Bharat Rakshak

Rakesh wrote:Cause people in India believe they are above the law or the law does not apply to them. When will we ever learn!

Hindusim = Freedom of thought. (JMO)

SaiK wrote:Under Hinduism, no such path breaking efforts or enable revolutionary Einsteins and more such scientists 'cause ?... I think, its basically due to not continuing on what was left of as Vedic Science and Math, and we slept with it for 5000 or more years.. in the glory of its past heritage.. and that does'nt help.

Raju wrote:Sandeep, who controls the Dixie Gurudwara ??

Rakesh wrote:Cause people in India believe they are above the law or the law does not apply to them. When will we ever learn!

Pope quotes Marx in his new book on Jesus

Vatican City:Pope Benedict XVI draws from Karl Marx's theory of alienation in his forthcoming book on Jesus Christ to illustrate his point that the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan is still relevant today.

The reference to the 19th-Century German philosopher and founder of modern communism is found in chapter seven of "Jesus of Nazareth", extracts of which were published Wednesday by Italian daily Corriere della Sera.


"Karl Marx describes man's alienation in a drastic way; although by limiting his reasoning to the material sphere he fails to reach the true depths of alienation, he nevertheless provides a clear image of the man who falls victim to the robbers," Joseph Ratzinger writes.

In his book, the pope sees the biblical account of the Samaritan who rescues and cares for a stranger who has been robbed and beaten while on his way to Jericho as a metaphor that should teach modern day Catholics to care for their neighbours, whether they are a drug addict or an African whose country has been "looted and robbed" by colonialists.

"Is it not true that man ... during the full course of his history, finds himself alienated, mangled, abused?" the pope writes.

The book, his first since his election as pope two years ago, is due to be published April 16, the day of his 80th birthday, in Italian, German and Polish.

--DPA

This feeling of insecurity is misconstrued as being 'above the law' in most cases and politicians w/vested interests twist this feeling to fuel fire amongst a disgruntled majority. Give 10 yrs time, with present rate of social development we will have a more integrated society and people of all sections secure enough to trust the law

SBajwa wrote:Dixie Gurudwara is definetely controlled by Jats from Jalandhar/Hoshiarpur area (Doaba Area), . Huge majority of Sikhs in Canada, USA, UK are Jats from Doaba.

Why is it that you have "sankocha" ( by the way, it IS a Sanskrit word used in other languages and not merely Kannada, and roughly translates in English to 'hesitation' )

Sandeep, does Dixie Gurudwara have any special relationship with Damdami taksal ??

S.Valkan wrote: Why is it that you have "sankocha" ( by the way, it IS a Sanskrit word used in other languages and not merely Kannada, and roughly translates in English to 'hesitation' ) is stating that Hinduism can't be pinned down with ONE catchphrase ?

That is what I am getting at. As I indicated in my original post, purists may not like it - but basically - as a salesman or adman looking for saleability in a world in which Hinduism is threatened I don't give a damn about what purists think. If they had done their sales job well - Hinduism may not have been under threat.

Alok_N
BRFite


Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 5421
Location: Hidden Gauge Sector

PostPosted: 04 Apr 2007 04:11 am Post subject: Reply with quote
in case some of you are slow to catch on ...

Ganja has been smoked freely in India for at least the last 5,000 years except for the last 25 years or so ...

Who The F does GOI represent?

From Hindu Sunday magazine. Could be in Book Review and/or March of a Nation thread

Link: From Palm Leaves to Printed Word

I wish someone chronicles the next stage of the internet in India.

MILESTONE

From palm leaves to the printed word

BABU K. VERGHESE

The history of the printing press in India is the history of the re-awakening of a nation.






PHOTO: S. MAHINSHA



Instrument of change: A press commonly used in India in the 19th century.

THE pioneering history of printing in India is inspiring as we celebrate its 450th anniversary this year. In October, India had the unique privilege of being the "Guest of Honour" at the Frankfurt World Book Fair. And we were the only country to be conferred this honour twice, in a span of 20 years, in 1986 and 2006. There are an estimated 16,000 publishers in India, producing about 70,000 titles every year. The annual turnover of the industry is estimated at Rs.700 crores. A good 40 per cent of the titles are in English, making India the largest producer of books in the English language after the United Kingdom and the United States.

The pioneers


But, how did we reach this position? One reason is that traditionally and culturally, India was open to new ideas, whether from Babylon or from the Bible. It was Christian missionaries, who wanted to produce the Bible in the several languages of the country, who introduced printing and publishing in India. In fact, we got the first printing press as a happy accident: As early as 1542, Francis Xavier, a Spaniard, was teaching the Bible in Tharangambadi (Tranquebar), Tamil Nadu. Also, when the Viceroy of Goa, on behalf of King Joan III of Portugal, opened schools for Indians, books had to be provided. Thus, pressure was put on Portugal by Francis Xavier to dispatch printing presses to India, Ethiopia and Japan. Meanwhile, the Emperor of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) requested the king of Portugal to send a press along with the missionaries. Thus the first batch of Jesuit missionaries left for Ethiopia on March 29, 1556. En route, they arrived in Goa on September 6, 1556. But, while they were preparing to proceed to Ethiopia, news reached them that the Ethiopian Emperor was not keen to receive the missionaries. Thus, as luck would have it, the press stayed in Goa and was set up at the College of St. Paul in Goa. Today, the huge arch of the St. Paul's College gate, restored by the Archaeological Survey of India, stands as a witness to this pioneering effort.


First printed work


The first literature ever printed in India was released on November 6, 1556. The rest is history. The missionaries established a number of printing presses in many parts of India, triggering a language and literature revolution.

The history of printing in India is the story of the re-awakening of a nation. No wonder, when B.S. Kesavan wrote the three-volume comprehensive History of Printing and Publishing in India, published by National Book Trust (1985), he sub-titled it as "A Story of Cultural Re-awakening". In his words: "The history of printing starts with the rehearsal of Evangelist efforts — Catholic and Protestant. Fifty-nine years after the landing of Vasco da Gama in India, the printing press opened its account at Goa, a few decades after the beginning of the 16th century. Within a hundred years of the printing of Gutenberg's Bible in Germany, India initiated its groping towards fashioning of types for the many Indian languages."

The story of printing is not merely a matter of what was printed when, but how the Gutenberg invention proved a handmaid to the cultural uplift of the nation. In literature, spanning all its genres, in art, in music, in folklore, in language and rhetoric, how did printing expand the intellectual horizons in the country? How did printing achieve this in the sciences, in philosophy, in the social sciences, and various other disciplines? Points out Kesavan: "The promethean effort of bringing knowledge from exclusive palm-leaves and other manuscripts into the houses of ordinary people, and familiarise them with their cultural heritage, is an aspect of this history in every Indian language. How printing has served tradition, and also challenged tradition, is a very exciting story. Printing has no political, social or religious barriers, and is a mode of broadcasting ideas adopted by all shades of opinion".

If the location of the earliest printing presses in India were plotted on the map, it will be found that they were all located along the coastline of peninsular India. Goa, Cochin, Punnaikkyal (near Kanyakumari), Vypicottai (near Kodungalloor), and Amblakkadu (near Thrissur), were the places along the west coast. Tharangambadi (Tranquebar), Madras, Fort William, Calcutta and Serampore along the east coast represent the shaping of Indian printing. Bombay contributed its share towards the second phase of the vigorous growth of early Indian printing. Roman priests of the Catholic Missions and the Protestant Missions from Europe fathered and furthered this impulse in their anxiety to translate the Bible and thus spread the Word of God.

Boost to literature


The start of printing in Goa, spread along the southern coast and its attainment of maturity at Tharangambadi and Madras has been described as the dawn of printing in India, but the sunrise in all its brilliance was when William Carey set foot in India on November 11, 1793. The Bengali alphabet in movable type followed a long time after the Tamil alphabet had been devised in movable type. The Serampore Mission of Carey was a pioneer in this respect, helped by William Ward and Joshua Marshmann, establishing a press in Serampore in 1800. Two able Indians, Panchanan Karmakar and Manohar helped in casting the types, publishing in 40 Indian languages, for the first time. Carey also set up the first paper making factory and the first foundry in India.

Nathan Brown, Oliver Cutter and Miles Bronson, all missionaries, established a press in Sadiya, Assam in 1838, bringing a literary revolution in several Northeastern languages. The Surat Mission Press was set up in 1820 by William Fyvie, the first in Gujarat, publishing in Gujarati. The Wesleyan Mission Press, established in 1820, and the Basel Mission press set up in 1840, boosted Kannada publishing. The CMS Press established by Benjamin Bailey in Kottayam in 1821 and the Basel Press by Hermann Gundert in Thalassery in 1838 revolutionised Malayalam publishing.

The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) established a press in Tharangambai (Tranquebar) in 1713. Many missionaries, including Ziegenbalg, Schultze, Beschi, Nobili, Fabricius, Rhenius, Rottler, Winslow, G.U. Pope and Calwell were involved in promoting Tamil language and literature. And C.P. Browne laboured for Telugu language. In Bombay, the American Mission Press was established in 1812.

Prodigious output


Thus, in most of the Indian languages, the pioneer publishers were Bible translators. Also the Christian missionaries, as pioneers, produced 86 dictionaries, 115 grammar books and 45 journals in 73 languages of India during these years. For example, in Goa, the cradle of Indian printing, it was Fr. Thomas Stephens (1549-1619) who produced the first "Konkani Grammar". Also it was Fr. Diogo Ribero (1560-1633) who published the first dictionary in Konkani in two volumes in 1626.

The introduction of printing and the consequent development of the languages of India had a tremendous socio-political impact, leading to enlightenment and empowerment. The second half of the 19th century began to witness a change from the old to the new, from the medieval to the modern. A scientific new educational system was being launched and practices like Sati (widow burning) and infanticide were being abolished.

Mass impact

In the realm of literature, the foundations of prose had already been laid. In the words of B.S. Kesavan, it was indeed "the dawn of the Indian Renaissance... The missionaries, through the introduction of printing and publishing helped the Indians think of the need for political freedom and social progress, and at the same time question certain traditional superstitious beliefs and practices. In a word, literature of the modern age became democratic. Whereas in the past, ownership of a handwritten book used to be a matter of pride, now, thanks to the advent of the printing press, even a man of average means could read and possess books".

After the establishment of the printing presses, newspapers began to appear in various cities. The first news journal in any Indian language was Digdarshan, published in 1818 by the Serampore Mission in Bengali, followed by Samachar Darpan. These newspapers proved a powerful medium for people to voice their thoughts and assert their rights.

Today, India has over 55,000 registered newspapers and periodicals. The missionaries also established the Serampore University in 1820, the first in Asia, besides a number of schools nationwide. Indeed, Indians are grateful to these visionaries who pioneered printing and publishing 450 years ago, the fruit of which the nation is reaping now.

Email: [email protected]

Rahul Mehta wrote:
As Military, police, courts, prison etc which feed from taxes are importanter than temples, mosques and churches.

Rony wrote:

shiv wrote: Hinduism = freedom

I will go with this.

shiv wrote: The depth of Hinduism will always be there for those who look for it, but if Hindus are going to catch any new attention - it needs dumbing down without removing its essence.

A Hindus who meets anyone should be able to summarize things in a short catchphrase.

If they had done their sales job well - Hinduism may not have been under threat.

S.Valkan wrote:[

You can choose to believe, or not to believe.

You can choose to think for yourself, or let let others do it for you.

You can choose to perform idol worship, or not to perform it.

You can choose to be a non-dualist, or a dualist, or a dualist-nondualist.

You can choose to be a Yogi or a Bhogi.

You can choose Bhukti or Mukti.

None of that makes you any more or less Hindu than anyone else.
place ?

shyam wrote: Did this become an important practice mainly to do something that can hurt hindus?

Johann wrote:Alok,

Nietszche (we can call him Neeja and knock out those un-necessary consonants ) urged the 'Superman' to be above society - but excessive elitism is itself a social phenomenon, which in turn will generate its own cause and effect.

Science must always be conscious of flank and rear security - the society in which scientists as human beings live and work. I dont merely mean 'doing good', but struggling to ensure that society understands the principles and the methods of science.

It also means recognising that science as conducted by humans is a slender thread or stream that can be blocked or diverted by mudslides.

shaardula wrote:freedom to not seek also should be added. (why seek at all? why do you believe there is something to be sought at all?)

HariC wrote:Lovely! I think y'all found the right tone!

shiv wrote: Hinduism = liberation
Hinduism = freedom
Hinduism = bliss (don't like this one myself)

SaiK wrote:sorry... purist planks won't sell to the below poverty EJ vulnerable class. hence, they need better setup. something they are sold on to.. like a mutual fund that does not behave like a regular loser stock., with that hindu freedom that lets them reinvest in other types of funds, within the market.

for rest, we can seek after purist theology or science.

abhischekcc wrote:

shiv wrote: Hinduism = liberation
Hinduism = freedom
Hinduism = bliss (don't like this one myself)

Hmmm. If we go with freedo, then it becomes closer to Shaivism than other sects.

So I would rather identify Hinduism with - Freedom of Conscience.