Saturday, October 27, 2007

Church deviousness in India: Seminary as gurukul

oct 26th, 2007

like the 'dharmaram' college of christists in bangalore.

stealing hindu names, hindu ideas, hindu concepts. to pervert them and claim them as their own. this is because christism has created nothing of its own, other than jihad ideas. it's the ultimate borrowed culture. even the mythology is stolen: virgin birth, stars foretelling the birth, etc. it is the best example of a nihilist nothing death-cult.

note that it is kerala christists who are at the forefront of all this. they have a jesus sitting in padmasana (see, it's christist-yoga) at some church in kollam, kerala.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sushama

Seminary as gurukul: church quietly going 'swadeshi' in BJP's bastions

 

In Chhattisgarh and MP, churches teach yoga and meditation, ask worshippers to take off footwear before entering in bid to meld.

 

BHOPAL, OCTOBER 22: The Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh is slowly but surely taking a swadeshi hue, an idea RSS chief K S Sudarshan advocated in Nagpur seven years ago.

The process began irrespective of his advice, of course, but the swadeshikaran, or Indianisation, has been on for quite some time without attracting much attention in this BJP-ruled state. It has also been happening in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, also ruled by the BJP.

 

Consider this. The church's seminary in Dewas is called Satchitanand Gurukul, a very Indian name. Here novitiates live with their preceptors in the guru-shishya tradition. Many other Christian institutions are similarly named in Indian style — Christ Premalaya, Purnodaya, Seva Sadan.

When the Archbishop of Bhopal, Leo Cornelio, was installed recently, his feet and that of his predecessor Dr Pascal Topno were washed and they walked on leaves in the Indian tradition.

Bishop Cornelio, on his part, asked guests to give him saplings as gifts, the symbolism having to do as much with his concern for the environment as with the importance Indian culture attaches to trees.

Fr Rajesh of Satchitanand Gurukul says, "The Indian idea of Sat-chit-anand (truth, consciousness, bliss) and the Christian concept of the trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) gel in a way. The philosophies of all religions converge at some point. We have also realised that when we adopt Indian names it helps us gain acceptance among locals."

 

At the seminary, yoga and meditation are very much part of the curriculum. So it is in many churches.

Fr Anand Mutthungal, spokesman of the Catholic Church of Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, says it's common for Christians to sit on the floor in churches. Earlier, there used to be a huge gap between the altar and the faithful, but no more. Even the size of the altar has been reduced to make people sitting on the floor comfortable.

 

While some churches carry notices prohibiting footwear during Mass, the faithful take off their shoes and chappals before they enter a church in Bhopal's Jahangirabad locality, where no such notice is on display.

 

Former member of Madhya Pradesh's State Minority Commission Indira Iyengar says that in tribal areas like Jhabua, the priest comes to the altar for the mass to the accompaniment of dhols and the singing of tribal hymns.

 

Such Indianisation of the church started decades ago in southern India, but has taken a long time to spread to central India and beyond. Now several Indian and tribal customs and rituals are followed.

In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, many tribals touch the feet of the pastors and priests, and the wedding ring is replaced by a mala in urban areas.

 

On the occasion of the Feast of Mother Mary, the idol is draped in a sari. On each of the nine days of the feast, the sari is changed. The festival culminates in a mela.

 

The priests drape shawls around their bodies, and like Fr Rajesh, no longer take English names. Except for one non-Indian priest in Madhya Pradesh, the rest are all Indians. In fact, five out of 14 bishops in these two central Indian states are tribals.

 

Dr Topno, who was archbishop for 14 years, is a tribal. But does taking Indian names and adopting local customs insulate the church from the wrath of Hindu organisations? No. In fact, they accuse the Christian organisations of using it as camouflage. VHP leader Nandkishore Dwivedi is not impressed by the name Satchitanand Gurukul. "I don't trust them," he says.

 

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/231404.html

2 comments:

karyakarta92 said...

"....member of Madhya Pradesh's State Minority Commission Indira Iyengar ......"

That woman is a nasty creature, source of a lot of "christian persecution" mythology in Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh. She is actually a christist. The perversion of these missionaries knows no bounds. But their dirty tricks will not succeed in the long run. Even "illiterate" Hindus
possess enough native wisdom to realise the fraud being perpetrated upon them. And to the infinite fury of the christists, the tribals end up accepting yesu
as just one more minor magician.

sands said...

hey i actually knw her !! this indira iyengar yeah i knw she is the source of lot of "RSS Bashing " she has married an iyengar hence the name iyengar and she has the audicity to carry tht name around !!! for whatever reasons ..best knw to her