All Comments (19)

Yesterday ie. 14th April is celebrated all over India(and parts of world where ever ethnic Untochables have migrated) as the Birth Anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar. Without Dr Ambedkar Gandhi and the Congress would have surely abandoned the cause of upliftment of Dalits(untouchables).. because they never really mattered to them.. This fact can be seen in the views expressed by Gandhi in the News paper called 'Harijan' which was edited by Gandhi..

Considering all these facts of recent History, I wonder how Mr Arun Gandhi can justify the ideas of Gandhiji which were really Hipocritical in the matters of religion..
I would further like to state that hinduism is the most pathetic religion.. It doesnt have any single concrete philosophy.
Everyone and anyone who preaches something on the name of Hinduism.. chanses are that he/she is making fool of the audience 99 times out of 100..
and please be clear that Buddhism is a separate philosophy.. and unique way of life and distinctly different from hinduism. Buddha himself never recognised any soul(atma) or god/creater..
buddhism is the most scientific of the existing ways of life.
I am only a research student at IIT..
after my experience with dharma i can say whatever i wrote above.

Dr. B R Ambedkar still carried out the religious conversion on 15th October 1956 . The great ideals and talk of Gandhiji were not understood and not followed by his own congress party and the hindu people . Dr Ambedkar tried in wain to start the reforms in the Hindu society in the form of the Hindu Code bill(This bill was aimed at uplifting the life of women in traditional hindu society and meant the removal of many degrading practices ) but, this very bill was opposed by the Nehruvian Congress and Dr Ambedkar was convinced that now he had to find some other spiritual path for his followers which could release his people from the spiritual and religious bondage of Hinduism.. So he carried out the conversion to Buddhism.. Which was a Indiginously professed way of life.. moreso Because , SIddharth Gautam Buddha was a Great social reformer who took birth in india around 6th century BC.
In this Context I wud Like to tell that Dr Ambedkar's Ideas were more pragmatic than the ideas of Gandhiji which were inclined more towards
self glorification unimplimentable morality.

And yet ye are in Denial of ye own TRUTH (opposite of MYTH)! Wow!

You should be to be & or to call yourself 'Jewish'!

Pleaze Do not Plagerize!

Pleazzzze Ms. Jacoby, who are ye fooling when ye call yourselves an 'Atheist' & a writer of 'HiSTORY."

Remember: If Ye believe in History, then ye cannot deny Evolution (History, aka OUR Holy Cosmic JURY) via the so called 'Bang'. So

if ye believe in bang then ye believe in Creation.! aka G-D, Being & doing Business via Holy Cosmic Work in and of "ITSELF" (G-D) or Justly just being "IT" (G-D) in and of Us All! Soo

Re: "Instead of providing the believer with "mental peace and salvation" modern religion seems to fill people with "fear". Religion, like every other aspect of human life, is almost totally fear-based."

This is true of monotheistic systems, but not of polytheistic systems like Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. Even if a spiritual leader tries to imbibe a fear complex, he will not succeed because he will not be given the liberty of claiming that only through him a person can approach god, slavation, etc. Hinduism propagates that everyone has to create his own spiritual experience.

Namaste
Ashok Chowgule

Problem is our new democratic govt who has left religion to be taught by Mullahas and priests who has no time to learn other religions and are paid for to propogate any thing .
Its shame Govt is becoming irrresposible toits citizens and making life of a common man very dengerous as he has no way to find out what is good and bad.Intellectuals are paid to give opnions which changes with time.Its time all religions should be aught in schools and colleges as compulsary subjctsAs religion are the evil of human race more killing is going on due to religions.

Let's put aside the fact that Arun Gandhi is a nasty bigot. And that he's made a mockery of his "apology" by running around India making even more egregiously anti-semitic comments.

Those aside, his writing is banal and completely devoid of anything insightful, or even original. Don't the "M.K. Gandhi Institute" and the University of Rochester provide him sufficient opportunity to name-drop his grandfather over and over and over again?

Why is this disgusting anti-semite still writing for the Washington Post? I'm not Jewish but find it despeciable that an evil man who is filled with hatred toward Jews is allowed to write for a "respectable" newspaper's website.
He needs to be fired and told that his bigotry is not acceptable anywhere in the American media!

Now that we are hearing from racists like Gandhi, When do we hear from the Grand Kleagle of the KKK?

**Just because your mother is less attractive than your friend's mother you can't abandon your mother and adopt a new one. If one is born into a religion and finds it less than desirable one needs to stay and do something to change it or reform it. In other words one should not run away from one's responsibilities not shirk them.**

I am reminded of a story I read as a child called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World." It goes something like this: A small boy wanders awawy from his mother while shopping and gets lost. He keeps asking passersby if they have seen his mother, and when they ask what she looks like, he tells them that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. A policeman takes the boy and points out every attractive woman he sees, and asks the boy "Is she your mother?" No luck. Finally, the boy points to a rotund woman in a faded, tattered housedress and beat-up shoes, graying hair coming undone around her face, and shouts, "There's my mother! Didn't I tell you she is the most beautiful woman in the world?" The moral of the story of course, is that the love of the mother and son for each other was the source of her beauty.

I didn't leave my "mother faith" because I found another more attractive. I left "her" because "she" was not a good "mother" to me. Sometimes bad "mothers" refuse to change no matter how hard their "children" try to change them. Sometimes adoptive "mothers" love their children more than the "mothers" they were "born" to. I found a such a "mother."

Josevz

Would you mind repeating that?

Thank you.

A Fan

"If one is born into a religion and finds it less than desirable one needs to stay and do something to change it or reform it. In other words one should not run away from one's responsibilities not shirk them. This will only lead to greater dissatisfaction."

Mr. Gandhi is a Hindu, and unlike the Abrahamic religions, and others, Hinduism is not a religion one can convert to. One can only be born a Hindu, born a Hindu of a certain "caste," or born outside of the caste system, in which case one is less than human, an "outcaste," a "pollutant," an "Untouchable." There are four castes in India, presented here in order of highest to lowest: the Brahmin (the priestly caste), the Kshatryia (the warrior class), the Vaishya (the business class), and the Sudra (workers who serve the upper classes).

Those whom Mr. Gandhi refers to as "Untouchables," the "outcastes," refer to themselves as the Dalit. Pace Franz Fanon, for three thousand years they have been among the wretched of the earth. There are 250 million of them living in India.

The overwhelming majority of Dalit (Mr. Gandhi's "Untouchables") live as bonded labor, i.e., in slavery, deprived of what the U.N. considers basic human rights.

Almost miraculously, a few Dalit have made their way to the U.S., among them a few who have become academics, desperately trying to bring attention to India's three-thousand-year-old crimes against humanity. The U.N., human rights groups, Amnestry International have called for an end to this institutionalized racism, and although some efforts have been made, little progress has been evident. In response to attempts, however minimal, to aid the Dalit, many, many Brahmins have reacted visciouly.

Unlike Hinduism, Christianity, does not have a caste system and actively seeks converts. It is for these reasons that Dalit converted, but as Mr. Gandhi correctly states, conversion was of little help to them, not only in India. The Christian Dalit who ended up in Pakistan after Partition are the street sweepers, among the poorest people in that very poor country.

As for Mr. Gandhi, not only is he a Hindu, he is a Brahmin, that is, a member of India's highest caste. Given the benefits that have accrued to him as a Brahmin, the essentialist perspective he presents here is more than understandable. In this, as in many other things, he differs from his grandfather, whose name he continually invokes to legitimize his despicable sentiments. Mahatma Gandhi, did indeed, call for the end of Brahmin dominance and human rights for India's Dalit. Although Arun Gandhi has made the same claim for himself, it is untrue. He has done nothing for the Dalit, and the reasons why should be evident from what he writes here. Mr. Gandhi is a bigot and a racist, as Justin and Yael correctly affirm.

However,all this begs the question of why the US says nothing about the Dalit and Americans know so little about them. Answer: Billions of dollars in economic interests in India. The Dalit, like tiny Israel (no bigger than New Jersey, unrepresentable on maps) have nothing, while India has a geat deal, although it is "unevenly distributed," hence, the country's astonishing poverty. The US has money to make in India. Newspapers, corporately owned, with interests in manufacturing, natural resources, potential media sites, etc., have no interest in publicizing the "plight" of the Dalit. when their own economic interests are at stake.

As for Mr. Gandhi's anti-Jewish racism to which Jutin and Yael refer they have the distinction of being a minority, hence easy prey for racists. Israel, a separate matter has two strikes against it: it has no oil, and, of course, it is the homeland of the Jewish people. Two strikes against it, giving it no right to defend itself in the eyes of Arun Gandhi. You will note that Mr. Gandhi, in the January 7th "essay" Yael cites,condemns Israel and all Jews, but says nothing of the thousands of Palistinian Christians who have fled into Israel, which takes them in as refugees. There is no mention by Mr. Gandhi of the murders, tortures by Palistinians of other Palistinians. There is no mention by Mr. Gandhi that one in three murders in Palestine is an honor killing, the murder of a woman, usually by her brother, generally for the crime of having been raped. There is no mention by Mr. Gandhi of Palistinian corruption, the theft of foreign aid by politicians, while others starve. There is no mention by Mr. Gandhi of why no Palestinians (read none) have ever left Israel to return to their homeland, even when their relatives live there. There is no mention by Mr. Gandhi of the fact that Israelis of Palestinian descent have the same rights as any other Israelis, which is not the case of Palestinians living in Egypt, or even in Jordan, where they are the majority. There is no mention by Mr. Gandhi of the plight of Palestinians in Saudi Arabia.

Therefore, the question arises as to whether Mr. Gandhi has any real concern about Palestinians or other Middle Easterners, or simply hates Jews.

There is no mention by Mr. Gandhi of terrorism against the against Middle Eastern Jews outside of Israel, let alone Israel Jews. There are millions of Middle EAstern Jews from throughout the Arab world and Iran. What of their right to return to their native lands?

Why do so few Americans know anything about these persecutions? No media interest. No oil producing nations support Middle Eastern Jews! They have murdered and exiled them. Do the media have oil interests? Do they have interests in Middle Eastern sites? Do you ever wonder why, in newspaper and TV reporting, you never learn the human toll taken by Arab terrorism takes on Israelis? Look at media ownership. Contact NYU's Media Ownership Project.

It is unlikely that readers can end racist, sexist reporting on the Washington Post, but getting rid of Mr. Gandhi's offensive blog may be possible. Contact the Post.

If you are interested in learning more about the Dalit, go to Dalitnetwork.org. There are many Indians, Hindus and non-Hindus, who are working to end the atrocities, but there number is few. They need help.

As for anti-Jewish racism in the media, Yael is correct about CAMERA. It is an excellent source of information. Various human rights groups also contain information against atrocities carried out against middle eastern Jews.

"If one is born into a religion and finds it less than desirable one needs to stay and do something to change it or reform it. In other words one should not run away from one's responsibilities not shirk them. This will only lead to greater dissatisfaction."

This is one of the more silly statements I've read on this blog. This is America and we are not required to live the life we were born into. That is not our responsibility. You don't get to choose your mohter and that is why we are not bound to her traditions.

If you are unfortunate to have been born into certain situations that are hopelessly obsolete and beyond repair, you are not required to spend your life on this lost cause. True dissatisfaction is trying to reform something that you don't believe in just becuase you were born into that situation. What an outdated concept to think we need to stay where we are or reform something that may be totally obsolete. One does not pour new wine into old wineskins. One puts new wine into new wineskins.

Probably why Roman Catholics refer to their's as holy "mother" church.

Mr Arun Gandhi hope you will stick on to your views. Only vocal minority are against you. Silent majority are with you.

Oooppssa. Correction:

"Note: NO ONE needs a so called 'GURU' or 'YOGi' or 2nd party to assist one in 'Meditation' [Listening to O.U.R. Holy Cosmic ECLATi) nor to 'Pray' [Talking to ye Holy Cosmic ECLATi)!"

This! Thanka Shame!

Justin,

Thank you for calling our attention to this site. The article you refer to completely misrepresents Mr. Gandhi's offensive, racist January 7th article.

From the Washington Post, we are still awaiting Quinn's promised news of what Mr. Gandhi has learned from his January 7th racist rant. So far, your link has provided us with the second web site that does address Quinn's question. In the first, Mr. Gandhi was quoted as saying he stood by the "content" of his "essay."

Clearly, we are not getting anywhere with the Washington Post. I have contacted the Washington Post ombudsman and have written to the editor, as have many others.

A couple of days ago, several colleagues and I contacted CAMERA. You can find them on the Web, and they have an 800 number. They have done very good work in dealing with anti-semitism in the press, including that which has been at home in the Washington Post.

Also, see Patel's essay "Arun Gandhi" in the archives on this site. Note Anonymous's reply.

Thank you again, Justin. We all need to speak out in as many ways as we can in the war against racism.

More banality from nasty Sally Quinn's favorite bigot. Some unnamed group with all the money and power (hint hint wink wink) took his job away and now he wants the Indian government to help him get it back. Nice guy to get a lecture on religion from.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/27/stories/2008022760731400.htm

"Mr. Gandhi said the fact that he had to resign from the Institute had a lot of implications for freedom of thought and speech. It also indicates the power people have because of money and this had made a mockery of democratic principles, he pointed out."

MODERN MORALiTY . iS Superior to BiBliCal MoraliTY!