i think this guy is a victim of reversed prejudice... i think it all boils down to food and roof as far as india is concerned...if all our traditions and culture (which is good)...but though has made india ...one of the poorest contry in the world...and leaves the 70 % working their butt offfffff....to make a decent living....i would still sacrifice my tradition and culture(not all)...for the development of my people...i think what the big boys in delhi are trying to do is ok...even if they are making mistake...we all make mistake..least they and i see the hungry stomach ,the battered wife , shattered life ,begging children than canon camera hanging on my neck taking the photos of holy man...and cows of the indian street and seeling it in your country and making a million of it....
RE:victim of reversed prejudice
by Vas on Feb 06, 2007 06:56 PM Permalink
What idiotic remarks! Indians never followed the true values recommended in our scriptures - instead they adopted the ones most supericial and irrelevant and ignored the ones that are most important and critical for human development. So don't blame the ancient culture or tradition for India's problems - Indians didn't imbibe the right values found in our scriptures, and instead adopted blindly the worst of the western world. Being unable to diffrentiate the worthier values and culture from the most irrelevant is what has made India and Indians a pathetic begging bowl of the world. You'd think after all the centuries of foreign invasions, corrupt dynasty rule, and poverty, Indians would figure out the root cause of all this, and turn around their life for better. Nope! Instead, there are more morons in India who think sipping wine during lunch time, and their wives painting their faces with 'war paint' imported from Europe, are signs of progress, and is 'cool' and relevant, than imbibing the true values taught in our scriptures - hard work, discipline, honesty, dedication to family, respect for elders, community service, charity, etc.
RE:RE:victim of reversed prejudice
by Power India on Feb 06, 2007 08:04 PM Permalink
Which Indian scripture are you mentioning about? Manusmrithi?, I hope so. Well, caste system we have adopted from West. We have been blaming the West for our follies for long. Stop it and find out our own problems, instead. How many will go and help poor in our country instead of going behind mandir-masjid controversy?
RE:RE:RE:victim of reversed prejudice
by raman sharma on Feb 06, 2007 08:24 PM Permalink
Ok, if it's true that the missonaries only objective is to help the poor,,why do they resort to converting people to Christianity before helping them...a large part of Africa which has no connection with Western culture is now following Christianity..How??
RE:RE:RE:RE:victim of reversed prejudice
by narasiman villori on Feb 06, 2007 11:16 PM Permalink
Proselytisation is an integral part of Christian religion. Where the missionaries give with one hand, they expect you to take the other and follow their religion. That missionaries have converted people in third world using the tradional carrot and stick approach is well known but not universally acknowledged Compare that to the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh charities that are open to all religions with no strings attached. Sure there are quite many aspects about Indian religions that can be critisized and rightly so (religion based castisim being one of those and i have been a victim of this in a way). But atleast Indian religions and culture promotes tolerance towards other religions and this has what has kept india intact despite the various centripetal forces in the country over centuries.
Western secularism may induce people of different religions to live side by side, but it doesnt promote respect and tolerance towards other religions (or even cultures). People who embrace this kind of secularism should look at America, where muslims are socially marginalized !
More than secularism what we need to understand is that there is many paths to salvation ! Indians have tradionally understood that, and now that tradition is being replaced by western style secularism which is more harmful to India's social fabric.
I couldnt agree more with Gautier. India must absorb western values as long as they dont destroy India social fabric. Having said that India's gurus and religious pundits and religious police should water down their hateful rheteroic towards other religions and promote communal harmony and tolerance. Why ? Because peaceful co-existence is what being Indian is all about !
