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A Diwali of Awakening !

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A Diwali of Awakening! This is the first Diwali that I am taking stock of Diwali as a Hindu/Sanatani festival and tying it to the state of well being of Hindu/Sanatani people (followers of Sanatan Dharma, a spiritual and philosophical construct that came to be known as Hinduism because it was practiced by people on the far side of river Sindhu). Sanatan means the ever moving wheel of time and Dharma is loosely translated to living dutifully, as a seeker, according to one’s grain) It is with some chagrin that I have arrived at this state of tying Diwali to being a festival to celebrate the Hindu Identity. All my life it has been a Bhartiya festival, even one that belongs to entire humanity because indeed it does. A commemoration of victory of good over evil, what can be more universal than that. But good has been on it’s heels for far too long in many parts of the world. We need to have victories of good in the now also, to be able to celebrate those that happened in the past. Remember ...
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God’s Stepchildren

Just to appreciate how dystopian animal sacrifice to please God is… No human being would ever “enjoy” the spectre of an animal running for his life, thrashing about or screaming in pain when attacked, his skin pierced and violence inflicted on it, while other animals look at the scene of violence and scream in agony at the sight.. intheir own way. Now, under the influence of bad doctrines here is what many of us do.  1. We accept that God made everything and that all are his creation. 2. We snatch back one of His “Creation” make a slit on it’s throat for it to bleed to death in pain, because “God” likes it that way; (take away it’s life that God gave it, and hand his head back to God and thereby show our gratitude to HIM that created the Universe and that animal) In sheer scale of being dystopian/distorted thinking;?how far is this from taking someone’s child’s head off and handing it back to the them to show your gratitude to them?? If for 10 minutes we can get past the religious ...
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A Single Issue Voter

I don’t believe most people quite grasp the value of Hindu Vote. Hindus all over the world vote for politicians that they believe will move the agenda forward towards Education, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Economy etc. Many in India will vote along caste lines too. The belief is that those representatives will make policies more favorable to those specific Jaatis or Issues. Sometimes they do also.   Muslim people all over the world, do not do that. They may be broadly divided into five categories. Liberal Muslims, Somewhat Liberal Muslims, Mainstream Muslims, Hardcore Muslims and Fundamentalists. Aside from being Muslim, they have one more thing in common. They all want a little bit more Islam in their lives.  A liberal muslim, perhaps a doctor or technology specialist, who has provided modern education to their kids just wants a bigger Mosque in the area where he lives. He will donate and collect funds for the same. A “somewhat liberal muslim”who has a big Mosque already behi...
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Which Camp India!!

When the British left India, they had a reason to be afraid. Afraid that this historical civilization called Bharat, that they methodically bled dry; of riches, of culture, of pride, of history, of lives by the millions… they may one day find their footing back. The thinkers among the British oppressors would no doubt have taken cognizance of the fact there there is a massive pull towards “reversion to mean” that exists in individuals, in societies and in nature. You can sap life out of a patch of land, throw a nuclear bomb at it, but if it is a fertile piece of land, it will eventually prosper again. It may take hundreds of years, but it will regenerate. And Bharat’s culture and intrinsic vitality was a fertile piece of land, which is why the oppressors came in the first place. Because the riches were there.   So as they were leaving, they no doubt had concerns that when the culture regenerates and Bharat finds it’s footing back, what was inflicted upon this otherwise largely peac...
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India’s ongoing Partition

One of the most traumatic events in human history was the partition of the Indian Subcontinent. The British, after 200 years of atrocities, after murdering Indians by tying them to cannons after 1857 uprising, or by slaughtering them in Jalianwala Bagh or by killing them through artificially induced famines by forcing cash crops instead of food production, or by chopping the thumbs of weavers in Bengal who dare make muslin themselves instead of exporting raw material to Britain, and feed the mills and jobs there, or by direct loot or by a million other crafty, cunning, cynical and cruel ways; did not want to leave India a strong united country. They knew that at some point the evils wrought by them will come to light and the proud culture that Bharat was, would be incensed at what was brought upon them. So they devised two ways of ruling over them and mitigating the concern of the aftermath.   Divide India on communal lines and leave them with as much infighting within themselves a...
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No “Sone ki Chidiya”(Golden Bird) this time!

India was the most prosperous society once. So much so that any dacoit or looter targetted India first and foremost. From Gazni to Mughals to British.. all came with the purpose of looting and exploitation and left it in tatters. The erstwhile “Golden Bird” or “Sone ki Chidiya”, as it was called, had itself molested, each one of its beautiful, colorful feather of culture, tradition even its pride was plucked away and it was barely left alive. When British came, India was over twenty percent of global GDP. Then, with every production outsourced to Britain and every economic pillar demolished, with 45 trillion Pounds looted and tens of millions killed, when they left, India was two percent of global GDP and a rate of growth of one percent or less with average life expectancy of 38 years. The British scoffed at this creation of their’s and called it Hindu rate of growth. The exclusionist ideas Abrahamic religion’s driven forced conversions and untold atrocities there-off in Goa, in Kerela...
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The Hanuman Festival, 2022

The Earth is warming and hearts are cooling. A harsh reality of our times. A hurricane here, a melting glacier there. A depressed child here, a school shooting there. Mother Earth is convulsing with her own pain and its Children are writhing in their own angst and frustration. Both flow together, tied at the hips, in the giant unyeilding river of time. This river has been flowing forever, in a sinusoidal wave of prosperity and deprivation, with crests of abundance and troughs of lack. By many accounts, the current trajectory seems to be downwards, from Climate perspective at least,. With our futures intertwined, if Earth suffers so do we. But it doesn’t have to be that way, was the unequivocal message of the Hanuman Festival, I had the good fortune to attend on July 15, 16, 17th 2022. We the people and and our benign benefactor can both do better.  The attendees, a few hundred strong, seemed    to have found a path, that they were steadfastly moving on. There wasn’t any R...
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