Words priceless

In this turbulent times of torching churches and abusing idols i'm remembering the words said by Swami more than a century ago. This is the reason why I claim Swami is the greatest gift God has given to this holy land. Here goes the speech:

Date: 9/11/1893
Place:Chicago, Illinois

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact, and the merciful Father has helped those who laboured to bring it into existence, and crowned with success their most unselfish labour.

My thanks to those noble souls whose large hearts and love of truth first dreamed this wonderful dream and then realized it. My thanks to the shower of liberal sentiments that has overflowed this platform. My thanks to this enlightened audience for their uniform kindness to me and for their appreciation of every thought that tends to smooth the friction of religions. A few jarring notes were heard from time to time in this harmony. My special thanks to them, for they have, by their striking contrast, made general harmony the sweeter.

Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.

The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant. It develops after the law of its own growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them into plant substance, and grows into a plant.

Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."

Pakistan for you!!!

Right from my childhood I never had a positive feeling about Pakistan. It may be because of my parents long term association with organizations like RSS. and my father making me a 'swayamsevak' so that I would learn some discipline in my life. And I got exactly what my dad expected. you know, i was always my mom's kid but some times consider my dad also :)

well now the point of this blog is the video I watched in youtube. its just shocking!! and word shocking will not be sufficient to describe this. and i dont know any better word. may be 'horrendous' or 'grotesque' might fit.
P.S.: if at all you are a feminist please please prevent yourself from watching this video. this is a sincere request. Coz i have not known any feminist valuing my words. so making this specific request. its very disturbing and i dont want anyone to get disturbed by my blog.
here is the link

How Long should this go?

Find the Odd man out of the following?

1.Haridwar 2. Kanpur 3.Agra 4. Benaras
Many people know the answer of the above question. Lets go to another question:
Find the Odd man out of the following?
1. Mumbai 2. Hyderabad 3. Ahmadabad 4. Delhi
I'm sure its quite difficult to answer this question, because there is no odd man in this! all four places have everything in common. May it be being Indian cities, or having huge population, or having centers of development off late or places filled with people who lost their loved ones by the massacre done by some beasts on the name of the religion. This is the plight of my nation! People go on bombing as if they are very much used to it. The so called policy makers condemn the acts, the opposition claims its the fault of the govt., govt. says its all because of 'Gujarath' (i dont know how poor Gujarathis can be made responsible for this!)
Yet another blast, yet another condemn from the people, yet another eventful day for the media, Manmohan Singh will say no one can make us kneel down. Advani says its all because of not having POTA, Rajdeep Sardesai organises another meeting with some experts and discusses why is this all happening? how should muslims be treated? how to make a law to tackle terrorism. And all the discussion ends at a point of whether to have a local investigating team or a federal agency. But people in SIMI or LET or whatever damn bull shit will be preparing for another assault on the poor man who go out to make his bread and butter or on the newly married couple who go for a weekend shopping. Because they know these neither this eununch homeminister nor the laconic prime minister or the Italian super boss mean no harm to them. The end sufferers are the police who keep their life at stake and the common man who lives in a myth that the govt. will some day do something to save him. But none knows when that some day will come. and many have doubts that the so called some day might not come.
Since all these blasts are happening, I could feel(through blogs I follow, comments at various media forums etc) a clear wave in the society which is against the muslims, which does no good to the society. But if the situation continue to prevail the same way I'm really afraid Muslims in this country will have a tough time ahead.

9/11 and after!!

'9/11' '9/11'
A term which has shown the world a new level of suffering,
A day which left the whole world with a feeling of insecurity,
An accomplished mission which defeated the humanity!
Its not the first time that humanity is defeated by a group of people or by s section. If people think that 9/11 is the result of some incidents happened in the past few decades they r seriously mistaken. Human beings tend to conveniently forget the root cause of the whole problem. And the real thing which is behind it is a ghastly episode in the history of human being. it is called the CRUSADES. It was a bloody era of human history. If at all I felt let down by reading some thing in the human history it is this. the first crusade started in 1095 A.D. and the maverick attitude of the two religions continued for another 350+ years!!! A war longing for 350 years!! yes it was. These wars left the a gap between the two religions which is yet to get bridged. Whatever ill feelings developed on both sides are carried till today!! why did Osama hate Christians? why did western society treats colored people as second grade humans? it was all because of this. it was all because of the propaganda done against other parties so as to motivate your own people. History will never forget the people who initiated this feeling. It might be the Calipha who ordered to demolish the Catholic churches in Jerusalem or the Pope who called for a war against the whole of Islam. Again, its just another scenario where people brought religion into politics as they carried their own axe to grind. In the annals of history wherever politics are mingled with religion or viceversa it lead to hatred, violence and sorrow. Had Prophet Mohammed or Jesus Christ seen this beastly behavior of their own followers they would have definitely lamented to see how their preachings are misinterpreted. 'Love your neighbour the way you love yourself' this is what Holy Bible teaches. Neighbour not only mean the one who stays in the house beside yours but also someone who is following a different path. As long as the spirit of these sayings are missed there is no point in humans calling themselves spiritual or religious. My brother Ashok was saying while commenting for my earlier post : Religion is for the soul. Yes, he said it just perfect. As long as we dont win over these mutual hatred we can expect much more '9/11' s.

Introspection, Change etc etc..

" you are not as good as you think you are" - this is the remark which i received in one of the interviews for the SELP. and also a suggestion to introspect. well this kind of interviews is not new for me and they always helped me. Of course now its time i redefine myself. I live my life according to certain principles. Right now i'm shattered but not my principles. They cant be shattered, come what may!
and one of the principles that guide me is to stand for people who BELONG to me. As long as i'm alive I stand for them. sometimes this might back fire because people cant take suggestions which they dont like. but i will try my best to make them understand my point. sometimes this feature of me might cost me even the very relation for which i'm worried so much. but its fine. Coz that gives me the satisfaction of doing my duty. i think its my dharma being a well wisher of some one to tell that 'you are running into risk' and its perfectly fine if people think i've my own axe to grind. because not all can believe me the way i trust them! as long as myself is concerned the purpose of my life is defeated if i cant warn my friends that what they r doing might create a hell for themselves as well as for others. and simply dont want my friends to be so called problem creators. off late i was hurted me so much that only i know the pain i went through and i have no complaints about any one! every one have a different perspective about their life and its their wish how they live their life. and i cant complain but request not to repeat what happened to me. some people tend to break relations rather bury them which i can never do! for me my people are valuable however good or bad they are! but one little thing i expect from people is the trustworthiness which is a rare feature these days. but its fine even 99 of my friends make a fool out of me i still believe the 100th one. I ask questions straight on face and request answers the same way. but people have different ways of answering my questions which i cant understand. and i'm really sorry for this. i'm not that intelligent. After this interview all I want to say to all my friends is to please forgive me if I had any time hurt you, I always wanted the best to happen for you. may be sometimes i overact!

karthik love you all!