B2B -- Back to Blogging

Hi There,

It is a thrilling feeling to get back to the blog site that I had created way back in 2009 and had pretty much forgotten about  all these long years. A lot of water has flown through the Main river / The Ganga / The Cooum (depending on where you live, that is) and all of us are pretty much different persons from what we had been from those times ... this is a pet theme of mine, that we are all evolving and so, we are not the same person who we were yesterday or last year or last decade ... me sounding so wise, no.. !!

Well, to come to the crux of the matter, just yesterday I had penned a piece titled "To B or Not To B" and was wondering where to post it. Now I have a place where I can call  MY OWN - my own pretty neat little corner where I can rant and rave and write whatever I want and not be ashamed of "oh!! what will they think" ... after all that is exactly the freedom that all bloggers are after, which is why they blog in the first place.

So, here I go... let me "copy-paste" the piece I had penned yesterday, heralding my re-entry into the blogging world.

To B or Not To B

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is said to have famously asked himself “To Be or Not to Be…” and ever since those times (or perhaps even long before Hamlet uttered those words), this profound existential question has been reverberating from many different men and women in many different corners of the world during very many different circumstances, symbolizing the perpetual dilemma that humanity has been thrown into. So much so that one Professor of Engineering Drawing is said to have asked a student of his “2B or not 2B” pointing to the pencil that the student was holding.

The dilemma that I have been mired into may sound very much like the famed Hamlet question, but actually it is slightly different – the “B” here standing for blogging, so by successfully applying the law of substitution, this question should be correctly expanded into “to blog or not to blog”

That brings us straight away to the moot question that has been holding me back all these weeks, months and even years from putting pen to my thoughts (or to be precise, from putting key-strokes to my musings) thereby tormenting the hapless creatures of the cyber-space with one more site that they should decide “to read or not to read” … so I am making life more complex and proving that the existential dilemma can have several more dimensions, not just of the “being” type but will at least include the “reading” type from now on.

Well, to cut a rather long preamble short, I have finally made up mind to write, at least from time to time, a short piece (or even a long piece) ranting away to glory on all topics under the sun, but most likely on topics concerning business, money, profits, organizations, management etc. and sometimes even regarding technology – appropriate and inappropriate, sustainable and unsustainable and so on and so forth

Writing is a very critical skill and has been part of the 3R that we have all been “educated” with – together with Reading and aRithmetic. However, simple while it may sound, WRITING is indeed rocket science and is not easy meat as one may tend to think. Although one may have written any number of long essays during the school days or any number of Lab reports during the Engineering days or any number of Case Analysis reports during the MBA days, writing still requires a certain nuanced skill that not everyone can claim to have mastered. Some scholars hold that it is a skill that you are either born with or not born with – meaning you cannot “acquire it” – but that can be debated.

One of the challenges that I faced when was toying with the “To B or Not To B” question was – “where do I begin” and thereafter “what do I focus on”? Not to blame me, when someone has put a finger into practically every conceivable area of business and technology over a period of three decades and then condescends to share the acquired wisdom with the wider world, one can easily get into the illusion that one can write on at least 100 different topics and still have some left in the shelf.

But then what one writes about should also be interesting to the reader, since blogging is not just about “writing” as it is about “reading” or “acquiring a readership following”, so of what use is a blog which no one other than the writer would read…? So, while I may claim expertise over 100 different topics, will the potential reader give me a thumbs up?  Or will I have egg on my face? So the risk perception applies a filter to the potential topics for the blog.

Hovering to the same topic of making a topic interesting, if someone writes on a topic that is widely well known, it may evoke a “so what.. I have already seen this elsewhere” type of response and on the other hand, if the topic is too esoteric, then it could again evoke a “who cares…never heard about it” type of response. So, blogging would end up being a tight-rope walk where one should write on topics that are already written about but presenting a new perspective, giving a new spin. So, here I thought I may have an advantage, having been a spin bowler during my cricketing days, I could still put my “spinning skills” to good use.

Not that I am totally new to blogging either. I had tried my hand at some or the other form of blogging since 2005 but all of them lost steam after a few initial posts. Perhaps, the topics that I had chosen during those attempts were not appropriate to sustain a long-haul momentum. Perhaps, I had not yet matured as a blogger. Perhaps there could have been a hundred other reasons.

Nevertheless, experience is a great teacher and every failure is a stepping stone to a higher success, as they say. So, here I am, after surviving a few failures in blogging, dusting myself off and standing up in the arena once again.   

So, here I am, having made up my mind to burden my fellow human beings with one more billboard to visit and one more place where they can post their “likes” (or “dislikes”??) and “comments”. Being the optimist that I am, I hope my readers will take kindly to me. Let me hope it will be another case of veni-vidi-vici or more appropriately veni-scripsi-vici (scripsi being the Latin for WROTE)

So, here is my Statutory Warning to the inmates of Blogosphere – Watch out, here I come…Beware!! 

Tenets of Sanathana Dharma figuring in unfair comparison with dogmas of other cults

This is a rebuttal of the post that I read on

http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/2009/02/on-fundamental-similarity-and-nature.html#comments

by my friend Animesh Pathak. I tried posting this comment there but was not able to.

I am responding to your challenge: "For now, I would like the Hindus to explain the "if your brother is not follwing dharma, kill him" teaching of the Geeta."
You agree that you have taken this out of context etc etc, and like most apologists of the islamic cult, you have uttered the cliched question "what is the guarantee that you did not take the kafir phrase out of conext?"

Let me address both.

As someone who has read the quran extensively - (of course I have read the translations, and not the ORIGINAL ARABIC - and I hope that you will not insist - like most apologists of the terror cult - that the quran CAN NOT BE translated and that it has to be read IN ORIGINAL to understand its context) - I would like to submit that there can be no text so full of venom for the "kafirs / non-believers" as the quran stands.

One can not discuss Theory of Relativity and Quantum Physics without having read a certain amount of books on the subject. One can not discuss any economic Theory without having some essential knowledge of economics. One can not, for that matter, comment on ANY SUBJECT without a certain minimum amount of the subject knowledge and this is true for the quran and the islamic cult also. So, if you wish to contradict me or prove me wrong on what I am saying in following paragraphs, you then have to spend a certain minimum time reading and understanding the origin of this cult, the history of the man who started this cult, the history of the followers of this cult ever since their origin, the book that they follow and all the works. I can claim with sufficient basis that I am qualified to comment on this subject by virtue of having spent at least SEVEN years reading all possible materials that I could get my hands on.
ISLAM IS VIOLENCE AND INJUSTICE EMBODIED - and all of this directed at non-muslims. PERIOD.

It is a differnt matter that there are millions of apologists who claim that it is "religion of peace" and that the extremists are "misinterpreting" islam etc. All this is simply hogwash and meant either to fool the reader or just to camaflouge the writer's ignorance or plain dishonesty, refusal to accept the truth - or a combination of these.

The matter is made even more complex because the quran, as one finds it today (1) was not written or compiled in ONE sitting by the prophet, (2) is not compiled in the same chronological order in which the verses were uttered and (3) have a lot of contradictory - contradictory at first reading - statements at various points in the text.

This complexity is to be overcome by (1) reading the quran together with what are known as Hadiths - which are notes on what the prophet had done and said in his real life - it is a sort of a biography, not a part of the quran itself and (2) by applying "the rule of abrogation" which is the rule that the latter verses "abrogate" or nullify the earlier verses, in the case of contradictory verses.

If one applied this rule, it becomes evident that all the so-called "peace-oriented" or "peace-loving" verses were uttered when the prophet was in his early years, still struggling in Mecca to find a foothold for his "new religion" and was in a position of weakness. On the other hand, all the violent verses, that explicitly call for the annihilation and destruction of the non-believers, were uttered when the prophet had established his domination in Medina and was on the upswing in terms of military and money power. Seen from this view, all the earlier "peace-loving" verses have been abrogated or nullified by the violent and outright unjust verses that were uttered in the later phase of his life and are therefore, of no use for any true "believing muslim".

On top of this, the muslims have a clearly outlined and clearly documented double-standards on what constitutes honesty - for muslims and non-muslims. It is perfectly game for a muslim to cheat on a non-muslim. It is perfectly game for a muslim to feign friendship with a non-muslim until the right time arrives when he can show his aggression against them (I am not saying all of this on my own - these are there for EVERYONE to see there in the quran - for anyone who cares to read the stuff). In fact, the quran very clearly states that a muslim is allowed to rape a non-muslim woman, even if she happens to be already married (to someone else) so long as she is not pregnant.

So, based on this strategy, it is perfectly in accordance with their code of ethics to mislead the non-believers by quoting the wrong verses and lulling the opponents to misbelieve that this is indeed a "peace-loving" religion.

So much for the cult that thrives on hatred and violence on people of other faiths. Let us turn to our own Sanathana Dharma.

It is a favourite gambit of Hindu-bashers to say that Hindu-tenets are as much violent as islam. There can be nothing farther from the truth than this piece of disinformation.
True, the Sanathana Dharma has very clear definition of what constitutes justice and what is injustice. It talks in terms of "dhaarmic" and "adhaarmic" deeds. But that is true of even secular laws - so if one wants to take issues with Sanathana Dharma only for this aspect, then one has to take issues with secular laws as well. This is just for starters.

The Bhagawath Geetha from which you have quoted - is NOT THE ONE AND ONLY book that the followers of the Sanathana Dharma follow. In fact, it is one of the later books, if one goes by the chronological order of when the Hindu books came into existence. Moreover, the Geetha is a book on when to wage war and for what purpose. It is not a piece of literature that was written to teach the basic elements of Sanathana Dharma - it is a practical guide on when to take up arms in defence of the Dharma - and it is addressed to that class of people whose duty it is to defend and protect the Dharma - that is the kshathriyas, the warrior community. Arjuna, as the representative of the Kshathriya, is being told on when to decide on action - meaning taking weapons into hand - and when not to.

Under the Hindu code of conduct, not every individual has been entrusted with the task of upholding and defending the Dharma - the Kshathriya is the one who has to do this and others have to simply follow the dhaarmic code and appeal for help from the Kshathriya in the event of being endangered by any "adhaarmic" act.

Also, the definition of what constitutes a "dhaarmic" act that attracts corporal punishment has been clearly elucidated - it DOES NOT include holding any opinion or any thought that is considered sinful. In this definition, even the atheists were perfectly within their rights to hold on to their atheistic views and even preach and propagate these openly. "Avaidic" traditions - that is, traditions that have repudiated the Vedas, have co-existed with the Vedic schools of thought for several millenia.

You can not see this kind of a co-existence happening in any of the other judea-christian religions - they all list blasphemy as a sin punishable with death. Blasphemy is a word unheard of in our Sanathana Dharma discourses. We imported this concept from the west.
In the Hindu Sanathana Dharma, one can talk ill of and abuse the Gods, the Vedas and just about anything under the sun. Though all these are considered bad and sinful, the punishment for such acts are not rendered by anyone on this earth - these are simply bad karma which the person committing these acts will have to account for, at some other point, either in this life or in some other future lifetime.

Thus, the "if your brother is not follwing dharma, kill him" teaching of the Geeta is NOT a universal message addressed to you and me and therefore, is entirely out of context and highly mischievous, while the "cutting the throat of the kafir is" VERY MUCH IN CONTEXT and NOT putting it out of context because it IS meant to be a universal rule that the "true believing" muslim has to live by.

The fact that not many muslims end up cutting the non-believers' throat in real life can be attributed to (1) ignorance on the part of most muslims regarding what their "holey text" really preaches, (2) where they live in a minority, fear of the secular law-enforcing agencies who will book them for murder, if they slit anyone's throat and (3) where they live in brute majority, the availability of other subtle and sophisticated means to keep the "non-believers" in place, so that slitting the throat is actually a very messy option.

Sanaathana Dharma - what have we done to uphold it

It is a shame to be called a Hindu - at least that is what most Hindus think, if you look at the way Hindus are being projected across the media in India and across the world in various fora. But the vast majority of practicing Hindus in India are largely unaware of this image that their ancient and sacred culture and tradition is beholden and when they do come across this viewpoint, it comes to them as a shock and horror. Then they recoil into self defence, trying to defend their culture and tradition, with the little tit-bits and pieces that they know about it, little realizing that this small amount of amateurish information is hardly sufficient to encounter the deeply indoctrinated and well orchestrated, well funded campaign that has spread this polluted image in the first place. Or they are apologetic about some of the known social evils that exist in India, confusing them to be the tenets of their Sanathana Dharma, thereby doing further disservice and damage to our tradition.

In this blog, I will try to write, from time to time, what I have understood about the most benign and benovelent cultures and traditions that the world has ever known, that is TODAY in grave danger of becoming extinct from the face of this earth.

I had started another blog almost four years back, in Nov. 2005 under the URL

http://vasuerfolg-sanathanadharma.blogspot.com

and I will endeavour to converge these two blogs and unify the contents as I move along.

You will hear from me in due time and quite often at that !!


A Sanathana Dharmee