India China Relations and World Peace

India and China are both cradles of human civilization. These countries have many similarities and have thousands of years of cultural and scientific exchanges. Some of them are mentioned below.

Buddha and Confucious were contemporaries. While Buddha taught Ahimsa (non-violence), Confucious taught upright living. Buddhism went to China from India and from China it spread to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. 

The Brahmanical system of education in India was similar to the Mandarin system of education in China. These systems were utilized for the governance of their respective countries.

The Indian mathematician Aryabhata was born in 476 A.D. He made seminal contributions to mathematics and astronomy, including concepts of trigonometry, zero (0), pi and about the motions of planets and Earth. Some consider that he postulated the heliocentric model of the solar system, that is the Earth and other planets move around the Sun. Many Chinese scholars visited Aryabhata, some of them translated his books into Chinese.

When Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of unified China, came to power, he ordered that all non-scientific books be burnt. He wanted books on history and culture to be written afresh to prove that the Chinese civilization started during his reign. In order to save earlier books from being burnt many Chinese scholars fled to India with their books.

Ancient India comprised of many kingdoms and these kingdoms were engaged in fighting among themselves to increase their sizes and dominance. The largest size of India was achieved during the British rule.

Ancient China too comprised of many warring kingdoms. The great Chinese Wall was constructed to defend original China from invaders. After many centuries of fighting China acquired its present size. 

India too was ruled by many invaders for centuries and ultimately the whole of India was brought under the British rule. Although the British rulers started building infrastructures in India for their own business interests, most of the Indian wealth was transferred to Britain making India a very poor country.

Likewise, China was also invaded by many invaders over the centuries. Some parts of China were under foreign rules; but fortunately the whole of China as such was never under any foreign rule.

Opium wars in the 19th century
Two wars were fought. The British East India Company wanted to increase selling of opium in China to increase their business. The Chinese naturally resisted. The British East India Company used armed forces consisting of Indians belonging to the British East India Army to brutally crush the Chinese resistance. So, our Chinese friends bear a grudge against India. But our Chinese friends must remember that their resistance was crushed by the British East India Army and not by the Indians themselves or the Indian Army. 
Our Chinese friends ought to remember that about two hundred thousand British Indian Army personnel laid down their lives in the two World Wars and other wars, although these wars, except the Second World War, had no direct bearings on India.

Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to China
Rabindranath Tagore visited China after the First World War. As he was a great humanist, he preached universal brotherhood. As China had bitter experiences with turmoils, Rabindranath was not well received in China. But when Japan attacked China in 1937, Rabindranath severely criticized Japan for this. This showed that Indians supported China in times of duress.

Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis in China
China was ravaged by internal and external conflicts. So, Chinese leaders requested Indian National Congress leaders to send a medical team to China. At that time, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was the Congress president. He arranged to send a team of five doctors to China. Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis (Chinese name Ke Dihua) was among them. This medical team attended to wounded soldiers; they also attended to soldiers wounded by the Japanese invasion in 1938. After a few years, four doctors of the medical team returned to India; but Dr. Kotnis settled down in China and died in 1942 while still serving in China as a doctor. To this day, the Chinese gratefully remember Dr. Kotnis and regard him as a hero. Dr. Kotnis is also considered by many as a symbol of friendship and cooperation between India and China. Dr. Kotnis himself had named his only child "Yinhua" combining the Chinese characters "Yin" for India and "Hua" for China. 

Accidental Nuclear War
On September 26, 1983, the Soviet Union’s early warning missile attack system displayed that five ICBM missiles had been launched by the USA against the Soviet Union. The then duty officer Stanislav Petrov reasoned that it could be a false alarm; because the USA could not hope to destroy the Soviet Union by launching only five ICBMs as these might not be able to penetrate the Soviet air defense system. So, he decided to wait before retaliating. Then the early warning system displayed that it was a false warning. The world was thus saved from a nuclear disaster by S. Petrov’s calm thinking and reasoning.
But the dangers of accidental nuclear wars are more potent these days due to these weapons being in the hands of unstable countries .

India-China War
I cannot imagine a full scale war between China and India. If there is such a full scale war India will be wiped off the globe; but China will also be grievously hurt setting it back by decades of development. Although China is the second largest economy in the world, the standard of living of its average citizens is much lower than the standards of living prevailing in Western Europe. So, how does China gain by indulging in a full scale war with India? It will be totally counterproductive.

Conclusion
As mentioned in the very beginning, India and China have thousands of years of cultural and scientific exchanges. The relations started souring from the middle of 1950s. I think the boundary disputes are temporary aberrations. India and China shall have to solve the boundary disputes through repeated negotiations. China and India, with help of all other major countries and economies, must engage in nuclear disarmament and neutralization of radioactive wastes and try to solve global warming, water and food shortages.

As we know it today, our Earth is the only planet inhabited by human beings. It may also be that our Earth is the only planet in the Universe, or the Multiverses as the case may be, which harbor any form of life at all. As China and India are among the oldest civilizations, it is their joint responsibility, with the help of other major powers, to save our Earth from destruction.
I am very hopeful that in my lifetime the Chinese President will be the Chief Guest at the Indian Republic Day celebration.  

Reservation in India

Initially the Hindu religion did not have any caste system. The caste system appeared over thousands of years primarily when the Hindu religion started losing its momentum. It became very oppressive in the beginning of the second century AD. The revival of the Hindu religion was started by Sant Kabir, Sant Ravi Das, Guru Nanak Dev, Shri Chaitanya and others. This revival was given further impetus by the Bramho Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj, Rama Krishna Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, ISKCON and others. Despite these attempts to cleanse and revive the Hindu religion, the caste system is still very oppressive even after more than 70 years of independence. The caste system remains a heinous crime.

To alleviate the wretched conditions of the oppressed castes, the great Baba Saheb Ambedkar wanted a system of affirmative action for a limited period. He hoped that during this period the oppressed classes would get uplifted and would merge with the main stream of the society; but, alas, this has not happened.

The present generation of power hungry and shortsighted politicians in India (whose predecessors divided India after a genocide to satisfy their hunger for power) are again busy dividing the society by inventing new castes and sub castes. They are also surreptitiously increasing the percentage of reservation to a level higher than the maximum prescribed by the Supreme Court. Some of these power hungry wolves are even demanding reservations for dalit Muslims and dalit Christians, even those these religions are supposed to be casteless.

These politicians, masquerading as servants of the nation, are even demanding reservations in the private sector. These vote-hunters know that the revenues generated by the private sector run the Nation and are also used to generate the huge amounts of power and pelf enjoyed by them, and that the system of reservation alone cannot earn revenues for the nation. Still they are clamouring for reservations in the private sector to score short term brownie points.

The Parsi and Bohra Communities in India

There are only 70-80 thousand Parsis in India. They are the most miniscule minority community in India. Do they clamor for reservations? They are the most advanced of all the communities in India; because most of them are properly educated. Look at their contributions to the industrial, education and health sectors in India.

The Bohras are the most well off and advanced community among the Muslims in India. They do not clamour for reservations. The Bohras too have significantly contributed to the industrial, commercial and education sectors in India.

Our power hungry politicians must realize that proper education, and not only reservations, will uplift and integrate all sections of the Indian society. Conversely by increasing the scope of reservations without proper diligence, we are stymieing the growth of talent in India.

Should reservations be applicable to the following fields?

1. Children of SC, ST, OBC etc. IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS, senior public and private sector officials, armed forces officers, judges, senior teachers of higher secondary schools, colleges and universities, doctors, chartered and cost accountants, architects etc. have ample access and facilities for good education. So, should such children be covered under the reserved categories? 
2. Teachers build a nation. While it is necessary to recruit teachers from the reserved categories, shouldn’t there also be a high enough bar on their education qualification and acumen so that teachers are able to discharge their teaching duties properly?
3. Judiciary is one of the pillars of our democracy. Judges have to discharge their judicial duties singly at courts lower than that of the High Court. Even in some High Courts, there are single judge benches. Even in division benches, all the judges shall have to be very proficient in judicial matters. Should reservations be applicable to the judiciary?
4. Doctors operate singly from their chambers. If they are not proficient in medicines or surgeries, they may unintentionally endanger the lives of their patients. Should reservations be applicable to medical courses?
5. Should reservations be applicable to institutions engaged in developing cutting edge technologies? 

How to uplift the conditions of the SC, ST, backward and all underprivileged and poor sections of the society

The main cause of backwardness is the lack of proper education, and this is due to the poverty coupled with lack of opportunities in such families. In my village there are Brahmin families whose children are forced to drop out of schools without completing school education, because their parents are poor. So, the children of all poor families, irrespective of castes and religions, shall have to be given free and intensive education and coaching/guidance to enable them to get a proper and wholesome education. Vocational courses have to be popularized. Agricultural and industrial sectors have to be developed to increase employment opportunities.

Our motherland India is, unfortunately, a land of scandals. The first major scandal in independent India was the "Army jeep scandal” and since then major scandals have been taking place regularly. Most defense purchases are scandal ridden. Lootings of public sector banks have been going on for decades. Many scandals may never get unearthed because of the business man-politician-bureaucrat nexus. All political parties maintain their parties and fight elections mostly with black money. So, these parties, although they always preach honesty, are not really interested in reducing corruption in India. Politics is a very lucrative profession in India.

I had suggested some methods on how to reduce the level of corruption in India in my first blog and sent copies to certain constitutional authorities in India. I am sending copies of this blog to the same constitutional authorities hoping to resurrect their consciences.

I am running 81 years and I have no intention of hurting your feelings. If you feel hurt, I apologize to you.

May our motherland India be free from the scourge of the caste system.

India-Pakistan-Bangladesh Relations

The Kashmir Problem: Kashmir is not a problem at all; it is the symptom of a problem. The main problem is the mistrust between the estranged brothers. These brothers were estranged by the division of India by power hungry politicians. If the mistrust between the estranged brothers is solved, then Kashmir will find its own solution.

Indian Sub-continent has developed a mixed culture

The Sanatan Dharma, popularly known as the Hindu religion, naturally developed in the Indian sub-continent and its surrounding countries over thousands of years. The Adivasis of India are still maintaining their own cultures and their cultures are older than Hindu cultures; but a lot of exchanges have taken place. Many outsiders came over long periods of time, conquered some parts, settled down here and got mixed. The Jews also came to India and settled here. The Orthodox Christian missionaries arrived in the southern parts of India within 100 years of resurrection of Christ and started preaching. Islamic preachers came to India many years before Islam came here as a political force in the beginning of the eighth century, and were allowed by Hindu kings to preach. This is how the subcontinent developed a mixed culture over many centuries. 

Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti is revered by both the Hindus and the Muslims in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Kabir had both Hindu and Muslim followers. The Baul singers of Bengal belong to both the Hindus and the Muslims as well.

Many Muslims are experts in “Sastriya Sangeet”. Some of them start their programs by performing “Swaraswati Vandana”. The great monk Swami Vivekananda proclaimed: “India will prosper only when an Indian will have a Muslim brawn, a Hindu head and a Christian heart”. 

The great poet Iqbal sang: “Hindustan is the best country in the world”. The great poet Kazi Nazrul Islam sang: “We the Hindus and the Muslims are two flowers in the same stalk; the Muslims are the eyes of the nation and the Hindus are the soul. As the Sun and the Moon play on the lap of the mother sky, we Hindus and Muslims also play on the lap of mother India; we have the same blood in our veins and we have the same umbilical chord”.

Syed Muztaba Ali was a great Bengali litterateur, a scholar in several classical languages, a widely travelled man and he taught in several foreign and Indian universities. In one of the books he wrote: “The inhabitants of North West Frontier Province and Eastern Afghanistan are the most civilized people in the world”.

The politicians and religious bigots have turned these wonderful places into killing fields.

“Madhuban mein Radhika nache re” was composed by Naushad, the lyricist was Shakeel Badauni, it was sung by Mohammad Rafi and the lips were given by Dilip Kumar (Muhammad Yusuf Khan). What a beautifully woven multi-cultural fabric! But power hungry politicians and religious obscurantists have turned the Indian sub-continent into a killing field.

Urdu is an Indian language

Urdu originated in North India and spread to other places. My senior colleague Mukherjee-da a Bengali Hindu was born and brought up in pre-partition Lahore. His father was a science teacher in a Lahore college. Mukherjee could read, write and speak Bengali with proper Bengali accent. He could also read, write and speak Urdu with proper accent. He told me: “We Bengalis think that Bengali is the sweetest of all the languages in the world; but being a Bengali myself I am of the opinion that Urdu is much sweeter than Bengali”. I was very surprised. 

Ghazal devolved out of Urdu and it is enjoyed in both India and Pakistan. This cultural link shall have to be strengthened. Before partition both the Hindus and the Muslims of North India felt a strong affinity towards Urdu and many Hindus considered Urdu as their mother tongue. But after the blood letting partition, a chasm has developed in this affinity. This chasm can be bridged by increasing the frequency of Ghazal performances by artists of both countries performing both in India and Pakistan.

Terrorism across India Pakistan border

States must not sponsor cross-border terrorism; it backfires and seriously hurts the sponsoring country. It is indeed grievously hurting the sponsoring country. Still the sponsoring is continuing unabated due to narrow shortsighted political strategy.

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh shall have to learn to be good neighbours for their mutual benefits. I very much hope that the younger generations of these countries will take the lead and normalize the relations. Cultural, educational, commercial and industrial cooperation will benefit all of these neighbours.

Floods and draughts in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

These occur annually in these countries and cause devastations. These can be controlled by connecting rivers in these countries through canals, construction of reservoirs and rain water harvesting. Water is a very scares resource. Joint river commissions compromising experts from these countries ought to conduct joint river surveys during summer, monsoon and winter and devise water sharing mechanisms for their mutual benefits. For sharing the Brahmaputra water, China has to be involved. To achieve this, state sponsored terrorism shall have to be stopped.

Indus river water treaty between India and Pakistan has survived several wars between them. This is a beacon of hope in an otherwise very ominous environment. I very much hope that the younger generations will establish good relations between them for their mutual benefits.

Religious intolerances and obscurantisms in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

These are very serious problems in these countries. These problems are also seriously affecting the Middle East, parts of Africa, China, Europe and other regions of the world. 

“Dharma” in Sanskrit means the rules that maintain law and order in the society. During the cave age, there were few rules because cave age people did not have evolved social interactions. As the human brain developed in the course of thousands of years, wise persons among them devised certain rules to control individual lives and maintain order in the society. These rules grew into formal religions in course of time. All sane persons know about it. As the formal religions became rigid, they created havocs and led to killings of human beings by fellow human beings all in the name of the Creator. What a heinous crime to commit in the name of the Creator. This heinous crime is still being committed in the modern Internet age. Does it not strike your minds as absolutely nonsense?

The persecutions of religious minorities are still going on in the Indian sub-continent. In one country, the religious minorities have almost been cleansed, even a sect of Muslims have almost been finished. In another, the cleansing is going on. In India, all politicians are vote hunters on religious lines and create communal disharmony. Some parts of China are very much disturbed due to religious obscurantists. I very much hope that the persecutions of religious, linguistic and cultural minorities all over the world will be stopped one day by the younger generations.

Some of my Pakistani friends think that if the Indian part of Kashmir becomes a part of Pakistan, all problems between India and Pakistan will be solved. I think they are wrong and re-dividing the Indian subcontinent based on religious demography will only pander to the religious sectarianism and will further diminish the scope of secular principles in India. There are about 200 million fellow Muslim citizens in India and it risks undermining them if the narrow logic of religious partition is brought forth again.

Why are the Pathans, Balochs and Sindhis agitating in Pakistan? Why was Bangladesh carved out of Pakistan by sacrificing three million lives? Why are Arabs fighting among themselves? If all people in the world become only Muslims or only Christians or only Buddhists or only Hindus, will peace prevail in the world?

It is in Pakistan’s interest that India does not get further disintegrated; because, if India disintegrates, it will create a domino and disintegrate Pakistan too and the Indian subcontinent will become a towering inferno.

If religious obscurantism and cross border terrorism are not stopped, the Indian subcontinent and parts of China may end up in a nuclear disaster. Religious obscurantism may destroy the Human civilization.

Human knowledge has progressed from Cave Age to Internet Age and is progressing further; but religious beliefs are still mired in myths. It is very easy to whip up emotions on religious lines. Power hungry politicians are utilizing these for their hunts for power and the clergy will not allow people to think freely, because they don’t want to lose their stranglehold on society.

Muslims are an integral part of the Indian subcontinent

The Arabs, then idol worshippers, have been coming to India for trading since ancient times. They came as a political force in the beginning of the 8^th century AD; since then Muslims have been coming to India and settled all over India. Hindu Muslim interactions helped to develop a mixed culture.

I consider myself to be a Hindu, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Christian, a Muslim etc. at the same time. 

Although overwhelming majority of soldiers and leaders of the 1857 revolution were Hindus, they declared Bahadur Shah Zajar as the Emperor of India. It is a sad fact that highly qualified though extremely nefarious politicians divided India after a prolonged carnage in 1947 and since then the estranged brothers have been fighting among themselves.

In the Second World War, about 6 million Jews were murdered. They were usually murdered in Concentration Camps by the Nazis. The Nazis were an organized force; so they kept the records of the killings. 

In the Indian subcontinent, mass killings were started by goons in 1946 when India was still under the British rule. During this time, neighbours raped neighbours, neighbours mutilated the limbs before murdering neighbours. It is reported that about half a million people were killed due to partition; but this is very much an underestimated figure. This carnage was usually locally organized; so no records were kept. The casualty was definitely more heavy, because India was more populous than Germany and its surrounding countries. Moreover, in the Second World war it was only the Nazis that exterminated the Jews, whereas during the partition of India, both Hindus and Muslims were engaged in killing one another. This mass killing is the bloodiest blot on human civilization in peace time.

When the Jews were being exterminated, the Second World War was going on; but in India when neighbours started exterminating neighbours, no war was going on; this extermination took place in peace time.

The Nazis transported the Jews to concentration camps and subjected them to firing squads or put them in gas chambers. The bodies of living Jews were not mutilated. But in the Indian subcontinent neighbours chopped off their neighbours’ limbs before murdering them. Such barbarities were not committed by the Nazis. The barbarities committed by the goons before, during and after partition in the Indian subcontinent far exceeded the barbarities committed by the Nazis on the Jews. The barbarities committed by the Nazis are still being remembered by the world with horror; but the barbarities committed in the Indian subcontinent have been forgotten by the world and even by the people of the Indian subcontinent.

In today’s Indian subcontinent, we celebrate the birthdays of the very persons who divided India after a genocide to satisfy their hunger for power. What a queer mentality we have!

My father, a freedom fighter, was firmly of the opinion that the genocide before, during and after partition could have been avoided or minimized had the leaders were not so hungry for power. Whenever I am in a vacant mood and think about the genocide, I seem to hear the cries for help and the wailing of hapless people being butchered, and I feel an excruciating pain in my heart.

Conclusion

1 to 9 and 0 were invented in ancient India. The Arabs learnt these from India and spread these to Europe. Scholars in ancient India conceived that all objects in the Universe were composed of extremely small particles called “Paramanu”. Astronomers in ancient India postulated that the Earth moves round the Sun. So, the Indian subcontinent has a tradition of knowledge and learning. 

Population of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is now more than 1.6 billion. This vast population’s contribution to modern science is very insignificant. Only five persons originating in this subcontinent have been awarded the Nobel Prizes in Science subjects so far. Out of the five Nobel laureates, only Prof. C. V. Raman was an Indian citizen, two were American citizens, one was a British citizen and the surviving one is an American citizen when they were awarded the Nobel Prizes.

“Veda” means knowledge. In the holy Quran the most repeated word is that of the all Merciful Allah; the second most repeated word is “Ilm” or knowledge.

How many gold medals does this vast population get at each Olympic? Do these facts not cross your minds? You are so engrossed in committing hara-kiri among yourselves that you have no time to think about these hard facts. 

My appeal to the younger generations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is please discard the old baggage, discard the myths present in all religions, think yourselves as human beings, come forward to solve all the problems facing India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, so that ordinary people, mostly poor, of this subcontinent can live with dignity and as good neighbours. 

Hail the subcontinent; Hail Mankind!

Some suggestions on how to increase harmony among all religions in India

I am very apprehensive that the obscurantists of all religions are bent on destroying the earth in the name of religions.

I have used the word “earth” (and not the “world”) intentionally; because according to our present knowledge, our earth is the only planet in the universe known to support life. There is a theory that it is not a universe, but there are multi-verses.  It amazes me when I think of the complexities and the innovative power of the human mind.

• Whoever created the universe, or the multi-verses as the case may be, must have created all human beings; but the different religious communities address the same Creator by different names.
• The Jews, the Christians and the Muslims believe that the Creator doesn’t have any form. The Hindus also believe that the Creator doesn’t have any form; however an ordinary person cannot think of the Creator without any form; so for the convenience of ordinary persons different forms of the Creator have been imagined.
• On Mahalaya Day , All Souls Day, Sab-e-Barat Day, the Hindus, the Christians and the Muslims respectively remember their ancestors. This shows the similarities among different religions. Such similarities have to be highlighted.
• The Prophets of all religions ought to be respected by all, because they are the messengers of the same Creator.
• The gist of all religions shall have to be taught in our schools, so that the students can realize that all religions talk about the same Creator.

• Many Hindus in India celebrate Christmas by lighting up their homes and feasting. All Hindus, Buddhists and the Muslims should be encouraged to light up their homes during Christmas and exchange greetings.
• The Buddhists, Christians and the Muslims should be encouraged to light up their homes during Deepavali and exchange greetings.
• The Hindus, Christians and the Muslims should be encouraged to light up their homes during Buddha-Purnima and exchange greetings.
• The Hindus, Buddhists and the Christians should be encouraged to light up their homes during Eid and exchange greetings.
• Although I have mentioned only about the Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and the Muslims, the main festivals of all religions ought to be celebrated by the followers of all religions.
• As the Creator is the same, we are all brothers and sisters created by the same Creator. So, how can we kill one another in the name of the Creator?
• Inter-religious marriages should be encouraged without having to undergo religious conversions. As an example, when a Hindu person marries a Muslim, the persons may not change their religions. These marriages may be solemnized by observing both the Hindu and the Muslim customs. The children of such marriages may declare their respective religious faiths after attaining adulthood; some may declare themselves agnostic.
• If the above suggestions are followed, the differences among different religious communities will get blurred after a few generations and we will unite for the survival of mankind on our earth.
• The non-believers shall have every right to express their opinions freely.

The Big Bang theory of Creation

Scientists postulate that the whole universe was created due to a Big Bang that occurred 13-15 billion years ago. A mini Big Bang experiment was conducted by CERN deep under the ground in 2012. So, the Big Bang is an experimentally proven fact.

But the scientists also postulate that all matters were present when the Big Bang occurred. Why should all matters be present just before the Big Bang occurred and what was it like before the Big Bang? The present day scientists cannot explain this phenomenon. Maybe, the scientists will be able to explain this phenomenon more completely in the future. Till then we, those who are believers, are entitled to believe that there is a Creator.

The Cave Men and Women

It is a historical fact that initially all men and women lived in caves. They gradually learned to speak due to natural evolution; learnt cultivation and settled down in different parts of the earth. They learnt to write many centuries (maybe thousands of years) after they started speaking. The Vedic people did not know how to write; the Vedas were written many centuries after they were composed.

The Cave men could not speak in the beginning, because their brains were not properly developed. The human brain gradually developed due to natural evolution. When the Human brains developed sufficiently they started thinking about the creation of the universe. They learnt how to light up a fire; it protected them from cold weather and wild animals; so they started worshipping fire. They realized that Sun rays sustain life; so they started worshipping the Sun. This is how the human civilization developed over thousands of years. All great preachers of all religions started thinking and preaching at the ages when their brains were sufficiently developed.

These are scientific and historical facts. Can we, whatever may be our religious beliefs, deny these facts?

Discrimination Against Women

All religions discriminate against women. Why? Are the women not created by the same Creator? Why there are no women heads in different religions?

There are some women heads in some Hindu sects; but they all are heads of Hindu sects having local influences only.

Why there are no women priests in any religion? I understand that some organizations in West Bengal are training women to perform Durga Puja. Some women may have already started performing Durga Puja as well; but these are only taking place locally.

All religious men strive to do good things believing that these will help them to enjoy good things in the heaven and may even help them to have company of beautiful women there. Can good things not be done without expecting any returns?

If religious men can aspire to enjoy the company of beautiful women in the heaven, then can religious women aspire to enjoy the company of handsome men in the heaven?

All religions believe that the Creator is a man. Why can’t the Creator be a woman?

To My Dear Muslim Friends

Our dear Muslim friends and co-citizens are the second largest majority community in India. In fact the Muslims are the second largest majority community in the world after the Christians. So, they are not a minority community in India at all.

Our dear Parsi friends are indeed a minority community in India. I understand that there are only about 70 thousand Parsis in India. Those who migrated to Europe from Persia have lost their identities. But those who came to India are able to maintain their identities. It amazes me when I think of their enormous contributions to industry, higher education and research and health services in India. I have never heard of any movement by Parsis fighting for their rights; because most of them are highly educated. So, lack of proper education is the real cause of the backwardness of a community and not their numbers. All communities in India, including our Muslim friends, shall have to try to emulate our wonderful Parsi friends.

I understand that their numbers are gradually dwindling while the numbers of other communities are alarmingly burgeoning. I feel very apprehensive about the very survival of our Parsi co-citizens. The Central government and our Parsi friends shall have to take some immediate corrective steps.

Within a century of the demise of the Last Prophet, the Arabs went right up to the south of France. They established the first university in Europe in Spain at Cordova in the tenth century when Haroon-al-Rasheed was the Khalifa, the Muslim civilization was at its zenith. During the golden period of Muslim civilization Omar Khayyam composed his Rubaiyyat. Ilm (i.e. knowledge) is the most repeated word after the all Merciful Allah in the Holy Quran. All my educated Muslim friends know it. Then, why are infernos raging in the Middle East, Pakistan and also in some parts of India? Does not this burning question cross your minds? With due respect to you, I dare to suggest that these infernos are due to lack of Ilm.

Lack of Ilm is causing intolerances among different religious communities all over the world and may ultimately destroy the mankind. So, let all of us try to learn Ilm. All holy books of all religions shall have to be interpreted in the true spirit of the word with Ilm. This will help the development of the human civilization further.

Madrasa Education

I don’t know the syllabus of the Madrasa system. In each Madrasa, facilities must be present to teach English to all students and facilities must also be there to teach Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Accountancy, Economics etc. to those students who want to learn these subjects, so that the students passing out of Madrasas can pursue higher studies in these subjects to enable them to be gainfully employed. If the futures of these children, they are all my grandchildren, are bleak, then the future of the nation will be very bleak indeed.

Teachings of Classical Languages

All classical languages are very rich in literature. So, all classical languages ought to be studied for the proper understanding of civilization. Let Hindu and Christian scholars teach Arabic and the Holy Quran in Muslim institutions. Similarly, the Christian and Muslim scholars ought to teach Sanskrit and the Vedas and Upanishads in the Hindu institutions. The Hindu and Muslim scholars ought to teach Hebrew, Greek, Latin and the Bible in Jewish and Christian institutions. This will help to integrate different religious communities.    

Can the same religious affinity unite all followers of that particular religion?

Hindu religion

It is mainly confined to India and its neighboring countries only. Few lakhs are present in some South East Asian countries although many centuries ago they were the majority community in these places. Recently a few millions have migrated to Australia, New Zealand and some Western countries. Even the Hindus confined in India are divided into many castes, sub-castes, Dalits, Maha-dalits etc. Sometimes, the upper and lower castes resort to killing one another. Honour killings are also sometimes taking place. Dowry deaths are reported as well. These are heinous crimes against humanity. These are many other bad things that the Hindus practise even today.

Christian religion

It is divided between the Catholics and the Protestants. There were 2 popes, all Catholics, engaged in fighting with each other for about 39 years, resulting in the loss of human lives (Inquisition was a heinous crime on humanity). The Protestants are also divided into several streams. The killings between the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland went on for more than a decade.  European countries had been engaged in fighting among themselves for centuries up to the end of the Second World War, although all of them are whites and mainly Catholics.

I understand that the White and the Black churches run parallel in USA. The recent invention by the Indian Christians of the term “Dalit Christians” does not glorify Christianity at all; it is an insult to Christianity.

Islam

It is divided between the Sunnis and the Shias. They are engaged in killing one another in the Middle East and in a neigbouring country. The Sunnis are also divided into several streams. They also kill one another at any pretext. Communal infernos have engulfed almost the whole of the Middle East consuming human lives. These things are going on unabated for several years. One neighboring country of India is very much disturbed with communal killings. Sometimes, people praying inside the mosques are also being killed. Honour killings are also sometimes reported. Another neighboring country of India is simmering with fire; this simmering fire is consuming human lives quite often. If this is not checked in time, it will erupt like a volcano.

Are the Black African Muslims, the Indian and the Bangladeshi Muslims treated as honourable members of the Muslim brotherhood fraternity while working in the Middle Eastern countries? Are the Arab Muslims united? The recent invention of the term “Dalit Muslims” by the Indian Muslims does not glorify Islam; it is an insult to Islam

Situations in India

Islam had come to India several centuries before it came as a political force. Mosques were allowed to be set up and preachings started. This peaceful coexistence continued for several centuries. The conflicts started when it came as a conquering force. Akbar tried to unite the Hindus and the Muslims; but Aurangzeb increased the chasm. The 1857 revolution united the Hindus and Muslims temporarily. Our political leaders supported the Khilafat movement for a short term gain and that was the beginning of mixing of politics with religion in modern India. This led to the partition of India in 1947 and caused the genocide before and after partition.

Had the Creator of Pakistan and the first prime minister of India succeeded in their ICS examinations, India would not have been divided and the subsequent carnage would not have taken place at all.

When the Hindu code bill was introduced in the Parliament towards the end of the 1940s/beginning of 1950s, some Muslim scholars of Lucknow and Varanasi wrote to the first Prime Minister of India urging him to bring a Uniform Civil code for all Indians, irrespective of religious affiliations, as suggested by the Indian constitution. Although our first Prime Minister was one of the panel members who composed the Indian constitution, he did not pay any heed to the urgings by the Muslims scholars and this was the beginning of the practice of vote bank politics in independent India. This has led to the present very serious situations in India with religious obscurantists of all religions thriving all over India. If all political parties do not unite to stop this menace, India will start burning like Pakistan and Bangladesh and ultimately leading to the destruction of the Indian subcontinent and a very large part of the world.

Had Japan not bombed Pearl Harbour, USA might not have joined the Second World War with full might. Then Azad Hind Fauz would have been able to end the British rule in India and Netaji would have become the Prime Minister of independent India and the division of India could have been avoided; because the Hindus, the Muslims, the Christians and all other Indians used to believe, respect and love Netaji; he never indulged in politicking. This would have prevented the genocide before and after partition and prevented the creations of two countries fighting forever.

The heinous crime of killing human beings by human beings will be stopped if the points suggested by me in the beginning of this blog, are seriously considered by all human beings cutting across all religious barriers. I am fervently praying that by the grace of the Creator common sense will dawn on all human beings so that they stop killing one another to save the mankind, - by far the best of all the creations by the Creator.

Religious Conversions

All religions are different expressions of the same truth. All religions talk about the same Creator. So, where is the need for conversions?

Originally there was no caste system in the Hindu religion; the caste system gradually developed over a very long period of time. In the beginning it was very flexible; a non-Brahmin could become a Brahmin when he acquired sufficient knowledge. As the Hindu religion started decaying, all sorts of bad practices crept in. The caste system is a heinous crime on humanity. The reforms started in the eighteenth century; still a lot of horrible practices are being practised even today.

The terms “Dalit Christians” and “Dalit Muslims” have recently been introduced in India. I understand that there are no caste systems in the Christian religion and in Islam; so, how can there be any “Dalit Christians” and “Dalit Muslims”.

The Dalit Hindus who were converted to Christianity and Islam are being termed and treated as well as “Dalit Christians” and “Dalit Muslims”. What a mockery of religions! Some of the Dalit Hindus might have converted themselves to other religions sincerely believing that their social statuses would go up in these religions. Most of them were lured or forced into conversions, and all of them have been deceived; otherwise how can the terms “Dalit Christians” and “Dalit Muslims” exist? The terms “Dalit Christians” and “Dalit Muslims” are slurs on true Christianity and true Islam. These  terms are results of the heinous crime of vote bank politics. The practice of vote bank politics divided India and this heinous practice is going to totally disintegrate India whatever is left after partition.

The Creator created the human beings with the same religion i.e. human religion. We the human beings have interpreted the human religion differently to suit our own conveniences.

Religious conversions are total negations of all religions; so religious conversions are totally immoral. All immoral things are heinous in nature. So, how can a really religious person commit an immoral act and a heinous crime? All immoral and heinous acts shall have to be condemned and totally discouraged. I sincerely hope that all these common senses will dawn in the minds of all my dear religious preachers of all religions.

Religious conversions are the root causes of intolerances among human beings; these caused untold sufferings  to the mankind in the past, destroyed the cultures and civilizations of many ethnic people all over the world and are leading to the extinction of mankind.

Every religion has many myths. Many highly educated persons of every religion believe in these myths. These very persons sneer at the myths of other religions and are engaged in converting them into their religions replete with many myths in the garb of civilizing them.  What a silly and obnoxious thing to do, and this is causing chasms in society.

I was born in a Hindu family; I could have been born in a Muslim, a Christian or any other religious family and in any other country as well. Hindu religion has many myths; so how can I sneer at the myths in other religions?

Very old civilizations and ethnic communities in USA and South America have been destroyed. Many of the Adivasis in India have lost their cultural identities due to conversions. The Creator created human beings and the human beings created their own cultures depending on the parts of the earth where they grew up. So, why should one religious group destroy some other religious group’s beliefs, myths and cultures? The Creator does not want it; the Creator wants different religious groups to flourish with their beliefs and cultures; that is why the Creator created the different groups; otherwise the Creator would not have created such communities at all. I want all religious communities, including our Adivasi communities, to blossom undisturbed by others and live with mutual respect and dignity. Left to their own, the Hindus, the Muslims, the Christians, the Buddhists and all other religious communities in India, and in fact all over the world, will live peacefully with their neighbours with the dictum “love thy neighbor”.

The bigots, who are in a hurry to go to their respective heavens (swarg, behest, heaven etc.) are creating unrests and religious infernos in the Indian subcontinent and in other parts of the world destroying thousands of years old wonderful creations of civilizations. Some of the bigots are quite educated, but all of them are being controlled by power hungry politicians and clergy from behind. Without active or passive support by political parties, no religious bigots or terrorists can survive in the Indian subcontinent or anywhere in the world.

I consider myself to be a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist etc. at the same time. I have been thinking like this since my college days. I feel the Creator has always encouraged me to think like this. I do believe in the Creator, I do believe in human religion and I don’t believe in any other religion.

A non-believer has every right to live with dignity, because a non-believer has also been created by the same Creator who created a believer.

With due respect to preachers of all religions, I beg to know whether the same Creator created all human beings or different Creators created different human beings?

Human “Ilm” i.e. knowledge has always been expanding and progressing; that is why we have progressed from Cave Age to Net Age. We cannot allow bigots, intolerant, hate-mongering and imprudent preachers of all religions to destroy the diversity of human civilization. I fervently hope that the vast, sane and the silent majority all over the world will unite and save the diversity of human civilization.

Jai Jagat!