My Own Private India. - TIME

I am not sure of your traditional mooring. Vedas are really not texts- infact their meaning in sanskrit is often refered to as 'that which is heard'. You have to draw on experiences of your own spirirituality to intuit the vedas. The german connection is so recent that it is not really relevant if you want to understand the meaning, it may be a farce to even assume the ancestors came from this part as widely purported by western scholars. Scholarship is unfortunately dominated and biased by western institutions of scholarly reserach, which emphasise on accuracy on documented work, than experience of intutive knowledge, which is really not in the realm of scientific reserach atleast in the western tradition. There have been written commentaries on the subject of the vedas from as early as 12th century and prior 20 BC. Historical facts are very difficult to remain accurate. We rely on procedures that have hidden contradictions. However living communities, as they pass on the traditions geneologically and do retain strict adherence to these traditions continue to remain in many communities. Archaelogical finds under the ocean for example show Indian, Hindu civilisation existed since as early as 6000 BC. These remain under water due to changes in land mass these are recent finds. There is also a recent discovery that the historical Krishna a king lived in the 100 to 200 BC. If you believe there is a soul, something that binds us to the infinity, eternal universe- then how could we have divisions in humanity? Religions are recent innovations of civilised humanity, to experience spirituality and the oneness of the cosmic divine. So experiences vary amongst community, people, their institutions. Some individuals have seen greater progress than others. These individuals are very rare and appear once in 500 or a thousand years to bring a greater, higher harmony. Where we are in our own time- is our own individual, as well as collective destiny and is subject to our spiritual evolution. We all seem to know good from evil, that immortality is better than mortality. There is a movement towards higher levels of knowledge and intellectual development. So we all desire, aspire for something higher than lower, we could call this progress. There is presence of bliss in nature and the Universe. The time cycles, however dynamic remain constant in human lifetimes- the cycle of the sun, moon and the earth. How is this possible? Physics can explain the law- even the law varies in universal time. The law exists before we discover it- the order rather than randomness defines the universe which is quite astonishing but significant to direct us towards understanding a divine will and action. We have to begin from our own selves to experience truth and reality of the knowledge that is presented to us.

The Truth is every one has to live and discover our inner selves. Every person wherever they live has to find inner peace and harmony within their selves. However difficult or easy life may seem from distances, it is important for us to come to terms with otherness, the higher truth, consciousness, our connectedness to the universe. There is a collective consciousness that operates at a larger level and some of us may agree or disagree with what it implies or carries. We need to get out of the existentialist mess. Some of the rarest and profound discoveries have been intuitive and far more reliable, insightful than historic moments. We do all need collectively individually progress. What does progress mean really, a brighter tomorrow or dooms day as imagination!

Dear Joel Stein, I understand the sentiment- My hometown or home towns are changing as well. I am a Dot- head from India. '.head' wow... quite Hip. Considering the unhippness of southern mamis ( La Belles), Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad want to become your highschool days Edison's town- and my 'Dot Head' looks quite inappropriate where, Dior is quite in. The Nouveau rich in Edison seem to have moved into my townships in India as well. Believe me the 'America Returned Confused Mamis' will love you not the real immigrants in America- who in their hearts my boy are quite American at heart. You may have a new ' Edison' amongst the Dot Head gated communities. I have decided to appropriate your .head for all desi websites. Women need to increase their power in every house hold. Following .com, .biz, .edu, .Head exclusively for southy mami websites is a cool idea, readily marketable and 'pro rich'. Atleast it may solve the poverty issue in India. I hope you will not copyright it. Have a great year. In India mami's only say 'Bless you'. May you live long. Castism, communalism, racism are just words to rib each other. Lets face it every community thinks they are greater than the other. If we have to put up with 6 billion plus population- lets develop thick skin and good humor- masala hindi filmystaiyle. We as a concession will spare Edison for history ( I am a heritage India promoter- how can I be a hypocrite). May Ganesha ( the Elephant head god) remove all obstacles to wealth, fame and prosperity for you.( You get it) Mamis can be beneficial also.

DID UNIVERSUTY EXIST IN ANCIENT INDIA?<br />The Academy in Athens was the world�s first university, where Plato taught, Aristotle studied and philosophy was born. But Hindu chauvinists are not prepared to accept this historical fact. It has been the character of some Indian historians to claim incredible antiquity for Indian civilization and to appropriate for India the first place in history for every conceivable thing under the Sun. Nalanda and Taxila are projected as universities in ancient India without knowing the real definition of a university. In actual reality they were monasteries where monks were given training in Buddhism. Chinese travelers, Hiuen Tsang and Fa-Hien, who visited India make references only to monasteries where Buddhism was taught and monks were trained. But their original writings are not available, only manipulated works by later writers attributed as the works of foreign writers, including Megasthenes, are projected as original. <br />In the same manner early settlements of Aryans during the Vedic period and the Indus cities are shown as the birthplace of human civilization. But in actual reality, human civilization first flowered in the Middle East. There was no printed text or manuscripts to show as documentary evidence. <br />Modern Iraq embraces what scholars call the cradle of civilization, the once fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where humans first built cities, invented the wheel, devised irrigation systems, developed a written language and codified laws 6,000 years ago. Evidence suggests that a complex society appeared in Mesopotamia at least a century before it did in Egypt and more than 1,000 years before the Hsia dynasty in China. Excavation of whole cities , including temples, palaces and subterranean tombs, began around 1840 and has since yielded a wondrous variety of artifacts, including monumental stone sculptures of gods and goddesses, bas-reliefs depicting the lives of kings, intricate gold and silver jewelry, ivory carvings, and thousands of clay tablets and cylinders incised with cuneiform writing. The ruins of ancient cities Nimrud and Qayyarah are still standing. Among the ruins are temples dedicated to the Babylonian war god Ninruta, a ziggurat, one of the earliest observatories and a 9th century B.C. palace where, an inscription reports, King Ashurnasirpal II once entertained 69,574 guests. In the royal tombs at Nimrud, 90kg of finely wrought gold jewelry was discovered. Huge Assyrian stone bas-reliefs and a 5,500-year old mosaic covered temple wall were also discovered at Nimrud. But excavations at Ayodhya, the birthplace of Hindu god Rama of the Ramayana, did not reveal the ruins of the palace of Rama or the jewelry of his wife Sita. So the very basis of Hinduism is legendary. It is all tall claims without any scrap of evidence. <br />It is nothing but idiotic flight of fancy to think that Ram went by a pusphakvimana. Any man with an elementary knowledge of aeronautics and aerodynamics will never believe that a plane could be made with flowers (aeronautics) and how such a flower plane could move through air (aerodynamics). It is sheer nonsense. It is a fairy tale or a myth. In ancient Egyptian and Chinese religions there are stories how their gods and goddesses flew using flying chariots and dragons. In Arabian Nights we hear of flying carpets. It is mental arrogance and pride to think that there were planes, TV, computer etc., in ancient India<br />

Monstous gods and goddesses of Greek mythology are now kept in museum. But Hindus still have, as Stein put it,"whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose." The period between the downfall of the Gupta Empire and the early Muslim invasion of India was a period of political instability with petty principalities warring against each other. Then came the long and oppressive period of Muslim rule. The vast majority of Indians had never heard about the Vedas or the Gita during this period. . Hinduism at that time was a severe form of idolatry and there were three hundred and thirty million gods, goddesses and demons. Even Sanskrit-knowing Brahnins were immersed in idolatry and ritualism. But on July 4, 1804 Colebrooke read a paper before the Asiatic Society which led to the birth of modern Hinduism. Colebrooke�s English scholarship made him produce the Rig Veda using rhyme and rhythm of English poetry, which is being followed even today. <br /> How did Colebrooke get the Rig Veda? There were no manuscripts or printed texts of the Rig Veda. All ancient Sanskrit Hindu scriptures remained only in the memory of some Sanskrit knowing Brahmins. As Max Mueller says: �We must never forget that the ancient literature in India was entirely mnemonic. �Unless we keep this clearly before our mind, we shall never understand the state of ancient literature in India, with all its changes and chances, before the introduction of writing.� The British scholars of Asiatic Society, therefore, requested Brahmin priests to write down whatever texts were remaining in their memory. They were also offered money for writing down the manuscripts. Since it was a recital from memory, Brahmin priests could add whatever they wanted; exaggerate the antiquity to claim first in world religions and to interpolate novel ideas borrowed from contemporary European scholarship. The Maharajah of Jaipur heard about the desire of English scholars to have a manuscript of the Rig Veda and other Vedas. So he arranged with some Brahmin priests to write down the Rig Veda from memory and thereby managed to get a manipulated manuscript copy of the Rig Veda. Colonel Polier of the East India Company was a friend and doctor of the Mahrajah and he gave him the manuscript of the Rig Veda. . Majority non-brahmin Indians who formed 98% of India�s population were animists, demon and devil worshippers. But Jones and Colebrooke presented a Christianized Hinduism and the majority accepted it and joined the Brahmins to follow Brahmin gods and goddess. The new Hinduism was the brain child of jones and Colebrook, totally different from the original oppressive religion of Aryans. Max Mueller, however, who translated the Rig Veda along with Saynacharya�s commentary in 1849, made this observation: �There are large portions in the Rig Veda which have hardly any connection with religion at all, but they are interesting all the same as relics of antiquity.�<br /> <br />

Just so that you don't have to figure it out for yourself, I am an Indian Hindu living in the US for the past 5 years. I have had very good experience so far in this wondeful country and fortunately never had the chance to meet people like you or Joel Stein. Now regarding our post:<br />I think you meant 'superiority complex' and not 'inferiority complex'. And NO, Indians do not suffer from either of them. It happens that they are just nice people who avoid confrontations. You don't see any Indian gangs anywhere, do you? Can you say that about any of the other larger immigrant communities in the US? Yeah, I didn't think so. <br />Given the fact that nobody knows you and also the ignorance demonstrated by the rant that you posted, you shouldn't go as far as doubting, bashing or insulting an entire culture, which is over a billion people strong by the way. This applies to that Naipaul guy as well.<br />So, now you want all the immigrants to marry people from other countries, give up their traditions and culture just to be accepted into your so called American mainstream? Wow. Your arrogance amazes me. The last time I checked, your ancestors dropped by enroute to INDIA, almost erased the native culture and took over the land and named it America. I wonder why they did that. According to you, they should have married locals and/or people from other countries, left their european culture and religion and should have embraced native American lifestyle. Hmm, bummer. Isn't it?<br />About that reference to primitive Vedas, I don't think you know squat about them. You just copy-pasted something from the internet. So, you wouldn't even have a clue if I started talking about them. I will just say they are as important to Hindus as is the Bible to Christians or the Quran to Muslims. So, please don't insult the Vedas.<br />Now about the caste system, economic exploitation, political opression etc... These problems are everywhere. They just take different forms and are at different levels. Just remember we are in the middle of arguably the worst economic chaos in the history of the US. What caused it? Greed, corruption, and lack of proper political commitment. They are just some of the reasons. No system is perfect. Every system just evolves over time and corrects itself as it encounters new challenges. Same is the case with India. We have a lot of issues and we are evolving as we constantly correct ourselves. It is not that the culture itself is bad or stinky or whatever it is that you said. It is about the people. I would like to point out to you that India was under foreign occupation/rule (mostly tyrannical and opressive) for hundreds of years and yet managed to retain its rich culture and tradition and values. What does that say about our culture?<br />We are an independent country for over 60 years now and we are definitely making progress towards becoming a developed nation. Just be aware of the fact that the US has been an independent nation for well over 200 years now and it is just not fair to sit here and comment on how bad or poor our country is. Your fore fathers did the work just so that you can have a better life. Not so that you can make fun of or insult other people or cultures. And we, the immigrants to the US, haven't run away from our country or culture, at least not all of us. We are here because of the opportunities.<br /><br />It is a pity that a lot of people just take the easy way and start bashing and insulting (legal) immigrants without even caring about the context or the issue. Joel Stein, if we were to believe him, said it was out of plain humor. But it didn't seem to be funny. His article was full of stereotypes and insults directed towards our religion. Obviously a lot of people took offence to it and expressed their views. Now if Stein expressed his concerns about something like lost jobs, I would understand the feeling of resentment or insecurity. To the contrary, Stein chose to insult a culture just because he felt like it, which is not acceptable no matter who is on the receiving end. <br />My culture and religion taught me to respect other cultures and religions. And treat them as equals. And I follow that to the word. I am pretty sure your culture and religion (assuming you are religious) teach the same principles. Start respecting yourself and your culture. Everything else follows.<br />Peace.<br /><br />- Surya K C

main cause that Indians cannot assimilate with Edison, N.J., is because of their inherent inferiority complex. This inferiority complex makes them think they are superior to Americans so that they can have some imaginary satisfaction to justify their pride and mental arrogance. Naipaul has correctly diagnosed their psychopathology when he says: �It is well that Indians are unable to look at their country directly, for the distress they would see would drive them mad. And it is well that they have no sense of history, for how then would they be able to continue to squat amid their ruins, and which Indian would be able to read the history of his country for the last thousand years without anger and pain? It is better to retreat into fantasy and fatalism, to trust to the stars in which the fortunes of all are written�� This false pride will never allow Indians to recognize the noble qualities in other cultures. On the other hand, African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish have discarded their old identities to assimilate with the mainstream American culture. As M.G. Jean de Crevecoeur says,� I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a Frenchwoman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners receives new ones from the new life he has embraced.� But Indians will not join the mainstream of vibrant American society but will look back, instead of looking forward, to ancient times of caste barbarism, economic exploitation and political oppression and justify that stinking society by giving religious interpretation based on primitive Vedas. John Stuart Mill was in India and served the East India Company for some seventeen years. Informed with the historicist ideals of the Scottish Enlightenment, which laid out a series of stages by which the degree of civilization of any society could be measured with scientific precision, Mill set himself the task of ascertaining the true state in the scale of the civilization of India. After scrutinizing India�s arts, manufactures, literature, religion and laws, he concluded vigorously that Indians did not possess, and never had possessed, a high state of civilization. They were rather a rude people who had made but a few of the earlier steps in the progress of civilization. There existed in India, he wrote, a �hideous state of society�, inferior even to that of the European feudal age. Bound down to despotism and to a system of priestcraft, built upon the most enormous and tormenting superstition that ever harassed and degraded any portion of mankind,� the Indians had become �the most enslaved portion of human race.�<br /><br />

Its Joel's insecurity...that has reflected in his elaborate writeup... <br />Joel has no right to call us Indians as Guindians/dotheads or whatever...<br />The Statue of Liberty Should shed a tear...for it knows how much of racism each of us have undergone in different scenarios at different levels...<br />

Hi Friends,<br /><br />I have posted an update upon this saddening incident (Dr. Divyendu Singh's murder)on the 'iReports' of CNN. Hope it would receive the actual attention it deserves....<br /><br />Here is the link to the 'ireport' article i have posted.... Please check out the link and recommend it through your facebook account. By doing that, the news piece gains more popularity and would be brought to the lime light of many more....<br />Please support this, and make the voices from this incident be heard!<br /><br /><a href="" rel="nofollow">http://</a>¹<br /><br />This is the least that we can do, to make people aware of such incidents and make them understand the pain and hurt caused by such extreme racist behaviors, and bringing this to light would facilitate the punishment of such criminals and would enable the further avoidance of such instances....<br /><br />Looking forward to your support!<br /><br />Thanks<br />Pavi

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Just for everyone's information:<br />It is heart breaking to know that, just a few days before this racist article by Stein, an Intellectual Indian man, Dr. Divyendu was brutally murdered in front of his family in MIddlesex County NJ in a racist attack by teenagers living in his own town.This man got brutally murdered in front of his family for no fault but color of his skin. While people are debating if racism still exists based on Stein's article, the reality speaks louder....<br /><br />Check the link justicefordivyendufamily dot wordpress dot com<br /><br />Wake up people!