Thursday, February 5, 2015

DRAVIDIANS -THEIR ORIGIN


Friends from India,  hope you will be familiar with that primordial prayer, the GAYATRI   MANTRA.  It  is  a prayer, pleading,  begging,  cautioning ,warning   that the  INTELLECT  should not wane. The word  ‘dhee’ denotes the intellect  and is used twice in  that  short sloka. Please also note the  use  of  the word  ‘Savitir’ in that sloka. (The Gayatri Mantra is repeated multiple times in the Vedas, known to us. Once in the Rig Veda (3.62.10), four times in the Yajur Veda (3.35; 22.9; 30.2; &36.3,) and once again in the Sama Veda - (6.3.10.1, Uthharachhikam part))

In the Mahabharatha epic and  Gita  too (which is a part of MBh) there are frequent references to Buddhi  or the intellect. Please look up slokas 42 & 43 in Chapter 3, Karma-Yogam.

The primordial  being   or  man was sharply concerned  about  his  intellect; he feared that  it will wane. And therefore  it was  his daily prayer to that all encompassing effulgence that his and the collective  intellect should not wane , but be sharper than ever.  The above being his prayers what really happened ? Did  his intellect  remain steady ?

Indication from TAMIL/DRAVIDIAN  Experience.
Friends,  at one  point in  time  there was no separation  between the Islamist Jihadis  and  the Tamilians.  Suicide bombings using women and children  and summary executions  were indulged in by the LTTE  a Tamil organization based in Sri Lanka. The mainland  Tamils were also affected by this violence. The bomb blast in  Meenambakkam airport, Chennai and the Rajiv Gandhi assassination can be quoted as examples. As all will admit,  extreme  violence  or propensity towards the same is  an indication of declining intellect.  Our poor cousins in the Pakistan and others in Middle East  and Northern Africa  are in its debilitating  grip. (But they do not realize this)

Long before the Dravidian movement (in S.India) took  shape ,  or before the embryo/seed  of that idea was conceived, the following  was  the description  for the term Dravida  in a Classical  Hindu  dictionary. The meaning   for  DRAVIDA in  the “A  Classical  Dictionary  of  Hindu  Mythology  and Religion Geography, History, and  Literature” compiled  by  John Dowson  and First published in 1879  at London is quoted here . Quote :- “DRAVIDA – The  country  in which the Tamil  language  is spoken, extending  from Madras  to Cape Comorin. According  to Manu,  the people  of this country  were originally  Kshatriyas, but sank  to the condition of  Sudras  from the extinction  of  sacred  rites  and the absence of  Brahmans. As applied  to the classification  of  Brahmans  it has a  much wider application, embracing  Gujarat, Maharashtra , and all the south.” Page 97.

Centuries  before, ie. much before  the  seed of  Dravidian separatism   was sown by the Protestant Christian  Missionary  , Bishop  Robert Caldwell,  the field  was  already  ready  ,to receive those seeds of sectarianism  and  separatism. 

Thus Dowson’s  above entry for the word Dravida is  based on that great  text , the Manusmrithi.

Manusmrithi
Now  Manusmrithi  is  the foremost among our  law-codes and dates much before any law codes known to mankind like the Old Testament of the Bible etc.  It takes into account the diversity  of the population, and allowing  for  diversity and adopting  a policy of  live and let live, Manu , the divine or  semi-divine or human being had set those laws.  Though Manusmrithi is a intellectually rejuvenating  work, it had been set  upon by the Dravidian political parties, inspired by non-native ideologies.  As per the above quoted text from the classical dictionary, let us see what Manu says in  Manusmrithi.

In Chapten Ten, titled by modern scholars as Rules for the Times of Adversity,and  sub-headed  Mixed Classes, the following is mentioned with the verse numbers. “When children  fathered  by twice-born men or women  of  equal class do not keep the  observances  and have fallen  from the Savitri- ( explanation of  Savitri by the translator : the Savitri  verse is frequently  used  as  a metonym [a word, name, or expression used as a substitute  for something  else with which  it is closely associated. For  example, Washington  is a metonym  for the US govt.] - for the rite of initiation, the  imparting  of this verse constituting a  central element of  it.(p.246) , they should be called  by the name Vratya.(verse 20). From a Vratya  of the  Brahmin class are born the evil natured  Bhrjjakantaka, and as per the geographical  location are called  the Avantya, the  Vatadhana, the Puspadha, and the  Saikha. (v.20).  From a Vratya  of  the  Ksatriya class are born  the Jhalla, the  Malla, the  Licchivi, the  Nata, the Karana, the Khasa,and the  DRAVIDA.(v.22). From a  Vratya of the Vaisya class are born the Sudhanvan, the Acarya, the Karusa, the Vijanman , the Maitra, and the Satvata. By deviating from the path desirable/prescribed  for the varnas/classes,  by marrying  forbidden women (same Gotra)  and by abandoning  the activities  proper to them, arise the intermixture of  classes.v.24,. I will enumerate  completely  those who are of mixed origin, born in the direct and in the inverse order  and  mutually connected.v.25”………………In one more place , Sage Manu  has mentioned about Dravidas.  ..  “By neglecting  rites and by failing to visit Brahmins for learning, atonement, yajna, etc , however , these men  of  Ksatriya  birth  have gradually  reached in the world  the level of Sudras v.43, - Pundrakas,  Codas, DRAVIDAS, Kambojas, Yavanas, Sakas,Paradas, Pahlavas, Cinas, Kiratas and Daradas.v.44.  All the castes in the world that are outside those born from the mouth, arms,thighs , and  feet- whether they speak foreign or Arya languages- tradition calls  Dasyus.” (pages 209, 210, Manu’s Code of Law, A Critical Edition  and Translation of the Manava-Dharmasastra  by Patrick Olivelle, published by Oxford)

Inference from Manusmrithi

Considering the sound  Savitur  in the Gayatri Mantra and the use of the similar sound  Savitree  in Manusmriti  10.20 ( in the context of  the Dravida’s) , and both referring to  observance /non-observance of  Savitur/ Savitree  for the  sake  of  sharpening or preserving the intellect intact , it means that  groups of people had forgotten or abandoned ways and means of  keeping the intellect from waning. One such people badly affected is the Dravidan people of modern day TN. Please note that all this is related   to  KARMA,  appropriate  karma were not engaged in  to keep the intellect from waning. And most probably other  karma’s would have replaced the desirable karmas.

TRADE UNIONS
Let us now consider  how undesirable KARMAS  not steeped in justice will  give rise to  new groups/sects  or  race of people. Wrong Karmas are the result of a weak or dimmed intellect.

Now we know that trade unions originated in  Britain  in the wake of the Industrial  Revolution.   Quote from Wikipedia “The origins of trade unions can be traced back to 18th century Britain, where the rapid expansion of industrial society then taking place, drew women, children, rural workers, and immigrants into the work force in large numbers and in new roles.” . That  is, a  new situation arising  out of the organization of work (karma) by new means of machines and capital, led to the emergence of a new class/caste of  people in England called Industrial workers. We  are yet to fathom the damage to  our consciousness  and that to the environment due to the industrial revolution. Infact  Industrial Revolution  is equivalent  to dosha (something bad)  affecting  humankind  like  the imbalance of Vata, Pitha and Kapha  lead to  doshas afflicting the human body as per Ayurveda. So the dosha  of  Industrial Revolution has spawned a new class of workers  called  industrial workers who then formed unions. And further we now have  sub-classes/castes in this like Railway workers  union, Coal  miners  union etc, etc.

This  process of new class or caste of people  originating  due to some kind of wrong-doing (Acts of INJUSTICE or violation of Dharma which are all Karmas) by mankind  is not any new phenomenon, but dates far back intime, ie in the misty past. In addition to Manu’s work  detailed above, look at another account from the Mahabharatha relating  to the origin of  DRAVIDAS   Quote from Adi Parva,  Section 176 (CLXXVI), Chaitratha Parva( Continued.). The events here are those unfolding in the Ashram of  Sage Vasishtha,  where Monarch  Viswamitra , a Kshatriya(before he became Rajarishi)  is trying forcibly to take away Nandini , the divine cow from Vasishtha. The story is narrated by  the Gandharva Chaitraratha to   Arjuna.

Excerpts :- “ Viswamitra replied, “I am a Kshatriya, but thou art a Brahmana,devoted to asceticism and  study.  Is there any  energy  in Brahmanas  who are peaceful  and who have their souls  under perfect  command ? When thou  givest  me  not  what I desire  in exchange  even for  ten thousand cows, I will  not  abandon  the practice of   my order; (ie Kshatriya varna) , I will take  thy cow  even by force !’

Vasishtha said,  ‘ Thou  art a  Kshatriya endued with might of arms. Thou  art  a powerful  monarch. O, do in haste what thou  desirest;  and stop not to consider  its propriety.

The Gandharva  continued, Thus  addressed  by Vasishtha, Viswamitra, O Partha, then forcibly  seized  Nandini, that cow (white)  like the swan or  the moon, and attempted  to take her away, afflicting  her with  stripes  and  persecuting her otherwise. The innocent  Nandini  then began,O Partha, to  low  piteously, and approaching  the illustrious  Vasishtha  stood before  him with  uplifted face. Though  persecuted  very cruelly, she refused to leave the Rishi’s asylum’.

‘Beholding  her in that plight, Vasishtha said, ‘O amiable one, thou art lowing repeatedly  and I am  hearing  thy cries. But, O Nandini, even Viswamitra  is taking thee away  by force, what  can I do  in this matter, as I am a  forgiving Brahmana ?’

The Gandharva  continued, ‘Then, O bull in Bharata’s race, Nandini, alarmed  at  the sight  of  Viswamitra’s troops  and terrified by Viswamitra  himself,  approached  the Rishi still closer, and said, ‘O illustrious  one, why art thou so indifferent  to my  poor  self  afflicted   with  the stripes  of the cruel  troops  of  Viswamitra  and crying  so piteously as if I were  masterless?’  Hearing  these words  of the crying  and persecuted  Nandini, the great Rishi lost  not his patience  nor turned  from his vow  of  forgiveness. He replied,  ‘The  Kshatriya’s  might lies  in physical strength,  the Brahmana’s  in forgiveness. Because I cannot  give  up  forgiveness,  go thou, O Nandini, if thou  choosest’. Nandini  answered, ‘Castest thou me away, O illustrious one, that thou sayest so? If thou dost NOT cast  me of f,  I cannot, O Brahmana, be taken away  by force.’ Vasishtha said, ‘O blessed  one, I do not  cast thee off !   Stay if thou  canst ! O, yonder  is thy calf, tied  with a  stout cord,and even now being  weakened by it !’

The  Gandharva continued, ‘Then the cow of Vasishtha,  hearing the word  STAY, raised her head and neck upward, and became terrible to behold.  With eyes  red with rage  and  lowing  repeatedly, she then attacked Viswamitra’s troops on all sides. Afflicted  with  their stripes  and running hither  and thither with those red eyes of hers, her wrath  increased. Blazing with rage, she soon  became terrible  to behold like  unto the sun in his midday glory.  And  from her tail she began to rain showers  of  burning coals all around.  And  some  moments  after, from her tail  she  brought  forth  an army  of  Palhavas, and from her udders, an army  of  DRAVIDAS  and  Sakas; and  from her dung, an army  of  Savaras. And from  the  froth  of  her mouth came  out hosts of  Paundras  and Kiratas, Yavanas  and Sinhalas,  and the  barbarous  tribes  of  Khasas  and  Chivukas  and  Pulindas  and Chinas  and  Hunas  with  KERALAS,   and  numerous  other  Mlechhas. And  that vast army   of Mlechhas  in various  uniforms, and armed with various weapons, as soon  as it sprang  into life, deploying  in the very  sight of  Viswamitra,  attacked that monarch’s soldiers……..(pages 355-56, MBh.Vol. I, Kisari Mohan Ganguli)
The  above story   is amenable  to various interpretations.  Brahmin Sage  Vasishtha   may  be  compared to the right Knowledge,  and  Kshatriya King  Viswamitra  to  Action , without  thinking and  restraint.  Nandini   may be compared    to the bountiful and benevolent  nature which satisfies the  legitimate  needs of all.   Coveting   such  a  resourceful   earth  for oneself  and  actions  to  make it  one’s own  had  spewed out  groups  of action-oriented   people  with  predominantly  violent   disposition. Infact  they  are the by-product  of  such  covetousness.  Action without  the right knowledge  spells  negative  consequences  for  society.  The above  event from the  MBh and  the laws  in the Manusmrithi   debunks  the  Aryan  Invasion Theory.

Let  us  look at a comparable  Modern situation.  The “Great Game”  between   Britain  and   Russia  contributed in great measure  to the partition of India, and  thus we got a thorny neighbour.    Quote Wikipedia :- "The Great Game" was a term for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia.” And  this game did not stop with the partitioning of  India. It continued with the meddling of  internal affairs  in Pakistan and Afghanistan  by the Western Powers   and  arming the Mujahiddeen  against  Russia. The interests of the world powers got wider, and aimed at  controlling  the oil resources in the Middle-East  and  Central Asia. So this led to the origin of  Taliban, Al-Queda etc, which has grown into thorny  trees which the Western powers are trying to root out unsuccessfully. Taliban, Al-Queda  etc, are let us not forget  groups of people, formed  out   of the rivalry between the Western powers  in modern times. From one wrong to another larger wrong,  from a  smaller dosha to a larger dosha,  the  wrongs are thus  growing exponentially.

A  group  representative  of  Tamils ,(?)  the  LTTE   brought to the fore the  violent disposition  of  the Dravidians.   Their  violence  reached  the apogee , deploying women suicide  bombers  as well as child soldiers.  This  led to their annihilation at the hands  of  the Sinhalas.  LTTE    violence  is comparable to the violence displayed  by  Islamic Jihadists  in Peshwar  and  Paris.  Imagine , the  Tamils  or  a  section  of  the  Tamils had reached the brink,  it  was  a close call for  the  Tamilians  in general  pulled  into  the conflict  by  LTTE  who were influenced by  non-native ideologies of  violence   and  mayhem.

The knowledge provided by our Shastras  are in  stark contrast to those of the Modern West. The  above passages derived  or rather  re-discovered from our worthy texts  debunks  Western theories in anthropology,  jurisprudence, sociology,  economics, history, political science, etc etc.  Western scholarship is thus  questionable !!!!!!

Uthhishtatha   Jagratha,   Arise and  be alert !!!






Saturday, September 20, 2014

MICROBES AFFECT HUMAN BRAIN & BEHAVIOR - THE HINDUS KNEW ABOUT IT MILLENNIUMS AGO !!!!!



The Hindu Newspaper recently reproduced a science-news item from the New York Times Service, which stated that Western Scientists in their Research Laboratories, have discovered that MICROBES affect Human behavior . Follow these links (1) http://www.thehindu.com/…/bacteria-our-p…/article6335974.ece (2)http://www.thehindu.com/…/you-are-what-y…/article6335336.ece (3) http://www.thehindu.com/…/the-human-body…/article6410997.ece.

Now this valuable knowledge credited to WESTERN SCIENCE, were known already to ancient Indians. Kindly watch the video, undated BUT PRE-DATED to these news reports. In this discourse (part) in Malayalam, Swami Nirmalananda Giri Maharaj, talks about how seen & unseen organisms affect human brain & behavior.

 The video link to the discourse in MALAYALAM language is given below. Further the three different articles in the HINDU newspaper on the same subject is  provided.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tcVzhlsnqg&feature=youtu.be 




 The language spoken in the above video is MALAYALAM.




http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/bacteria-our-puppet-masters/article6335974.ece

(1)  BACTERIA our puppet masters

Carl Zimmer, AUGUST 21, 2014

In the past few years we’ve come to appreciate how microbes in our body help us break down food and fight infection, but they may be doing more…

Your body is home to about 100 trillion bacteria and other microbes, collectively known as your microbiome. Naturalists first became aware of our invisible lodgers in the 1600s, but it wasn’t until the past few years that we’ve become really familiar with them.

We’ve come to appreciate how beneficial our microbes are, breaking down our food, fighting off infections and nurturing our immune system. It’s a lovely, invisible garden we should be tending for our own well-being.
But now, a team of scientists has raised a creepier possibility. Perhaps our menagerie of germs is also influencing our behaviour in order to advance its own evolutionary success giving us cravings for certain foods, for example.

The idea that a simple organism could control a complex animal may sound like science fiction. In fact, there are many well-documented examples of parasites controlling their hosts.
Some species of fungi, for example, infiltrate the brains of ants and coax them to climb plants and clamp onto the underside of leaves. The fungi then sprout out of the ants and send spores showering onto uninfected ants below.

How parasites control their hosts remains mysterious. But it looks as if they release molecules that can directly or indirectly influence their hosts’ brain.

Our microbiome has the biochemical potential to do the same thing. In our guts, bacteria make some of the same chemicals that our neurons use to communicate with one another, such as dopamine and serotonin.
The microbes can deliver these neurological molecules to the dense web of nerve endings that line the gastrointestinal tract.

Some experiments suggest that bacteria also can influence the way their hosts eat.
Germ-free mice develop more receptors for sweet flavours in their intestines, for example. They also prefer to drink sweeter fluids than normal mice do.

Scientists have also found that bacteria can alter levels of hormones that govern appetite in mice.
Different species of microbes thrive on different kinds of food. If they can prompt us to eat more of the food they depend on, they can multiply.

“Microbial manipulations might fill in some of the puzzling holes in our understanding of food cravings,” said Carlo C. Maley, an evolutionary biologist and co-author of the new study.

“Perhaps,” he suggests, “the certain kinds of bacteria that thrive on chocolate are coaxing us to feed them.”
Research suggests that a healthy microbiome helps mammals develop socially. Germ-free mice, for example, tend to avoid contact with other mice.

That social bonding, good for the mammals, may also be good for the bacteria.
“When mammals are in social groups, they’re more likely to pass on microbes from one to the other,” said John F. Cryan, a neuroscientist not involved in the new study.
“I think it’s a very interesting and compelling idea,” said Rob Knight, a microbiologist, who was also not involved in the new study.

“If microbes do in fact manipulate us, we might be able to manipulate them for our own benefit for example, by eating yogurt laced with bacteria that would make us crave healthy foods.”
But he warned that research on the microbiomes effects on behaviour was still in its early stages.

— New York Times News Service
Microbial manipulations might fill in some of the puzzling holes in our understanding of food cravings

Updated: August 21, 2014 01:54 IST
Speaking Science

(2) “You are what you eat” — are you?


Children raised on
sorghum have different
gut microbes. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar
The Hindu Children raised on sorghum have different gut microbes. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar
About 70 years ago when the biologist J.B.S. Haldane was asked which would be God’s favourite life form, he said “beetles,” since there are far more beetles in the world than people. Were he alive today, Haldane would likely change his mind and answer that it would be microbes. Just the number of microbes — bacteria, virus, archae, and other single-cell organisms in human guts (intestine) alone is 100 trillion, tenfold more than the total number of cells in the entire human body. And as a scientist wag remarked, “I was born with my genome, but when I depart, it will be with 100 other genomes.” 

Where do we pick up all theses bugs? The baby in the womb is bug-free but exiting through the birth canal, the baby picks up a complex set of microbial populations. Babies born through caesarean section have different microbial composition then those through vaginal delivery. These two are of maternal inheritance, and they largely collect in the intestines of the baby — hence the term gut microbiome. 

What do these bugs do? Help, harm or happily coexist — all of these. I remember when our first child Katyayani was born, she fell very sick within a day, dehydrating through loose motions and weakening by hours. The brilliant paediatrician, Dr. Chikarmane, checked the mother Shakti and found that she carried remnants of the pathogen E. histolytica from an earlier infection, which was passed on to Katya. He then cleared Katya of infection using antibiotics, and fed her another set of microbes, Lactobacillus (which help in digesting milk, but which too were lost in the treatment) and restored her health, the ability to digest milk and gain strength. Over time, the newborn acquires microbes in the gut (and elsewhere) through environmental and other sources as well. The composition evolves continuously, but the numbers are maintained. In effect then the human gut is an ecosystem, with microbial genes outnumbering human genes by 100 to 1. 

Given this ecosystem, there is a steady give and take between the host and the guests in the stomach. As we eat, so our microbiome and they produce metabolites and waste molecules that affect our metabolism as well. You are not what you eat, you are what your gut bugs eat and generate as products! 

Immigrants manipulate the host?
This interaction between the host and the guest goes to such an extent that the guest can “manipulate” the diet of the host. A recent paper with the provocative title: “Is eating behaviour manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressure and potential mechanism” has been published in the journal Bio essays (36: DOI 10.1002/ bies. 2014.0071) by a multi-centre group led by Dr Carlo Maley of UCSF, Califonia. They show how our bodies are composed of a diversity of organisms competing for nutritional resources.
Some of them (e.g., prevotella) grow best on carbohydrates and when they do so, they release some chemicals that induce the human host to crave for starchy food. Others such as bacteroidetes grow well with certain fats and in turn induce the host to go for fatty food. How do they do it? The signal molecules they release act not just on the digestive system of the body but also on the pain perception system and the nervous system. They alter the receptors that respond to taste, mood, pain and pleasure. In essence, you are not necessarily the master but are influenced by what your gut microbiome tells you through the signals they release, affecting your behaviour! This guest-influenced host reaction has been suggested to be associated with conditions like obesity, diabetes, allergy (to certain microbial metabolic toxins) and even mood swings and autism. 

In an extreme case with rats, studied by House, Vyas and Sapolsky (PLoS ONE 2011, 6: e23277, free on the web), the researchers found that the microbe Toxoplasma gondii infecting rat guts suppressed the rat’s normal fear of cat smells, thereby making the rat a prey for the cat. The microbes, now housed in the cat’s belly, found it more hospitable! Occasionally we see the reverse, the host reorganizing the composition of the gut micro biome through diet. Japanese people love to eat seaweed, and now one sees specialist microbes that digest seaweeds in Japanese tummies. Likewise, unique microbes that can digest cellulose are found in the guts of African children raised on sorghum in their food. 

We thus see how microbes within us tend to dictate terms and affect not only our digestive system and health, but also our moods, feelings and preferences. 

“You are what you eat” is a phrase that became a buzz word in a variety of contexts, after Gillian Mckeith ran a BBC TV series with that name, in which she advised people on how to eat appropriate healthy diets. It now appears we need to modify it to “You are what your gut’s bugs tell you to eat.”
D. BALASUBRAMANIAN
dbala@lvpei.org 

The human body can be mined for antibiotics, shows latest research

Carl Zimmer , SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

“Microorganisms are the best chemists on the planet,” declared Michael A. Fischbach, a chemist at the University of California, San Francisco.

For evidence, Fischbach points to the many lifesaving drugs that microorganisms produce. In 1928, for example, Alexander Fleming discovered that mould wafting into his lab produced a bacteria-killing chemical that he dubbed penicillin. Later generations of scientists found drug making microorganisms in more exotic locales. In 1951, a missionary in Borneo named William Bouw shipped a box of jungle dirt to Edmund C. Kornfield, a chemist at Eli Lilly. In that soil, Kornfield discovered a species of bacteria that made a potent antibiotic, later named vancomycin.

Scientists today are still searching jungles, oceans and other corners of the world for microorganisms that make medicines. But in a new study published on Thursday in the journal Cell , Fischbach and his colleagues suggest that we should also be looking inward.

Analysing the bacteria that live in our bodies, the scientists identified genes for making over 3,000 previously unknown molecules that may prove to be useful drugs. “Nobody had thought to look that close to home,” said Fischbach.

Finding the molecules
Finding these small molecules — known as natural products — has traditionally been a slow affair. Fischbach and his colleagues set out five years ago to speed up the search. They wrote a software program that learns how to recognise the genes for natural products.

Their study suggests that the human microbiome is a rich source of previously unknown natural products. “That wasn’t where I expected to find interesting drug-producing genes,” said Fischbach. “I was really taken aback.”

The idea that our own bacteria are making potent antibiotics may seem strange. If the microbiome is churning out poison, how does it avoid killing itself?

Fischbach suspects that bacteria only use antibiotics sparingly against their competition. “You don’t wipe the slate clean of bacteria around you,” he said. “This could be something that a hundred thousand microbes use to guard the border of their colony.”

Shaun Lee, a microbiologist at University of Notre Dame who was not involved in the study, said that the fierce competition going on inside our bodies makes it a good place to look for antibiotics.

“The human body is the Manhattan of microbial living - a great place to live with plenty of resources,” he said. “But real estate is at a premium.” — New York Times News Service
 
Analysing bacteria living in our body, scientists identified genes for making over 3,000 previously unknown molecules that may prove to be useful drugs

 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

EUCHARIST WINE / CHARAYAM !!!! - GIVEN AS GRAPE-JUICE


The following speaks volumes about Christian conduct in India.

Missionaries were initially hesitant (in the 18 & 19th centuries) to mention about the EUCHRIST WINE to the natives. Instead they mis-represented it as “GRAPE JUICE”. Thus they falsified wine as grape juice. Read the following account from the famous Abbe J.A.Dubois

Quote “In fact, even with our native Christians, we are careful to avoid all that might wound their feelings to no purpose, and increase in the public mind the jealousy and contempt entertained against them, and their religion. For example, as the use of intoxicating liquors is extremely odious to all well-bred Hindoos, and considered by them as a capital sin, when we explain verbally or in writing the sacrament of the eucharist, we are cautious not to say openly that the materials of this sacrament are bread and wine, or charayam, (literally, wine), which would prove too revolting to their feelings; we have therefore the precaution to soften this coarse term by a periphrasis, saying that the materials of the eucharist are wheaten bread, and the juice of the fine fruit called grape; which expressions become more palatable to their taste.”

P. 34, Abbe J.A Dubois,Missionary in Mysore “Letters on the State of Christianity in India”, FIRST PUBLISHED 1823.

ALCOHOLISM, DRUG ABUSE & CORRUPTION : NON-NATIVE TRAITS , BUT IMBIBED THROUGH EUROPEAN CONTACTS !!!!


Indians were not corrupt to the extent British & Marxist Historians made the general public believe. In fact the moral and material standards of Indians, were much higher than that of Europeans. The

following account by Abbe J A Dubois, vividly describes how Indians were made corrupt, while coming into contact with Europeans. The Abbe is very candid, that contacts with Europeans did not benefit Indians. On the other hand he insists that it DESTROYED their MORAL & MATERIAL well-being. 

Quote “It is, I believe, generally admitted, that the invasions and conquests which the Europeans, prompted by avarice and an unextinguishable thirst of dominion, have not ceased to make in the old and new world during the last three or four centuries, have, in most cases, proved rather a curse than a blessing, and have, on the whole, produced more evil than good. Not to speak of the flood of blood through which those conquests were made, and the European dominions established, the invaders, among many other evils, have supplied the savages with fermented poisonous liquors, with the use of which they were formerly unacquainted, arid which have increased their natural ferocity to a considerable extent.

They are become the general carriers, and almost the exclusive monopolists of that poisonous drug called opium, whose effects are to produce complete madness ; and from an insatiable thirst for gain, they have shamelessly smuggled that poison all over Asia; in open violation of the wise prohibitions of the rulers of several countries to prevent so pernicious an article from being introduced into the states under their sway. They have had the horrid distinction of teaching the half, civilized people their infernal system of warfare, and supplied them with the most destructive kind of weapons, the more effectually to destroy each other. They have, in general, by their bad examples, polluted their minds, and vitiated the simplicity of their manners. They have poisoned their bodies by loathsome and incurable diseases, till then unknown to them; but, perhaps, with, a few exceptions, they have to this day operated no material improvement in their morals or religion; on which points, the conquered are found to be, at present, rather in a worse condition than they were when their fierce invaders, stepping .over the immense barriers by which nature seemed to have separated them for ever, and violating their territories and their natural rights, made their first appearance among them.”

All Excerpts From
Jean Antoine Dubois. “Letters on the State of Christianity in India: In which the Conversion of the Hindoos is ...” Longman, Hurst, Rees , Orme, Brown and Green, 1823. iBooks. ( pages 107-8 of 198, Print pages 116, 117)






Tuesday, August 26, 2014

BREAKING UP FAMILIES – PERMITTED AS PER CHRISTIAN BELIEFS !!!???- CASTE & THE MISSIONARY


I am sure all friends will agree with me that the family has got precedence over the individual. It is our experience that we are readily willing to deal with a individual whose whereabouts ie family background are known, whereas we hesitate to deal with individuals whose family background are not known, or if he belongs to a family of disrepute. Thus we give much importance to family. Even in the case of arranged -marriage, family antecedents are carefully gathered. In the Mahabharatha, it is clearly told that a individual may be abandoned for the sake of the family, and a family for the sake of a village, and a village for the sake of the Kingdom. Here also the family is more important than the individual. Thus family constitutes the most elementary unit which gives strength to a caste/community/nation.

And at some point of time in the past, among the members of the Hindu community in Kerala, INDIVIDUALISM took over. It is reflected in the novel Nalukettu (1958) of M.T.Vasudevan Nair, which got Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1959.Though fictional, could MT have fully assessed the travails of the Karanavar,(family patriarch)  due to British policies & governance ? How did this individualistic tendency come about? Did it creep into the Hindu psyche through the education they received, Western style and mostly run by Church institutions. !!?? If we read Missionary narratives, we see concerted attempts by them to rupture and tear our existing social fabric, by targeting our robust family system. Within and without, individuals were instigated to disregard traditional family & social relationships as well as values, and to disobey and disrespect the family as well as community head/leaders. Agricultural labourers were instigated not to work on Sundays. Such subversive tactics by Missionaries encouraging open rebelliousness against customary heads with the tacit support of the British Govt, ultimately led to the collapse of the joint-family.(One of the main reasons)  We had grown up seeing dysfunctional joint-families, but never cared to unravel how this state of affairs came to be. One beneficiary of this outcome was the Communist Party in Kerala.

Now here we see a Lady Missionary in action while dearly clinging on to the words of Jesus Christ and putting IT into effective use at the same time assuaging her guilty feelings. She is using Christ’s words as a battering ram to break-up families, and also justifying her actions. Though her actions were the means employed at getting converts, she(and people like her) did not fully succeed in it, but was able to spread such negative values making individualism acceptable in society. The result Hindu families became weak and got atomized and caste cohesiveness suffered. Except for the SNDP, whose members are becoming more organized,(and becoming militant) no other community is even reckoned in the politics of Kerala.They have become very weak in all aspects.

Given below is the Missionary justifications, in breaking-up (trying to)  traditional Hindu families.

Missionary Quote : “ The second objection is, "Why break up families by insisting on baptism as a sine quâ non of discipleship?"
And again we answer, Because we believe our Master tells us to. He said, "Baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Mathew 29:19) What right have we, His servants, to stop short of full obedience? Did He not know the conditions of high-caste Hindu life in India when He gave this command? Was He ignorant of the breaking up of families which obedience to it would involve? "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division." (Luke 12:51) And then come words which we have seen lived out literally in the case of every high-caste convert who has come. "For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." These are truly awful verses; no one knows better than the missionary how awful they are. There are times when we can hardly bear the pain caused by the sight of this division. But are we more tender than the Tender One? Is our sympathy truer than His? Can we look up into His eyes and say, "It costs them too much, Lord; it costs us too much, to fully obey Thee in this"?
But granted the command holds, why should not the baptised convert return home and live there? Because he is not wanted there, as a Christian. Exceptions to this rule are rare (we are speaking of Caste Hindus), and can usually be explained by some extenuating circumstance.

The high-caste woman who said to us, "I cannot live here and break my Caste; if I break it I must go," spoke the truth. Keeping Caste includes within itself the observance of certain customs which by their very nature are idolatrous. Breaking Caste means breaking through these customs; and one who habitually disregarded and disobeyed rules, considered binding and authoritative by all the rest of the household, would not be tolerated in an orthodox Hindu home. It is not a question of persecution or death, or of wanting or not wanting to be there; it is a question of not being wanted there, unless, indeed, she will compromise. Compromise is the one open door back into the old home, and God only knows what it costs when the choice is made and that one door is shut.


This ever-recurring reiteration of the power and the bondage of Caste may seem almost wearisome, but the word, and what lies behind it, is the one great answer to a thousand questions, and so it comes again and again. In Southern India especially, and still more so in this little fraction of it, and in the adjoining kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin, Caste feeling is so strong that sometimes it is said that Caste is the religion of South India. But everywhere all over India it is, to every orthodox Hindu, part of his very self. Get his Caste out of him? Can you? You would have to drain him of his life-blood first.

It is the strength of this Caste spirit which in South India causes it to take the form of a determination to get the convert back……….”
 

All Excerpts From
Carmichael, Amy. “Things as They Are / Mission Work in Southern India.” iBooks. (pages 335-37 of 374)

Monday, August 25, 2014

CRIME , CASTE & CHRISTIAN EUROPE.




I  caution that some if not all might experience “COGNITIVE  DISSONANCE” after reading this posting. In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.(Wikipedia)

All along we had been taught that CASTE is an excrescence of Hindu India, and that the civilizing mission of the White-men & their religion, had extricated the masses from the dark depths to which they had sunk. With such propaganda, the gullible among  us are even now thinking that the ‘colonizers” had “SAVED” us by putting in place law & order, new social institutions, infrastructure  & DEMOCRACY, which we understand now are proving to be tenuous.

At one point of time, the men doing research on  crime in England, had toyed with the idea of introducing the CASTE SYSTEM  in Europe. Such was the effectiveness of Caste in maintaining a peaceful social order. Since it posed a barrier to conversion, the Missionaries started maligning that institution, and it was later on taken up by Leftists, Reformers, Ambedkarites etc. Daily in newspaper reports, we see condemnation of caste indirectly & directly.

The following passage from the book “Crime & Its Causes” is very informative.

Quote : “Those remarks of Sir William Hunter afford an insight into the coercive power exercised by the caste system on the Indian population. Without that system it is probable that the criminal statistics of India would present as high a proportion of crimes of violence and blood as now exists among the peoples of Southern Europe. But with that system in active operation, the evil influence of climate is completely neutralized and India at the present moment enjoys a remarkable immunity from violent crime. With the example of India before us we are justified in coming to the conclusion that homicide and crimes of a kindred nature need not necessarily be the malign products of climate. Whatever climate has to do with fostering these offences may be obviated by a better form of social organization. It would be ridiculous to dream of basing western society upon Indian models; but at the same time India teaches us a lesson on the construction of the social fabric which it would be well to learn. The tendency of western civilization at the present time is to herd vast masses of men into huge industrial centres. It is useless discussing the abstract question whether this is a good thing or a bad; we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that it is a process forced upon communities by the necessities of modern industrialism; and we must accordingly make the best of it. In our efforts to make the best of present tendencies, and to render them as innocuous as possible to social welfare, there is one point at least where India is able to teach us an instructive lesson. In India a man seldom becomes, what he too often is, in all our large cities, a mere lonely, isolated unit, left entirely to the mercy of his own impulses, constrained by no social circle of any description, and unsustained by the pressure of any public opinion for which he has the least regard. In India he is always a member of some fraternity within the community; in that fraternity or caste he feels at home; he is never isolated; he belongs to a circle which is not too big for his individuality to be lost; he is known; he has a reputation and a status to maintain; his life within the caste is shaped for him by caste usages and traditions, and for these he is taught to entertain the deepest reverence. Caste is in many of its aspects a state in miniature within the state; in this capacity it performs a variety of admirable functions of which the state itself is and must always remain incapable.”



All Excerpts From
William Douglas Morrison. “Crime and Its Causes.” iBooks. (Pages 56 -7of 231 )- First Published in 1891, by London Swan Sonnenschein & Co., LIM. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. William Douglas Morrison had worked in H.M.Prison, Wandsworth.