Documentarians Hope to Enlighten Americans about Prophet

#104 by arjun_m on December 23, 2002 10:02am PT
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The fact that abdul paki from pakiland can come to the US and make more money than he can ever hope to make in pakiland is called progress..and its in the US...its coming to india
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So making money is the means that every thingelse is ok??Probably they Veerappan is a better Guy than you and the Jungles he Inhabits are much better than US where a Engineere can only hope to make a few thousand dollars where as Veerappan Makes dozens of Crores.

The British adventureers who came with the East India company and later on with the british army also made much more than they can hoped to make in Britan.

However I dont blame you. Your hatred is quite visible and it blinds you and fools no one except you.

and lets see you can piss 1 inch further than the pakis...

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#100 by GhalibZaman on December 22, 2002 5:14pm PT
``ali87 & other muslims:

Those on intellectual-drip and under spiritual-anaesthesia deserve not a bedside discussion, but our prayers for their salvation. ``

That is true. Mercy and kindness is what they need.

#98 by arjun_m on December 22, 2002 4:18pm PT
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and yet we have people from all over the world(including india and pakistan) lining up for US visas. Thats reality..a good cure for delusions..
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They come there to earn money and do not necessarily subscribe to the cultural ethos. Just like the English who came to India in 1600 and did not subscribe to our cultural ethos.
Now dont go on to assume that im saying that all is hunky dory in india and every thing is wrong in the west.. May be this kind of assumptions incease the number of posts, hardly contribute to any understanding.

ali87 & other muslims:

Those on intellectual-drip and under spiritual-anaesthesia deserve not a bedside discussion, but our prayers for their salvation.

Death,
the great equaliser,
the only democrat,
the sole soother,
visits unannounced,
stealthily,
silently,
surreptitously,
inching up to greet the shadow,
(always a-cast, not always visible)

Laments, cries, wails
elegies,
along the cortege-route
and around the dug-up sod.

Six feet under.
There is jubilation, celebration
in the banquet-hall,
where the maggots have arrived,
for another feast.

re:#32 by AmericanExpress
Ramayana, Mahabharata are mythical. May be so but millions of Hindu believe the story is real. That is what matters. Period. Can you prove for sure that Angel Gabriel really visited Prophet Md (PBUH) and that he was not just hallucinating? You can`t. Nobody can. It is all faith. You see a prophet and you believe in his words. SriRam and SriKrishna really existed. Their exploits have been sung as ballets, passed on as words of mouth for centuries until written texts became more readily available. This is not surprising. That is how Vedas and other sacred works were preserved.
River Saraswati was considered by western educated (and western) historians as mythical until AsiaSat satellite (a US satellite) revealed the riverbed of that river that is supposed to have dried up around 1800 BC. It is no more a myth.
The island city of Dwaraka, where SriKrishna had moved from Mathura, has been excavated by UR Rao and his team. Go to the following urls for more detail:
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Dwaraka.htm
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Dwaraka.htm
Sridhar

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#78 by sameerJB on December 20, 2002 11:54am PT
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Kemal Ataturk was right in giving danda to them and today Turkey has 3000-4000 dollar per capita income without selling oil. Islam needs to be defeated resoundingly for Muslims to get loose from its grip and join modernity.
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Palestine has percapita of 1000 dollar so is better than India?

You havent taken on the kurds yet. Remeber the terrorist acts by kurds?? No you wont provide any explanations for that.

and why exactly is LTTE being feted by the europeans and handled by kid gloves by Srilanka?

Have you forgetten the Sikh terrorism? And did you forget the terrorist nagas, Manipuris, the ex terrorist assam student leaders now cheif ministers, Your only gripe is about Muslims. but where were the terrorists befor 1986 in india? were they muslims?

If you are so pro democracy they what is the hesisation in holding a plebisicte in Kashmir.
And what exactly is India? I have a colleauge who is a Punajbi and son of a central govt employee who works in Arunachal Pardesh living there for the last 20 years a hindu at that His comments were very informative. he says that there is very little similarity between those people and us (meaning us Indians) they appear hindu only in having a couple of similar deites but most likelythey are not deeply attached to hinduism because they just worship some Idols without much similiarity to what hindu worships. Their food is different their culture is totally differnent and thus we are forcing them to integrate with India. he says even now after 50 years of forced Isolation and hoping that after a couple of generations they will become more accostomed to our culture I dont think they will reall blend well with us.

This is the reality of the Indian Union. States held forcibily hoping to be integrated in to Indian mainstream. Similiar is the case of Kashmir. Why should a democratic India wait for pakistan for plebiscite. why not have the courage to hold it on its own???

Truth is Indian state was fouded on a few areas with common intrests and few forcibily absorbed and with kashmir being absorbed with conditios and escape routes for the kashmiris. None of those were given by the indian govt. A case point is Kashmiri language was one the last major language to be recognised as a national language I think in the seventies.

Sameer

What exactly is progress?? That one has the previlage of being shot if you dare to ventrue out alone in a parking lot after dark???
This is what per capita of $46,000.00 got the people of america.

take a look at this............
Deccan herald Edit....... part one check the next part if you are intrested...

do you recall what is the GDP figure of Malaysia. or literacy levels of Iran? or the condition of a similarly oil rich Venezuela?? I think that you guys just talk through your hat ......
not even a small attempt at honesty...

Saturday, October 12, 2002

A CONSUMERISTIC TRAP CALLED PROGRESS

Rudderless course

By B P SINGHAL

The country has taken unprecedented strides in its race towards industrialisation, science and technology. It has also registered unprecedented degradation in environment and human values. As a child I was told, “necessity is the mother of invention”. It was an ostensibly grand concept but it could well be apt to put it the other way round, “invention is the mother of necessity”. Invent anything, do some hard selling and make it a necessity seems to be the credo of the current era. Now, can any limits be set on inventions and consequently on “necessities”? If not, shall not the next two or three generations eat up all of the world’s resources and leave this planet desolate by making necessities of thousands of new inventions that are being churned out each year?
Consumerism has already assumed alarming proportions. The tragic irony is that leaders of all hues believe that India is progressing. It doesn’t seem to bother them how the great civilisations of Athenians, Spartans, Macedonians, Greeks and Romans etc, who had all striven for progress, managed to progress themselves into extinction.

Defining progress
If man was scared of coming out of his cave after sunset in the Stone Age and if the same man is scared of coming out of his house after sunset in the streets of Chicago or New York, is it progress? If the son of man was being brought up in communes in the Stone Age and the same son of man is brought up in communes in the 20th or 21st century, is it progress? If for quenching their urge to be with their grand child, the forlorn grandparents living in old age homes in USA have to hire a child to act as their grandchild at the rate of 8 dollars an hour, is it progress? It is no surprise that all the leaders strike dumb when they are asked to define “progress”. They, nevertheless, very confidently proclaim that the country has achieved remarkable progress since independence. God knows how they are measuring the so-called progress.

‘Indian ending’
The Oxford dictionary tells us that progress means “moving forward.” Moving forward presupposes the clear concept of a specific destination. Do they know what is the destination of man or their nation? In other words, what is the purpose of human life? What is the purpose of a nation? If they do not know these, how are they claiming that they are progressing? Yes! They are moving. But, that need not necessarily be “progress.”
Today’s tragedy is that even ‘man’ has been converted into a resource — “human resource.” Resource to what end? Again, there is no answer. The crucial question is whether human being himself is to be the ‘end’ of all human endeavours or is the human being a resource, a means for some yet to be defined objective, or for some abstract concept of progress. There is thus, a tragic directionlessness not only in this country, but throughout the world. Men, like countries, seem to be racing against each other but have little idea of what this race is all about.
It was not for nothing that Arnold Toynbee, the great historian, declared: “What started in the West, will have to have an Indian ending if the world is to save itself from self-destruction.”
What then is this “Indian ending”? It is just that our ancient seers had perceived the truths of life and had a very clear view of what is progress. That progress can only be visualised after knowing the purpose of human life. After all; “progress” in the context of human beings cannot be conceived except in terms of the degree to which they fulfil the purpose for which they were created.
It may sound surprising, but the basic purpose of human life on this planet as arrived at through irrefutable logic is three-fold: a) To achieve ‘perfection’ or purnata, moksha, salvation, or merger with the Supreme Being, (they are all synonymous); b) to voluntarily share the misery of all creation around one’s self (this includes not only human beings, but the entire animal and vegetable kingdom as well as Nature) and c) to voluntarily squander happiness to all creation around one’s self.

Purpose of life
It was not a coincidence that as per Hadis, while mounting his horse, when the keeper of his horse asked Prophet Mohammed to state what is “Kulle Islam” i.e. the “essence of Islam,” he enunciated it in just six words “Khaliq ki Ibadat; Khalq per Shaffaqqat” which means exactly what has been expressed above as the purpose of human life. (“Khaliq means the Creator (who is perfect). “Ibadat” means to worship. “Khalq’”means the Creation i.e. this Universe. And “Shaffaqqat” means compassion, which in action terms, means sharing misery and giving happiness). Exactly the same message is communicated in the following verse of Rigveda: “Ayam may Hasto Bhagwanayam may Bhagwattara / Ayam may Vissh-wabheshajo Ayam Shivabhimar-shanah” (Rigved Mandal 10).
Thus, no matter what the religion is, the purpose of human life as enunciated above is the same in all religions. To fulfil this purpose, man had to sustain life and he, therefore, needed a “means of livelihood.”

Means and ends
Tragedy struck man when he converted the means into an end and the end into means. Money was a means of commerce, but today it has become the end of all endeavours for so many. Rank/ Office was a means to serve fellow humans. Today, it has become an end. This body we possess was a means to fulfil the three-fold purpose mentioned above. But, today, all endeavours are made to keep this body as comfortable, contented and happy as possible by acquiring all the inventions that have been converted into necessities of life. This body has become the end and no more a means.
On the other hand, the Supreme Being has been converted into means. For, do we not often find ourselves praying to the Lord to grant us victory in elections for a seat in Parliament, for being blessed with a son, success in examinations, winning a suit in the court, or for getting our daily bread, etc? As though Lord God were a proprietor of a departmental store supplying a seat in Parliament to A, a son to B or a victory in the suit to C, etc.

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Of finger-printing & iris-scanning

The rumour was rife that hunters from town are on their way to kill a few lions. This disturbed the the usual ambience of the jungle, upset the routine somewhat, and was the topic of the day among animals wise & otherwise.

But the Jackal had made the decision. He must depart. Must leave the jungle. Go elsewhere.

But they are coming to hunt for a lion or two. You are not a lion. Why are you so terrified my good old Jackal.

And the Jackal, who was not so old , good, or stupid either averred:

`` What if these hunters have never ever seen a lion ``.
____________________________________________________________
Yesterday, in the New York Post, Daniel Pipes wrote a column lambasting PBS for wasting taxpayer money on, of all things, a two-hour documentary on Muhammad. Apparently, the idea of public television making a documentary on the founder of the world`s second-largest religion (if you lump the Christian faiths together) is too offensive to even contemplate. Worse, according to Pipes, it`s basically government-funded propaganda -- a sop to politically correct leftists seeking to cover up the many crimes of radical Islam and convert Americans to the faith.
Needless to say, Pipes gets himself pretty worked up. So let`s see what other folks have to say about the documentary -- in particular, the good people at the Islamic Supreme Council of America, founded by Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, a leader of the Naqshbandi Sufi order in the United States. The ISCA loves the new documentary. In an email alert sent out , it announced:

Dear Colleague,

This week, PBS will broadcast the long-awaited documentary MUHAMMAD: LEGACY OF A PROPHET. Under production for three years, this biographical work follows the life of Muhammad and examines the many life-altering contributions he brought with the message of Islam, contributions that have changed the world for the better.

The accolades continue further down:

ISCA congratulates PBS and the production team of MUHAMMAD: LEGACY OF A PROPHET on this unprecedented undertaking, which has the potential to enhance the mainstream American view of Islam. Prophet Muhammad, may God`s peace and blessing be upon him and upon all prophets of God, is revered by a quarter of the world`s population as ``the mercy to all humanity.`` Muslims know the Prophet as a beacon of divine light, the epitome of God`s Mercy, a champion of justice for all, a liberator of the oppressed, the best example in all aspects of life, and illuminator of the paths of peace and piety.

Why is the ISCA`s opinion relevant here? The Sufis, as many readers no doubt already know, tend to be moderate, anti-Iraq and anti-Islamist. Many conservatives (and many liberals) think of Sufis as the ``good guys,`` the Muslims that Western nations should be aiding and promoting as an alternative to more radicals schools of Islamic thought. Kabbani and the ISCA, in particular, have a good rep for being anti-terrorism and for agitating against radical Islam here and abroad.

How do we know all this? Why, from Daniel Pipes, who has effusively praised Kabbani and the ISCA:

Mr. Kabbani earned his stripes the hard way, by taking on nearly the entirety of the radicalized Muslim organizations America. He gave a courageous speech at the State Department in January 1999 in which he accurately noted that extremists had ``taken over 80% of the mosques`` in America. In response, more than 100 mosques and organizations signed a petition condemning Mr. Kabbani and calling for a boycott of him and his organization.

Maybe Pipes should read his own reviews.

By the way, it`s not like PBS is in lockstep with pro-Muslim groups. In 1994, after the first World Trade Center attacks, PBS aired the documentary ``Jihad in America,`` which took a hard look at militant Islamist activity in the United States.
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Ancient proverb, contemporary applications:

When his death is near, the Jackal heads towards the city.

sac: Nobody would have problem, if Muhammad`s conduct was merely meant for motivation to become better person. That tremendously reduces the personality of a prophet to the level of any revered object. Motivated towards better human being through idealizing any revered or sacred object is one minor pathway for human beings to become better. Most often it is schooling, society, home and competition. Actually idealizing prophet, stone, idol, elephant-nose god, lingum or whatever leading to a better human being has to do with determination to become good, basically independent of all these revered objects.

According to Islam, Muhammad`s conduct is recorded as hadises and sharia, a guideline or blueprint to become better human being in this world whereas Quran, as god`s words, is a guide to reach heaven. Basically it is a package deal. To become a better human being following Muhammad`s conduct and god`s words is one inefficient and tedious pathway from a number of options. A person becoming better human being through this pathway should never be exemplified as model in public forums and media because it justifies the inefficient pathway and all the baggage that comes with it.