Straight Talk on Religion by Swami Vivekananda

What a thought!!! Only an enlightened soul can dare to speak in such a bold and fearless manner. Thought of sharing it with others. 

Straight Talk on Religion:

(Excerpts from The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda)

A man may believe in all the churches in the world, he may carry in his head all the sacred books ever written, he may baptize himself in all the rivers of the earth, still, if he has no perception of God, I would class him with the rankest atheist.

And a man may have never entered a church or a mosque, nor performed any ceremony, but if he feels God within himself and is thereby lifted above the vanities of the world, that man is a holy man, a saint, call him what you will.

As soon as a man stands up and says he is right or his church is right, and all others are wrong, he is himself all wrong. He does not know that upon the proof of all the others depends the proof of his own. Love and charity for the whole human race, that is the test of true religiousness. I do not mean the sentimental statement that all men are brothers, but that one must feel the oneness of human life.

So far as they are not exclusive, I see that the sects and creeds are all mine; they are all grand. They are all helping men towards the real religion. I will add, it is good to be born in a church, but it is bad to die there. It is good to be born a child, but bad to remain a child. Churches, ceremonies, and symbols are good for children, but when the child is grown, he must burst the church or himself.

We must not remain children for ever. It is like trying to fit one coat to all sizes and growths. I do not deprecate the existence of sects in the world. Would to God there were twenty millions more, for the more there are, there will be a greater field for selection. What I do object to is trying to fit one religion to every case.

Though all religions are essentially the same, they must have the varieties of form produced by dissimilar circumstances among different nations. We must each have our own individual religion, individual so far as the externals of it go.

Until the water comes out, it is all book, book. So until your religion makes you realize God, it is useless. He who only studies books for religion reminds one of the fable of the ass which carried a heavy load of sugar on its back, but did not know the sweetness of it."

The man at whose feet I sat all my life--and it is only a few ideas of his that I try to teach--could [hardly] write his name at all. All my life I have not seen another man like that, and I have traveled all over the world. When I think of that man, I feel like a fool, because I want to read books and he never did. He never wanted to lick the plates after other people had eaten. That is why he was his own book.

All my life I am repeating what Jack said and John said, and never say anything myself. What glory is it that you know what John said twenty-five years ago and what Jack said five years ago? Tell me what you have to say.

Mind you, there is no value in learning. You are all mistaken in learning. The only value of knowledge is in the strengthening, the disciplining, of the mind. By all this eternal swallowing it is a wonder that we are not all dyspeptics. Let us stop, and burn all the books, and get hold of ourselves, and think.

You all talk [about] and get distracted over losing your "individuality". You are losing it every moment of your lives by this eternal swallowing. If any one of you believes what I teach, I will be sorry. I will only be too glad if I can excite in you the power of thinking for yourselves.... My ambition is to talk to men and women, not to sheep.

By men and women, I mean individuals. You are not little babies to drag all the filthy rags from the street and bind them up into a doll!

This is a place for learning! That man is placed in the university! He knows all about what Mr. Blank said!" But Mr. Blank said nothing! If I had the choice, I would ... say to the professor, "Get out! You are nobody!" Remember this individualism at any cost! Think wrong if you wish, no matter whether you get truth or not. The whole point is to discipline the mind. That truth which you swallow from others will not be yours. You cannot teach truth from my mouth; neither can you learn truth from my mouth. None can teach another.

You have to realize truth and work it out for yourself according to your own nature. ... All must struggle to be individuals--strong, standing on your own feet, thinking your own thoughts, realizing your own Self. No use swallowing doctrines others pass on--standing up together like soldiers in jail, sitting down together, all eating the same food, all nodding their heads at the same time. Variation is the sign of life. Sameness is the sign of death.

Once I was in an Indian city, and an old man came to me. He said, "Swami, teach me the way." I saw that that man was as dead as this table before me. Mentally and spiritually he was really dead. I said, "Will you do what I ask you to do? Can you steal? Can you drink wine? Can you eat meat?"

The man [exclaimed], "What are you teaching!"

I said to him, "Did this wall ever steal? Did the wall ever drink wine?"

"No, sir."

Man steals, and he drinks wine, and becomes God. "I know you are not the wall, my friend. Do something! Do something!" I saw that if that man stole, his soul would be on the way to salvation.

How do I know that you are individuals--all saying the same thing, all standing up and sitting down together? That is the road to death! Do something for your souls! Do wrong if you please, but do something! You will understand me by and by, if you do not just now. Old age has come upon the soul, as it were. It has become rusty. The rust must be [rubbed off], and then we go on. Now you understand why there is evil in the world. Go home and think of that, just to take off that rustiness!

(Collected from various lectures and talks from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda)

HAPPY REPUBLIC????

Hello everyone. Hope you had a wonderful weekend, coz the first day of the weekend was celebration of a National Holiday, and almost all Indians were heard saying, “wishing all of you a very Happy Republic Day.”

Happy??? Republic??? Sounds strange, doesn’t it?

For all the people who take pains to remember their country only on 2 days a year, it may sound very normal; but what about the one’s who live their life for the country? For those who have utmost faith in our Constitution? For those who seek justice and are deprived of the same? And for those who are victims of the failed system of our country?

For them, this day of Republic is merely a prank; a prank which the entire system plays to ridicule the people of the so-called “Republic of India”.

Incidentally, I came across some of the points mentioned in our Constitution, especially pertaining to Fundamental Rights mentioned in Part III, Article 14 to Article 32, which guarantees the 6 rights as below :

            * Right to equality

            *Right to freedom

            *Right against exploitation

          *Right to freedom of religion

      *Cultural & educational Rights

      *Right to Constitutional Remedies

Sadly enough, these rights are merely words written on the paper, having no real-life significance. In the past few months, we have seen all these rights getting snatched away from the common Indian citizen.

*When the Constitution itself mentions the Right to Equality, its our own government who creates divide among various sections of the society. The recent example being of the Home Minister, sushil kumar shinde, who called Hindus as “terrorists”, and when he was opposed for his allegations, the govt played a game of Divide & Rule by stating that shinde was opposed only because he is a dalit.

*Similarly, right to freedom has been ridiculed time and again by the same govt. For eg : Article 19, Part 2 gives the provision to assemble peacefully & without arms. But when people protest and gather to oppose the evil practices of the govt or for justice for a rape victim, they are trashed out by the police, thus depriving them of their basic fundamental right. And there are no actions taken when 50,000 terrorists from Bangladesh & Pakistan, along with the local goons riot in Azad Maidan, the biggest & the busiest area of Mumbai, with not even a single arrest. 

*Not to forget the Right against exploitation, which, the people are seldom aware of. People are so used to getting exploited that they don’t even know that there is a provision in the Constitution to fight against such evil. Infact, whenever people come forward to ask for any Right, the govt inflates the prices of the basic necessities, thus diverting the people’s attention.

*Another funny thing I came across, was the Right to Liberty mentioned in the Article 21. When a pervert called M.F.Hussain, made nude paintings of Gods, many liberals come in his defence, stating it as an art and the freedom to express. These same liberals are silent when actor Kamal Hassan made a film, Vishwaroopam, which created a controversy as it potrayed the members of a particular community in a “wrong” way. Why is it that liberalism applies only to express(or rather exploit) only one community, and not the other??? (Again ridiculing the Right to Equality)

It is said that Public Opinion is the key to run a successful democratic-republic state. There are various agencies which influence the public opinion in India, namely Political Parties, Press, Electronic Media, Radio, Public Platform, etc. Amongst them, the reality of the media, is known to the entire country. Free and impartial media, which was supposed to be the “Lighthouse of Democracy” is under serious hazard. What was seen in the newspaper of 26^th Jan, 2013 was anything but impartial. We saw almost 2/3^rd of all the newspaper displaying ads of the “success” & “achievements” of the current ruling party. (The biggest joke one can imagine on a Holiday), while half of the remaining 1/3^rd part was filled with ads related to offers in super-markets.

A few news channels which showed clips and facts related to the formation of the Republic of India, and its struggle, were in full praise of the ruling party, while many failures of the Republic were hidden from the people, as if what the electronic & print media will show will only be the ultimate truth. And it would have been so, had there not been social media. Social media, currently is the only Public Platform that is exposing the failure of Republic, without any pressure or influence.

When the media is been controlled by the anti-nationals, and the public opinion is manipulated, how can you rate the Republic as successful??? When common man has to fight for his basic rights, and still doesn’t get justice, how can you term the Republic as successful??? When the devils are sitting on the important positions of the system, how can the Republic be termed as successful??? When people are not free to express their views and when common man is brutally man-handled when he wants to oppose the evils of the govt, how can that Republic be successful???

It is been said that, “When injustice becomes law, Rebellion becomes duty”.

Sincere request to the govt of India to still come forward and accept your responsibility to turn this FAILED REPUBLIC into a successful DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, as mentioned in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, else a day will come when people will come forward to become the government by themselves.

JAI HIND

Assam Riots... The true picture

Apropos to the article that i read in DNA newspaper on 27th july, 2012. This was the first time i saw some news in relation to the Assam riots happening since last 6 days.

The article, very smartly mentions the heroic act of Bangladeshi infiltrator, who rescued his friend's children.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_shattered-by-violence-in-assam-brothers-just-cry-ask-for-missing-parents_1720228

). And i appreciate the act of humanity displayed by the man to save his friend's children and give them shelter. Humanity as a whole should learn from this person.

But what is shown by the media is just one side of the story. Media, which is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy, is just serving half-baked cakes to its readers, and viewers in case of electronic media

It is been reported that the riots in Kokrajhar and other places in Assam is a result of the clash between the local Bodo tribes and the minority community. But what is been hidden by our respected media and the honorable politicians is the fact that those minority community members are illegal immigrants from the neighboring country, Bangladesh.

These infiltrators have settled in large numbers from their native country and are spread cross the eastern parts of India in states like Assam, West Bengal, Mizoram, Orissa,etc.

But sadly, no action is been taken against them as they fulfill what is called as vote-bank quota in Indian politics. Rather, politicians see to it that they get Indian citizenship so that they get secured amount of votes from these "specially benefited" class.

It is been said that the main reason for riots is the growing population of these "outsiders" who want to conquer the land of the Bodo tribes so that they can settle in large numbers there. This had led to clashes in the past as well.

But since last week, the clashes has increased and taken a rather dangerous form resulting into killing of 41 people (according to govt statistics, real figures can be much more).The areas in which these outsiders dominated, has been turned into hell, where homes are burnt and people slaughtered like animals. It does not end here. They have even hoisted pakistani flag into those areas, which was been reported by Times Now channel.

Ref. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=450054975026481&set=a.382954501736529.92292.382860581745921&type=1&theater

Despite all these, where Assam is on the verge of becoming a second Kashmir, from where lakhs of Kashmiri pandits were thrown out of their land, the same situation has arised in Assam as well.

But it was the ignorance of media that played a major role during this incident. The media persons, who can generate information as to which actress wears which brand of inner wear and baths with which soap, ignored such a big incident.

It is said that a free and impartial press is the fourth pillar of Democracy. Sadly enough, when people were struggling for their lives and in a situation where local Indian residents were ruthlessly attacked by outsiders, the media was busy in showing the reports related to salary of the newly elected president of India and to promote porn star Sunny Leone.

Not just that, Rajdeep Sardesai editor-in-chief of IBN 18 Network, said on his blog that logistics wont be affordable to cover a news in which only 31 people died.

Ref. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=501962836496735&set=a.438652452827774.118225.275207822505572&type=1&theater

Did he meant that media would cover the news only when more than 1000 people die??? Following large amount of criticism, Rajdeep apologized for his irresponsible statement, but is this what one can expect from the so-called highly educated media. 

It is also said that the media purposely ignored this news because Assam is a congress-ruled state, and media is paid by the congress only to praise the later, not to bring out the truth. Had these riots been happening in a BJP-led state, the media by now, would have played the role of judiciary as well and created a large amount of hatred in the minds of the people like they did 10 years ago, when 2 communities clashed in Godhra, Gujarat. Not to mention that since last 10 years, Gujarat has never seen a riot again, but what about the congress and allies ruled states where riots take place very often. Many of the communal clashes are not even reported by the media. 

In case of Assam too, till the time outsiders were dominant, no strict action was taken by the govt nor did the media report. But since the night of 26th July, when Bodo tribe retaliated back and deaths of the outsiders are reported, it took less than 48 hours for the govt to deploy armed forces in the riot-affected districts of Assam. And then comes the media, who very smartly, on the tunes of the govt, presents a report that minorities have been ruthlessly attacked by the local community. CRAP!!!!

Today its Assam, tomorrow it can be my city or yours. If we dont unite against these outsiders and stop electing false candidates, who, for the sake of vote-bank, can even kill the motherland, we would be living in immense insecurity. 

And after all these, the only thing that comes up in the print and electronic media is that the riot was a Hindu-Muslim clash. But the truth is that those riots were Indian-Bangladeshi riots, which the ruling political party wants to hide as bangladeshis form a major chunk of their vote-bank. 

Thanks to the social networking sites which creates awareness of such incidents and exposes the shortcomings of the media and govt, Indians are still able to access reality. So its a request to please not blindly follow the paid media, but rather know the truth by themselves. 

An impartial media is the fourth pillar of democracy, so lets protect our democracy without depending on the paid and partial media. 

PN : The reports of the situation in Assam were provided by some of the locals on Assam via internet.

Holy Cow!!! More than just beef!

The morning of 31st May was a bit unusual than the other working days, as we had a holiday in the office following "Bandh", in opposition to the rise in soaring prices of petrol in India. Really, this jump of Rs. 7.50 in the petrol price is gonna affect the lives of the densely-populated middle class in an adverse way. So, irrespective of the political game, i decided to support the "bandh" and was happy that the office management was also supporting this decision. But this is not about the rising petrol prices as by now, most of the readers would be cooked up reading N no.of articles and blogs on it.

What caught my eye as i got up and took the newspaper in hand was the front page news published in DNA newspaper, which read, " Holy Cow! India to be largest beef exporter" (Ref : http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_holy-cow-india-to-be-largest-beef-exporter_1696024 )

In the land of the Vedas, where cows were considered wealth, it is not just shocking, but also disheartening  to read such news. Where Indians are not able to get adequate amount of pure cow milk and cow milk products, India would be exporting an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of beef in 2012. And these are the figures that would be exported, barring the amount of beef consumed locally. Though the article clearly states that "slaughter of cows and milk-producing buffaloes is banned under Indian Law", the world is fully aware of the execution of laws in India, where even the most corrupt are set free (No offences meant to disgrace the judicial system, sadly enough, this is the truth that every Indian lives with, day in and day out), but a raid on any slaughter house will show the actual no.of cows being slaughtered merely for the sake of meat.

There had been arguments that animals are meant for human consumption, but no.of reports have actually proved that animal meat increases the risk of cholesterol in the human body more than anything else. Also the amount of nutrition that we get from vegetables and fruits are much higher as compared to meat. Since meat is hard to digest, it increases pressure on our digestive system thus leaving us with weakness in the later years of life. But still, i do not oppose people from eating meat as it is purely their own choice.

Cows had been considered as Holy in the Hindu religious texts since times immemorial. It was not too long ago when cows were considered as wealth, and cattle raising was not a burden, but was considered duty by the youth of India. It was only after the foreign invasion that we forgot the importance of cow in our lives. Under the influence of mughals, followed by the british and now because of blind following of the western world, we have not started killing our "Holy Mother" but also selling its meat all across.

Many people would argue, " what to do with the cows who don't produce milk any more?? They are simply feeding grass and are difficult to take care of. So why not slaughter them and make some money out of their flesh???" To them, i would ask, "When your mother grows old, and will seek medication, will occupy a corner of your household, will you kill her and sell her flesh???" No need to mention what the obvious answer would be.

As far as preservation of cows is concerned, i had seen the best optimisation of cows at Sant Shri Asaramji Bapu Ashram at Ahmedabad and various other branches. They preserve thousands of cows in the stable, what is called as "Gou-Shala" in hindi. Hardly 20 % of the cows in these gou-shala's are milk producing, yet these gou-shala's run without accepting a single penny as donation. Rather the entire cost is covered by the by-products of cows namely Cow Urine (Gou-Mutra) and Cow Dung (Gobar). They produce various types of items made by these products and sell it, thus, cows recover the cost of Gou-Shala by themselves. Some of the products are :

1) Gou Zaran : It consists cow urine mixed with some ayurvedic medicines. Its consumption helps in getting rid of various diseases like Cancer, Diabetes, Cholesterol, Jaundice, Cough related diseases, headaches, and so on. Also, the same is available in tablet form.

2) Gou Sewa Dhoop Sticks : The dhoop sticks made out of cow dung, creates positive energy and reduces the effect of pollution, thus keeping our environment safe and healthy.

3) Panchgavya Soaps : Soaps made out of 5 products of cows like milk, ghee, curd, urine and dung, helps in keeping skin healthy and clean. Also the freshness that one experiences is better than any other soap in the market.

4) Gou Sewa Phenyl : Again, a phenyl made out of cow urine helps in cleaning floors and destroying harmful germs more than any other phenyl.

All these products are no secret, and well-known and used by the large no.of Indians. The only reason that many people are unaware of these products is because these are never marketed.

Cow is the only animal on earth whose urine and dung are considered as sacred because according to the Vedas, cow has the capacity to absorb special type of sun-rays called as "Gou-Kiran", which no other plant or living being absorbs. It is also said that cow milk contains lesser calories than buffalo milk, and is much healthier. The same is the case with milk products such as curd, ghee, buttermilk, made up of cow milk.

A prominent step had been taken in this regards by Gujarat CM, Narendra Modi, who introduced a law in Gujarat related to prohibit killing of cows and sentencing 7 year imprisonment to those who are caught killing the cows.

For those who advocate cow slaughter by considering the economy and stating that exporting beef helps in in-flow of foreign currency, i would say, "Try using the by-products of cow. When u benefit from the same, spend some money on marketing and i am sure, when the entire world benefits from it, you will never ever have the need to kill innocent cows."

Note : This blog is not created to hurt the feelings of anybody, but to create awareness of the benefits that can be achieved by saving innocent cows.

Important Tip : For pregnant women who are advised to go for caesarean operation - Take fresh cow dung, filtrate it by squeezing it in a cloth, and serve 12-18gm of the dung juice to the pregnant lady. In case if there is still pain, repeat the procedure after 30 minutes. There will never be the need to go for operation and delivery will be normal, irrespective of what the doctor's report says.The above tip is been tried and tested by thousands of females across India and is very successful tip from the Vedas.

                                          Choice is yours you want this :

                                                             
                                                                       OR This