Terrorism Accused: Is Legal Aid Justified? There is cover story in India Today in which correspondent of this mag has interviewed these arrested youngmen. Anyone who believes they are innocent is living in fools paradise. Actually, if one goes through the sequence of investigation done by the police, one can truly appreciate their work and all the evidence they have collected.

However, I do agree to the point being made in the article that they deserve legal help to defend themselves even if I personally feel that they should be given slow painful death.
Regards

Reforming Religious Fundamentalists Times Of India Delhi; Date: Oct 2, 2008;
Teach your children that compassion is above justice

In the opening piece, celebrated psycho-analyst Sudhir Kakar says we need to free ourselves from the ancient curse of humankind




Violence, we must admit, is as Indian as aam ka achar, as American as apple pie, as Japanese as sushi rolls. Odd as it may sound, the two biggest causes of violence all over the world, identified by psychologists such as Roy Baumeister, are the two we admire as positive qualities and encourage in our children: high self-esteem and moral idealism. On the collective level, we give high self-esteem, the narcissism of a community, the high sounding name of izzat, honour, and justify any number of acts of cruelty and murderous violence in its name. But there is even a greater source of violence that bedevils our individual and collective lives: moral idealism.

Once you believe that your violence is a means to a moral end, the floodgates to brutality are opened. As long as the perpetrator of violence maintains his moral commitment, to his faith, to his religious community, to the oppressed, or whatever else is the ‘cause’, he rarely displays guilt or shame for his murderous actions, something which is not true of the same actions as a member of other kinds of groups. We know that most major atrocities of the last century, and I have no doubt the trend will continue in the present one, were carried out by men believing they were creating utopias or defending their faith or idealised community from attack. Idealism is dangerous because it is inevitably accompanied by the belief that the end justifies the means. If you are fighting for God, for the oppressed or your religious community, then what matters is the outcome, not the path. Once you feel you have a moral mandate, you care much less for rules and legalities; the quest for ‘justice’ tends to be contemptuous of the notion of fairness.

Unfortunately, there have been eloquent voices that have defended violence in service of justice. In her Reflections on Violence, the philosopher Hannah Arendt writes “...under certain circumstances violence, which is to act without argument or speech and without reckoning with consequences, is the only possibility of setting the scales of justice right again...In this sense, rage and the violence that sometimes, not always, goes with it, belong to the ‘natural’ emotions, and to cure man of them would mean nothing less than to dehumanise or emasculate him’’.

The problem with this position is that such ‘hot’ violence inevitably turns into a ‘cold’ carnage characterised by planning and calculation. Moreover, violence that begins with a clear purpose acquires a life of its own, fulfilling obscure wishes more than its consciously stated goals. It begins to exercise a dangerous fascination, a “terrible beauty’’ from which too we cannot avert our eyes. We get a glimpse of this fascination in many kinds of collective violence, especially of the revolutionary kind. This violence has been described by Franz Fanon, in his The Wretched of the Earth, as one that “binds men together as a whole, since each individual

forms a violent link in a great chain, a part of the great organism of violence which has surged upwards’’. He might well have been speaking of the orgasm of violence.

No, what we need is a blanket rejection of violence, no matter what the cause. Justice is extremely important but we need to hold and teach our children that the value of compassion is above that of justice. When Gandhiji, in contrast to revolutionaries of the left and right, insisted on the priority of means over ends, he was intuitively aware of the malignant violence inherent in the other position.

What can we do? In the short term, there is no alternative to a firm resolve of the state that violence, no matter what the stated cause, will not be permitted. We know, for instance, that in ethnic/communal riots there is a window of about 24 hours in which the tension between the opposing groups is very high but violent acts have not yet taken place. Firm police action in this crucial time period can prevent the outbreak of violence which will otherwise spiral out of control. How to isolate responsible police officers from political interference in this 24-hour period (switching off all mobile contact?) is an issue needing urgent attention. In the longer term, we need to focus our educational efforts on emphasising the value of compassion, of which fairness and tolerance are important constituents, as much as of justice, of re-dedicating ourselves to the priority of means over ends. This is not an idealistic choice but is based on our evolutionary reality as human beings. We need to awaken our natural human compassion to counteract our perhaps equally natural propensity to violence and not just cede the battleground to the latter.

Indeed, compassion is as natural as violence. We now know from experiments using brain imaging that watching the suffering of someone who appears to be a victim of violence, activates a similar ‘pain network’ in our brains, the so-called ‘mirror neurons’. Showing the sufferings of victims of terror attacks or other forms of collective violence, as part of our educational curriculum in schools and colleges is an obvious next step in the long term combating of violence. We need to use all our available knowledge on social violence to begin freeing ourselves from this ancient curse of humankind.

Faith and Religion Sometime after Godhra and Gujarat riots, I read in TOI a heart wrenching 'middle' written by one lady with Surname 'Beg' about her young son's painful experiences in school and otherwise. I wonder if they belong to Mr. Murad Ali Beg's family.
As an individual or as a family, Mr. Beg must be having a very egalitarian views on all matters pertaining to Religion. BUT when one writes an Article as a scholar for publishing in cyber space or otherwise then ONE SHOULD BE EXTREMELY DISPASSIONATE and SHOULD DETACH ONESELF FROM ONES OWN BEING TO HAVE AN IMPARTIAL UNBIASED OPINION. Some how, Mr. Baig's writings leave a feeling that this part is not being taken care of and that is why there comes the staements like Islamic world did wrong because of Afghans etc and Hindu world because of it being Hinduism.

And I do sincerely believe that Mr. Baig IS A WONDERFUL human being.
Regards

Ahmedabad Blasts: Numbed Apathy and The Conspiracy Of Our Resilience Tahmed ji
Sheikhs ARE HAPPY with themselves not with other communities. Please tell us are believers happy with Sheikhs or jews or christian (forget hindus).
Regards

Ahmedabad Blasts: Numbed Apathy and The Conspiracy Of Our Resilience Tahmed ji
You do have a point but countries in Europe and America are the ones which are known to provide basic rights and rule of law to the maximum possible. Are believers happy there without complaints and killing instincts as per instructions in THe Book?
As far as other developing countries are concerned, are Believers only ones who face so called injustice. Are not weaker sections of other communities also in the same boat?

So, let us stop justifying and instead should be able to target the 'root cause' of this discontentment. Since. term 'root cause' is so well-entreched in the minds of the pious ones I am sure they do understand its use in present context.
Regards

Ahmedabad Blasts: Numbed Apathy and The Conspiracy Of Our Resilience Sorry to disturb you further Sir Tahmed ji but you have not told the country where Believers are happy or Community with whom Believers don't have any complaints. And I accept it with open Heart that We Hindus are really really Bad Cruel people to a very very peaceful pious community.
Regards

Ahmedabad Blasts: Numbed Apathy and The Conspiracy Of Our Resilience Yes Sir, Tahmed ji.
I agree that there are discontented persons in every society and I am not defending LTTE either. But there is no community or people except The Believers who are permanently, perpetually discontented with everyone under the sun.
Regards

Ahmedabad Blasts: Numbed Apathy and The Conspiracy Of Our Resilience Is there a country where muslims are happy, contented without any grievance?
Is there a community (hindus, jews, christians etc etc all are bad doing injustice to these innocent pious people)against which muslims dont have any grievance?

Kaalchakra ji is right! Actually, one should go beyond what KC ji suggests because these believers are not going to change because of the dangerous 7th century ideology they follow. World should take a united stand and barricade all of them from all over the world either in middle east or some island near papua new guinea so that rest of the world can live peacefully. They can create their own heaven in that area without any disturbance from other cruel communities who are always doing injustic to these pure souls.
Those who promise to become human may be allowed to stay back in the normal world which needs a Hitler again to transport these 'ready for heaven animals'.
Regards

The \'One God\' Religions of Revelation Sir (murad baig)#941
You say:-
"In this short article I try show how a horrible fear generating intrusive jewish god was to so influence Christianity and Islam and `suggest' that this influence distorted the mostly gentle stream of native thought after the 7th century AD."

Can you analyse this statement? Was jewish God already there before Christianity and Islam came on scene or this God suddenly came to INFLUENCE already existing Christianity and Islam. The way you have constructed the sentence it gives the impression that christianity and Islam were not later entrants to middle east religions
in continuation of jewish ideas but were ORIGINAL BRAND NEW philosophies which GOT INFLUENCED BY jewish God who came on scene later.
It just reminded me of your earlier faux pas pointed out by Mr. Eklavaya about DARK AGES of Hinduism but when it comes to ISLAM, it was AFGHAN AND TURK domination.

Will you please clarify what exactly you meant in #941?

Regards

The \'One God\' Religions of Revelation Baig ji
What are your comments on the content in the following Article please?
Regards

Publication: Times Of India Delhi
DISCORDANT NOTE
PM’s daughter takes on Marxist view of history

‘Religious Doctrines Important To Understand Things In Context’
Mohua Chatterjee | TNN

New Delhi: Just when PM Manmohan Singh has taken on his communist partners over the nuclear deal, his daughter, professor Upinder Singh, has come up with a book which challenges the Marxist version of ancient Indian history.
While praising Marxist historians for uncovering the history of non-elite groups and other contributions, Singh disagrees with them for their reliance on unilinear historical models derived from western historical and anthropological works. She also delves extensively into ancient India’s cultural past — art, literature, religion and philosophy — in sharp contrast to Marxist historians who focused on “social and economic interpretations”.
Singh, however, is not one to discard the Marxist approach altogether. “Being a student of history in the 1970s, I am a product of the shift from the nationalist to the Marxist view and so I have drawn from both,” the DU historian told TOI, identifying herself as “belonging to the liberal space which is so important”.
Singh’s 704-page ‘A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century’ is targeted at graduate and
post-graduate students and will be released on July 18.
With her keen interest in archaeology, Singh seeks to challenge Marxist historians like Romila Thapar, and provides, for those “writing the new NCERT school books,” more than one interpretation of ancient Indian history, and encouraging them to look for more. Elaborating on her divergences with the Marxist school which have dominated the campuses since the 70s, Singh stressed the need for students of ancient Indian history to pay attention also to cultural aspects — art, literature religion and philosphy. “Religious doctrines, I feel, are important for students to understand things in context,” she said.
In the introductory chapter, Singh discusses the contributions and flaws of the various schools. “Marxist historiography also contributed towards uncovering the history of non-elite groups, many of whom had suffered centuries of subordination and marginalization. While making these valuable contributions, Marxist writing often tended to work with unilinear historical models derived from western historical and anthropological writings,” she writes.
Sketching out her differences with the Marxist school, Singh notes that shift of population from rural to urban areas did not take place as suggested in the model as “most people of the subcontinent continued to live in villages”.
Asked about likely controversies after the book’s release, she said, “Given that a controversy came up about a book that did not exist, I must say it can really vitiate the atmosphere. History always has a political element, it is always connected with power and power structures, with strong views on it even among ordinary people. But ultimately the book will be judged in the long run by students of history.” Explaining the purpose in the preface, she said, “It is necessary to expose them to the complex details and textures of history... unresolved issues... have been presented as such, rather than conveying a false sense of certainty. Where there are debates, the different perspectives have been presented, along with my own assessment of which arguments are convincing and which ones are not.

How did Hindus Become Vegetarians? KaalChakra ji

Borrowing terms used by present generation and heard from teenagers in the family, I say, 'YOU ROCK.'

Regards

How did Hindus Become Vegetarians? Food habits have nothing to do with Religion. Dietary habits depend upon Availability, Climate and Body needs of the people. Since, Europe was snow and middle east was desert, these people could not think beyond eating animals.

Indian civilisation being one of the oldest one had sufficient time to evolve. It is not dependent upon any one time fixed declared ideas of God, ideas and consequently practices keep on changing depending upon the result of those being practised at any particular time.

Over time, thinkers/sages residing this area realised the importance and utility of abundantly avaiable flora and fauna and animals around and so put restrictions around. And again over time, they have been proven right. Otherwise, world won't have been propagating Vegetarianism now. We are the most evolved because in our society new ideas were encouraged.

Mr. Muhammad always talked about Dates in diet as well as medicinal treatment because this was abundantly available in the areas known to him. Similarly, he recommended camel
urine for treatment because cow uirine was not available.

Regards all.

Pakistan, a Different Country! Mr.masadi ji
You really need to seek help urgently. If any of your friend/relative happens to visit this site and has any clue about your condition of paranoia, he/she should help you since you are not able to do it for yourself.
Regards

Bullhe Shah and His Veil of “Meem” Criticism of Ghulam Ahmad Parvaiz is correct as this 'merging of self with God (Atma aur Pramatma)' and 'I am the Truth' are purely Indian philosophical thoughts.
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What is Hinduism? A Personal View laddu ji Maharaj
Pranaam
Great logic in #314. It seems since nature lover does not have any logical arguement, he is now on this trip of diverting the issue.
Keep it up.
regards

What is Hinduism? A Personal View #207
If The Creator can be worshipped then what is wrong in worshipping The Instrument that is used to create?
Regards