animesh

Muslims also don't accept that God has form. They also deny it, but in their Koran it has been written that God has made man in His image. This is completely wrong. I have read Quran. Koran says that God created man in best image. It does not say "His image". Some people may argue that God's image should only be the best image. But this explanation may not be correct. It is possible that here best means the best among all creeatures on Earth. Lest somebody should think that according to Quran, man has been made in God's image, Quran clearly says that one can never say how God looks: - "Invent not similitudes for Allah. for Allah knoweth, and ye know not. (16.74)" The following verse says that no-one including man looks like Allah "(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle: by this means does He multiply you: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things)." (42.11)

I don't know if instinct is because of Parmatma residing in one's body or because of some other reason. But I agree that this is a possible explanation. However, there is one thing I really hate is the oft-repeated comment made by devotees that scientists use their imperfect senses. I have lost count of how many times I have seen this comment. Do they want to say that they do not use their senses? Or, do they want to say that their senses are perfect? If they feel that their opinion is not because of their imperfect senses, then let me point out that this feeling is also because of imperfect senses.

I don't know if instinct is because of Parmatma residing in one's body or because of some other reason. But I agree that this is a possible explanation. However, there is one thing I really hate is the oft-repeated comment made by devotees that scientists use their imperfect senses. I have lost count of how many times I have seen this comment. Do they want to say that they do not use their senses? Or, do they want to say that their senses are perfect? If they feel that their opinion is not because of their imperfect senses, then let me point out that this feeling is also because of imperfect senses.

Very clever . If you multiple any number by 9 and subtract 5 from the result, then sum of the digits of the number you get will be 4. 4th letter is D. BTW, when I thought of the colour of elephant, I thought "black".

Night must have just passed in Dehli.I wonder if monkey-man returned. Monkey man is attacking daily. Yesternight also one woman was attacked.

We can't and should not stop a free flow of ideas. Are the ideas really free flow? Please see in India how the conversion is being done. In my home town, their is a school whose principal is a Christian. Holidays are given in that school on any Christian festival. But no holiday is given on Hindu and Muslim festivals. It can be justified if it is a Christian school. It is not. Just the Principal is a Christian. When the school was registered, then it was given a list of days which had to be declared as holidays. But that is not followed. So, it is illegal also. From time to time money is collected from children in the guise of taking them to some picnic. They are taken to churches and asked to pray there. If some child does not go, then the money is added to his/her school fees. Not only this, very often in classroom, fun is made of lords Ganesha and Hanuman. This is not hear-say. I have personally talked to some of students there as I know them. Please do not think that the incident I have cited is any exception. Those who convert to Christianity are always given undue advantage by the missionaries. One day I read that missionaries went to a village. They had a statue of Krishna and another of Jesus. The statue of Krishna was made of metal and that of Jesus was made of wood. Both were submerged in water. The statue of Krishna sank while that of Jesus could float. Then villagers were told that their God (Krishna) could not be actual God because He sank. Is this what we should call as free flow of ideas?

Myself, I like the idea that they are offering incense and garlands to Mary and Jesus.I hope that will spread to Christians world wide.But they also need to add Vishnu-tattva and not keep the Supreme Father and Friend of all so behind the scenes. I disagree. Why are they not offering incense and garlands to Mary and Jesus in already existing chirches? Why do they do this only in those places where there are no or very few Christians? This means that the aim of missionaries is to increase the percentage of people who will call themselves as Christians. The real danger is that impersonalism becomes dragged into the mix. I did not understand exactly what you are trying to say. There may lay a great oppurtunity for Indian Vaisnavas.Those newly 'converted'Christians maybe persuaded to add Vishnu to their worship along with Christ and Mary. Do you really think that this is the aim of missionaries? Afterall Srila Prabhupada stated that Mary is representitive of Radharani ... Missionaries are interested in conversion not because they think that Mary is representative of Radharani. As I wrote above, they just want to increase the no. of Christians in the world. "Yes worship the Son and Mother, but why neglect the Father" is a question we could put to them. They are making temples of Mary and Jesus. This proves that their aim is not to teach Vishnu tattva. Their method of conversion is very methodical and gradual. It is not possible to change anyone a lot in a short time. So, their way of worship is the same as the way Hindus do worship i.e. by using incense and garlands. Slowly, slowly, they may try to bring bigger change.

Oops oops oops. My previous post should have been directed to Maitrya ji and not to Satya ji.

<Quote>Better the teachings of Christ than Buddhism or Impersonalism.</Quote> Satya ji, This statement can take the discussion out of topic.

In the company where I am working, people from US and Australia keep coming. They usually get problem because of food. They like the taste of food here so much that they often eat a lot. Especially if you are visiting South India, then try to avoid oily food.

Let me start. Very often non-Hindus say that casteism is deep-rooted in Hindusim because Hindu scriptures talk of Braahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. Also there is mention of pariah (so called outcastes). But this division is entirely different from what we mean by casteism at present. In olden days, the division was based on profession. All those whose profession was to impart knowledge, do yajnas were known as Braahmanas. Those whose job was to fight in order to protect their land were known as Kshatriyas. Those whose profession was doing business were known as Vaishyas. Those who earned theire livelihood by serving others were known as Shudras. Pariahs were the people who used to keep fighting with others on petty matter. As an analogy, if in a family one person is a system analyst and another is a chartered accountant, then calling the first as system analyst and the second as chartered accountant is definitely not the same as talking of casteism, because these are professions. I know this is not the answer to the question asked. But I thought of starting by tackling the statements which are often made by people of other beliefs regarding social inequalities in Hinduism.

Do evangelists have the right to disrupt society, culture, religion, and the family of people in other countries? Evangelists thrive under the guise of so called "secularism".

I have Mandukya Upanishad with Gaudapada's karika by Chinmayananda. I don't know if he also belongs to RK math. Why do the names of most of Vedantin scholars end with "ananda"? Nikhilananda, Chinmayananda, Gambhirananda ...

Benjamin ji, Just one clarification. What kind of social inequalities does the question refer to? The inequalities based on gender or ethnicity or money or ...? Or, all of these? This is a very interesting question. Can scholars on this forum provide verses from Hindu scriptures that deal with these questions? I will check Gita and SB.

My vocabulary is improving.

It is possible that you will get some answers through email. But please read this thread from time to time, because many on the forum would like to post their replies here itself. That serves a good purpose in the sense that one member may get a chance to 'improve' upon the answer posted by another.

I have seen the word "VNN" used in this forum quite a few times? What is that? I never participated in that. This is the very first site that I came to know as far as discussion regarding any religion is concerned. From this site I came to know about so many forums in geocities. But it seems that most have you were there in VNN. Once I got an email in which I was invited to join this forum. I did not know the person who had sent me the email. Perhaps he wanted to send to somebody else and it reached me (such a thing has happened earlier too). But, anyway, it was good for me that I got that mail. So, is VNN still existing?

Hey, don't give such ideas. My corrupt mind can catch such ideas very fast. If you want to teach me something, please teach only good, because bad I will myself learn.

Hi Gauracandra ji, I agree with you that just because some people in an organization turn out to be bad, one should not label the whole organization as bad. But very often it is found that when one person from an organization is caught in an illegal or immoral act, then others in the organization try to defend him. As an example, recently I read a news that in one school, a teacher got angry with a student. The student (who was just a few years old) was beaten so much that he died. Frankly speaking, I got so angry on reading the news that I really felt like killing the teacher. I also read in the news that the Principal of the school was trying to defend the teacher. He was trying to prove that the death must have happened for some other cause. It is not that the Principal must have asked the teacher to kill the child. But the very fact that he was trying to defend the teacher proves that we must blame him too. Likewise, assume that some people who belong to ISKCON are found to do bad acts. If seniors in the organization accept that the acts done by that person are bad and they try to take best measures to ensure that such acts are not repeated, then one should not blame the whole organization. But, if they try to defend their colleague, then the organization must be blamed.

But this is possible regarding all the messages posted on this forum. There are many posts in this forum that talk of Krishna's pastimes. How can anyone say if that message was meant to glorify Sri Krishna or the poster? When somebody posts something related to a great person's life, then ,by reading the post, how do we know if the intent was to glorify the person the article talks about or the person who posted them?

Is "paricharcha" the Sanskrit term for "discussion"?

Let us think of some name which has got the word "Sanatan" in it.

Hi Sirona ji, It seems that you have read Gita completely. I understand that such kinds of arguments may seem to be childish but I like them, because, as you said, it is funny. :-) Even though the question as to whether Siva or Vishnu is superior may not seem to be important, there is one positive side to this kind of discussion. Sometimes members post verses from scriptures to support their point. I have learnt many things about many scriptures from these postings. So, I do not find anything wrong in this. On the contrary, I find it very interesting. Moreover, in a religion, which has got such a vast literature, it is not surprising that there are so many different kinds of beliefs. As Vivekananda once said, "I am not surprised that there are so many sects. I am surprised why thousand more are not there."

What exactly is the meaning of this question? Personally, I like watching moon.

Majority of Hindus like reading stories in Puranas. It is not that they are all degraded.