसिबत मोल ले लेगा।

सूर्य चढ़ने पर उठना : सुबह होने के बाद तब तक नहीं उठना जब तक की सूर्य सिर पर न आ जाए। अर्थात देर तक सोना। सुबह देर तक सोने से मनुष्य की आयु कम होती है और उसकी रोग प्रतिरोधक क्षमता घटती जाती। इससे आपका पाचन तंत्र भी बिगड़ जाता है।

जब आप देर तक सोते हैं तो ब्रह्म मुहूर्त की शुद्ध वायु का सेवन नहीं कर पाते हैं जिसके चलते अनेक प्रकार के रोग से ग्रस्त होने का प्रतिशत बढ़ जाता है। इसलिए सुबह देर तक सोने से मनुष्यों की आयु कम होती है। ब्रह्म मुहूर्त की वायु का सेवन करने से शरीर के अनेक रोग स्वत: ही ठीक हो जाते हैं और श्वसन तंत्र भी स्वस्थ रहता है।

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अनिरुद्ध जोशी|

श्मशान का धुआं : जब किसी का शरीर जलाया जाता है तो उसमें से कई तरह के हानिकारक तत्व भी निकल सकते हैं, क्योंकि किसी भी मृत शरीर में अनेक प्रकार के बैक्टीरिया और वायरस उत्पन्न होने लगते हैं। इसमें से कुछ तो बहुत ही खतरनाक होते हैं।

जब इन शवों का दाह संस्कार किया जाता है, तब कुछ बैक्टीरिया-वायरस तो शव के साथ ही नष्ट हो जाते हैं और कुछ वायुमंडल में धुएं के साथ फैल जाते हैं। जब कोई व्यक्ति उस धुएं के संपर्क में आता है तो ये बैक्टीरिया-वायरस उसके शरीर से चिपक जाते हैं और विभिन्न प्रकार के रोग फैलाते हैं। इन रोगों से मनुष्य की आयु कम हो सकती है।

हिन्दू मंदिर जा रहे हैं तो हो जाएं सावधान!

अनिरुद्ध जोशी 'शतायु'

मंदिर के सख्‍त नियम : यदि आप मंदिर में हैं तो इन बातों का विशेष ध्यान रखें अन्यथा आपकी पूजा, प्रार्थना आदि करने का कोई महत्व नहीं रहेगा और मंदर के देवता रुष्ठ हो जाएंगे। उल्लेखनीय है कि ईश्वर और भगवान शिव तो आपके अपराध को क्षम ही करते हैं आप चाहे जितने अपराध करें, लेकिन हनुमानजी, कालिका, शनि और दुर्गा के मंदिर में इसकी कोई गारंटी नहीं।

नीचे बताई जा रही बातें करके आप मंदिर और देव संबंधी अपराध करते हैं। इसके दुष्परिणाम भी आपको ही झेलना होंगे। शास्त्रों में जो मना किया गया है उसे करना पाप और कर्म को बिगाड़ने वाला माना गया है। यहां प्रस्तुत हैं कुछ प्रमुख आचरण जिन्हें मंदिर में नहीं करना चाहिए अन्यथा आपकी प्रार्थना या पूजा निष्फल तो होती ही है, साथ ही आप देवताओं की नजरों में गिर जाते हो।

1.भगवान के मंदिर में खड़ाऊं या सवारी पर चढ़कर जाना।

2.भगवान के सामने जाकर प्रणाम न करना।

3.उच्छिष्ट या अपवित्र अवस्था में भगवान की वन्दना करना।

5.एक हाथ से प्रणाम करना।

6.भगवान के सामने ही एक स्थान पर खड़े-खड़े प्रदक्षिणा करना।

7.भगवान के आगे पांव फैला कर बैठना।

8.मंदिर में पलंग पर बैठना या पलंग लगाना।

9.मंदिर में सोना।

10. मंदिर में बैठकर परस्पर बात करना।

11.मंदिर में रोना या जोर जोर से हंसना।

12.चिल्लाना, फोन पर बात करना, झगड़ना, झूठ बोलना, गाली बकना।

13.खाना या नशा करना।

14.किसी को दंड देना।

15.कंबल ओढ़कर बैठना।

16.अधोवायु का त्याग करना।

17.अपने बल के घंमड में आकर किसी पर अनुग्रह करना।

18.दूसरे की निंदा या स्तुति करना।

19.स्त्रियों के प्रति कठोर बात कहना।

20.भगवत-सम्बन्धी उत्सवों का सेवन न करना।

21.शक्ति रहते हुए गौण उपचारों से पूजा करना।

22.मुख्य उपचारों का प्रबन्ध न करना।

23.भगवान को भोग लगाए बिना ही भोजन करना।

24.सामयिक फल आदि को भगवान की सेवा में अर्पण न करना।

25.उपयोग में लाने से बचे हुए भोजन को भगवान के लिए निवेदन करना।

26.आत्म-प्रशंसा करना।

27. देवताओं को कोसना।

28.आरती के समय उठकर चले जाना।

29.मंदिर के सामने से निकलते हुए प्रणाम न करना। करना तो एक हाथ उठाकर।

30.भजन-कीर्तन आदि के दौरान किसी भी भगवान का वेश बनाकर खुद की पूजा करवाना।

31.मूर्ति के ठीक सामने खड़े होना।

32.मंदिर से बाहर निकलते वक्त भगवान को पीठ दिखाकर बाहर निकलना।

33.हिन्दू देवी-देवताओं को छोड़कर अन्य किसी का मंदिर बनाना सबसे घोर अपराध है।

34. दुर्गा, कालिका और हनुमान मंदिर में सिर ढंककर जाते हैं।

35.महिलाओं को मंदिरमें सिर ढंकर ही जाना चाहिए।

36.मंदिर में रुपये या पैसे फेंकना भी अपराध है। अक्सर आपने देखा होगा कि लोग मंदिर में सिक्का या नोट भगवान के सामने फेंकते हैं और फिर हाथ जोड़कर भगवान से मनोकामना मांगते हैं। क्या आप नोट देकर मनोकमना पूर्ण करवाना चाहते हैं?10 रुपये चढ़ाकर करते हैं करोड़ों कि कामना?

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उपरोक्त नियम यदि आप नहीं मानते हैं तो कोई बात नहीं। दंड देने वाले शनि और यमराज की आप पर भलिभांति नजर है। आप जेलखाने, दवाखाने या पागलखाने से बच नहीं सकते। गृहकलह, दुर्घटना, हत्या या आत्महत्या के दुष्चक्र में फंसकर आप अपनी ही नहीं अपने परिवार की भी जिंदगी दांव पर लगा देंगे।

हिन्दू मंदिर जा रहे हैं तो हो जाएं सावधान!

अनिरुद्ध जोशी 'शतायु'|

मंदिर समय : हिन्दू मंदिर में जाने का समय होता है। सूर्य और तारों से रहित दिन-रात की संधि को तत्वदर्शी मुनियों ने संध्याकाल माना है। संध्या वंदन को संध्योपासना भी कहते हैं। संधिकाल में ही संध्या वंदना की जाती है। वैसे संधि 5 वक्त (समय) की होती है, लेकिन प्रात:काल और संध्‍याकाल- उक्त 2 समय की संधि प्रमुख है अर्थात सूर्य उदय और अस्त के समय।

इस समय मंदिर या एकांत में शौच, आचमन, प्राणायामादि कर गायत्री छंद से निराकार ईश्वर की प्रार्थना की जाती है। दोपहर 12 से अपराह्न 4 बजे तक मंदिर में जाना, पूजा, आरती और प्रार्थना आदि करना निषेध माना गया है अर्थात प्रात:काल से 11 बजे के पूर्व मंदिर होकर आ जाएं या फिर अपराह्नकाल में 4 बजे के बाद मंदिर जाएं।

मंदिर के वार : शिव के मंदिर में सोमवार, विष्णु के मंदिर में रविवार, हनुमान के मंदिर में मंगलवार, शनि के मंदिर में शनिवार और दुर्गा के मंदिर में बुधवार और काली व लक्ष्मी के मंदिर में शुक्रवार को जाने का उल्लेख मिलता है। गुरुवार को गुरुओं का वार माना गया है। इस दिन सभी गुरुओं के समाधि मंदिर में जाने का महत्व है।

रविवार और गुरुवार धर्म का दिन : विष्णु को देवताओं में सबसे ऊंचा स्थान प्राप्त है और वेद अनुसार सूर्य इस जगत की आत्मा है। शास्त्रों के अनुसार रविवार को सर्वश्रेष्ठ दिन माना जाता है। रविवार (विष्णु) के बाद देवताओं की ओर से होने के कारण बृहस्पतिवार (देव गुरु बृहस्पति) को प्रार्थना के लिए सबसे अच्छा दिन माना गया है।

गुरुवार क्यों सर्वश्रेष्ठ? रविवार की दिशा पूर्व है किंतु गुरुवार की दिशा ईशान है। ईशान में ही देवताओं का स्थान माना गया है। यात्रा में इस वार की दिशा पश्चिम, उत्तर और ईशान ही मानी गई है। इस दिन पूर्व, दक्षिण और नैऋत्य दिशा में यात्रा त्याज्य है। गुरुवार की प्रकृति क्षिप्र है। इस दिन सभी तरह के धार्मिक और मंगल कार्य से लाभ मिलता है अत: हिन्दू शास्त्रों के अनुसार यह दिन सर्वश्रेष्ठ माना गया है अत: सभी को प्रत्येक गुरुवार को मंदिर जाना चाहिए और पूजा, प्रार्थना या ध्यान करना चाहिए।

हिन्दू मंदिर जा रहे हैं तो हो जाएं सावधान!

अनिरुद्ध जोशी 'शतायु'|

संध्योपासना के 4 प्रकार हैं- 1.प्रार्थना, 2.ध्यान, 3.कीर्तन और 4. पूजा-आरती। व्यक्ति की जिसमें जैसी श्रद्धा है, वह वैसा ही करता है।

पूजा-आरती : पूजा-आरती एक रासायनिक क्रिया है। इससे मंदिर के भीतर वातावरण की पीएच वैल्यू (तरल पदार्थ नापने की इकाई) कम हो जाती है जिससे व्यक्ति की पीएच वैल्यू पर असर पड़ता है। यह आयनिक क्रिया है, जो शारीरिक रसायन को बदल देती है। यह क्रिया बीमारियों को ठीक करने में सहायक होती है। दवाइयों से भी यही क्रिया कराई जाती है, जो मंदिर जाने से होती है।

प्रार्थना : प्रार्थना में शक्ति होती है। प्रार्थना करने वाला व्यक्ति मंदिर के ईथर माध्यम से जुड़कर अपनी बात ईश्वर तक पहुंचा सकता है। दूसरा यह कि प्रार्थना करने से मन में विश्‍वास और सकारात्मक भाव जाग्रत होते हैं, जो जीवन के विकास और सफलता के अत्यंत जरूरी हैं।

कीर्तन-भजन : ईश्वर, भगवान या गुरु के प्रति स्वयं के समर्पण या भक्ति के भाव को व्यक्त करने का एक शांति और संगीतमय तरीका है कीर्तन। इसे ही भजन कहते हैं। भजन करने से शांति मिलती है। भजन करने के भी नियम हैं। गीतों की तर्ज पर निर्मित भजन, भजन नहीं होते। शास्त्रीय संगीत अनुसार किए गए भजन ही भजन होते हैं। सामवेद में शास्त्रीय सं‍गीत का उल्लेख मिलता है।

ध्यान : ध्यान का अर्थ एकाग्रता नहीं होता, ध्यान का मूलत: अर्थ है जागरूकता। अवेयरनेस। होश। साक्ष‍ी भाव। ध्यान का अर्थ ध्यान देना, हर उस बात पर जो हमारे जीवन से जुड़ी है। शरीर पर, मन पर और आसपास जो भी घटित हो रहा है उस पर। विचारों के क्रियाकलापों पर और भावों पर। इस ध्यान देने के जरा से प्रयास से ही हम अमृत की ओर एक-एक कदम बढ़ा सकते हैं। ध्यान को ज्ञानियों ने सर्वश्रेष्ठ माना है। ध्यान से मनोकामनाओं की पूर्ति होती है और ध्यान से मोक्ष का द्वार खुलता है।

प्राचीनकाल में प्राचीन मंदिर सामूहिक स्तुति, ध्यान या प्रार्थना के लिए होते थे। उन मंदिर के स्तंभों या दीवारों पर ही मूर्तियां आवेष्टित की जाती थी। मंदिरों में पूजा-पाठ नहीं होता था। यदि आप खजुराहो, कोणार्क या दक्षिण के प्राचीन मंदिरों की रचना देखेंगे तो जान जाएंगे कि मंदिर किस तरह के होते हैं। ध्यान या प्रार्थना करने वाली पूरी जमात जब खतम हो गई है तो मंदिरों पर पूजा-पाठ का प्रचलन बड़ा। पूजा-पाठ के प्रचलन से मध्यकाल के अंत में मनमाने मंदिर बने। मनमाने मंदिर से मनमानी पूजा-आरती आदि कर्मकांडों का जन्म हुआ जो वेदसम्मत नहीं माने जा सकते। जानकार कहते हैं कि उसी मंदिर का महत्व है जिसमें सामूहिक रूप से दो संधिकाल (प्रात: और संध्या) में ठीक और एक ही वक्त पर ध्यान या प्रार्थना की जाती है। मंदिरों में यदि मूर्तियों की पूजा होती है तो कोई बात नहीं, लेकिन एक हाल भी होना चाहिए जहां पांच सौ से हजार लोग प्रार्थना कर सके, प्रवचन सुन सके। परमेश्वर की प्रार्थना के लिए वेदों में कुछ ऋचाएं दी गई है, प्रार्थना के लिए उन्हें याद किया जाना चाहिए।

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