1883- Dr. zakir naik vs sri sri ravi shankar full debate part-1

Concept of God in Islam and Hinduism by Dr.Zakir Naik!
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 D R V Acharya examines how Islamic scholar Zakir Naik misled Islamic hordes on Hinduism                
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First, this is a long article and second I am not a follower of Osho Rajneesh. But I have admired his works and I stop my admiration when the symptoms of greed and materialism becomes evident in his teachings. I like religious, secular and spiritual leaders who have a strong sense of humanism, individuality and service and I felt Rajneesh although he had a strong empathetic social consciousness he never did any practical welfare work for the betterment of society. Rajneesh despite his deep insights into the human condition became a victim of greed and got cut off from the world by his solipsistic tendencies. He eventually became an Ivory tower philosopher albeit an intelligent and colorful one. I have loved reading especially his discourses on the diverse mystical traditions of the world. I also admire his talent of public speaking and his irreverence to religious and political authority. Osho had the guts to critically examine hallowed and respected ideas and people. On most occasions in his public life he exhibited sound reasoning and conveyed extraordinary insights into the human condition.

I recently happened to bump across a website about an Islamic speaker Dr. Zakir Naik and his talks on the concept of God in different religions. Zakir Naik also had a dialogue with the popular self help guru Sri Sri Ravishankar. Although it was termed a dialogue, it turned out to be more of a debate with Zakir Naik pronouncing his typical clichéd Islamic rhetoric with a full fledged debunking of polytheists and idol worshippers. Zakir Naik also picked on Sri Sri Ravishankar for publishing a book on comparative Islam and Hinduism. This book had Sri Sri Ravishankar comparing some Islamic ideas and concepts and claiming that it originated from Hindu culture. Sri Sri Ravishankar not anticipating the confrontation tried to play it down and looked like he wanted to rush back to the cave in his Ashram. He also was openly apologetic about the publication of this book and tried to escape from the awkward situation by claiming that this book was printed in a hurry and it was written with an intent of bringing the two religious communities closer in the context of a Muslim-Hindu riot. He also pledged that he would not allow printing of further copies of the book. Sri Sri Ravishankar is not generally known for his discursive thinking and intellect and his big strength is his emotional appeal to people based on personal charisma and the excellent PR machinery of his organization. Many a times he has goofed up on public platforms. I had once attended a seminar on ‘Science and Conciousness’ in the Indian Institute of Science and evidenced first hand Sri Sri Ravishankar talking utterly irrelevant things. The other eminent speakers on the podium like the Nobel Laureate Charles Townes (inventor of the laser and maser), the mathematician Roger Penrose and Zoologist Jane Goodall were visibly disturbed by his lack of erudition and grasp of what was being talked about. Sri Sri Ravishankar was also rubbished on stage by the renowned artist and film script writer Javed Akthar. On another occassion Sri Sri wrote an article in a national newspaper comparing Marxism with the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita. He was again rubbished by a lot of readers for his utter lack of understanding of the ‘Dialectical Materialism’ of Marx (he was not aware and never even mentioned anything about this in the article) or the Vedantic teachings of Bhagvad Gita. He was just content in stating simplistic homilies.

Coming back to the the ‘Concept of God’ dialogue, Sri Sri Ravishankar completely misjudged the tenor of the whole programme. The audience were predominantly Muslim and were asking well orchestrated and pre-determined questions which I thought came from the medieval missionary polemic against Hinduism. It took sometime for me to realize that at this age and time there are still majority of the people who do fervently believe in such religious jingoism.Sri Sri Ravishankar’s soft stand and unwillingness to debate and confront put him in an awkward position in the programme.

Zakir Naik is well versed in the art of islamic rhetoric and he is quite capable of mesmerizing his Muslim and other unthinking audiences into deception with confusing, illogical and fallacious arguments. Herd instinct is clearly evident in his followers. He makes up for his lack of critical thinking, scientific and rational sense by parroting and quoting by memory verses from religious books and scriptures by their chapter, page, verse and line numbers. This is taken as a sign of scholarship by his flock. He usually receives standing ovation from the Muslim audience whenever he indulges in these theatrics.

My amusement in this debate became more acute when the debater Zakir Naik put poor Osho Rajneesh to the Islamic litmus test, Surah Ikhlas or the touchstone of islamic theology. This Quranic verse or Sura mentions that God is without equal, without origin, without end, and unlike anything else that exists. This is the definition of Allah in the Quran and every other concept of God is weighed against this to create a semantic game to establish that this concept of god is the supreme most. Rajneesh had no defenders in there so it was an one sided debate with the final judgement of fallibility on Osho pronounced by Zakir Naik. Sri Sri Ravishankar was also apologetic about Rajneesh and he appealed to the audience not to judge other holy men like himself using Rajneesh as the yard stick. In this article I am trying to defend Rajneesh and eastern traditions against the polemics of the Islamic theologians. My intention of writing this article is because it is clear to me that the worldview and the value system espoused by Osho Rajneesh is far advanced and higher as compared to the value system of the old religions in general and Islam in specific. Rajneesh believed in peace, love, celebration, individuality, freedom of speech and enquiry. He encouraged people to challenge archaic values and traditions. His overall value system is quite humanistic, secular and rational as compared to the narrow parochial values espoused in religions like Islam.

Our scholar Zakir Naik begins his diatribe against Osho Rajneesh with the tone of abhorrence to the Indian godmen and pronounces his judgement before explaining the targeted person’s point of view. Picking Rajneesh is kind of very funny because Rajneesh believed in what can be called a Vedantic or quasi pantheistic God. He borderlined on atheism many times. Rajneesh’s god as can be evidenced from his voluminous discourses is akin to Spinoza’s god to some extent. Osho’s God is not the Allah or a personal God at all, and his system provides no reason for the revelatory status of the Bible or Quran or Vedas or of any religion for that matter. Osho identifies his concept of God with Nature and like Spinoza he employed a reductionist scientism while retaining some traditional eastern terminology. Zakir Naik claims himself to be a student of comparative religion but it is plainly obvious that his knowledge of the Eastern religions is very very superficial and about Osho, he believes what he wants to believe rather than what the Oshoietes or Hindus or Buddhists or Taoists or Jains believe. Also to put things in perspective, although Rajneesh’s worldview is quite similar to Hindu, Buddhist & Taoist worldview he never claimed to be a Hindu either by birth or by conviction. He was born a Jain and remained an eclectic. So to pick on him in a debate on the concept of God in Hinduism and Islam is in the first place wrong. Zakir Naik’s claim that the followers of Osho Rajneesh called him almighty god shows his profound ignorance of Osho Rajneesh, his followers and his teaching and also his ignorance of the concept of god in eastern traditions. The Islamic religion like Christianity and Judaism is based on man’s blind and obedient response to a divine revelation in the form of a book, the Quran. Quran is a medieval text inspired by the arabic god Allah to his last and final messenger Muhammad. The god of Islam is in principle similar to a Monarch who creates and rules the world with a set of laws. The concept of God in Islam is of a God who is apart from the universe and who is a skillful maker of the world. This God stands apart from the world and like a medieval monarch rules the incidents of the world and judges you on the judgement day based on the code of conduct as created in the holy book. You are sent to either heaven or hell based on your submission to the will of Allah and the adherence to the code of conduct as depicted in the Quran. Allah in Islam has no form or can never be depicted. However Allah is depicted through similes and metaphors like Allah is Akbar, ie great or Allah is Rahman or compassionate. The not so subtle Islamic theologians fail to grasp that even ‘figures’ of speech are depictions and are a form of idolatry. Idolatry is very much existent in Islam although in a veiled format. Islam is replete with symbols which are held sacrosanct and any blasphemy to those symbols are not treated kindly by the Muslim diaspora around the world. It is sacrilegious in Islam to picturize or idolize God but the attachment to symbols is quite evident in Islam and it is much more than what is present in the so called condemned pagan idolatrous religions. For example the Islamic prayer is only in Arabic it cant be localized in any other languages. All muslims bow their heads towards mecca for their prayer. Allah is an extremely localized god. So to compare a localized god with localized rituals to the concept of Vedantic Brahman which has no name, form and which permeates all existence is like as they say comparing chalk with cheese. The Islamic scholars are morbidly against idolatry in other religions but the mote in their own eye they seeth not.

Zakir Naik’s claim that Muslims are the culmination of Vedantic teachings of non idolatry is ridiculous to say the least. The intent of the Vedantic assertion about the sadhaka or the person on the vedantic path leaving behind all the idols and symbols means the sacrifice and trancendence of all those constructs of thought like symbols, idols and ideologies to realize the unconditioned consciousness, the eternal which can never be limited by thought which is just memory and the past. In the early part of the previous century people witnessed an enlightened person Baghwan Ramana Maharishi who had no need for any rituals, images, symbols or holy texts and he abided all the time in his true nature which is pure consciousness. When Vedantists talk about the culmination or the embodiment of their tradition they refer to a person like Ramana Maharishi. I wonder what the Muslim practice of non-idolatry has got to do with this state. This clearly shows that self proclaimed scholars like Zakir Naik have absolutely no clue about what Vedanta is all about. His understanding of Vedanta is totally flawed and he is content in just picking up those verses from the Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita which depict the (so called) monotheistic principle of Brahman and which is in some ways similar to the concept of Allah. There is a huge difference between the Monism (even dualism or qualified monism) of the Vedanta to the monotheistic belief in a Sky God like Allah. Monism is the acknowledgement of oneness of the universal principle of consciousness or Brahman.

What is the concept of god according to Vedanta. The Upanishads talk of Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda which is truth-consciousness-bliss. The Brahman is both unmanifest and manifest as Brahman or God has to be inclusive of everything. It is both Nirguna and Saguna. It has qualities and no qualities. There is a dialectical process of reasoning which is employed to express the inexpressible quality of Brahman or God. Essentially Brahman is the substratum of all that exists and being the substratum it is also different from all that exists. There is a trancendent quality of Brahman which is in some way similar to the monotheistic God. But the Upanishads are unequivocal in their claim that language fails to describe Brahman which is infinite (Anantha) and therefore it is depicted by dialectic reasoning like ‘It is far and it is near, it is the lowest and it is the highest’. There are many extremely poetic verses in the Vedantic texts which describe the dialectic ‘qualities’ of Brahman. Zakir Naik states that “The major difference between the Hindus and the Muslims is the apostrophe ‘s’. The Hindu says, “everything is GOD”. The Muslim says, “everything is God’s”, GOD with an Apostrophe ‘s’. If we can solve the difference of the Apostrophe ‘s’, the Hindus and the Muslims will be united.” Well Zakir Naik got it all wrong. The difference between Hinduism and Islam is that the Hindu believes that everything is ‘God as well as everything is God’s’ and Islam believes that everything is just God’s. The nearest point of convergence between Hinduism and Islam can be achieved by equating the qualities of Allah to Nirguna / Nirvikalpa Brahman and that is only after sanitizing the Allah concept of all the localized Arabic mumbo jumbo. However Brahman is much more than a transcendent and monotheistic sky god as it is both Nirguna and Saguna. It is without qualities as well as it has qualities. Because a god if he(or she or it) is worth being called a god has to be all encompassing. From the literal interpretation of Quran we can deduce that in Islam, Allah is separate from the world and Allah as a being lives probably somewhere up in the sky or another dimension. It is a sky god religion. If the God is separate from the world then Allah has to have a separate location and hence it becomes physical and materialistic with space-time coordinates . It is important to understand that the Islamic god is not Omnipresent and this god or Allah exists at some specific location which is distinct from the world created by Allah. In the vedic paradigm this is considered as nonsense as the universe has no beggining and end and God if he or she or it is worth being called a god has to be omnipresent and not localized at some corner of the universe from where this god directs all the actions of the world.

The idolatory in Hinduism is a symbolic representation of the divinity of the whole universe itself and in its essential form this brings about a reverence to the whole of this wonderful acausal creation. The Vedanta as also the Jain and Buddhist scriptures clearly mention that the world is acausal and it has always existed. To point to the origin of the universe at a specific time in history either through a God creating the universe or through some big bang is a logical fallacy as we would end up with the question as to what existed prior to this creation. How can something come out of nothing. Most of the eastern religions have deduced that the world has always existed in some form or the other. This appeals to logical and scientific sense than the stories of Genesis or the Islamic creation myth. Hence we find that the eastern religions hold a great attraction to the scientific and metaphysical philosophers of the west.

Now coming to the fact of Rajneesh calling himself Baghwan or God. Osho Rajneesh has clarified many times that he is not the God who created this world. ‘No not me’ he mentioned jokingly once. “I didn’t create this world with all the strife and suffering. I would have created a better place had I been God”. Surely Rajneesh never equated himself to the Allah, the medieval monarch like god. It would be good if Zakir Naik and his cohorts read some of the works of Osho (I have provided a link to a well know Osho site in the end for all the readers) and then try to counter him in arguments. Also he might do well to study Upanishadic texts in proper context rather than just using polemics and picking up verses which suit the rigid monotheistic belief system.

One key thing that most Islamists forget when criticising Hinduism and eastern traditions is that in the eastern tradition the spiritual path is individualistic and not based on a single holy book or frozen canon or teachings of a prophet. Hindu traditions are unlike the ‘collective salvation deal’ espoused by the Abrahamic religions. This individualistic approach although a great step in religious and cultural evolution of humanity has politically weakened Hinduism and it has become an easy target to the devious designs of islamists and christian evangelist missionaries, who are hell bent on bringing down a greater tradition to their crude level of understanding of religion.

Many of the evangelists and mullahs are in the habit of ridiculing some cultural symbols and personalities of the Hindu religion. Unlike the Monotheistic religions which are history centric i.e history is all important for man’s access to god, the eastern traditions have many incarnations, perennial access to truth and it is independent of history. That is the reason why Hindus call their religion ‘Sanatana Dharma’, eternal religion. To confine the advent of religion to a single prophet or set of prophets receiving revealation at a specific point of history is to limit the omnipotence of the divine. The intent of the Upanishadic religion or dharma is not just following a book but living as per the natural laws of life. A book however sacred or profound cannot capture truth because truth is a unitary moment which has to be discovered and rediscovered from moment to moment. So it is very silly from the perspective of Vedanta that God chooses some messenger like Muhamad or Jesus or Abraham or Noah and reveals to him some revelation and some dose of good social conduct and disappears into oblivion for eternity. Why is Allah so limited that he needs to communicate to only one person and the rest of humanity just need to follow all these codified injunctions. The message of the Upanishads is that God or Brahman cannot be captured in words much less in books. The semetic religious cannon can be aptly described as a set of few rules, universalized and canonized forever. However the dharma in the eastern traditions allows for an individualistic context based interpretation.

The Dharmic value system is evolutionary and changes with the changing times exept for certain universal absolutes which are eternal. Hence in the Hindu tradition you have two classes of scriptures, the Shruthi and the Smrithi. Shruthi is the inspired part and are universal in their appeal and application. Smrithi, means that which comes from memory and it comprises of the social rules of conduct and other mundane aspects of human existence. Shruthi is changeless and smrithi is something which needs to be revisted and adapted to changing times and circumstances. Shruthi is somewhat akin to the categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant and Smrithi is similar to the hypothetical imperative. The essential problem with Islam is the mixture of Shruthi and Smrithi in Quran. Hence you find many recommended practices in Quran which were relevant during the time and context of 7th century arabia and which does not make any sense in a multicultural, cosmopolitan, secular and humanistic world. Zakir Naik’s claim that Quran is the greatest book on Art of Living is a ridiculous claim to majority of the people living by humanistic and democratic values. Sri Sri Ravishankar’s ‘Art of Living’ is similar to many modern day Hindu movements and it is an adaptation of yogic principles of health, vedantic theology, value system of modern humanistic psychology and the practices of the human potential movement. Osho Rajneesh contributed a great deal in the evolution of the Human Potential Movement. Islam with its frozen in time approach comes nowhere close to any of these systems in terms of content and quality.

Unlike the essential belief of one supreme being of the monotheistic semetic religions like Islam, the eastern religious traditions have a different paradigm of looking at this rigid structure of belief. There are some eastern traditional lineages which demand a priori belief in a supreme being and this supreme being can be either a male or female or both or neither. There are traditions which believe in the impersonal nature of ultimate reality and it allows multiple representations and multiple access to the one supreme lord. ‘As many people so many paths’ remarked the famous sage of Dakshineshwar, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. This flexibility has been considered and ridiculed as a weakness by many of the monotheistic preachers, however this is the inherent strength of the Hindu tradition. This showcases the inherent liberal and catholic(in the sense of all encompassing) views of the eastern religious paradigm. Monotheism has been rightly stated as My-Theism by several secular critiques of religion like Professor Richard Dawkins.

Some thoughts by Osho on brahman and god - “Brahman has nothing to do with the Christian or muslim idea of God. Brahman means godliness, the divineness that pervades the whole existence… the whole, the holiness of the whole.”. In his own words Osho claimed that he is God based on the following “Samadhi begins with subjective awareness and culminates in realization of our divine self, the all permeating godliness - within and without. This is the state in which the ‘Rishis’ in the east declared ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, the state in which sufi mystic Mansur declared ‘Ana’l Haq’, the state in which Jesus says, ‘I and my Father are one’. This state is called ‘Sambodhi’, enlightenment, divine realization”. When the tombstone of Osho has the message “Osho Never Born and Never Died”, it is a mention to the immortal and unconditioned Consciousness - the Self of all or ‘Brahman’. It is not the physical body of Osho as the physical body is perishable and what is not perishable is consciousness the substratum of all that exists. This Consciousness has no origin and no end, it has no ‘adi’ and ‘antya’. When Osho or eastern mystics affirm that they are God, they mean that everything else is as well God and the individual bodies are like waves in the ocean and the self, which is unconditioned awareness is the ocean itself. Our ‘scholar of comparative religion’

 Zakir Naik accuses Rajneesh of proclaiming himself the God in the Semetic / abrahamic / Islamic religious sense. If these scholars of comparative religions can make up a good study of Rajneesh then hopefully they can come up with some wise arguments than just picking him up on some silly semantics. This is the problem with Muslim scholars, they are just too caught in words, symbols, obedience and adherence to arcane medieval texts that make their minds so closeted. But still they have the nerve or rather the foolhardiness to proclaim that Islam is a scientific religion.If you are a scholar of comparative religion or philosophy the first pre-requisite is to understand the paradigms, models and cultural symbols of that particular religion or school of thought. Without this understanding the interpretation of a particular religion will remain parochial and not true to the spirit. Finally I would like to request all the readers to consider and reflect on two of the greatest sentences from Rig Veda, the oldest known religious scripture in the world - “Truth is one but wise men describe it in many ways” and “Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides”. Let’s not limit the noble thoughts to come from a book or a few more books.

1882- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Zakir Naik & hidden Islamic History

1881- Silence is a better preacher!

1880- A lion after marriage...

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A lion was getting married and all animals {🐢🐝} attended the wedding .
All animal stood at distance and wished the lion .

A mouse came and climbed to the stage and extended his hand to wish the lion.
The lion roared in rage and said how dare you come on the stage? Even the tiger is maintaining its distance and you climbed the stage.
The mouse  replied and after listening to that the lion fainted . What would have the mouse said ???



Any guess
The mouse  said "Oh shut up buddy, even I was a lion before marriage"


Forward the msg to married 👰 people to get some smile on their face 😂😂😂😂
and the unmarried to reconsider options.
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1879- Burra Saimadhav's punch dialogues! ( writer for movies- Krushnam vande jagadgurum, Gopala Gopala, malli malli idi rani roju)

1878- Woman

1877- Tiger cub

1876- FOR ONCE, PM Narendra Modi IS VERY CLEAR!

"My government’s only religion is ‘India first’,
my government’s only religious book is ‘Indian Constitution’,
our only devotion is ‘Bharat Bhakti’ and
our only prayer is ‘welfare of all’,”
(- See more at:
http://indianexpress.com/…/pm-narendra-modi-denounces-com…/… )

1875- Life and death

1874- Mission God!

Ponder over these words:
If God can move you from January to December,
He will move you
From Shame to Fame,
Insult to Result,
Sorry to Glory,
Disgrace to His Grace,
Labour to Favour,
Mockery to Victory.
May the Lord raise you from Glory to Glory
1. Give God what's right -- not what's left.
2. Man's way leads to a hopeless end -- God's way leads to an endless hope.
3. A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.
4. He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.
5. In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma--but never let him be the period.
6. Don't put a question mark where God puts a period.
7. Are you wrinkled with burden? Come close to God for a face-lift.
8. When praying, don't give God instructions - just report for duty.
9. Don't wait till you are down before men before you go to God.
10. We don't change God's message -- His message changes us.
11. The church is prayer-conditioned.
12. When God ordains, He sustains.
13. Learn how to give and it will be given back to you
14. Plan ahead -- It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
15. Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.
16. Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.
17. Exercise daily -- walk with the Lord.
18. Never give the devil a ride -- he will always want to drive.
19. Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.
20. Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.
21. He who angers you controls you.
22. Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.
23. Give Satan an inch & he'll be a ruler.
24. Be ye fishers of men -- you catch them & He'll clean them.
25. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
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1873- Hyderabadeez..

road pe takkar (accident) hote hote bache to.. kaise react karte hain..?
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1) Haule.. andha hai kya..? 🙈
2) Kahan ghusra miyan...? 😯
3) Zara dekh ke chalao ustaad.. 😎
4) Bahuth jaldi mein dikhra, baawa ke shaadi mein jara kya.. 🎊
5) Horn maarna re haule..
6) Arey yaaro, mein ich mila subba subba.. ⛅
7) Ghar mein bol ke nai aaye kya..
8) Meri gaadi ich mili... tere ku marne.. 🚛
9) Plane me paida hua kya re..? hallu chala
10) Baawa ka road samajra kya..?
Now this one is Ultimate..
11) Ghooorra kaiku re.. Jhinge..

1872- Everything is backwards and upsidedown

1871- SISTER NIRMALA JOSHI OF THE MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY

"We are 'little pencils' in God's hand"
Giampaolo Mattei
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A pencil stub lies on a little wooden table in the passage outside the chapel of the "Gift of Mary" House in the Vatican. In an age dominated by "virtual reality" that pencil could symbolize the secret of a very concrete "network of charity".
In fact, for the 4,000 Missionaries of Charity, the pencil - a humble and simple tool - recalls the very meaning of their vocation of serving the poorest of the poor in whom they recognise Christ.
They clearly remember Mother Teresa's words: "I am only a little pencil in God's hand". It was precisely a pencil which a Missionary of Charity brought to the altar during the Offertory on the day of Mother Teresa's funeral, celebrated in Calcutta on 13 September 1997. "That was a sister's idea, in order to honour Mother who loved to describe herself as 'God's pencil'. Jesus has so many pencils. He uses one as long as it lasts, then he takes another and yet another. We are all pencils of God that get worn down, we are only the 'temporary' pencils that God uses to write the history of charity". It is Sr Mary Nirmala Joshi who is speaking.
She is 64 years old and since 13 March 1997 has been Superior General of the Congregation founded in 1950 by Mother Teresa. She is the first "pencil" after their foundress to outline the itinerary of the Missionaries of Charity.
Sr Nirmala was recently at the Vatican attending the Special Assembly for Asia of the Synod of Bishops. She stayed at the "Gift of Mary" House where the sisters with the white saris edged in blue opened a centre for the poor in May 1988 in response to the invitation of John Paul II who inaugurated it and has visited it several times.
The world came to know her through her tender gesture.
The world became acquainted with Sr Nirmala six months after her election as Superior General through her small gesture of tenderness at Mother Teresa's funeral: descending from the altar, after bringing the chalice during the Offertory, she stroked her hand for the last time. Then she joined her own hands as a sign of prayer and, with a bowed head, returned to her place. The world then recognized her when they noticed her walking alone through the streets of Calcutta, a few metres behind Mother Teresa's body.
Mother Teresa said of her on the day of her election, "If God could find someone little like me, that means he can find someone even smaller".
Sr Nirmala, who does not want to be called "Mother", is a woman of few and very simple words. With her, one does not run into complicated reasoning. It seems as though she does not need words, so she uses them sparingly as if she were forced to do so. Yet she has the fresh voice of a young girl.
Who is Sr Nirmala? She does not like to talk about her past. "It is not important", she says. She remembers what Mother Teresa repeated to journalists who requested interviews with her: "Do not write about me, write about God and if you really must write, also go and offer a smile and a caress to anyone who is suffering".
Eldest of 10 children, a daughter of Hindu parents
Sitting on a humble chair in front of a little wooden desk, Sr Nirmala leafs through the issues of L'Osservatore Romano published just after the death of Mother Teresa. She reads attentively and is moved, as she is whenever she thinks of "her" Mother Teresa. "Thank you" she says softly, with a smile. It is precisely the caring attention and love that our paper put into the pages devoted to Mother Teresa which helped Sr Nirmala overcome her natural reluctance to tell her personal story and thoughts in a long interview. Her birth name is Kusum which means "flower". She was born in 1934 in Duranda, not far from Ranchi, in the State of the Bihar, into a wealthy Hindu family, natives of Nepal who belonged to the first and highest caste, the Brahmins. Her father was an officer in the army. Her mother was occupied primarily with bringing up 10 children: eight girls and two boys. Kusum is the eldest.
"My parents were very devoted to the values of Hinduism" she recalls. "For example chastity, fidelity in marriage, prayer, compassion, helping those in need, kindness and self-control. Like all Hindus, my family deeply loved the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi. We children grew up following their example. I prayed to God with the names of Rama, Krishna and Shiva. Already as a small child I felt strongly moved to love the poor. The divinity I preferred was precisely Shiva and do you know why? I will tell you: Shiva became my favourite when I learned that he was not loved very much because of his very ugly appearance".
She does not reject the education she received from her family: "I cherish within me the most beautiful values of Hinduism. I come from that religion, from that culture. My roots are there and I cannot, I must not, forget them. I believe that there is partial truth in the other religions, and therefore also in Hinduism. But only Christ is the truth".
At the age of seven she heard "the name of Jesus"
At the age of seven, little Kusum's parents enrolled her in a boarding school run by Christian missionaries. It was there that she heard for the first time "of a certain Jesus Christ".
When she was nine, she went happily with her family to the festivities in honour of Shiva - "Shiva Ratri" - because he was her favourite divinity. Caught up in playing with her friends she found herself in the courtyard of the Catholic Church in Duranda, where she saw a great white statue with outstretched arms. "I ran away so fast, I was so scared", she remembers smiling. "Then I gained courage and slowly, slowly returned, a step at a time. I found out it was the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From that day on, coming out of school, I always made a detour on the way home just to see that image which fascinated me".
After obtaining her diploma, Kusum enrolled in the faculty of law at the University of Patna and went to live in the hostel run by Catholic sisters. "A few days after my arrival I heard the sound of a bell. It was evening and when my room-mate, a Catholic medical student, heard it ringing, she knelt down and prayed in silence. I did not know then what the bell was for, but I was impressed by my friend's act. At that moment Jesus touched my heart. I understood that he had been in me for a long time. I had never sought him, but he had sought me and had found me at last. I was 17 years old. It was then that Jesus began to speak to me personally and from that day I began to ask questions about Jesus, I began to read about him".
But it was not an immediate conversion. Six and a half years of doubts and "struggles" followed, says Sr Nirmala. First of all she had the problem of telling her family about it. Then came the fear of losing the affection and security which her fascination with Hinduism had given her. But Kusum had to reckon with Jesus who gave her no rest and with her desire to serve the poor. A "combination" which could only lead to meeting Mother Teresa.
Meeting Mother Teresa, her "second mother"
"I wanted to go to Nepal to help the rebirth of my parent's land", Sr Nirmala recalls. "One day, I spoke to an American Jesuit about my desire, and he told me about Mother Teresa. In fact, he submitted my project to her. So one day Mother Teresa wrote to me: 'I know you want to go to Nepal, but souls are the same in Nepal, in Bengal or in any other part of the world'. And she added that I could join the Missionaries of Charity: 'If you want to come unconditionally, come'. So I decided to go to Calcutta to meet Mother Teresa. She was like a second mother from the beginning. I opened my heart to her, with all the uncertainties of a young woman who wants to change the world. She listened to me, then she said: 'You pray as though everything depended on God and you act as though everything depended on you'. Do you want to know what happened? Well, it is not hard to guess: you see me here in the Vatican, wearing the sari of the Missionaries of Charity of whom I am Superior General. In a word, on that day at the age of 17, I surrendered to Jesus who had been following me for so long and decided to stay with Mother Teresa".
Baptism
Kusum was baptized on 5 April 1958. On 24 May she joined the Missionaries of Charity with the name of Nirmala, which means "purity".
"Thanks be to God that today I am a Catholic religious", she says. "It is purely by the grace of God that I converted to Christ. But at first it was not easy. I felt homesick for my family and was tormented by the idea of not having time off to go home for a while. I unburdened myself to Mother Teresa. At those times, Mother Teresa supported me. She was my strength. She taught me to ask God for help and to pray. Once she said to me: 'Do not think now of your whole life, but try to live day by day'. Thus very slowly, with her, I found the serenity I was seeking and needed".
The experience of family detachment was certainly more tragic for Mother Teresa. The senseless communist regime which oppressed her Albania systematically prevented her from meeting her mother, Drana, and her sister, Age.
It was not easy for Sr Nirmala's parents to accept their daughter's decision to become a Catholic religious: in India it is an unthinkable rebellion, especially in a Brahmin family. "At first my parents did not like the idea", she confides. "Two years later, they accepted my decision and were happy about my vocation. My youngest sister who became an apostolic Carmelite, called Sr Marie Therese, indirectly helped to convince them. When my father and mother fell ill, my sister returned to look after them, surprising them because, although she had converted to Catholicism and had become a sister, they saw the Hindu ideal of self-sacrifice and service from the heart fulfilled in her".
Joshi the lawyer at the service of the poor
We asked her to talk about her vocation. "Before speaking of my vocation", she replied, "I would like to talk about my faith. As I said, I heard the name of Jesus for the first time at the age of seven in a school run by Christian missionaries, and then at the age of about 10 they again told me the story of Jesus. But I was not looking for him, I was content to be a Hindu. My parents and also my grandparents had brought me up as a good Hindu and I never thought of changing religion. Let me tell you about something that happened. When I was in the seventh grade, I found a copy of the New Testament in my house. Curious, I opened it at random and read these words of Jesus: 'Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart'. I immediately thought that Jesus was very proud because he was praising himself. So I closed the book and decided not to look at it again. Later on, while I was at high school, an argument on which was the best religion arose between my cousins, who were all Hindus, and myself. I had just finished studying the history of the Protestant Reformation and therefore stated whatever I knew against Catholicism and ended by saying that Hinduism is the best religion. My cousins on the other hand stood up for Catholicism. In that period, I certainly did not think that I would become a Catholic. Soon afterwards, my father enrolled me at the Patna Women's College, which was run by sisters, God evidently had a special plan for me".
However, her conversion and her meeting with Mother Teresa left little time to study. She therefore left the university. "Mother Teresa did not know that I had studied to be a lawyer", she recalls. "When she realized this, after my first religious profession in 1961 she sent me to study law at the University of Calcutta. She said that in this way I could provide free legal aid to the poor". When she obtained her degree, Joshi, the lawyer, never exercised her profession. "it is true, but I chose a more exalted law, that of love" she says. Her sound juridical training was very important for the Missionaries of Charity.
A contemplative in the heart of the world
Sr Nirmala comes from the "contemplative branch" of the Congregation, but one should not be confused. "All the Missionaries of Charity are contemplatives otherwise we could not put up with the sacrifices of such a poor life" she explains. "But we are not cloistered sisters. We are contemplatives in the world. The difference between the two branches is that the contemplatives have more hours of prayer, while the active have more hours of service to the poor". The contemplatives spend 12 hours a day in adoration of the Eucharist and in addition, at least two hours of service to the poor. We asked her if, as Superior General, she misses a more contemplative life. "Today I miss the solitude of prayer with Jesus and silence", she replies. "Our service to the poorest of the poor is proof of our love for Jesus in the Eucharist, for this Jesus called Mother Teresa and all the Missionaries of Charity to quench the thirst of souls in living our life as Missionaries of Charity with justice, in poverty and obedience, meeting him in our service to the poorest of the poor, with prayer and with contemplation. The Jesus we adore in the Eucharist is that Jesus we serve in the poorest of the poor. Our mission consists in proclaiming to everyone Jesus in the Eucharist and in our service to the poorest of the poor. If we did not have the Eucharist in our life, serving the poor would have no meaning. It would only be social work, but we are called to be contemplatives in the heart of the world because in serving the poorest of the poor we are serving Jesus".
The spirituality of St Therese of Lisieux
Mother Teresa was also deeply touched by the call to contemplation to such an extent that she chose Teresa as her religious name in honour of St Therese of Lisieux, the little Carmelite Patroness of Missions who was recently proclaimed Doctor of the Church. "It is true", says Sr Nirmala, "she chose her name for love of the 'Little Flower', Therese of Lisieux. Mother Teresa followed her spirituality consisting in loving Jesus with total trust, abandoning oneself to him with joy, in loving him in small things, in remaining little, so that he can use us freely to do his work. The 'Little Flower', Therese of Lisieux, is our Patroness".
The life of the Missionaries of Charity is interwoven with the spirituality of St Therese of Lisieux. Mother Teresa has handed down this "spiritual passion" to Sr Nirmala who succeeded her on 13 March 1997 when the Chapter of the Missionaries of Charity, meeting in Calcutta, elected her Superior General. It was an important election: Sr Nirmala is the first religious to succeed to the office of the foundress, Mother Teresa. She was not one of the "favourites" or rather, to be more explicit, she was not as well known among the religious of the congregation: Sr Nirmala is the first religious to succeeded to the office of the foundress, Mother Teresa. She was not one of the "favourites" or rather, to be more explicit, she was not as well known among the religious of the congregation as, for example, Sr Frederick Lewis, Sr Priscilla Bonk, Sr Priscilla Lewis, Sr Agnese Das (a former pupil of Mother Teresa and the first to join the congregation), Sr Camilla Pereira, Sr Dorothy Francis, Sr Shanti De Souza. One newspaper, in presenting the Chapter, wrote that a certain Sr Nirmala, "absolutely unknown outside the congregation" and "whose surname is not even known", was also present. Yet the 44 regional superiors and delegates elected in every area of the congregation's activities chose her; although she belonged to the "contemplative branch", she was among the six sisters who opened the first house outside India in Venezuela in 1965, and has carried out her mission on the American continent, in Europe and in Calcutta.
Thirteen months of service as Superior General is too short a time to make an exact assessment. However, we asked Sr Nirmala for a first impression: "If I think of myself I am frightened, but if I look at God, at his love and entrust myself to his prayer, I think I will manage it. When I was given the office of Superior General I realized the enormous responsibility. I would not be sincere if I were to say that I do not feel the burden, but I also know that Jesus will be able to help me. It was very important that for six months Mother Teresa was beside me with her advice and her physical presence. Now I feel her beside me in prayer. The concerns and anxieties belong to my human nothingness, I entrust them to God and he takes them and relieves me, as a parent does with his little child. And then I am not alone". It was the poor of Calcutta who originally encouraged her. "Do not be afraid, we are beside you", they said to her.
Asking her what she remembers about Mother Teresa makes her tremble. She clasps her hands and gazes up to heaven. "Everything" she says with a smile. "I remember Mother all the time. I remember how she was in the last days. I remember the day when she was laid in state in the Church of St Thomas in Calcutta. I remember the day of the funeral and the people's overwhelming love for her. I do not want to mention any specific episode, just her continuous unconditional love for all persons. Those who met her can bear witness to it".
The moving remembrance of Mother Teresa
"And then I think of her humility. I remember it always, it is always in my heart. I remember that Mother Teresa's eyes looked beyond this world. Mother Teresa surrendered in an absolutely radical way to God's will, and God used her as an instrument of his love. This is the great mystery of God and it is also the mystery of our vocation. 'I am thirsty'. Jesus' words on the Cross explain Mother Teresa's life and our choice. We must quench the thirst Jesus continues to have for the poor". These words are spoken with feeling. After a brief silence, she adds: "Jesus even called me from afar, from a family that was not Christian, to make me, with implacable gentleness, understand his thirst and to quench it".
An authentic service to the suffering
Some have criticized Mother Teresa saying that she could have done more to combat the causes of poverty in the world. "The alleviation of the poverty of man is already a remedy to the cause of poverty itself", Sr Nirmala answers. "The fact of being able to help the poorest of the poor, to serve these people, is already a way of eliminating poverty because we offer the possibility of sharing poverty. In fact, poverty is due, in many cases, to selfishness and ignorance: people do not know how or do not want to share anything with others. Whereas working with us offers the possibility of sharing".
The day after Mother Teresa's death some hasty and superficial commentators asked Sr Nirmala if it would not be appropriate to make some modifications to the congregation's harsh rule. The religious' answer is clear: "Our rule seems harsh to those who do not live it. For those who accept it freely and generously, it is easy to adopt it joyfully. It is the radical choice of the Gospel. It the Gospel is 'harsh', our rule is also 'harsh'" And she adds: "Evangelization, for example in my India, will come from the witness to the holiness of those who profess their faith in Christ. Our Mother's life and her work have been extremely important and have had a very great effect in bringing the knowledge and love of Jesus to the Indians, as they have seen Jesus in Mother and in the work that she did".
With a smile even on the streets of a Roman suburb
But this "secret" of evangelization is not only valid in India. During his Pastoral Visit to the Roman Parish of St Stephen Protomartyr in Tor Fiscale on Sunday, 26 April, John Paul II reminded the faithful of Mother Teresa who, in 1968, opened the first European house of the congregation in that suburban district. She had been asked to do so by Paul VI who had visited that suburb in 1966.
John Paul II told the Christian community of Tor Fiscale to devote themselves to the City Mission in preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 with the spirit of charity taught by Mother Teresa. What should Romans do to carry out a City Mission of charity? "They should have regard for the poorest of the poor, in their own families, in their own neighborhoods, and share what they have with those in need", Sr Nirmala replies.
Rome knows so much poverty, both spiritual and material. "It is up to us to approach every poor person", she says. What is so amazing about the Missionaries of Charity is not only what they do but that they do it with a smile. "This," she confides, "is God's gift, because the burden is his, therefore we can smile. It is natural. And we will continue to open as many houses as the Lord will allow us, according to the vocations we receive. I shall take advantage of this interview to ask those who read it to pray that we will have many vocations, so that we can open new houses where they are needed. Indeed, we have many requests from Bishops all over the world".
The "legacy" of Mother Teresa for Sr Nirmala is a Crucifix and a Rosary. Two indispensable and most effective "tools" with which to serve the poor everywhere. Sr Nirmala, like every Missionary of Charity, takes them everywhere with her. It matters little whether these two objects actually belonged to Mother Teresa. We are overcome by curiosity, but Sr Nirmala's expression makes us understand that a most highly esteemed Guest is waiting for her. She stands up, and greets us by raising her joined hands to her forehead. She smiles. She goes towards the chapel, takes off her sandals and kneels before the Tabernacle.
________________________________
Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
5 August 1998, pp. 4-5
http://www.ewtn.com/library/priests/nirmala.htm

1870- Stephen Hawking Quotes!

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(1)On Fate vs. Free Will:
"I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
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(2)On Science vs. Religion:
"There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win, because it works."
-----------------
(3)On the Advice He Gave His Children:
"One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.
Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.
Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away."
____________________________

Comment:
"Science has cut across human barriers. There is no such thing as ‘your science’ or ‘my science’. But this is not in case with religions. The individual truths in different religions have not come together to interact with each other to form a greater truth that could result in improved spiritual life and thinking of mankind. Religions have not found a common theme to work together for the greater good of humanity by assimilating within them some scientific temper.
Then what would be a more evolved/ universal religion?" (‘Ganesha on the dashboard’ by V. Raghunathan & M.A. Eswaran )

1869- sacrifice

1868- Hai apna dil to awara

1867- Cannibal?

1866- 5 rules for a happy life

1865- Aane Waala Pal Jaane Waala Hai (Golmaal)

Aane Waala Pal Jaane Waala Hai (Golmaal)

1864- Love,Compassion & forgiveness!

1863- Having 'Peace of Mind'

It will happen. It is effortless.
  ______________________________
Once Buddha was traveling with a few of his followers.
While they were passing a lake, Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Do get me some water from the lake."

The disciple walked up to the lake.
At that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake.
As a result, the water became very muddy and turbid.
The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?"
So he came back and told Buddha, "The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink."
After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back
to the lake.
The disciple went back, and found that the water was still muddy.
He returned and informed Buddha about the same.
After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back.
This time, the disciple found the mud had settled down, and the water was clean and clear.
So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.
Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, "See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be, and the mud settled down on its own, and you have clear water."
Your mind is like that too ! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own.
You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down.
It will happen. It is effortless."
Having 'Peace of Mind' is not a strenuous job, it is an effortless processso keep ur mind cool and have a grt life ahead...
____________________________

1862- Jalte Hein Jiske Liye (HD) - Sujata Song - Sunil Dutt - Nutan - Talat Ma...

1861- Azab tEree duniyaa, Gazab tEraa khEl !

कुदरत का सबसे बडा सच

यदी आप फूलौ पे सो रहे है तो ये
आपकी फस्ट नाइट है
और
यदी फूल आप पर सो रहे है तो ये आप
की लास्ट नाइट है l

अजब तेरी दुनिया
गज़ब तेरा खेल
मोमबत्ती जलाकर मुर्दों को याद करना
और मोमबत्ती बुझाकर जन्मदिन मनाना दिको
_____________________

1860- Let the boss speak first!

_____________________
Once a DGM , AGM and BM of a Bank came across a jin.

Jin said I'll fulfil 3wishes but u r 3persons so I'l l fulfil 1 wish each...💫💫😀
.
.
.
BM :- Send me to America with a lot of money...
BM disappears..(wish fulfilled)
.
.
AGM:- Send me to Paris with my beautiful girl friend....
AGM disappears.. (wish fulfilled)
.
.
Jin to DGM:- What is your wish????
.
DGM :- I want these 2 idiots back for March Closing..👺
(wish fulfilled)
.
.
.
Moral:- Always Let The BOSS SPEAK FIRST(then you talk) !!
😋😛😀
__________________________

1859- Lending bank is better than the global Positioning System (GPS)

_____________________
Rajiv and Rosie are flying to Australia to celebrate their anniversary
when suddenly, over the PA system, the Pilot announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news. Our engines have ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing.

Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach.
However, the odds are that we may never be rescued as it is a totally unknown island. So we may have to live on the island for the rest of our lives!"
Thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane lands safely on the island.
An hour later after deep thought, Rajiv turns to his wife and
still shaken from the crash landing, asks "Mona, have we paid our Credit Card dues yet?"
"Oh, No! I'm sorry. I forgot to send the cheque,"
"And Did you send cheque for the auto loan this month?" he asks.
"Oh! Forgive me, Rajiv," begged Mona. "I didn't send that one, either."
Rajiv grabs her and gives her the biggest kiss in 20 years. Mona pulls away and asks him, "So, why are you kissing me?"
Rajiv : "We are Saved! ICICI will find us!"
_________________________

1858- Dr Subramanian Swamy Talks on Islam

1857- Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandani - Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Chori Chori Song

1856-Yeh raat bheegi bheegi (Lata, Manna Dey)

1855- Whose biryani is it anyway!

___________________
Food has often been invoked to make a political point in India. “Khichdi sarkar” — the norm for the past 25 years — can suggest derision for a mixed-up sarkar, or a stomach-healing sarkar, depending on how one looks at it. “No free lunch” has been invoked often enough, and the “mango people” have their own unfortunate history. But “biryani” is special. Those in the know claim that the history of biryani is really a crash course in Indian history. And now, it would seem, in politics.

Coast Guard DIG B.K. Loshali, under fire for saying several things about exploding boats, admitted to being averse to feeding the mysterious Pakistani boatmen “biryani”, clarifying that biryani had somehow made it to the list of things that signal an acceptable worldview in today’s India. He ended up invoking the one food item that has historically stood for welding cultures and spices together. But, as recent political culture goes, it has been used singularly to call out “traitors/ anti-nationals”. Biryani, one of the most popular dishes in the country, irrespective of one’s faith, is used cynically here to berate meat-eaters — that is, hint at its Muslim origins — and to equate violence and terror with a community. The word has come to telegraphically convey what people with a polarising position want to chew on, but prefer not to spell out.

In 1995, before sieges were telecast live, when Charar-e-Sharif was taken by terrorists and five people were held hostage and given food by the authorities — as they would have to be — the BJP’s tallest leader at the time invoked the idea of the Congress-led Narasimha Rao government sending in trays of “biryani” to make a point about “national security” and biryani being at opposite ends of the spectrum.

That was not to be the biryani’s last outing, and how much biryani you fed or ate became the Antoinette cake, and much more. The Congress tried to hint at the pomegranate that the NDA ate in 1999, when their minister escorted three dangerous terrorists to Kandahar. But that did not work. As fast food in Indian cities also grew beyond ideas of Western fast food and the biryani’s popularity galloped, and dog-whistling about politics — depending on which god you prayed to or what your food habits were — became more powerful, the biryani became a major political slogan. At a 2009 election rally at Kheda, the then chief minister of Gujarat, now the prime minister, came to the defence of L.K. Advani and insisted that then (1995) Finance Minister Manmohan Singh had wasted precious funds of the state treasury to feed terrorists in Kashmir, and that too “chicken biryani”.
In 2012, the food files of the lone surviving Pakistani gunman of the attack on Mumbai in 2008, Ajmal Kasab, made it to the Maharashtra assembly. We were informed that Rs 34, 975 was spent on his food in nearly four years. Close on the heels of that revelation came a report that he had asked for “mutton biryani” in jail.
(- See more at:
http://indianexpress.com/…/col…/whose-biryani-is-it-anyway/… )