Sunday, January 29, 2006

Hindu Leadership: In Defence of Hindu Gurus - Francois Gautier Jan. 9th 2006

jan 28th

francois minces no words. he's quite right, too. we're in a life-and-death battle. hinduism is the last obstacle left standing in the way of semitic ideologies. buddhism they know how to wipe out, eg. afghanistan, uzbekistan, pakistan, bangladesh, and now south korea and possibly china too. simple method: destroy the buddhist centers and that's the end of buddhism, eg. nalanda.

but they had not until recently figured out how to uproot hinduism. now they have found a fatal weakness: all those marxist converts and their fellow travelers who claim to be 'hindus' when in reality they are card-carrying semitics based on their acceptance of the semitic death cult known as marxism. (literally worships dead people, like the embalmed lenin and mao).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sucheta

Respected elders and dear friends:
 
Namaste.  Please excuse my long letter and intrusion.
I believe a general lack of leadership is the prime challenge facing the global Hindu community from microcosm to macrocosm today.
Attached article by Mr. Francois Gautier highlights this issue one more time.
 
Gautier ji, in his following article has made an excellent suggestion of having several most favored contemporary Hindu gurus to make a
Council of Hindu Gurus which could meet perhaps three to four times in an year and issue edicts to bind all Hindus together. 
Now, at onset this may sound outrageous to our Hindu sensibilities. But, if we can just take a step back at history and see things from
a different perspective, maybe it will give us a different view and hopefully open up new possibilities:
After Industrial Revolution when human beings left villages for greener pastures of urbanity, they not only left their families, homes
and livelihoods behind but also A SENSE OF BELONGING. This vacuum was cleverly filled by Christianity, Communism and especially
Islam at various periods as these ideologies provided a safety net away from the extended families left behind in the villages. When
Hindus started moving away from villages mostly in 20th century, although they adjusted very well into the new milieu of cities and
other countries there was no structured safety net of extended family or social religions to rescue from adversities of life in general
and life in foreign lands in particular.  Hinduism is a religion of personal faith, spirituality and divinity-within and not much of social 
structuring religion that is why its loose general social structure. Because a Hindu does not find a safety net of an extended family or
even an atmosphere conducive to being a Hindu, an expatriate Hindu often feels that he belongs somewhere else that has been left in
the deep distant past which is unreachable and so there is a sense of longing and helplessness.  Whereas a Muslim, a Communist or a 
Christian or even a secular Hindu (who is Hindu only for namesake) has no qualms about his identity or sense of belonging. 
 
The Hindu Swaminarayan sampradaya is successful because it fills this particular void of 'belonging' for the Hindus away from their homes. 
The Swadhyay paripar, which is another success story but works the other way, by providing an extended family structure for Hindus who
are primarily still in the villages.  We can learn from Hindu success stories... and there are surely more.. and look beyond for models.
A recent meet in Mumbai of 80 plus Shankaracharyas and Mahamandaleshwars from all over India with 400 of their close associates
was a great initiative taken in the direction of 'Hindu Leadership' by Swami Dayananda Sarasvati of the Arsh Vidya Gurukulam, Mangalore
and Pennsylvania. This meet was covered by Hinduism Today.  Rest of the Hindu community needs to plug into this debate.
 
We in the USA can go on debating, petitioning, forwarding, appreciating and criticizing ALL that is happening here and in India...
while time is running out and for Hindus the world is getting worse by day. It is time for action.
 
Given the democratic nature of Hindu Dharma, it is difficult to say how Hindus can be led but a strong, assertive leadership indeed ... 
is the need of the hour.  Any brainstorming on this burning issue will be of great benefits to all.
 
Bhavdiya -
Sucheta Maheshwari
 
********************************************************************************************************************
 
In Defense of Hindu Gurus
- by Francois Gautier

When Marxist leader Brinda Karat attacks Swami Ramdev, she is not
attacking Ramdev in particular, she is attacking Hinduism in general.
This guru or that guru makes no difference to her; she is against all gurus.
 
Other gurus might think they are safe, that Ramdev committed some sin
for which he is paying. But one of them will be the next in the line of fire!
 
Hindu gurus are all vulnerable in today's India: The Kanchi Shankaracharya
has already been hit. So has Satya Sai Baba. Amritanandamayi has to live
under the constant shadow of a hostile Kerala Communist-dominated
government. Dhirendra Brahmachari is dead and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is
periodically targeted as the 'Guru of the rich', the 'Glib Godman' etc.
 
May I be forgiven my arrogance, but what Indian gurus have to
understand is that for Indian Communists, Hinduism is the Number 1
enemy. Mao called religion 'the opium of the people'. But for Indian
Communists, what stands between their ambition for absolute power in
India (and eventually the triumphant return of Communism in the world
-- as Indian Communists believe) is the hold Hinduism has in the hearts
of the rural people of India, who constitute 80 per cent of this country.
 
Yet, the humble farmer from Uttar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu has a natural
understanding of the universality of God, who takes many names throughout
the ages who could be Buddha, Jesus Christ, Ram or Mohammad.
This humble farmer possesses the knowledge that there is a something
deeper than the skin and the mind, and a life beyond death. This
knowledge is inbred, it is not in his head, not even in his heart, but
in his or her genes from generation to generation.
 
Of course, the English-speaking media is too happy to oblige Brinda
Karat and come down hard on gurus with all kind of accusations.
Before Ramdev, they came down on the Kanchi Shankaracharya, before him
on Osho, before him on Dhirendra Brahmachari. You can even go back to
Sri Aurobindo, who was accused in the early 1900s by the moderate
Congress-controlled press to be a 'fanatic', when he was only demanding
total independence from the British long before Gandhi took it up.
Accusations against Hinduism of superstition, brainwashing, ritualistic
ignorance, date back from British missionaries and have been taken up
today by the Communists. Yet, Hinduism -- at least the Hinduism which
goes beyond the rituals and becomes universal spirituality -- has
nothing to do with superstition and conmanship: it is all about
science, knowledge and light.
 
Look at Pranayama, a science that has known for thousands of years how
to harness breath and use it for controlling the mind, for a better,
more healthy, more spiritualised life. If you read Osho's books today,
you find a lot of solid common sense, wisdom, even light.
 
Satya Sai Baba cannot have millions of disciples from the most humble
to the Presidents of India without 'something' which is beyond
superstition. So goes for Amritanandamayi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
Ramdev, or Guruma of Ganeshpuri.
 
And why should Brinda Karat target Ayurveda, the most ancient medical
system in India still in practice, the first medicine to realise 3,000
years ago that plants and minerals offer the best cure, that many
illnesses have a psychosomatic origin, the first to practice plastic
surgery on patients?
 
In India today, every third shop is an allopathic medical shop, whose
profits go to Western multinationals (hello Mrs Karat!) at a time when
Ayurvedic medicine is becoming increasingly popular in Western
countries, after being disillusioned by antibiotics and other
heavy-handed medicines.
 
We are witnessing an interesting phenomenon in India today. Some
Communists, some Christians, some Muslims and some Congress leaders --
all of whom have nothing in common and often hate each other are united
against Hinduism and Hindu leaders.
 
In contrast, look at the Hindus: Swami Ramdev himself criticised Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar live on television, advising his followers not to
practice Art of Living breathing techniques. During the tsunami relief
operations in Nagapattinam, disciples of Amritanandamayi and Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar nearly came to blows over who would give relief to whom,
instead of networking and uniting their efforts.
 
And who came to the rescue of Osho when he was maligned to death, or
Dhirendra Brahmachari when the entire press came down on him, or Satya
Sai Baba, when he was slandered, or the Shankaracharya when he was
thrown into jail, or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, when Javed Akhtar accused him of
coming 'from a cave to live in a palace' (and not from a palace to a cave like
 the Buddha)? None of the previously mentioned. Yet, Indian politicians can
commit any crime, have any number of court cases against them, and they
still end up as Union ministers and get positive press coverage.
 
The greatest curse of Hinduism throughout the ages has been its disunity
-- and more than that -- its betraying each other. The British did not conquer
India, it was given to them by its warring Hindu princes, jealous of each other.
The same is true of Islam: the last great Hindu empire, that of Vijaynagar,
was betrayed to the Muslims by the Lingayats.
 
I know there is something mysterious and unfathomable in the
manifestation of the Divine upon earth, and that each guru has a
defined task to fulfill and that the combined task of all the gurus may
solve the great puzzle that is this ignorant and suffering earth.
Thus, it may not be necessary for each guru to communicate with each
other. But nevertheless, it is of the greatest urgency today that Hindu
leaders unite to save Hinduism, rather than 'each one for his own' that
we see today.
 
The Catholics have their Pope and his word is binding on all Catholics.
Muslims have Prophet Mohammed's words and that binds all of Islam
together. Indian Communists have the words of Marx and Lenin, even if
it has become irrelevant in Russia, Germany, and also in China. But the
poor Hindus have nobody to refer to, so as to defend themselves.
Yet, if you take the combined people power of Satya Sai Baba,
Amritaanandamayi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Ramdev, Guruma of
Ganeshpuri, the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram, and so many others I
cannot mention here, it runs in hundreds of millions.
 
Again, in all humility and conscious of the limitation of mind compared
to some of these great gurus whom I have met, I propose that a Supreme
Spiritual Council, composed of at least seven of the most popular Hindu
leaders of India, be constituted, maybe under the leadership of Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar, the most travelled of all these, the one who has disciples
and teachers of all religions, both from India and the West.
It should be a non-political body, and each group would keep its 
independence but nevertheless. It could meet two three times a year and
issue edicts, which would be binding on 850 millions Hindus in India
and one billion over the world.
 
Then and then only can this wonderful spirituality which is Hinduism,
this eternal knowledge behind the outer forms, the wisdom to understand
this mad earth and its sufferings, be preserved for the future of
India, and for the future of humanity.
 
I bow down to each of these gurus mentioned above and to all those not
mentioned, to Swami Vivekananda, the initiator of modern Hinduism, to
Sri Aurobindo, the great avatar of the supramental, and to all the
great gurus who have graced over the ages, this wonderful and sacred
land which is India and beseech them to hear my prayer:
 
Hindus leaders, unite, if you want eternal Dharma to survive.

==============================================================================

 

19 comments:

nizhal yoddha said...

kalyani, this is ridiculous. stop spending so much energy on abusing sri sri ravisankar. you're making the cardinal error hindus have always made: splitting doctrinal hairs about minor theological differences with our own, whereas we don't pay any attention to the real threats, the barbarians.

go ahead and spend your energy on attacking the real enemies of hinduism.

and what is wrong with marketing? the best, the greatest and brightest, that everyone hero-worships, are all packaged and marketed, eg. newton and einstein, both of whom i personally am sceptical about. and just think, pretty much everything atanu dey says about sri sri is true of *your* beloved kanchi paramacharya as well. people living in glass houses, etc.

atanu dey is a reasonable person, but he is an agnostic rationalist, and i've happily used what he says about m. teresa, but i wouldn't pay much attention to what he says about sri sri. yes, selectively using him.

sri sri is doing two things: providing hinduism with soft power, and actually doing some good with his institutions. compare this to what the real enemies do, like m. teresa: hurting india's and hinduism's image, and *not* doing any good with her so-called institutions -- she just sucked out $100 million dollars from the gullible public, which went into the vatican's conversion machine.

daisies said...

This letter in the first post by
Atanu Dey was written in May 2000.

When I encountered AoL a few years
back, a family member of mine gave
me this very letter to caution
me about Sri Sri. This member of
my family was worried to death
that I had gotten into a cult and
that my life and sanity were at
grave risk. He brought it to the
attention of family higher ups
who also despaired on my behalf.

Today, everyone in my family is
at peace. They can see that
because of my association with Sri
Sri I have only gone higher in:

strength
peace
happiness
fulfilment
joy
wisdom
sanity

They have no regrets at all about
the time I spent with Sri Sri and
AoL.

On behalf of Sri Sri, I'll assure
everyone that he will be quite
happy if this usual Sri Sri
attacking commentator (who has
done a hostile takeover of this
blog in connection with ANYTHING
presented on him), becomes
the Head of Hindu religion. Or
someone of her choice - her beloved
guru, whoever that might be
(provided the person can lead
properly).

Sri Sri wont mind at all. He will
gladly bow down before that person
just as he bows down before
anyone. After all, he is an
Advaitin who sees only the Unity,
only the One.

For Sri Sri, there is No Two.

daisies said...

And dont forget that Sri Sri
gave $1.5 billion for tsunami
relief in India.

He does not hoard wealth. He
uses it where it is needed.

If you find him saving it up,
it is only sensibly saving up
for a big rainy day. Like
tsunami.

And he is seer. He can often see
what's coming, so he acts
accordingly.

nizhal yoddha said...

as for you, daisies, stop being so sure that you have found the right path, that is the right path for everyone. a little scepticism is desirable. everyone needs a guru, but your guru may not be the right one for me, and so on.

you are very much within your rights to think sri sri and aol are wonderful, but don't lecture others too much. you have this certainty that you have found the right path and that you only wish others would see it so. maybe it's right for you, but not necessarily for others.

and you and kalyani can henceforth stop making veiled references to each other. just ignore each other.

daisies said...

nizhal yoddha,

i am disappointed by your comment,
because i dont comment very often
on your blog, neither do I intend
to stick around.

i havent lectured anyone.

sri sri has been trashed heavily
by one of your commentators way
too much on this blog, with
very little good said about him.

that gives readers a very
unbalanced picture, and many
people could go away thinking
bad of him. especially the atanu
dey thing today.

i tried to balance that. i can
only do that by talking from
experience and what I know of
sri sri personally.

i thought i was done with your
blog with the last time i wrote
here, but because of the atau dey
post, which could mislead a lot
of people, i had to write.

i am not interested in lecturing
you or anyone.

good luck.

iamfordemocracy said...

Hindus and Hindu supporters seem to be immensely happy that Brinda Karat has backed off from her Baba Ramdev campaign. Even Gautier's article begins with the words 'In defence'.

How long can you defend yourself without being aggressive? Not long, I am afraid. Already, to save themselves from attacks that are downright violations of the constitution, BJP is running from President to courts. Tomorrow, the President will be replaced; more pliant judges will be in place and it will be that much more difficult to seek justice.

Similarly, CPM will come back at Baba Ramdev, with renewed vigour. The defence will be a little weaker that time because the aggressors will have done their homework better. At some point, the defence will crumble....

I wonder who and when will think of an proactive attack on the perpetrators of 'destroy India and Hinduism' crusade.

hUmDiNgEr said...

@Daisies,

Sri Ravisankara is not an "Advaitin"...he is a Puranic and whatever he advocates is Puranic concepts.

And, why dont you enlighten us about the "debate" Sri Ravisankara had with that joker Zakir Naik on 21st Jan 2006?

daisies said...

Folks, I was in Bangalore when
Sankaracharya was arrested and I
know for a fact that Sri Sri was
NOT silent. A statement was sent
out from the ashram to some major
newspaper.

He also attended a meeting of
spiritual leaders who all agreed
that whatever happened was not OK.

Some people asked him questions at
the bhajan satsangs in the ashram.
He agreed that whatever happened
was not OK.

I have not kept records, and tend
not to recall much, other than
that I was happy he wasnt silent.

It would have been hard for me to
continue respecting Sri Sri if he
had kept silent on such a serious
matter.

However, if you expect him to fight
in the way our Nizhal Yoddha
fights, sorry, that day will never
come. Everybody has their own way
unique way of doing things.

I guess he figured that Nizhal
Yoddha and other such people would
do the fighting. And boy, they
sure did!

hUmDiNgEr said...

"However, if you expect him to fight
in the way our Nizhal Yoddha
fights, sorry, that day will never
come. Everybody has their own way
unique way of doing things.

I guess he figured that Nizhal
Yoddha and other such people would
do the fighting. And boy, they
sure did!"

@Daisies,

There is a "padyam" in the Telugu Mahabharatham..

"Sarapudharmamun vimala sathyamu...."

The translation goes like this:

"wherever there is an attack on Dharmam and Satyam (Truth) through Adharmam and Asatyam ...the capable should rise to the occassion and protect Dharmam and Satyam. If they remain silent, it will be to their peril that Adharmam and Asatyam will destroy them..but the Dharmam and Satyam will win and reamin eternal...

Hope you know the meaning of "dharmaha" in Sanskrit...

"Jeevanam vardhanam cha api dhriyate saha dharmaha"

daisies said...

Dear Surya,

We have to face the fact that
there is a govt, there are laws,
and the law also has to take its
course, investiagtions trials and
so on.

Did you really expect Sri Sri to
send an army to TN or something ?
He doesnt have one. He cant order
the President or the courts to do
his bidding either.

But he can send his blessings
from a distance. Dont underestimate
the powers of a genuine saint's
blessings and prayers.

Dear Virat0,

What is the connection between
Daisies and corpse worshippers ?
You are so difficult to understand!
:-)

daisies said...

On Sudarshan Kriya, and why I have
continued doing it after I learned
it - my damned personal, very
honest reasons:

I wasnt really doing the kriya
thing regularly after I was taught.
One day I discovered some cysts, I
didnt know their nature, except
an alarming pain was shooting into
my upper arms. I was terrified - I
had visions of surgery, hospitals,
god knows what, and went into
prayer mode - "please god, i'm
going to be good, spare me....".

The pain was getting worse every
minute. I didnt want to go to a
medical doctor or want to face an
opinion.

After 2-3 days was the regular
sunday long-kriya, and I went there
and put in my 100%. The pain
went away slowly over the next
1.5 days. I was painfree with no
medication.

I realised I had a diamond in my
hands. And I realised that only
an extremely compassionate soul
could go around the world giving
this priceless diamond to people,
and teaching them other very very
valuable things and doing social
work for the poor etc.

Since then, I continued the kriya.
Never went to doctor for the cysts,
they all just went away.

I never worry about what Sri Sri
does with my money. I know he takes
good care of people and puts the
money to the best and wisest use.

There are people who have needed
discounts and waivers, and have got
them too. I'll vouch for that.

His presence on this planet is a
huge blessing.

SK has been studied by many highly
competent doctors. The reason I
dont want to mention their names
is, I feel enough smear has been
done on Sri Sri, and I dont want
these good doctors to be smeared
too.

More than that, SK is a doorway
to meditation. For me, that is the
biggest thing. To be able to slip
into deep meditative states within
just about 15 minutes of rhythmic
breathing, is not some silly stuff.
I am deeply appreciative of it, and
value it very very greatly.

I feel sorry for those who do not
understand the value.

nizhal yoddha said...

so that you understand, this last sentence is the problem, daisies. when you say you have personally experienced some good, that's acceptable and nobody can/will deny it.

it's when you want to 'save the world' and feel 'sorry for others' that others have a problem. this is so much like those brainwashed christist missionaries !

nizhal yoddha said...

kalyani, you are forcing me to censor you. stop posting anti-sri sri stuff, i really dont want attacks on hindu gurus on this blog.

daisies said...

Nizhal Yoddha,

I guess my sentence was not
worded properly.

What I mean is - I feel
sorry for those who smear without
understanding it, as they dont
know the value.

I didnt mean that about people who
just reject SK saying - "I dont want it SK". That's OK, it is
personal choice. There are a
billion choices for everyone.

Sorry for the wrong words. It is
hard to get all the right words
every time.

daisies said...

Re:
Rajeev, this is what I am talking about,whats going on here. I am sure kalyani and daisies might scratch each others faces if they ever come face to face.

---Darkstorm,

You reached your own imaginary
conclusions.

I greet everyone with good
cheer (remember I wish people
on xmas also ? same thing...).
Else I just keep quiet.

I am not the kind who will
scratch anyone's face.

And I believe if I ever ran
into Kalyani, she would just
probably not say anything to
me. I totally trust she would
not sratch my face or anybody's.

She and I are both made of much
better stuff than that.

By the way, through all the
discussions, I have silently
admired her honesty. She wrote
from TRUTH, not from deceit.

She has my respect.

daisies said...

Sorry Darkstorm,

You missed my whole point!!!
It was never about which guru I
support. Please think through
before commenting on what this
whole discussion was.

Nothing I said wasnt again the
Kanchi gurus.

I was only against all the
anti-Sri Sri stuff and smear
being posted here.

I have never opposed anyone saying
good things about any Indian guru
here.

It might interest you to know that
I come from a family that is
traditionally devoted to Adi
Sankara and his lineage of gurus,
and I consider Adi Sankara as one
of my gurus.

I also consider Ramana Maharshi
as one of my gurus. And maybe a
couple of more gurus as well.

So for me, it was NEVER a my guru
vs your guru fight. Never.

Please understand things properly.
I wish you had protested about
anti Sri Sri stuff instead of
commenting on me that I was doing
a my guru vs your guru fight.

hUmDiNgEr said...

Dear Daisies,

I dont expect Sri Ravisankara to pile up his own army.
Not only Sri Sri but also other like him e.g. Matha Amruthanandamayi, Satyasai Baba etc.. they have this power to change the perception of public.
When the leftist media in India is publishing some really pathetic stuff about Kanchi Acharya, why cant these religious gurus comeout vociferously and make crystal clear statements. Why should they make ambiguous statements?

And in the age of Kali...blessings dont work..they might work for the semitic types...but the only thing that works in the age of Kali is "action". You need to act or else perish.

Vasu Gokaraju said...

Hi guys, nice to see hot discussions on Sri Sri. When you get a chance please take a look at my responses on the following topics.

My response to 'Is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar a con man?'

My response to 'How Genuine is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar'

Thank you,
Vasu

Unknown said...

Devi Durga is goddess of power. But very few of us know her 108 names because it is very hard to remember.But now you can find them through our site.In our Bengali Blog site we collect all those name only for you.You don't need to keep all these name in your mind, just go through them & you can worship her.It is an easy process to remember, isn't it? So now it's right time to follow our website. http://www.hindublog.co.in 108 names of goddess Durga