Why I Am A Hindu....

Four years ago, I was flying from New Delhi Airport to Banglore to meet my younger brother. An American girl was sitting on the right side,near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly three hours. I was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible unusual of young Americans. After some time, she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk. I told her that I am from Delhi and i am an Indian.
Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?'
'What?' I didn't understand the question.
'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?'
'No!' I replied, 'I am neither Christian nor Muslim'.
Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you?'
'I am a Hindu', I said.
She looked at me as if she was seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what I was talking about.
A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today. But a Hindu, what?
I explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother.
Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth.
'Who is your prophet?' she asked.
'We don't have a prophet,' I replied.
'What's your Holy Book?'
'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,' I replied.
'Oh, come on at least tell me who is your God?'
'What do you mean by that?'
'Like we have Jesus and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a God?'
I thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.
According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion needs to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that
anything else is not acceptable. I understood her perception and concept about faith. You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of god.
I tried to explain to her: 'You can believe in one god and he can be a Hindu.. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more -you may not believe in god at all, still you can be a Hindu. An atheist can also be a Hindu.'
This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after onslaught from foreign forces. 'I don't understand but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?'
What can I tell to this American girl?
I said: 'I do not go to temple regularly. I do not make any regular
rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes.'
'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?'
'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.'
She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?'
'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning.
I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' I told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority.
'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white.
'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.'
'Why can't you believe in one personal God?'
'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers,
demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.' I told her that such notions are just fancies
of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The
philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions. 'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?'
'Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu.. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,'
'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?'
'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.'
'Hmm ...very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic,  broad-minded and free' she exclaimed.
'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.'
'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?'
'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single authority or organization either to accept it or to reject it or to oppose it on behalf of Hinduism.' I told her - if you look for meaning in life, don't look for
it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one guru to the next.
For a real seeker, I told her, the Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ' Kingdom of  God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life. Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 'Isavasyam idam sarvam'
Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere.. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches
you.
Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas. It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.
Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either  superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.
I said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception'.
I am a Hindu primarily because it professes Non-violence - 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' - Non violence is the highest duty. I am a Hindu because it doesn't condition my mind with any faith system. A man / woman who
change 's his / her birth religion to another religion is a fake and does not value his / her morals, culture and values in life. Hinduism was the first religion originated.
Be proud of your religion and be proud of who you are.
Om Namo shiva....... ........

Shankaracharya speaks about Islam

Live your dreams

Sometimes people say that there is nothing new in the life, they have the negative thoughts and they live their lives as it comes, they only have regrets, they only have complaints from the life, they are never satisfied yet they compromise to live, ever wondered why?
I thought this could be because they stop dreaming, dreaming about their life, their plans, and dreaming about themselves. they have the negative thoughts in their minds because they see the different prespective of life. but i must say that one should admire oneself  first them the creation of God, the miracles surrounding us.
Ever felt the beauty in rising sun in the early morning, the morning mist, the cool breeze, the dancing trees, the drizzling downpours of rain, the smell from the soil with the first drops of rain on them, the smiling flowers, the chirping birds, the smiling faces around, cuddling a small child, pleasure of giving a small gift to a child, pleasure of feeding a hunger person, helping an old man to cross the road, the satisfaction behind when u just pick a piece of paper or polythene from the road and put it in a dustbin, greet a sweeper on the road and a smile comes back to you, greet an old man and will get a lode of blessings to start your day, the smile on your mothers face when you touch her feet and she puts her hand of blessings on your head, hug your wife and she will be full of life, kiss your child and get your blood pressure controlled, all this and a lot more happens to us almost daily but how much from this we actually feel and adopt in our life. all this is just a smile away...
keep a smile on your face, no wonder what kind of pain your are going through, but dont let your pain overcome you, rather welcome your pain with a smile on your face and in your heart and wonder the changes you feel after that, these are the miracles of life.....

Meri Maa

Wo har subha aapka mujhe jagana,

badam k liye mere peche peche dodhna...

wo jhuti-muti dart marna.

aapka din bhar muskurana ,

maa mujhe bahut yaad aata h................

wo har roz aapka mujhe se gale lagna,

wo har dupair mere sang khelna.

wo har choti choti baatey mujhe batana,

meri sari fermaish puri karna....

maa mujhe bahut yaad aata h...

aaj hu bahut door tumse,

mujhe se jada aakeli ho tum waha ye janti hu mai.

tumhe acche se pehchanti hu mai,

tumhari khamoshi ko bhi samjhti hu mai.

maa tum mujhe bahut yaad aati ho...............

meri sakhi, saheli ho tum.

maa aap mera sahara ho,

har pal tumhari chinta satati h....

maa mujhe tumhari bahut yaad aati hai..

Roots of Politics

Sometimes i wonder about the origin of politics, how man after his evolution and even before he learned the art of living he might have learned the art of politics, the fight for survival, the conspiracy for being superior, and to grab whatever comes in front. to me that might be the first of its kind of politics. gradually men learned more on this and the greed started growing up for more land, power, and then comes the money, which was one of the biggest inventions so far by a human being, even bigger then fire, wheel, and anything else.
Today as we all know and hear almost daily somebody or the other involved in big scams and money laundring  coming up in thousands of crores, now even crores seems to be a small figure as compared to few hundreds earned by a middle class man few years back. i wonder what is behind all this this greed...
Even the godman or the babas to have an itch of this money, name, fame and power, to be the part of active politics.They are the teachers of the society, they have a very big impact of their words on the people of this country as we all indians are famous for our blindfaith and blind following for our religion and these babas. now if they to have the greed for all this then why should a common man.
Just now i had n experience of this in our recent elections of the resident welfare association of my residing block, i mentioed its just a block of around 135 houses and housing around 225 odd families. now even at this stage the post for the management was a controversial issue just to handle the association so that the teal leaders can benifit from the bhagidari schemes of delhi government and from other sources, but not to benifit for the society or for the welfare of the block about which nobody was seem concerned....