replt to amember who perhaps would like to remain incognito

August 30, 2008

I do not advocate the worship of other religon symbols or svriptural books in places of worship in Hindu faith.I think what KVG maent was one should respect the beliefs of others. That does not mean that you should give up your faith and follow other religion. Sri Ramakrishna said that all religoins and philosophy point towards the same truth but he contiinued only his worship to Kali.My story as I said was only a story wth a moral and does not extoll christianity. It is like this. I love my father and he is the best as far as I amc i oncerned but I dont find fault with my neighbour for loving his father equallso and do not claim that my father is the only father to be loved. I worship Lord Narayana and though I used to go to other temples earlier once I became a staunch vaishnavaite I do not seek the

other temples now not because I am against other gods but I dont feel the need since My Naryan is with me. That is all.At the same time if I happen to go to any holy place and there is afamous temple I will certainly go in because all deiteis get their power only throuh Narayana and one should not show hatred towards them.Simlilarly KVG must have meant about churches and mosques.I dont mean that you should fom llow the teachings of Christ or Mohamet or even Buddha and mahavuira for that reason but there is no harm in taking the moral values from the stories of other religions. As I said earlier you can easily supply the names Munnah and Krishna

for Jim and Jesus and the story will not change. I hope I made myself vlear. I am sorry if I have sounded ambiguous before. I never say what I do not believe and never say something for the sake of appearances or to flaunt my learning whcih is handful compared to all that to be learnt whci is as big as the ocean. The great woman sage Avvai said .kattRadhu kaimmaN aLavu kallaadhadhu ulagaLavu.which means the same thing.

saroja Ramanujam

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

www.freewebs.com/asrama3

August 31, 2008

"I am trying to convert Hindus back to Hindu religion and that will stop Hindus getting converted to other religions." -- Swami Chinmayananda

Report on Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswatiji's Speech at (Chennai)Madras, Monday 18th August 2008. DO ALL RELIGIONS HAVE THE SAME GOAL? Dharma Rakshana Samithi, a unique organization for preserving and propagating Sanatana Dharma the Hinduism has conducted a historic meeting at Chennai on 20th July 2008 on the topic 'DO ALL RELIGIONS HAVE THE SAME GOAL'. Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati while addressing a mammoth overflowing audience at Narada Gana Sabha has established with his eloquence, reasoning and objective approach the undeniable fact that all religions are not same and do not lead to the same goal. He has explained two important aspects Dharma and Religious goal and unfolded the fact that popular religions are not holding the same view even in respect of following dharma. The text of his speech is furnished hereunder. Dharma:Human being is endowed with a choice to do or not to do an action or to do it

differently. This choice called free will is a tremendous freedom. When we are endowed with such a freedom it would be a lacuna in the creation if there is no provision for self discipline. Once freedom is given there must also be certain basis or knowledge to avoid misuse of freedom. I know I want to live and others also want to live. Therefore I also know that I don't want to get hurt and others also don't want to get hurt. This reveals that we have a universal value Ahimsa which is given i.e. known to all. If we analyze every other value such as non-cheating, non-stealing, non-robbing, all are centered on ahimsa. Therefore Ahimsa is the basis for all other values forming a matrix of values. It is not given to me by teaching at a given time by any special person. Therefore values are untaught but given. Hence we don't say Dharma is a mandate of God. We say dharma is one more manifestation of God. It is universal because

knowledge of dharma does not require to be taught but gained like breathing as even one grows up. This divine knowledge of dharma is basic to a person.If a person deliberately hurts a person by cheating, by deception by using foul means just because he thinks the end justifies the means, then he is going to be guilty basically. Then he needs to be indoctrinated to really overwhelm his basic knowledge of dharma. That is why lot of indoctrination takes place to a human being through religious theologies which do not accept the universality of dharma. Some of the popular religions which came to being in history having not been there before have a belief of dharma rooted in their own theologies. According to them it is alright to kill somebody if that person does not accept that religion. It means God has already given the mandate that this is the religion, true religion and it is got to be accepted lock stock and barrel. And the one who

does not believe this is an enemy to God. That gives a person a scriptural sanction to killing. It is dangerous. One can use deception, seduction and coercion to achieve the end. The theologies are giving sanctions to that. Therefore even in terms of dharma, all religions are unfortunately not holding the same vision. But all indigenous religions more or less hold the same view until they were destroyed.RELIGIOUS GOAL: Salvation is for a condemned person. Why should an individual be condemned? Some of the popular religions say you need to be saved. From what? In 2000 when this millennium started on 1st January, some one asked Pujya Swamiji 'What is your message on this day?' Swamiji said, 'I have no message. I have a prayer. My prayer is, Oh Lord! Save me from the Saviours'. These theologies are based on the concept that you need to be saved from the original sin and some body died to save you. Swamiji says, 'I don't accept

this. I am a Hindu. I respect my mother, I respect my father, don't tell me I am born of sin. Don't tell me. Not in this country. That is ridiculous somebody had died for me! He did not ask me at all. I was not even there at that time. So how can somebody died for me, I am not responsible for that. For an informed Hindu moksha is the goal i.e. freedom from bondage-the limitations centered on 'I'. If bondage is centered on 'I' and that bondage is real, meaning the 'I' is limited, there is no question of freedom from that. If it is already free, I should own it. And this is what freedom is. Therefore this freedom, Moksha is the goal. Contrary to this, some of the popular religions hold on to the belief that going to heaven and staying there for eternity is the goal of a religion. One fellow says that it is a paradise because you can have better enjoyments there. Please understand going to heaven is a non verifiable belief because one has to

die and then see whether he is in heaven or not. Heaven is a place within space and time. Therefore one has to carry the individual body perhaps a special body to that place and he is time bound. We do have such beliefs like going to other lokas i.e. Swarga etc. But if one says that having gone there, I will stay there eternally, it hurts our reason. All the physical laws and universal forces whatever applicable here are applicable there also. Otherwise doing something here, one can't go there. The rule is whatever has beginning should have an end. Our Sastra says 'Kshene Punye Matyalokam Visanthi'. A clean statement which means one can stay in swarga till he exhausts his punya then comes back to the mortal world. Therefore going to heaven is not a religious goal but a tourism. If a religion says going to heaven is the goal, then there should be many ways because you require merit. You earn merit in many ways. Doing your duty, you can go

to heaven. By reaching out to people and doing something for the people (Seva), you can go to heaven. Doing prayers, rituals etc., you can go to heaven. And doing no harm to people, to cultures, to religions also you can go to heaven. By destroying cultures, traditions, histories and people, destroying core personality in every person, nobody can go to heaven.We don't say all religions lead to the same goal. It is wrong. But all worship Ishwara (God) if they worship. Some religions don't have Ishvara. They replaced Ishvara with something else whatever it is. The Buddhists will worship Buddha who becomes their Ishvara. There is no issue. One fellow says whatever you worship it will come to my kesava. Kesavam pratigachati. That is his ishta devata. Somebody can say it comes to Jesus and some one can say it comes to Allah. It does not matter. But they have concept that God is sitting in heaven and created this world. They say he

is formless; therefore, we don't worship a form. Formless God requires a location? Formless space requires a location? They also say God is male. This is another problem. You can have your own beliefs sir, but don't ask me to believe all these, because it hurts my reasoning. Honestly I am telling we can live in harmony if we give respect to people to have their respective beliefs. Hindus have no problem in this.Let us understand and assimilate the enlightened vision of Pujya Swamiji and recognize the fact that all religions are not same and do not have the same goal. Report byK.GANGADHARAM--

Saroja Ramanujam <sarojram18guruvayur Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2008 12:12:19 PM[Guruvayur] replt to amember who perhaps would like to remain incognito

I do not advocate the worship of other religon symbols or svriptural books in places of worship in Hindu faith.I think what KVG maent was one should respect the beliefs of others. That does not mean that you should give up your faith and follow other religion. Sri Ramakrishna said that all religoins and philosophy point towards the same truth but he contiinued only his worship to Kali.My story as I said was only a story wth a moral and does not extoll christianity. It is like this. I love my father and he is the best as far as I amc i oncerned but I dont find fault with my neighbour for loving his father equallso and do not claim that my father is the only father to be loved. I worship Lord Narayana and though I used to go to other temples earlier once I became a staunch vaishnavaite I do not seek the other temples now not because I am against other gods but I dont feel the need since My Naryan is with me. That is all.At the same

time if I happen to go to any holy place and there is afamous temple I will certainly go in because all deiteis get their power only throuh Narayana and one should not show hatred towards them.Simlilarly KVG must have meant about churches and mosques.I dont mean that you should fom llow the teachings of Christ or Mohamet or even Buddha and mahavuira for that reason but there is no harm in taking the moral values from the stories of other religions. As I said earlier you can easily supply the names Munnah and Krishna for Jim and Jesus and the story will not change. I hope I made myself vlear. I am sorry if I have sounded ambiguous before. I never say what I do not believe and never say something for the sake of appearances or to flaunt my learning whcih is handful compared to all that to be learnt whci is as big as the ocean. The great woman sage Avvai said .kattRadhu kaimmaN aLavu kallaadhadhu ulagaLavu.which means the same thing. saroja Ramanujam