Eternal Law

When we look at the Indian civilization, particularly the great Hindu tradition, we have the Vedas stretching back into the very dawn of history, the great inspired utterances of rsis in thousand upon thousands of beautiful mantras. We have the Upanisads, the Vedanta, representing the culmination of the Vedas both philosophically and chronologically. We have the Brahma-Satras, which give us an intellectual guide and key to the understanding of the Vedas. We have the Puranas, we have the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Nothing is more magnificent and beautiful than looking up at the sky on a moonless night, when you see thousands upon thousands of celestial bodies all glowing with inner power and light. But among these you will notice that there is one star that shines brighter than the others. It may not be bigger, it may not be closer, but it is the brightest star – what we know as the 'morning star' or as Venus. And as we look at this great galaxy of Hindu texts and scriptures, there is one star that shines brighter than the rest, and that is the Bhagavad-Gita. The Gita occupies a unique place. The Gita has a very special position. Adi Sankaracharya, in one of his memorable slokas, says that anyone who has tasted even a drop of amrta or who has understood even a little of the Bhagavad-Gita, need not have any fear of death. It has been commented upon by all the great philosophers, by Sankara and Madhva, by Ramanuja and Vallabhacarya, by Jnanesvra, and, in our own century, by Balgangadhar Tilak and Sri Aurobindo, by Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. In my view, after Sankaracharya’s commentary, Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita is the most luminous and magnificent of modern commentaries. The whole galaxy of leaders of our freedom movement were influenced by the Gita. What is the reason for this extraordinary popularity of the Gita and its relevance to modern times? As I see it, there are four main reasons why the Gita is so tremendously significant and relevant in this age, and why it is the best known of the Hindu scriptures along with the Bible and the Quran, one of the three most influential religious texts in the history of mankind. The first reason is that the Gita is born in a situation of conflict – in the very midst of the great Kuruksetra war. Both the armies are drawn up, the flight of missiles has begun, the conchshells have sounded, the clamour of war is tumultuous and the hearts of the participants are torn by the conflict. It is then that the Gita teaching comes to Gita is a scripture of conflict, whereas the Upanisads are set in a very calm and peaceful atmosphere. Let us remember that Kuruksetra is not only a plain in Haryana. The outer Kuruksetra is still there, of course, but the inner Kuruksetra is within each one of us. It is within our psyche that the asuri and daivi powers are drawn up in array against each other, and it is within the heart of our consciousness that this battle has constantly to be fought. Today, with the world poised on the brink of a mighty conflagration, it is a Kuruksetra situation and the Gita, a sahgharsa sastra (scripture of conflict), is what mankind requires, a stirring call to arms, not for personal aggrandizement, not even for national glory, but for the deeper, more difficult task of becoming an instrument of the divine will, a warrior for the divine cause, a fighter for the divine consciousness. That is the battle to which Sri Krishna calls us, and that is why man today, torn as he is in a situation of conflict, responds to the message of the Gita. The second reason for the importance and relevance of the Gita lies in the divine personality of the teacher. Every scripture has its guru, its acarya. The Mundaka Upanisad has Angiras, the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad has Yajnavalkya, and other seers and rsis are there. But in the Bhagavad-Gita it is the divine Lord Himself disguised in a human form who is talking to us. Sri Krishna can be looked upon in many different ways. In one view, he is the personification of the Brahman, the great power which, shining, causes everything else to shine, which illuminates everything that exists – tam eva bhantam anubhati sarvam, tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati (everything shines only after that shining light, his shining illumines all this world). In the Eleventh Chapter of the Gita, he appears in his great viratasvarupa in which everything that exists is to be found, and by the glory of which Arjuna is dazzled, as if a thousand suns had risen together upon the horizon.And yet this very Krishna comes before us in the Gita as a charioteer, as a guide, as one holding the reins of the chariot. We have God himself descended in the forms of the divine charioteer, and that is why when Sri Krishna speaks he does so with absolute and overriding authority, not simply from the human standpoint but from the divine. That is why the Gita is so significant, because it personalizes the Parabrahman (the highest god-consciousness of the Upanisads). The Upanisads say: Sarvam khalv idam brahma (all this is Brahman); the Gita says: Vasudevah sarvam iti (all this is Vasudevah, the supreme). So in the Gita the figure of Sri Krishna personifies that divine splendour and power which is described so beautifully in the Upanisads, and that is why it has a unique impact upon our minds and hearts.The third reason for the Gita's special importance lies in the relationship between the guru and the sisya. In the Hindu tradition this is a very intimate relationship. In the Upanisads the guru uses the term saumaya for disciple, meaning 'dearly beloved'; he looks upon the disciples as even more close to him than his own sons, because whereas the father only gives physical life the guru makes real spiritual birth possible. But in the Bhagavad-Gita there is a closeness between Arjuna and Krishna which is not, as far as I am aware, to be found in any other scripture. One of the most moving verses of the Bhagavad-Gita is when Arjuna, after he sees the viratasvarupa, says to Sri Krishna: 'I bow to you, I prostrate myself before you, and I demand grace from you. Like a father to his son, like a friend to his dear friend, like a lover to his beloved, do thou bear with me.' Where else in the scriptures of the world would you get this composite relationship; the love between a father and a son, between a friend and a dear friend, between a lover and the beloved, all combined in the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna. That is what makes it so significant. It is a relationship of trust, faith and devotion. Krishna is urging his friend, not threatening him. At the end of his entire teachings, Krishna says to Arjuna: yathe 'cchasi tatha kuru (do as you please). He says, in effect: 'I am not forcing you, I am not threatening you, I am not cajoling you. You asked me a question and I have shown you the path. It is now your decision, you have to do what you like. 'It is this aspect of the Gita which makes the teaching so significant and attractive, specially for the younger generations, because the youth, not only in India but throughout the world, is not prepared to be bullied or badgered by the older generation, or to accept their claim to superior wisdom or knowledge or morality. However, if we guide them with love, if we are friends with them, then perhaps we can influence them more effectively.A fourth reason for the importance of the Gita is its universal applicability. The Gita as a doctrine does not confine itself to any particular creed. In the Tenth Chapter, Sri Krishna is very clear: 'In whichever way people approach me, as long as they do it with faith, I make that resolve firm.' What an amazing assertion this is! Hinduism does not generally wish to make converts, because it is aware that the divine Atman is residing in all beings. Who is it ultimately that it will convert? The universal applicability of the Gita and its wide, all-embracing doctrine is extremely important. It is not a narrow creed. Again and again Sri Krishna in the Gita says that, whatever faith one may have, ultimately that worship will come to him. That is why the Gita has such a great appeal not only to Hindus but to genuine spiritual seekers whatever religion they may belong to.Let us turn now to the content of the Gita. It is multifaceted and many-dimensional; a single sloka can be taken up and developed for days as has been done by many commentators. But, briefly, I will place before you four major aspects of the teachings of the Gita which I consider to be particularly significant. The first is the theory of correct action. I have said that the Gita is a sangharsa sastra and the problem in war is: what is to be done? Indeed, at any given point of time in our lives, whether we are students or in business or in politics or in any other field of life, the question always is: what is to be done, what is our kartavyam karma?This is the most difficult of all questions. The Gita itself realizes this, and at one point Sri Krishna says: Gahana karmano gatih (Thick and tangled is the way of action). The theory of correct action in the Gita revolves around a single concept; that action should not be purely for selfish purposes, although the self is obviously involved; it should not be simply as a necessary evil, because we have to act. Action must be a positive, joyous, affirmative action, it must be an offering to the divine. This is the important point. It does not really matter what it is we are doing; what is important is the psychological and spiritual input into that action. In the Eighteenth Chapter there is a very important sloka which says that by worshipping through one's action, the divinity that pervades the entire cosmos man moves toward perfection.So there you have the answer. It has to be an action which is skilful, which is efficient, but which tries to avoid obsession, because obsessive action can easily become self-negating. If the action is detached, there is an inner freedom and inner dedication and you do not become obsessed. I have met so many people in my life, particularly in politics, people of great gifts; but they become so obsessed with their action and the result of the actions that ultimately they destroy themselves as human beings. We must have involvement without attachment and commitment without obsession. It is a very difficult path. Involvement we need, but without attachment. If you do not get involved, then you are evading your responsibility; but if you get attached, you are distorting your consciousness. Similarly commitment without obsession, that is the special type of action that the Gita gives us.There is a story about the building of the great Brhadisvara temple a thousand years ago by Raja Chola in Tanjavur, probably the most beautiful temple in India. The king one day decided to go and inspect the work; so he drove to the temple site, got out of his chariot and walked towards where this temple was being built. He came across a man who was cutting stones, and he asked him: 'What are you doing?' The man said: 'Sir, I am cutting stones.' He went a little further, and there was another man who was doing the same thing. He said: 'What are you doing?' The man answered: 'Sir, I am earning a living.' He went further and came to a third person who was doing exactly the same thing. He asked: 'What are you doing?' He said: 'Sir, I am building a great temple.' Now you will see the difference in attitude. They were doing exactly the same thing, they were getting exactly the same wages. But the first man was mechanically performing a task, he had no greater consciousness. The second one had a slightly broader vision, he had the problem of his family and was earning for them. The third one was earning for his family certainly, but he had the broad vision that he was building a great temple to Lord Shiva. That illustrates what I mean by the theory of correct action. Whatever you may be doing, it does not really matter as long as you are doing it with inner dedication and devotion, and as long as you are using action itself as a powerful means of spiritual development. This is the first major teaching of the Gita, the theory of correct action.Secondly, there is the theory of an integrated yoga that the Gita places before us, the four yogas, the four paths to divine union – Jnana-yoga, the way of wisdom, of intellectual discrimination; Bhakti-yoga, the way of emotional outpouring towards a personalized image of the divine; Karma-yoga, the way of dedicated action; and Raja-yoga, the way of psychic discipline, of Pranayama, the discipline of breathing control, and the development of the kundalini sakti (serpent power) within us. These are the four main types of yogas that we have in our tradition, and for each there are scriptures which deal with various aspects. Thus, for the Jnana-yoga we have the Upanisads; for the Karma-yoga we have the Karma-kanda; for the Bhakti-yoga we have the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Siva Purana and other Puranas; and for the Rajayoga we have Patanjali's Yoga-Sutras and other texts. But the Gita is unique in that, in the short compass of 700 slokas, it integrates these four yogas into a single, unified path.The Gita points out that it is no longer enough for us to follow only one of these paths. In the old days, if you were jnani you could go off into the mountains in Kashmir and sit there for the rest of your life meditating, but that is not good enough for the Kali-yuga. In the old days, if you were a bhakta, you could spend the whole of your life going around doing kirtan. If you were a Raja-yogi, you could sit in your-own asrama and develop your powers. If you were a Karma-yogi, you could wander around doing good deeds. But it is not enough now for us to be one of these; we have to be all four. Every individual has to develop his mind, his heart, his physical capacity and his inner spiritual power, and that is the important message of the Gita. It brings us to what Sri Aurobindo calls purnayoga, an integrated yoga. I am often asked about caste, and I say that whatever importance caste may have had at one time, today everyone of us has to have the gunas (qualities) of all the four castes. We need the knowledge and learning of the Brdhmana; the valour and patriotism of the Ksatriya; the commercial acumen and ability of the Vaisya; and the capacity for physical service and work of the Sudra. Each one of us has to combine these four qualities, if we are really to be able to move forward in this age of iron, the Kali-yuga.Thirdly, there is in the Gita a repeated reassurance of divine intervention. You are familiar with the popular sloka where Sri Krishna says that from age to age, whenever unrighteousness flourishes and dharma is about to disappear, he will assume human form for the destruction of the evil-doers and re-establishment of the dharma. This is an assurance given to all humanity, and, if we read the Gita with an open mind and have faith in it and Sri Krishna, we must accept this assurance at its face value. It is not simply a bit of hyperbole in which he was indulging. Somebody introducing me to someone mentioned that I have been a minister. As you know, when a minister makes an assurance in the House, everybody holds him to it. I think today the time has come when we have got to ask Sri Krishna why he is not fulfilling the assurance that he gave us. Surely, if we need the divine, the divine also in some way needs us. Sri Krishna had the Sudarsana Cakra (thousand-spoked discus), he could have used it and finished the war himself. Why did he not do it? He also needed Arjuna, may be nimittamatram but he needed the nimitta; otherwise, he could not have won the war of Mahabharata, at least not in the way it was won.Perhaps this is a new thought that I am putting into your mind. If we need the divine, does the divine not need us? Does the supramental power, does the greater consciousness that is seeking to descend or to emerge not need active co-operation from us? I think it does, and I make bold to say that, as Sri Aurobindo puts it, without an aspiration from below there will not be an answering call from above. And that is why it is so important that we shun the attitudes of dejection, despair and negativism that one finds so often in India; people constantly bemoaning and bewailing their lot and saying that the country is going to the dogs and that everything is breaking down. It is no use moaning and groaning like that, it will get us nowhere. We have to arise and be ready to fight the battle of existence. If our lives end before it is completed, so what? We had had thousands of lives before, and we will have thousands more. The Atman, as the Gita says, cannot be burnt, cannot be cut, cannot be drowned, cannot be cleaved. But we must have faith; faith in our own inner capacity and in the assurance of no less a person than Sri Krishna.I have spoken of the theory of correct action, of the integration of the four yogas, the four paths to spiritual development, of the repeated assurance of divine intervention. Finally, we come to the Gita's gospel of total surrender to the divine. Ultimately, at the end of the entire discourse, after Sri Krishna has said yathe 'cchhasi tatha kuru, once again he speaks; without a question this time, he speaks on his own. All the rest of his speeches were in response to questions from Arjuna, but the last statement of Sri Krishna is suo moto. And he says: Sarvadharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja, aham tva sarvapapebhyo moksaisyami ma sucah. What a beautiful sloka this is!What is dharma? Dharma comes from the root dhr, that which supports. in the final analysis, what is it that supports human consciousness? It is not wealth, it is not position, it is not political power, howsoever important these may appear to us. Ultimately, it is the divine consciousness that supports us, that supports our very existence. Therefore, Sri Krishna urges us to give up all other supports and come alone to him. Sri Krishna speaking as the divine himself says...'l will free you from all sins. Do not fear' – ma sucah. How much love there is in those two words 'fear not'. When a child is to go into a dark room with the parent behind, the parent says: 'Do not be afraid, I am here; go ahead.' These words ma sucah in a way sum up the entire message of the Gita. Let us not be afraid, and let us give up all lesser supports so that ultimately we get the one true support, the only thing that can support the growth and development of the higher consciousness, the grace of the divine. Sri Krishna's flute is still playing in Vrndavana. We may not be able to hear it because our ears are so full of the clamour and noise of daily living, and the conflicts and the tensions around us, but it is still playing. And Sri Krishna is still there as the charioteer riding with us in our own higher consciousness. We do not have to back to Kuruksetra, we do not have to go back to Arjuna. Sri Krishna is with us always, provided we have ears to listen, provided we have eyes to see, provided we do not get totally blinded and deafened by the outer material conflicts which surround us. The outer is also important, but ultimately it is he whose inner consciousness is firmly centred in the divine alone will be able to meet the conflicts that lie ahead.The conflicts are there. There is no easy path to greatness or to spiritual realization, either individual or collective. We must always remember the Vedic exhortation: Caraiveti, Caraiveti (Move on, Move on). Imagine human consciousness as a great current that is flowing down through the dark channels of time. If we do not swim upwards against the stream, we will be carried down to the rapids and the waterfalls below. There can be no standing still for man. Man is a transitional being, half way between the animal and the divine. Man's destiny is to move onwards to the next stage of evolution, for then only can our divine nature be fully developed. But, in order to move upwards, we have to struggle. If we have faith and reverence, then, with the sound of the divine flute echoing in our ears and the voice of the divine charioteer resounding in our hearts, we can move resolutely onwards towards the divine destiny that awaits us. That, in essence, is the message of the Gita. - Dr. Karan Singh

Purpose of Human Life - To Understand the message of Bhagavad Gita and to love with faith that God, Allah, The father ... whatever you want to call that one and only one Krishna (personal form of impersonal formless Brahman).

I liked this reply! If without reading Quran or Quantum Physics(for example) even once....i keep on repeating ...i don't undertsand it....i don't understand what you are saying..that would be little silly. Sanatana Dharam's philosphy is far more complex , wide and deeper than 50 pages book based religions.....I am not surprised if a person is finding it littlebit difficult to understand who never read Bhagavad Gita , Upanishads.....not even Ramayana and Mahabharta.

It's Ok True

I don't know why are you quoting just one line from my whole para. I said i don't want to give usual replies which people of other religion gives...Did i say you are wrong to ask this? Why should i review? Why you always ask same things again? Yes, i said that in plain simple English.

The History of Yogi Isha Messiah-Jesus the Christ The spiritual training of Jesus In the Himalayan fastnesses Jesus was instructed in yoga and the highest spiritual life, receiving the spiritual name "Isha," which means Lord, Master, or Ruler, a descriptive title often applied to God, as in the Isha Upanishad. Isha is also a particular title of Shiva. The worship of Shiva centered in the form of the natural elliptical stone known as the Shiva Linga (Symbol of Shiva) was a part of the spiritual heritage of Jesus, for His ancestor Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, was a worshipper of that form. The Linga which he worshipped is today enshrined in Mecca within the Kaaba. The stone, which is black in color, is said to have been given to Abraham by the Archangel Gabriel, who instructed him in its worship. Such worship did not end with Abraham, but was practiced by his grandson Jacob, as is shown in the twenty-eighth chapter of Genesis. Unwittingly, because of the dark, Jacob used a Shiva Linga for a pillow and consequently had a vision of Shiva standing above the Linga which was symbolically seen as a ladder to heaven by means of which devas (shining ones) were coming and going. Recalling the devotion of Abraham and Isaac, Shiva spoke to Jacob and blessed him to be an ancestor of the Messiah. Upon awakening, Jacob declared that God was in that place though he had not realized it. The light of dawn revealed to him that his pillow had been a Shiva Linga, so he set it upright and worshipped it with an oil bath, as is traditional in the worship of Shiva, naming it (not the place) Bethel: the Dwelling of God. (In another account in the thirty-fifth chapter, it is said that Jacob "poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon." This, too, is traditional, both milk and honey-which Shiva promised Moses would flow abundantly in Israel-being poured over the Linga as offerings.) From thenceforth that place became a place of pilgrimage and worship of Shiva in the form of the Linga stone. Later Jacob had another vision of Shiva, Who told him: "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me." A perusal of the Old Testament will reveal that Bethel was the spiritual center for the descendants of Jacob, even above Jerusalem. Although this tradition of Shiva [Linga] worship has faded from the memory of the Jews and Christians, in the nineteenth century it was evidenced in the life of the stigmatic Anna Catherine Emmerich, an Augustinian Roman Catholic nun. On several occasions when she was deathly ill, angelic beings brought her crystal Shiva Lingas which they had her worship by pouring water over them. When she drank that water she would be perfectly cured. Furthermore, on major Christian holy days she would have out-of-body experience in which she would be taken to Hardwar, a city sacred to Shiva in the foothills of the Himalayas, and from there to Mount Kailash, the traditional abode of Shiva, which she said was the spiritual heart of the world. Isha's life in India For the next few years the Himalayas became Jesus' well-travelled home. During part of that time Jesus meditated in a cave north of the present-day city of Rishikesh, one of the most sacred locales of India, and also on the banks of the Ganges in the holy city of Hardwar. In the years He spent in the Himalayas, He attained the supreme heights of spiritual realization. Having attained perfect inner wisdom in the Himalayas, Jesus journeyed to the Gangetic plain to engage in the formal study that would prepare Him for the public teaching of Sanatana Dharma both in India and in the countries between India and Israel as well as in Israel itself. First he went to live in Benares, the spiritual heart of India, the city most consecrated to the worship of Shiva and the major center of Vedic learning in all of India. During His time in the Himalayas, Jesus' endeavors had been centered almost exclusively on the practice of yoga. In Benares Jesus engaged in intense study of the spiritual teachings embodied in the Vedic scriptures-especially the books of spiritual philosophy known as the Upanishads. He then journeyed to the sacred city of Jagannath Puri, which at that time was a great center of the worship of Shiva, second only to Benares. In Puri Jesus officially adopted the monastic life and lived some time as a member of the Govardhan Math,the monastery founded three centuries before His birth by the foremost philosopher-saint of India known as Adi Shankaracharya. There He perfected the synthesis of yoga, philosophy, and renunciation, and eventually began to publicly teach the Eternal Knowledge. As a teacher Jesus was as popular as He was proficient in teaching, and gained great notoriety among all levels of society. However, because He insisted that all men should learn and be taught the meaning of the Vedas and their allied scriptures and began teaching the "lower" castes accordingly, as well as teaching that all could attain spiritual perfection without the intermediary of external, ritualized religion, He incurred the hatred of many religious "professionals" in Puri who began to plot His death. Since "His hour was not yet come," He left Puri and returned to the Himalayas where He again spent quite some time in meditation, preparing Himself for His return to Israel. He also lived in various Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayan region, studying the wisdom of the Buddha. Before beginning the long journey westward, instructions were given Him regarding His mission in the West and the way messages could be sent between Jesus and His Indian teachers. Jesus was aware of the form and purpose of His life and death from His very birth, but it was the Indian Masters who made everything clear to Him regarding them. They promised Jesus that He would be sent a container of Himalayan Balsam to be poured upon His head by a close disciple as a sign that His death was imminent, even "at the door." When Saint Mary Magdalene performed this action in Bethany, Jesus understood the unspoken message, saying: "She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying." Return to India-not ascension It is generally supposed that at the end of His ministry in Israel Jesus ascended into heaven. But Saint Matthew and Saint John, the two Evangelists that were eye-witnesses of His departure, do not even mention such a thing, for they knew that He went to India after departing from them. Saint Mark and Saint Luke, who were not there, simply speak of Jesus being taken up into the heavens. The truth is that He departed into India, though it is not unlikely that He did rise up and "fly" there. This form of travel is not unknown to the Indian yogis. That Jesus did not leave the world at the age of thirty-three was written about by Saint Irenaeus of Lyon in the second century. He claimed that Jesus lived to be fifty or more years old before leaving the earth, though he also said that Jesus was crucified at the age of thirty-three. This would mean that Jesus lived twenty years after the crucifixion. This assertion of Saint Irenaeus has puzzled Christian scholars for centuries, but if we put it together with other traditions it becomes comprehensible. Basilides of Alexandria, Mani of Persia, and Julian the Emperor said that Jesus had gone to India after His crucifixion.

According to the religion of Vedanta, the incarnation of God means the embodiment of divine qualities and divine powers. It takes place whenever and wherever such a manifestation is necessary. The Lord Krishna, in speaking of divine incarnations, said:‘Wherever true religion declines and irreligion prevails and whenever the vast majority of mankind, forgetting the highest ideal of life, travel on the path of unrighteousness which leads to the bottomless abyss of ignorance, and sorrow, the Supreme Being manifests His divine powers to establish righteousness and true spirituality, by assuming a human form and living in our midst, but at the same time showing to all that He is the real master of nature and absolutely free from all the bondages of the world and its laws’. Ordinary people, whose spiritual eyes are not open, may not see the difference that exists between his actions and those of a common mortal and may treat him like an ordinary man; but those, who are highly advanced in spirituality, who understand the true nature of the individual soul and of God and of their mutual relation, see the difference at once, recognize his divinity and worship him as the ideal embodiment of divine powers and divine qualities. Lord Krishna, says in the Bhagavad Gita: ‘People who are deluded by My mysterious power of maya, do not know Me as unborn and unchanging; I am not manifest to them. They unintelligently regard Me in the light of an ordinary being with a material form which is the result of past actions, and know not that I assume at will glorious and holy forms for the protection of the world’.

One of THE BEST sites on Sanatana Dharma Atmajyoti.org

Pseudo-secular Congress govt. of Hindu dominated India should learn from these SECULAR but Christian dominated countries. These countries never compromise with Christianity and indirectly they are always supporting Christian cause whereas Indian govt. is never interested in supporting Hindus who are suffering in Russia, Pakistan , Bangladesh or elsewhere.. just for vote bank politics.

Thank You, Let me post that link for easy connection, www.hindudharmaforums.com

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/22spec.htm Things have become very difficult here after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its fundamentalist allies came to power in 2001," he says. "It has become increasingly difficult for a Hindu to walk the streets of Dhaka with his head held high." The ruling coalition -- it includes the Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote, and the Naziur faction of the Jatiya Party -- led by the BNP's Khaleda Zia won 209 of the 300 seats in the nation's single-House parliament. All three coalition partners advocate the imposition of Sharia, or Islamic law, in Bangladesh. The Jamaat reportedly endorses the activities of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, and is know for its strident anti-Indian stand.

Om in the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Yoga Sutras www.atmajyoti.org/med_om_in_upanishads.asp

I agree, guests should not be allowed to post. It just take less than a minute to register!!

Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) aide-de-camp to George Washington and first secretary of the Treasury, epitomized this attitude in these words: "When we read in the valuable production of those great Oriental scholars...those of a Jones, a Wilkings, a Colebrooke, or a Halhed, - we uniformly discover in the Hindus a nation, whose polished manners are the result of a mild disposition and an extensive benevolence." Christopher W. B. Isherwood (1904-1986) Translator, biographer, novelist, and playwright."I believe the Gita to be one of the major religious documents of the world. If its teachings did not seem to me to agree with those of the other gospels and scriptures, then my own system of values would be thrown into confusion, and I should feel completely bewildered. The Gita is not simply a sermon, but a philosophical treatise." David Frawley."The Hindu mind represents humanity's oldest and most continuous stream of conscious intelligence on the planet. Hindu sages, seers, saints, yogis and jnanis have maintained an unbroken current of awareness linking humanity with the Divine since the dawn of history, and as carried over from earlier cycles of civilization in previous humanities unknown to our present spiritually limited culture." "The Hindu mind has a vision of eternity and infinity. It is aware of the vast cycles of creation and destruction that govern the many universes and innumerable creatures within them.". Muhammad Dara Shikoh (1627-1658 AD) the favorite Sufi son of Moghul emperor, Shah Jehan. "After gradual research; I have come to the conclusion that long before all heavenly books, God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Rishis of yore, of whom Brahma was the Chief, His four books of knowledge, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda." "The Quran itself made veiled references to the Upanishads as the first heavenly book and the fountainhead of the ocean of monotheism." Klaus L. Klostermaier, Professer Religious Studies at the University of Manitoba. Hinduism has proven much more open than any other religion to new ideas, scientific thought, and social experimentation. Many concepts like reincarnation, meditation, yoga and others have found worldwide acceptance. It would not be surprising to find Hinduism the dominant religion of the twenty-first century. It would be a religion that doctrinally is less clear-cut than mainstream Christianity, politically less determined than Islam, ethically less heroic than Buddhism, but it would offer something to everybody. It will appear idealistic to those who look for idealism, pragmatic to the pragmatists, spiritual to the seekers, sensual to the here-and-now generation. Hinduism, by virtue of its lack of an ideology and its reliance on intuition, will appear to be more plausible than those religions whose doctrinal positions petrified a thousand years ago. Sylvain Levi (1863-1935) French scholar, Orientalist who wrote on Eastern religion, literature, and history. "From Persia to the Chinese Sea, 'from the icy regions of Siberia to the islands of Java and Borneo, from Oceania to Socotra, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales and her civilization." "She has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim in universal history the rank that ignorance has refused her for a long time and to hold her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity." Solange Lemaitre author of several books, including Le Mystère de la mort dans les religions d'Asie and Râmakrishna et la vitalité de l'hindouism "The civilization of India, at root purely religious, is only now becoming known in Europe; and as the mystery surrounding it is unveiled it emerges as one of the highest achievement in the history of mankind. By the very breadth of the outlook it affords on to the destiny of man the Vedic religion offers in abundance the spiritual experience that has inspired the Indian people since the dawn of their history. The vocation of India is to proclaim to the world the efficacy of religious experience." Stephen Cross, in his book on Hinduism, pg 1, says, "It is no secret that we in the West live in a time of spiritual crisis. Western civilization has been guided by Christianity. Now it appears that this period is drawing to a close. Both religious institutions and social structures are in disarray. A great many things that were considered basic assumptions of western thought are being challenged. The reality of the external world, the soul, the linear nature of time. W. J. Grant "India indeed has a preciousness which a materialistic age is in danger of missing. Some day the fragrance of her thought will win the hearts of men. This grim chase after our own tails which marks the present age cannot continue for ever. The future contains a new human urge towards the real beauty and holiness of life. When it comes Hinduism will be searched by loving eyes and defended by knightly hands." <!-- Signature --> Robert R. C. Zaehner (1913-1974) British historian of religion. "In the family of religions, Hinduism is the wise old all-knowing mother. Its sacred books, the Vedas, claim, 'Truth is one, but sages call it by different names.' If only Islam, and all the rest of the monotheistic 'book' religions, had learned that lesson, all the horror of history's religious wars could have been avoided. Which other religion has its God say, as Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, 'All paths lead to me.' "If only the Church had the sense to allow so many different and seemingly contradictory approaches to God, how much saner its history would have been!" "It was the sublime ancient tolerance of Hinduism that he often stressed, that was the true proof of the wisdom and mature dignity of the Hindu tradition." Vecente Avelino who was the Consul General for Brazil in India in 1930 . "India is the only country which has known God and if anyone wants to know God he must know India." B B Lal (1921- ) On joining the Archaeological Survey in January 1946, he held charge of the Excavations Branch and participated with Sir Mortimer Wheeler in the excavations at Harappa, now in Pakistan. In 1951 he was deputed for advanced studies at the Institute of Archaeology, London. In 1961, under a UNESCO project, he conducted excavations in Nubia, Egypt, and brought to light valuable evidence relating to prehistoric and protohistoric periods of that country. "The great civilization of the Indian subcontinent, has had its roots deep in antiquity, some seven to eight thousand years ago, and its flowering in the third millennium B.C. still lives on. In contrast, when we look round the world we are surprised by the fact that the Egyptian and Mesopotamia civilizations that flourished alongside this Indic Civilization have all disappeared, leaving hardly any trace behind. Why? The Indian psyche has indeed been pondering over this great cultural phenomenon of 'livingness', and this quest.." " What is that ‘something’, some inherent strength? Doubtless it lies in the liberal character of the Indian civilization, which allows for cross-fertilization with other cultures, without losing its own identity. Even time (kala), the great devourer, has stood testimony to the fact that the deep foundations of Indian culture could not be shaken either by internal upheavals, however great may have been their magnitude.... the soul of India lives on!" General Joseph Davey Cunningham (1812-1851) author of A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej says: "Mathematical science was so perfect and astronomical observations so complete that the paths of the sun and the moon were accurately measured. The philosophy of the learned few was perhaps for the first time, firmly allied with the theology of the believing many, and Brahmanism laid down as articles of faith the unity of God, the creation of the world, the immortality of the soul, and the responsibility of man. The remote dwellers upon the Ganges distinctly made known that future life about which Moses is silent or obscure, and that unity and Omnipotence of the Creator which were unknown to the polytheism of the Greek and Roman multitude, and to the dualism of Mithraic legislators, while Vyasa perhaps surpassed Plato in keeping the people tremblingly alive to the punishment which awaited evil deeds." Alan Watts(1915-1973) a professor, graduate school dean and research fellow of Harvard University: "To the philosophers of India, however, Relativity is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to people used to thinking of time in millions of kalpas, (A kalpa is about 4,320,000 years). The fact that the wise men of India have not been concerned with technological applications of this knowledge arises from the circumstance that technology is but one of innumerable ways of applying it." "It is, indeed, a remarkable circumstance that when Western civilization discovers Relativity it applies it to the manufacture of atom-bombs, whereas this Oriental civilization applies it to the development of new states of consciousness." Professor Arthur Holmes (1895-1965) geologist, professor at the University of Durham. He writes regarding the age of the earth in his great book, The Age of Earth (1913) as follows: "Long before it became a scientific aspiration to estimate the age of the earth, many elaborate systems of the world chronology had been devised by the sages of antiquity. The most remarkable of these occult time-scales is that of the ancient Hindus, whose astonishing concept of the Earth's duration has been traced back to Manusmriti, a sacred book."When the Hindu calculation of the present age of the earth and the expanding universe could make Professor Holmes so astonished, the precision with which the Hindu calculation regarding the age of the entire Universe was made would make any man spellbound. Count Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) was a Belgian writer of poetry, a wide variety of essays. He won the 1911 Nobel Prize for literature. In his book Mountain Paths, says: "he falls back upon the earliest and greatest of Revelations, those of the Sacred Books of India with a Cosmogony which no European conception has ever surpassed." Huston Smith born in China to Methodist missionaries, a philosopher, most eloquent writer, world-famous religion scholar who practices Hatha Yoga. He has said in Hinduism: “The invisible excludes nothing, the invisible that excludes nothing is the infinite – the soul of India is the infinite.”“Philosophers tell us that the Indians were the first ones to conceive of a true infinite from which nothing is excluded. The West shied away from this notion. The West likes form, boundaries that distinguish and demarcate. The trouble is that boundaries also imprison – they restrict and confine.” “India saw this clearly and turned her face to that which has no boundary or whatever.” “India anchored her soul in the infinite seeing the things of the world as masks of the infinite assumes – there can be no end to these masks, of course. If they express a true infinity.” And It is here that India’s mind boggling variety links up to her infinite soul.” “India includes so much because her soul being infinite excludes nothing.” It goes without saying that the universe that India saw emerging from the infinite was stupendous.” "While the West was still thinking, perhaps, of 6,000 years old universe – India was already envisioning ages and eons and galaxies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. The Universe so vast that modern astronomy slips into its folds without a ripple.”<!-- Signature -->