Agnivesh Criticises PM For Promoting Obscurantism

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems bent up on upholding and promoting everything which is religious obscurantism. even violating Art 51 A (h) of our constitution which mandates a fundamental duty on every Indian Citizen "to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of enquiry and reform". His proposed visit to Kumbha Mda in Ujjain on 14th May, ostensibly including a dip in Kshipra river similar to his party President Amit Shah's for getting all his sins absolved. is
very much a "Dharmic Pakhand". His party Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been basking in all full page advertisements, at huge hoarding at Railway Station and at Airports promoting the Kumbha and the Shahi Snans at
the huge expense of public exchequer in the most unabashed manner. Total expenditure already incurred stands at Rs. 5000 more. There is demand for another Rs.3000 crore. BJP is brazenly appropriating a traditional Mela for furthering its abject political ambitions. BJP and RSS and their cohort religious Baba‘s galore seem to have no shame left inspite of the Supreme Court strictures to all governments about their lack of concern for the severe drought in 256 districts affecting 38 crore Indians. This drought will burden our economy to the tune of Rs.1,65,000 crore or one billion dollars. PM Modi had used his first visit to Nepal by showcasing his hour and half long puja at Pashupatinath Temple, Arti at Dhakeswari temple in Dhaka Bangladesh and so on

 

Link :--The Sikh Times

पासवान जी को ताड़ी का समर्थन नहीं करना चाहिए।

God, save us from miracle-mongers

It makes me angry; though I know I should not be. The spiritual discipline common to all religious traditions demands that we master our emotions and become tolerant unto dust. But there is, still, a margin for indignation; though it must be directed at obscurantism, not at obscurantists.

I am urged, almost provoked, by an article carried by The Asian Age on April 14, 2016,(http://www.asianage.com/mystic-mantra/miracle-faith-118) 
  The miracle of faith, in the name of Fr. Dominic Emmanuel on the resurrection of Jesus. I hold Jesus of Nazareth in very high esteem. I do that primarily for two reasons. First, to Jesus “man” is not made for religion, but religion is made for man. It is a dictum I fully endorse. That is why I feel spiritually bound to oppose everything that divides human beings in the name of God. Those who seek to divide human beings have only one goal: to fool them. It is “divide and fool” when it comes to religion. So, when religion is used as a divisive tool, I cannot but condemn this atrocity. Second, Jesus was passionately committed, as Maharshi Dayanand was, to social justice and to human dignity. I consider this to be the essence of true religion.

But the business agenda of the sort of organised religiosity that Fr. Emmanuel represents — the hypermarket of the multi-national obscurantism — is to obscure this light. The purpose, after all, of obscurantism is to obscure: to confuse what is obvious, to muddy the clear waters, to turn light into darkness. And when it is done in the name of a profound spiritual luminary like Jesus, all of us must protest.

Strangely, the salesmen of Christianity do not know (or, they pretend that they do not know) that Jesus was embarrassed about miracles. He knew miracle-mongering was a stumbling block. On occasions, if my memory serves me, he reprimanded the seekers of miracles. He asked them to be sensible and rational. He asked them to have faith, instead!

Now, this is important. People’s capacity for faith is inversely proportionate to their craving for miracles. Miracles are the alternative to faith. This disease, this miracle-mongering, is not unique to Christianity. Every dishonest godman claims such special powers. It is the only publicity stunt they know. And it succeeds because people are gullible.

The real harm is this, and it must be taken note of. The craving for miracles is driven by the desire for shortcuts. Shortcuts are attractive to us because they do not require us to change. The longest cut — the most difficult thing — for human beings is to change their ways. Spirituality is all about urging and enabling us to change. This change is the seed of our freedom and fruitfulness. We cannot stay barren and produce fruits at the same time. We cannot live in immorality and enjoy the peace that comes only from a sane and humane way of life. When we do not want to give up our wicked and stupid ways, and still want to be safe from bad consequences, we are left with only one refuge: miracles.

It is this human weakness that the merchants of popular piety exploit to their mega advantage. This is immoral; for it takes advantage of human weakness. The role of religion is just the opposite: it is, as Swami Vivekananda said. It is to make the weak stronger. The strong do not need crutches. The salesmen of mendacious religiosity peddle crutches. To do that, and to pretend that to be a service to humanity, they have to ensure that no one develops strong legs, so to speak.

As regards Hinduism, it is obvious that whenever the focus was put on the miraculous element, the philosophical profundity of this great faith got sidelined. The history of Hinduism is the history of the struggle between eternal truths and debasing obscurantism.

Whether Jesus rose from the dead or not is immaterial to me. What matters most to me is what he did before his death, not after his death. His life before death was a miracle! Nothing he did thereafter compares to it. Christians like Fr. Emmanuel cannot emulate the miracle of life before death. So they waste their time on the so-called life after death. This has been the greatest disservice and the most dishonest trick played on our species. It is this that Karl Marx rightly called the opium of the people. The best symbol for irrationality is opium. The merchants of obscurantism must be treated on par with the peddlers of opium. Perhaps, the harm they do is even greater.

The truth is in what Fr. Emmanuel, whom I cherish as a personal friend — and that will not change — does not state. Did Jesus use miracles when he was being crucified, or when he was dying on the Cross? That was the most appropriate and legitimate context for unleashing miracles. After all, he was killed for no fault of his, except that of denouncing the corruption and venality of the parasites of religion. On the Cross, miracle could have vindicated justice. Jesus does not resort to miracles! That is the real miracle: this stupendous human capacity to face the harshest of realities without yielding to the temptation to dodge or to compromise. That is the miracle I endorse and respect.

I would urge all my sisters and brothers in every faith to refuse to be fooled by those who care neither for God nor for them. It is an insult to your creator that you do not use the reason and common sense Paramatma has given you.

Source :-  The Asian Age News Paper 18th April 2016

To Read Full Artical  :-Click Here 

SWAMI AGNIVESH WELCOMES TOTAL BAN OF LIQUOR IN BIHAR AND LAUDS THE BOLD STEP BY CHIEF MINISTER NITISH KUMAR

New Delhi -8^th April 2016

I congratulate Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the rare courage he has shown to enforce total prohibition in Bihar facing  challenges from  communal and corporate forces and more so for  taking the entire political class with him and giving them due credit after  receiving tremendous response from people against liquor.  He and  Lalu laid the foundation for a social revolution on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi, Jaiprakash  Narain and  C. Rajagopalachari.  It is time that all democratic forces in the country, religions, social groups, farmers, women’s organizations join together to make the step a success.

In the spirit of Art. 47 of the Indian Constitution, the Central Government should rise to the occasion and compensate the State of Bihar for the excise revenue loss, an initiative taken by the former Prime Minister Morarji Desai that any State going dry and incurring loss of revenue on that account should be reimbursed by the Central Government to the tune of 50% for a period of 5 years.

It is time that all other Chief Ministers should feel inspired by the very bold step taken by Nitish Kumar and try to bring their respective States on the Prohibition map so that the issue gets its much needed national character, a dream Mahatma Gandhi nurtured through out his life.

Why Baba Ramdev would do well to go into vanvaas

What Ramdev has done is criminal. He is sowing seeds of horrendous violence in the minds of unsuspecting people within an ambience of faith. This is incitement of the most dangerous kind.

Ramdev shocks me. Truly. Utterly. Un-bearably. His saffron shocks me. It makes his words all the more shocking. Saffron is the colour either of self-sacrifice or of inspired bravery. He seems light years away  from both. It is blatant cowardice to say one would love to cut off the heads of millions of people but for the small inconvenience that stands in the way. There is, he laments, that irksome thing called the rule of law. He could get into trouble if he ventures to harvest a few million human heads. That, says Ramdev, chokes the heroic expression of his sterling patriotic zeal.

Ramdev’s version of patriotism, please note, is choked by the law. That is to say, it is unlawful. Refraining from scandalously unlawful lusts and longings only due to fear of unpleasant consequences is cowardice. Only Ramdev can enlighten us about the meeting point between cowardice and self-sacrifice: The sort of cowardice that made him scoot from the scene of trouble in Ramlila Maidan in 2011. The adroitness with which our shape-shifting baba escaped on that occasion is of the same stuff as the insured insolence with which he threatens to annihilate fellow citizens for not falling in line.

Indian Express News:-Click Here

 

I am not happy to write these words, which I have to wring out of my reluctant heart. But I must. To keep quiet in the face of such an eruption of insanity is to mock my spiritual calling. I shall have no right to appear in public clad in saffron if I do not speak up. I have to denounce the political adventurism of this friend of mine. But I shall not despise him; for the spirit of the Vedic faith that keeps me going will not let me. This noble spiritual vision puts me under obligation to love every member of the human family — including those who do not agree with me, those who do not shout “Bharat Mata ki Jai” like parrots, and also those who spew the lingo of aggression as the poetry of patriotism. I denounce the words of Ramdev and urge him to apologise, first, to all Hindus and, then, to all human beings. To the extent that he has started raving and ranting, he has lost the right to take the name of the Vedic faith or pretend to be a spiritual guru. He would do well to take vanvaas for meditation and self-purification. Ramdev has been in the business of converting spirituality into material profit. He has, as a result, lost the distinction between dhandha and dharma. Religion became, in the process, the means for indulging in covetousness. 

The mega bucks he earned became his entry into politics. If in the Ayodhya movement, politicians used babas and swamis, Ramdev is shrewd enough to use politicians to his advantage. It is a marriage of convenience for both parties. I also hold the BJP to account in this most lamentable turn of events. I want to tell them that Hinduism is truly in peril. The cocktail of politics, corporatisation and communalism concocted under the name of Hinduism today threatens its authenticity. 

What Ramdev has done is criminal.He is sowing seeds of horrendous violence in the minds of unsuspecting people within an ambience of faith. This is incitement of the most dangerous kind. Knowing the outlook and agenda of the current dispensation, I have no hope that the government either at the Centre or in Haryana will take cognisance of this challenge to the rule of law and insult to the Constitution. I pray, therefore, to the chief justice of India to take suo moto cognisance of this and initiate appropriate action. 

Finally, a word about the senselessness that inflates Ramdev’s hollow patriotism. Does he really think that shouting a slogan — or a thousand slogans — proves anyone’s patriotism? Does he really believe that a coerced utterance carries patriotic value? Those who revel in coercing others are not interested in the motherland. They are intoxicated with power. This is not patriotism. This is poison. Every form of coercion is an insult to the spirit and substance of the Constitution.

Why no dialogue with Maoists

How many more CRPF Jawans will become cannon fodder for a flawed LWE Policy?

Yet another dastardly blast by the Maoists of Bastar and 7 precious lives of our CRPF Jawans blown to smithereens. It’s a matter of grave concern for all of us that a problem which is essentially of a socio- economic nature, is being callously addressed as a law & order problem. The Govt. of Chhattisgarh claims that hundreds of Maoists have surrendered and are demoralized because of action by our para-military forces. But the gruesome facts speak otherwise. It is the CRPF and the police which has been at the receiving end of all of violence and counter violence. There has been no report of any of the enquiry commissions set up by the government since 6thapril 2010 when 76 jawans were brutally ambushed in
Dantewada –Bastar. Why is government not making public if these reports are there? What happened to the Darbha killing report by the NIA when some congress leaders were killed.

The moot question is; are our jawans sitting ducks for Maoist fire? Are they simple cannon fodder for a huge scam in the name of operation against LWE(Left Wing Extremism)? Have our governments developed a vested interest in keeping the problem alive and not tackling it through dialogue with LWE. If we can dialogue with Pakistan  in spite of their attack on our air base in Pathankot and even invite JIT from Pakistan to join investigation, why no dialogue is being initiated with Maoists?.

 

Swami Agnivesh on Godhra Kand 27th March 2016

Around two lakh Muslims gathered at a Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind conference in Godhra where prominent community leaders and social activist Swami Agnivesh Spoke about the growing “insecurity” in the country and also rejected the “need for a certificate” of nationalism amid raging political debate over the issue of “Bharat mata ki jai”.
 
For full speech click on.

To Read Full Artical Click Here

They (BJP and RSS) want to give us a certificate based on whether we say Bharat mata ki jai or not. Why should we chant Bharat mata ki jai? What is the jai that you are saying? (Vijay) Mallya ki jai? A liquor trader who has duped the country of thousands of crores and decamped. What were Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinking when they knew that the Kingfisher trader has Rs 9,000 crore bank loan? Why hasn’t he been charged with sedition and called anti-national? You book a JNU student leader Kanhaiya for sedition. What is happening in this country.

देश में हिंसा और असहनशीलता एक बड़ी चुनौती

देश में धार्मिक कट्टरता और असहनशीलता की प्रवृत्ति अचानक ही पैदा नहीं हुयी अपितु इस की जड़ें हमारे पिछले राजनीतिक इतिहास में हैं। इस देश पर लम्बे समय तक शासन करने वाली कांग्रेस पार्टी ने वोट बैंक की राजनीति को आगे बढ़ाते हुए विवादास्पद बाबरी मस्जिद के ताले खुलवा दिए थे और इसके निकट ही मंदिर की नींव का पत्थर भी रखवा दिया था। 

कांग्रेस की इस तरह की साम्प्रदायिक और वोट बैंक की राजनीति का ही दुष्परिणाम है कि आज भाजपा और उससे संबंधित अन्य संगठन भी साम्प्रदायिकता के आधार पर वोट बैंक की राजनीति को आगे बढ़ा रहे हैं जिससे देश में असहनशीलता और भहसक प्रवृत्ति बढ़ रही है। 

प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी को चाहिए कि जो भी साम्प्रदायिकता की बात कहते हुए देश छोडऩे की बात करते हैं, उन्हें पार्टी से निकाला जाए।

अब देशभक्ति का सर्टिफिकेट आर0 एस0 एस0 बांट रही है

1925 में आरएसएस का गठन हुआ था और 1947 तक किस आरएसएस के वर्कर ने देश के लिए शहादत दी है। उन्होंने कहा अब देशभक्ति का सर्टिफिकेट आरएसएस बांट रही है, जबकि अतीत गवाह कि आरएसएस के कई लोगों ने आजादी से पहले देशभक्ति नहीं गद्दारी की थी। वह दो शिक्षा संस्थानोें में मुख्य वक्ता के तौर पर जालंधर आए हुए थे और बाद में पत्रकारों से बातचीत कर रहे थे।

 देश को संघ ने पूरी तरह से बांटकर रख दिया है। धार्मिक कट्टरवाद फैलाया जा रहा है। बनारस हिंदू यूनिवर्सिटी, हैदराबाद यूनिवर्सिटी, इलाहाबाद विश्वविद्यालय, जेएनयू पर संघ कब्जा करना चाहता है। राम मंदिर के नाम पर आरएसएस व भाजपा दोनों लोगों को गुमराह कर रही है।

 संघ की सोच व कार्यशैली ने आर्य समाज को खोखला कर दिया है। संघ को ऐसा लगता है कि जो जाति देश में पैदा हुई, वह देश भक्त है और जो जाति विदेशों से आई उनकी देशभक्ति संदिग्ध है। उन्होंने कहा जिस रास्ते पर चलकर कांग्रेस धर्म व जातपात की राजनीति करती आई है, उसी रास्ते पर अब मोदी सरकार व आरएसएस चल रही है।

News Artical In शनिवार, 26 मार्च 2016 जालंधर

To Read Full Artical Click Here

 

बी0 डी0 आर्य गर्ल्स कॉलेज में वासुदेव कुटुम्बकम विषय पर सेमीनार

डाउट नहीं करोगे तो भेड़चाल वाली भेड़ बनकर रह जाओगे

अंधविश्वास मत करो। सवाल करो। 3 डी यानी डाउट, डिबेट और डाइसैट को अपने जीवन में अपनाओ। अगर आप डाउट नहीं करते तो आप भेड़़ है। क्योंकि भेड ही दूसरी भेड़ों की पीछे चलती है। क्योंकि उसके पास अपना दिमाग नहीं है। किसी को भी अपना गुरु धारण मत करो स्वयं अपने गुरु बनो। कहा, आज मनुष्य के अंदर जितनी भी बीमारियां है इनका कारण अहंकार है।

कहा हम भगवान को रोज रिश्वत देते है कि हमारा यह काम करवा दो हम यह चढ़ावा देंगे। डाकू भी मंदिर जाते है और भगवान को कहते है कि वह भी लूटे गए धन का 10 प्रतिशत हिस्सा मंदिर को देंगे। कहा, हम सबने ईश्वर को विकृत बना रखा है । ईश्वर तो सब को एक समान पैदा करता है। जब हम पैदा होते हो तो सब इंसान होते है कोई जाति नहीं होती किसी धर्म का ठप्पा नहीं लगा होता सब एक समान होते है हम उसे कहते है ‘तुम हिंदू हो ऐसे पूजा करो, ऐसे नमाज पढ़ो। सारे मनुष्य मिलकर उस छोटे बच्चे या इंसान को हिंदू, सिख, मुसलमान बनाते है।

 

  

आर्य समाज में किसी भी काम की शुरुआत मंत्रोंं से करते है जबकि हम उन मंत्रो का अर्थ नहीं जानते या सही अर्थ नहीं समझ पाते यह सबसे बड़ी विडंबना यह है कि हम उन मंत्रों के अर्थ पूछते भी नहीं।

 

News Artical In Dainik Bhasker 27th March 2016 Jalandhar

To Read The Artical Clik Here

  

 

 

Press Statement on Modi Govt’s refusal of Visa to US Commission on Religious Freedom

New Delhi

09th March,2016

I fully support Modi Government’s refusal of Visa to US Commission on International Religious freedom ( USCIRF). This was in line with the earlier UPA government’s policy all these past years.

Disappointment of the Obama Government is understandable but totally unreasonable. Did they ever take stock of Religious Freedom in their allied countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan? Why does US need to play the role of ‘big brother’?

As citizens of India, we have our unfettered constitutional rights to fight against all forms of unfreedom including religious bigotry and fundamentalism. I have even supported the J.N.U. S.U. demand to scrap colonial IPC section 124 A on sedition which was grossly abused by the British then and by our governments now. We have a proud long ‘Sanatan’ tradition of Shashtrarth – fierce polemical religious debates. Today masses enjoy and empower themselves through such debates on television and on social media. Violent intolerance is largely condemned across the board.

Just as Muslims or other progressive forces in India do not need RSS certificates of Nationalism, India as a whole does not need US certification of Religious Freedom. Instead the US commission should focus internally on ensuring more equality and freedom for  American blacks, hispanics and minors in prisons etc.

As a footnote, I want to record that couple of years ago, the same US Commission had invited me to depose in US but I had flatly declined.

Male Dominated 'Place of Worship ' are infact, place where god doesn't reside.

I am afraid the women of our country are getting it wrong. Temple entry has nothing to do with the right to pray. Equality with men, in all respects other than limited biological functions like childbirth, is a fundamental right of all women. There is no question that subjecting women to discrimination is a crime and a shame. It deserves to be denounced.
But equating the “right to pray” with temple entry is a different matter altogether. It is like equating entry, say, into somebody’s bedroom with the right to breathe — for air is also present in bedrooms.
The right to pray cannot be separated from two basic questions: Who are we praying to? What does it mean to pray? If it is to god that we are praying, it does not have to be done in a temple. Temple, kitchen and marketplace are all alike in respect of god’s presence. Men may be irrational enough to believe that god lives in only their temples and that they have a monopoly over such a god. That is why they are, quite rightly, worried about women entering their temples. They are right to worry that if women are allowed into these structures of make-believe, serious harm could come to their gods. The reason is that women are feared to be more rational. Rational creatures will know only too soon that omnipresent god does not stay confined to man-made temples.
If it is to the genuine god that we wish to pray, do we really have to go to a temple, church, mosque or gurdwara? Do we have to go to Bethlehem or Mecca to drink water or brush our teeth? Can’t these be done anywhere? Why is praying any different? No human being, male or female, with a modicum of commonsense should pray to a god who is imprisoned in a man-made structure. A god who is man’s slave is a poor, pathetic god indeed.
Now, what is prayer or worship? All religions are utterly corrupted by the domination of man. Religions, as feminists quite rightly lament, are patriarchal. But religion of this kind is the ghost of a religion, and not its true form. Guru Nanak did not have to pray in a temple. Prophet Muhammad was not enlightened in a temple, but on a mountain. The purpose of prayer is to attain the strength to lead a godly life. It is an insult to women to assume that they can receive it only from manmade temples with which god has nothing to do. Women should know that not only they but god is also not allowed in these temples and mosques.
Being denied entry into certain temples or mosques, therefore, is not a spiritual issue. It is only a legal issue. That so-called “places of worship” are man-dominated and seats of discrimination must open their eyes to the fact that these are places where god is routinely mocked. Practising discrimination in the name of god is the worst form of irreligion. A place where this is done has nothing to do with god or spirituality. Why do you want to waste your time and money there? I am sure that the women in this country have better sense than that.
The core issue today is not temple entry for women. It is the liberation of god from the pious prisons we have created for the divine. It is because god is confined to these quaint and funny places that the fear of god does not operate elsewhere. That is the curse of our country. If only we recognised the omnipresent god who is with us in our workplaces, in our relationships, in our marketplaces, this country would have been free from corruption, caste violence and systemic oppression. By creating man-dominated places of worship, we confine god to convenient spots and claim the rest of the country to practise corruption, injustice, violence and oppression.
Why did Gandhi give up on temples? Was it not because of his spiritual enlightenment? Which embodiment of spiritual light has ever associated temples or mosques with god? Who can claim that he has become a better human being because of a temple? It is a shame that even in the 21st century, we have not taken leave of superstition and obscurantism. The time has come for us to allow the light of reason into our religious life. God is light, not darkness.
 To Read More Go to This Link:-------
http://epaper.indianexpress.com/713561/Indian-Express/06-February-2016#page/14

Swami Agnivesh