The Demise of Humor

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"In fact, it will be Indians who will break this myth."

Mahatma Gandhi human failings and all, was the conscience for all mankind. If the time EVER comes when some Indians fell the need to "Break this myth" then WE, here in the west will take up the task to bring The Mahatma and his views to prominence. LONG LIVE GANDHIJI!

Peace,
Rick
New York City

Gandhi believed in mixing religions and politics, even though the definition of both two is totally opposite...

Where religion is a quest towards Freedom, by learning the self... thus gaining Freedom from greed, pain, emotions and ending up in a higher state (P.S. not in Higher harem of 72 virgins)...

Politics is to control masses... and has nothing to do with Freedom,

Now to your question, it is not the movie love guru.. which is critical, it is the free thought that is critical to you....

It is you Gandhians, who thisnk Indian heritage to be something shameful and worth abandoning. Mahatma Gandhi, educated in England, sends squads of his disciples to smash the erotic representations on the ancient temples of Khajuraho and Chapri. Only the poet, Rabindranath Tagore, manages to stop them.

Jawahar lal Nehru's attempts to halt the publishing of photographs that depict sculptures showing homosexual relations, claiming that such vices are due to Western influence. In fact, it is his own perception of vice that has been influenced by the West.

Wasn't that Gandhi and its crew, now behaving the same....

Gandhians, which are responsible for todays Islamofacist threat around the world, must now accept that your foolishenss rather then letting thousand die again...

will you name the Gandhi who is responsible for death of millions during Indian partition.. or Gandhi, which address Hitler during war as 'My Friend'??

British hailed Gandhi, but as a Indian let me tell you the reality.. that your project to hail Gandhia as a Messiah had failed horribly in India...In fact, it will be Indians who will break this myth...

PAZ!
PEACE!
SHALOM!
SLAAM!
A H i M S A!?

Mr. Ghandi:

Please announce the date when we may expect to read what you have learned following your January 5th anti-Jewish racist "essay."

You will recall that you were to aprise us. It has been five months, time enough for you to have learned and reflected.

We await learning of your enlightenment.

i think he may have learned what we were all dismayed to see- (and i dont want to speak for mr gandhi here)
that any criticism- no matter how balanced- of the state of israel gets confused with racism and the furor over said crtique was completely disproportionate to the statement itself-

the statement was never racist- and as indicated by the above post- mr gandhi practices what he preaches-

calling for self examination is not racist-
and that is what he did.

Mr. Ghandi:

Please announce the date when we may expect to read what you have learned following your January 5th anti-Jewish racist "essay."

You will recall that you were to aprise us. It has been five months, time enough for you to have learned and reflected.

We await learning of your enlightenment.

Just found this

Dr Deepak Chopra in his own words about the movie Love Guru

http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/deepak-chopra-says-the-jokes-on-him/2008/06/03/1212258816753.html

From the main page :

VICTORIA :

how folks can continue to have mindless knee jerk reactions and opinions on a film they have not actually seen is a total mystery to me-

June 22, 2008 10:33 AM

----------------------------------------

Soja John Thaikattil, Sydney, Australia:

Victoria

You are absolutely right! I should never have written a comment without actually seeing the film. But as you can see it is all a bit too late now and it is not possible for me to delete my posts.

I was merely concerned about the premature overreaction of some Hindus as highlighted with Mr Zed's response. I contributed my own share of ignorance with a premature reaction.

Thanks for highlighting a very important point: never jump into conclusions without sufficient information.

June 23, 2008 12:19 AM

i have no idea what relevance that has to my post thomas-
it's a nice sentiment surely- and thank you for making it-
but what is the real world and pretend world you are talking about?

no one is disputing(or mentioning) john paul II's contribution to world peace-
i loved the papa and mourned his passing

what is unreal about pointing out that by demonizing the "other" we only hurt our own spiritual development?

we are all fingers on the same hand- if one of our fingers is cut off- the whole hand hurts

VICTORIA

Ignoring reality does not change it. I am a Catholic and I cherish my Catholic Faith and I also think that one of the very important things that the previous Pope did, was to go around the entire world and make public penances for the sins that the Catholic Church has committed in the past.

As I said, the sins that the Church did, not the sins of individuals.

As I said, we live in a real world not a pretend world.

I know that God is real and I know that God is a Trinity and I know that God is a Being of Love, Pure Love and I also do not care what other people say about Him because one, I cannot live anyone else's life and two, God is Big enough, so to speak, to take care of Himself.

God loves the people that He created and it is His Wish that we would treat each other decently, He is not the evil, mean being that some seem to think that He is.

God gave us free will and He will not force Himself on us and we should not try to force God, whatever our conception of Him might be, on others and we also should not force ourselves on others.

I am also glad that God has a Plan and that God's Plan, which is unfolding before our very eyes, is for ALL OF HUMANITY to be with Him in His Kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth.

Take care, be ready.

Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

A very negative review from The New York Times

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/movies/20guru.html?8dpc

From the reviews of the movie it seems that it is rotten and the story is about a wannabe guru competing with Dr Deepak Chopra!

My profound apologies to Dr Deepak Chopra for not being able to get a real idea of the movie after browsing the website. It took it that insulting Dr Deepak Chopra as a means of paying him indirect tribute in a comedy!

http://blogs.wsj.com/buzzwatch/2008/06/20/buzz-links-what-the-love-guru-reviews-are-saying/?mod=googlenews_wsj

Soja John Thaikattil, Sydney, Australia:

Re Movie Love Guru on further exploration of the movie website:

I get the impression that the movie is not about a Hindu guru or Hinduism at all, but indirectly about Dr Deepak Chopra and his wisdom being portrayed as fictional comedy! TM is introduced in the movie guru's teachings at a subliminal level. Dr Deepak Chopra seems to have lent his voice to Guru Pikta!

For more visit

http://www.thegurupitka.com/

i envision it something like this- imagine we're all in a small pool with a limited amount of water-
we are all dependent on that water to sustain and keep afloat-
every slur or hurtful thought is like taking a bucket and scooping it out and throwing it over the sides-
while attempting to weaken the "other" all we end up accomplishing is depiving others and ourselves too- of the life sustaining water that we all interdependently need -
by lowering the level all are lowered simultaneously-

soja-
do you really not get it?
did you not understand a word mr gandhi was saying here?

he just gave an immediate example of how hindu to muslim or muslim to hindu hatreds destroy the spirit of the religion they propose to protect-

and you make this unkind and unnecessary comparison-

"It would be dreadful if Hindus did something so foolish as the Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons etc"

is there ever an end to it?

exactly- an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind-

leave such competitions behind or we'll all end up blind-

putting another down never elevates one-

Dear Mr Gandhi

Your words, coming from the grandson of the greatest Hindu saint that ever lived, as far as
I'm concerned, Mahatma Gandhi, is comforting. It would be dreadful if Hindus did something so foolish as the Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons etc. Hinduism in my opinion is strong and old enough to take on a hundred movies like Love Guru.

I share with you what I posted on Dr Deepak Chopra's and Mr Rajan Zed's blogs on this topic.

Yours sincerely

Soja John Thaikattil
Sydney, Australia
-----------------

I'm glad to note that Dr Chopra and Jai Kosla (a pious Hindu) have taken the movie lightheartedly. As a Christian (even born and raised in India) I do not after all have any right to speak on behalf of Hindus. I posted the following on Mr Rajan Zed's blog:

Dear Mr Zed

As a Christian who grew up in India, I cannot say for certain how my Hindu friends would react to this movie. My hope however is that they will not take offense and exhibit the generosity and tolerance that Hinduism at its best is known for.

I doubt too if great Hindus like Mahatma Gandhi and Vivekananda would have taken offense at a movie that portrays *false gurus* in a funny light. They, as Hindus themselves, did not withhold criticism about aspects of Hinduism they did not approve of.

The movie "Love Guru," from what I understand, is about a *false Hindu guru.* It is the equivalent of making a movie about a bad Catholic priest. As you are well aware, "Bhagavan" Rajneesh later known as Osho, was one such false Hindu guru. In India even Hindus referred to him as a "sex-guru" and had great fun laughing at Westerners who treated him like god and about how they gave up all their money to worship him in his Ashram. The opinion of the ordinary Hindu in India at the height of his fame was that Westerners were spiritually open but not discerning at all when dealing with gurus from India.

Hinduism is five thousand years old. It is a con-federation of religions. It has no proselytizing element. It is hardly likely that Hindus would abandon their faith because of a movie about a false Hindu guru. Every real Hindu knows that there are false gurus because real guru have warned them. So I do hope you would not feel overly concerned about the impact of a movie on a religion such as Hinduism. Those who are genuinely interested in Hindu philosophy would seek it in great spiritual works like the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita etc.

No, Brahman the Absolute, is not going to be harmed by this movie or any movie, not what I understand of Brahman and Hinduism anyway.

Here a few words of wisdom from Guru "Pikta" (the guru in the movie in question).

My only concern about the words of wisdom is that guru Pikta has plagiarised them.

1. Into me I see

2. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind (well known saying of Mahatma Gandhi)

3. When love goes wrong nothing goes right

4. First reduce the greed, then reduce the need

5. There is no failure only early attempts at success

6. Go from nowhere to Now here

The Guru Pikta

June 19, 2008 4:38 AM