Swami Dayananda Saraswati, in his lecture in Chennai recently, talked about how parents push their kids - some even below three years - to school.
He said the insecurity the youth face nowadays is because of this. When a kid is sent to school so early, the kid gets confused: Why am I 'banished' to school? The child regards this as a punishment for 'something' she has done. The kid cannot understand that being sent to school is not a punishment. She has also been forced to stay away from her parents with some strangers.
Swami Dayananda said this was inhuman. He said the ideal age to put a kid in school was at least six or seven. He said we must put a full stop to things like play school, pre-KG, LKG and UKG. Though our intention is good, pushing a kid early to school will create problems later in life.
The schools run by Swami Dayananda Saraswati did not have KG classes.
He pointed out at Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy of the Padma Seshadri group of schools (who was sitting in the front row) and said she must take the initiative in Chennai. But a news item in 'Hindu' shows, this is not likely to happen. The new school "PSBB Millennium School" will have all the three KGs.
One more thing. The news item (reproduced below) says the Learning Leadership Foundation, with which the Padma Seshadri group has tied up for the 'PSBB Millennium School", is a 'charitable trust'. But then why is the school charging Rs 20,000 as admission fee and Rs 8,000 as term fee?
Here is the news item:
`Smart class' programme on the way
By Our Staff Reporter
CHENNAI, FEB. 14. The Padma Seshadri Group of Schools has tied up with Learning Leadership Foundation, a charitable trust, to open the "PSBB Millennium School" in June this year.
Announcing the venture, Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, dean and director, said the new school on No.9 GST Road, with classes from pre-KG to class V, would focus on building global citizens rooted in Indian values.
The school would be a place where education was a pleasant learning task, said Mrs. Parthasarathy at a press conference on Monday. According to Shantanu Prakash of LLF, the teachers would be trained in technology right from pre-KG. "We are moving away from the `chalk-and talk' method and following the smart class programme, where all classrooms will have a computer."
Also, in the pipeline is a PSBB millennium school to come up on the Old Mamallapuram Road on the Information Technology corridor. With an investment of around Rs. 5 crores, this co-educational CBSE school will have spacious classrooms, a vast playground and laborataries for maths, English and science.
The one-time admission fee is Rs. 20,000 and the term fee around Rs. 8,000. Registration forms will be available at the K.K. Nagar and T. Nagar branches of the school till February 28 between 9.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Visit psbbmillenniumschool.org for more information.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Gita: Old Rhymes For New Times (from Indiatimes)
It's time to take the Gita off its religious shelf and reinvent it to deal with the problems of a new era.
The Gita opens our eyes to the truth of living. The closer we are to the truth, the better managers we become in any field of activity.
In fact, those who are established in the highest truth of the Self manage huge tasks without any mental anxieties. The Gita (18:17) praises such a super manager as, "He is not bound despite performing Himalayan tasks!" (A translation with some liberty of language).
Facing Modern Challenges: "Work we must," says the celestial song for no one can possibly be otherwise (3:5). This being the case, our choice is only in two areas: (i) the kind of work and (ii) the attitude to work. We are advised to be honest to ourselves in choosing the kind of work for ourselves.
Using a technical word, 'Svadharma', the Gita warns us to adhere to it (3:35). Svadharma reflects the way God has made us. It is our nature on the level of the personality. Each of us can contribute immensely to our own and others' happiness by discovering and sticking to "that for which God made us!"
Otherwise, personal fancies and false conditionings determine our choice. Sorrow under such circumstances is assured. As for the attitude, the message of Shree Krishna exhorts us to shed our personal attachments and ownership.
The beautiful analogy of the lotus leaf (5:10), points out the reward of freedom for our services rendered in a spirit of humility (non-egoism).
Resource Management: Our inner resource is energy. There is expenditure of energy in talking, working, playing, reading and so on. The holy book of our Sanaatana Dharma insists on being moderate in all our activities (5:16,17). This is the key to balance in living.
Holistic thinking and living bring out the best in us. Those managers who have struck a balance in the different departments of their life such as work, home and society emerge as true winners in the long run.
Qualities Of A New Age Leader: The leader of a team sees the whole group as one (18:20) and has respect for even a member in the lowest rank. He looks at the other person as himself (6:32) and is interested in maximum benefit to all (12:4).
He inspires them, encourages them in their meaningful activities (even of less significance) out of love for them (3:26). He himself works (on his own level and in his own sphere) with enthusiasm and fortitude (18:26) and maintains his equilibrium in success and failure (5:20).
Commitment to a Noble Cause: A manager stays committed to the noble cause that underlies all his actions. The Lord of Brindavan is very poetic when He says, "Work on, dear friend, with no negative energy interfering with your performance! The golden key to do so is offering all your actions to Me!" (3:30).
This 'offering all that we do to God' takes the form of 'commitment to the main (noble) cause' in a secular context. Someone rightly said, "Stay firm like a rock when it is the main principles, go with the flow in small matters."
The manager then gains the necessary flexibility and accommodativeness to mingle well with all the members of his team while safeguarding the chief mission.
Whip in Hand, Sometimes: Obviously, a manager cannot afford to be a 'Yes' man all along. Nor can he always compliment those with whom he works - above, equal to or below him! The divine charioteer says to the human Arjuna, "Do not spare them who have violated Dharma!
They are down already the moment they swerve from truth! Do your part anyhow, like My instrument" (11:34). Reprimanding the wrongdoers and expressing his resentment at unacceptable performance or behaviour of others are a necessary part of an effective manager.
Subjectively too , "Do not come under the sway of mere likes and dislikes. They are your enemies!" (3:34). Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji said, "Use your head while judging yourself, use your heart while judging others!"
We have to act with great responsibility towards our own BMI (body, mind and intellect). We cannot afford either to overindulge or put them to disuse! When used well, they are a wonderful medium of self-expression. Otherwise they bind us.
Truth Alone Wins: That truth alone wins is as much a law as gravity or magnetism. A book of Physics teaches us true laws of the world. The book does not create anything. In the same way, the Gita shows us the spiritual laws! For example, the law of selflessness, "Those who act without desire gain inner peace!" (5:12).
Or again the law of non-agency: "One oneself truly is never a doer, everything is done by Nature!" As we gain clarity in these aspects of Truth, our ability to appreciate the beauty of life increases. Rather than complaining about things, we begin to thank the Lord for giving us our life. Our projections caused sorrow to us; life by itself is awe-inspiring!
The enlightened manager is dynamic outside, spontaneously. She is quiet inside, surrendering totally to the Law of Life. She fully sees the limitations of human intelligence and the irrepressible energy contained in Truth or God.
The Gita opens our eyes to the truth of living. The closer we are to the truth, the better managers we become in any field of activity.
In fact, those who are established in the highest truth of the Self manage huge tasks without any mental anxieties. The Gita (18:17) praises such a super manager as, "He is not bound despite performing Himalayan tasks!" (A translation with some liberty of language).
Facing Modern Challenges: "Work we must," says the celestial song for no one can possibly be otherwise (3:5). This being the case, our choice is only in two areas: (i) the kind of work and (ii) the attitude to work. We are advised to be honest to ourselves in choosing the kind of work for ourselves.
Using a technical word, 'Svadharma', the Gita warns us to adhere to it (3:35). Svadharma reflects the way God has made us. It is our nature on the level of the personality. Each of us can contribute immensely to our own and others' happiness by discovering and sticking to "that for which God made us!"
Otherwise, personal fancies and false conditionings determine our choice. Sorrow under such circumstances is assured. As for the attitude, the message of Shree Krishna exhorts us to shed our personal attachments and ownership.
The beautiful analogy of the lotus leaf (5:10), points out the reward of freedom for our services rendered in a spirit of humility (non-egoism).
Resource Management: Our inner resource is energy. There is expenditure of energy in talking, working, playing, reading and so on. The holy book of our Sanaatana Dharma insists on being moderate in all our activities (5:16,17). This is the key to balance in living.
Holistic thinking and living bring out the best in us. Those managers who have struck a balance in the different departments of their life such as work, home and society emerge as true winners in the long run.
Qualities Of A New Age Leader: The leader of a team sees the whole group as one (18:20) and has respect for even a member in the lowest rank. He looks at the other person as himself (6:32) and is interested in maximum benefit to all (12:4).
He inspires them, encourages them in their meaningful activities (even of less significance) out of love for them (3:26). He himself works (on his own level and in his own sphere) with enthusiasm and fortitude (18:26) and maintains his equilibrium in success and failure (5:20).
Commitment to a Noble Cause: A manager stays committed to the noble cause that underlies all his actions. The Lord of Brindavan is very poetic when He says, "Work on, dear friend, with no negative energy interfering with your performance! The golden key to do so is offering all your actions to Me!" (3:30).
This 'offering all that we do to God' takes the form of 'commitment to the main (noble) cause' in a secular context. Someone rightly said, "Stay firm like a rock when it is the main principles, go with the flow in small matters."
The manager then gains the necessary flexibility and accommodativeness to mingle well with all the members of his team while safeguarding the chief mission.
Whip in Hand, Sometimes: Obviously, a manager cannot afford to be a 'Yes' man all along. Nor can he always compliment those with whom he works - above, equal to or below him! The divine charioteer says to the human Arjuna, "Do not spare them who have violated Dharma!
They are down already the moment they swerve from truth! Do your part anyhow, like My instrument" (11:34). Reprimanding the wrongdoers and expressing his resentment at unacceptable performance or behaviour of others are a necessary part of an effective manager.
Subjectively too , "Do not come under the sway of mere likes and dislikes. They are your enemies!" (3:34). Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji said, "Use your head while judging yourself, use your heart while judging others!"
We have to act with great responsibility towards our own BMI (body, mind and intellect). We cannot afford either to overindulge or put them to disuse! When used well, they are a wonderful medium of self-expression. Otherwise they bind us.
Truth Alone Wins: That truth alone wins is as much a law as gravity or magnetism. A book of Physics teaches us true laws of the world. The book does not create anything. In the same way, the Gita shows us the spiritual laws! For example, the law of selflessness, "Those who act without desire gain inner peace!" (5:12).
Or again the law of non-agency: "One oneself truly is never a doer, everything is done by Nature!" As we gain clarity in these aspects of Truth, our ability to appreciate the beauty of life increases. Rather than complaining about things, we begin to thank the Lord for giving us our life. Our projections caused sorrow to us; life by itself is awe-inspiring!
The enlightened manager is dynamic outside, spontaneously. She is quiet inside, surrendering totally to the Law of Life. She fully sees the limitations of human intelligence and the irrepressible energy contained in Truth or God.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Godhra: Judiciary under cloud (from Pioneer, New Delhi)
This very month, three years ago, Hindu pilgrims returning to Gujarat from Ayodhya were burnt alive in a bogey of the Sabarmati Express, in what was widely perceived as an act of communal aggression. Secular apologists of Islamic fundamentalism were quick to explain to a shocked nation that there were good (that is, legitimate) reasons for that gory action.
The Muslim mob at the Godhra station, they said, had been "provoked" by Hindu acts of commission. To begin with, the kar sevaks wanted to rebuild the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. Now, that may be a heinous crime, but I fail to understand how pilgrims returning home without having done anything to erect the mandir in Ayodhya, could be considered guilty of a crime that warranted roasting alive.
For the sake of communal amity, however, we may let that pass. A second reason advanced was that an unidentified kar sevak got into a squabble with a tea vendor at Godhra station. Another version said that many pilgrims had tea at the stall and returned to the train without settling their dues. Hence the irate vendor rounded up members of his community; they managed to catch up with the train and set it on fire.
A third version was that some kar sevaks forced a Muslim girl at Godhra station into the train and made off with her. No family member of the alleged victim ever came forward to validate the story, nor was a police report filed. Yet this was repeated ad nauseum as if repetition can transform lies into truths.
To his credit, Justice UC Banerjee - though handpicked by Union Railway Minister Lalu Yadav to serve a political agenda - did not waste energy trying to prove these puerile excuses. As a former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Banerjee realised that the first reason exposed Muslim intolerance; while the second and third reasons were both difficult to prove and impossible to justify. What is more, they seriously incriminated the Muslim community as they showed planning and motivation to commit a grave offence.
So, notwithstanding his defective report, the judge was wise enough to avoid the most obvious pitfalls on his route. This is why he went for the "safe" option of accidental fire: He showed sympathy for the victims (since he could not say the fire never took place); shifted the blame away from the accused; and kept the burden of responsibility for the subsequent Gujarat riots on the shoulders of the Hindu community.
This is by no means a poor achievement for a judge whose appointment failed to attract confidence because he was not nominated by the Supreme Court, but handpicked by Mr Yadav. Mr Banerjee submitted his interim conclusions exclusively to Mr Yadav in the form of a double-edged boon, useful for indicting community-minded Hindus and for consolidating "secular" Muslim voters.
Examining the press reports, what most upsets me is Mr Banerjee's failure to produce the remains of a gas or kerosene stove from the embers of S-6, to back his claim that the apocalyptic fire that consumed 59 persons within seven minutes was caused by passenger fault. Prima facie, it is difficult to believe that anyone could have the luxury of cooking in a bogey with a capacity of 72 passengers, but actually packed with 150 persons. Anyone with a nodding acquaintance with Gujarati culture could have told the learned judge that Gujarati women are notoriously gifted in the art of making dry snacks; the women in that ill-fated bogey would have been well-stocked for the journey and would certainly not cook on the train.
Justice Banerjee lacks credibility because he is perceived to have walked a path staked out by others, instead of scrupulously following the evidence. He did not even glance at the evidence collected by Gujarat's special investigation team (SIT), and disregarded the findings of forensic laboratories that opined that nearly 60 litres of petrol was used to start the conflagration. His decision to submit an interim report the day before he was scheduled to meet the SIT has already attracted adverse attention; his contention that he was unaware that elections were scheduled in the home state of the Minister who appointed him is shameful.
Justice Nanavati has wisely suggested that the nation await his findings. But since the Banerjee report was obviously intended to preempt and discredit the Nanavati-Shah probe, it deserves careful examination. Banerjee suggests that the fateful fire began somewhere in the middle of bogey S-6, and was probably triggered by a cooking stove, or a match or lighter. If the fire did start off accidentally, why didn't the passengers extinguish it, and why wasn't it contained in the section where it started? Since the train was a sleeper, only six persons could have been sitting in that section, since persons occupying the side berths would hardly cook in the passageway. Even if more people were seated in the section, it does not explain the failure to cry for help or warn other passengers about the danger.
The SIT claims the coach was built in 1993 with fire-retardant and self-extinguishing materials. This means that only a very volatile and highly inflammable substance (like petrol) could have caused the kind of inferno that enveloped the entire coach and took 59 lives in seven minutes. Neither a matchstick nor a portable kerosene stove could explain this kind of fire.
The judge has completely evaded the issue of why the passengers failed to open the doors at both ends of the compartment and either escape into the adjoining bogeys S-7 or S-5, or jump off the train once smoke spread in the compartment. Who or what impeded these obvious escape routes when the train was at a standstill? This issue will seriously erode Banerjee's credibility if he does not address it in his final report.
I am equally anxious for the results of the Supreme Court probe into Zaheera Sheikh's contention that despite the verbose activism of Begum Teesta Setalvad, she (Zaheera) had not filed any affidavit seeking transfer of the Best Bakery trial outside Gujarat. I shall briefly recapitulate facts for readers who have not understood the importance of this disclosure.
When Zaheera's testimony in the Vadodara Fast Track court led to the acquittal of 21 accused persons, a bunch of well-connected activists landed in Gujarat, dragged her to Mumbai and sponsored the sensational press conference in which she said the Vadodara testimony was inspired by fear. The publicity-conscious National Human Rights Commission rushed in; accepted voluminous documentation furnished on behalf of Zaheera without any scrutiny; and urged the Supreme Court to transfer the trial to another state (currently going on in Mumbai) as a fair trial was not possible in Gujarat.
To its eternal embarrassment, the Supreme Court has since discovered that Zaheera had not signed a single page presented to the NHRC or the apex court! In other words, there is no legal basis for taking the trial outside Gujarat. The learned judges cannot escape their share of this ignominy, for it is clear that they responded to the hype generated by an ideologically-committed media, rather than perusing the legal record before them. Public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary is at stake; the judges must examine their contribution to this crisis.
The Muslim mob at the Godhra station, they said, had been "provoked" by Hindu acts of commission. To begin with, the kar sevaks wanted to rebuild the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. Now, that may be a heinous crime, but I fail to understand how pilgrims returning home without having done anything to erect the mandir in Ayodhya, could be considered guilty of a crime that warranted roasting alive.
For the sake of communal amity, however, we may let that pass. A second reason advanced was that an unidentified kar sevak got into a squabble with a tea vendor at Godhra station. Another version said that many pilgrims had tea at the stall and returned to the train without settling their dues. Hence the irate vendor rounded up members of his community; they managed to catch up with the train and set it on fire.
A third version was that some kar sevaks forced a Muslim girl at Godhra station into the train and made off with her. No family member of the alleged victim ever came forward to validate the story, nor was a police report filed. Yet this was repeated ad nauseum as if repetition can transform lies into truths.
To his credit, Justice UC Banerjee - though handpicked by Union Railway Minister Lalu Yadav to serve a political agenda - did not waste energy trying to prove these puerile excuses. As a former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Banerjee realised that the first reason exposed Muslim intolerance; while the second and third reasons were both difficult to prove and impossible to justify. What is more, they seriously incriminated the Muslim community as they showed planning and motivation to commit a grave offence.
So, notwithstanding his defective report, the judge was wise enough to avoid the most obvious pitfalls on his route. This is why he went for the "safe" option of accidental fire: He showed sympathy for the victims (since he could not say the fire never took place); shifted the blame away from the accused; and kept the burden of responsibility for the subsequent Gujarat riots on the shoulders of the Hindu community.
This is by no means a poor achievement for a judge whose appointment failed to attract confidence because he was not nominated by the Supreme Court, but handpicked by Mr Yadav. Mr Banerjee submitted his interim conclusions exclusively to Mr Yadav in the form of a double-edged boon, useful for indicting community-minded Hindus and for consolidating "secular" Muslim voters.
Examining the press reports, what most upsets me is Mr Banerjee's failure to produce the remains of a gas or kerosene stove from the embers of S-6, to back his claim that the apocalyptic fire that consumed 59 persons within seven minutes was caused by passenger fault. Prima facie, it is difficult to believe that anyone could have the luxury of cooking in a bogey with a capacity of 72 passengers, but actually packed with 150 persons. Anyone with a nodding acquaintance with Gujarati culture could have told the learned judge that Gujarati women are notoriously gifted in the art of making dry snacks; the women in that ill-fated bogey would have been well-stocked for the journey and would certainly not cook on the train.
Justice Banerjee lacks credibility because he is perceived to have walked a path staked out by others, instead of scrupulously following the evidence. He did not even glance at the evidence collected by Gujarat's special investigation team (SIT), and disregarded the findings of forensic laboratories that opined that nearly 60 litres of petrol was used to start the conflagration. His decision to submit an interim report the day before he was scheduled to meet the SIT has already attracted adverse attention; his contention that he was unaware that elections were scheduled in the home state of the Minister who appointed him is shameful.
Justice Nanavati has wisely suggested that the nation await his findings. But since the Banerjee report was obviously intended to preempt and discredit the Nanavati-Shah probe, it deserves careful examination. Banerjee suggests that the fateful fire began somewhere in the middle of bogey S-6, and was probably triggered by a cooking stove, or a match or lighter. If the fire did start off accidentally, why didn't the passengers extinguish it, and why wasn't it contained in the section where it started? Since the train was a sleeper, only six persons could have been sitting in that section, since persons occupying the side berths would hardly cook in the passageway. Even if more people were seated in the section, it does not explain the failure to cry for help or warn other passengers about the danger.
The SIT claims the coach was built in 1993 with fire-retardant and self-extinguishing materials. This means that only a very volatile and highly inflammable substance (like petrol) could have caused the kind of inferno that enveloped the entire coach and took 59 lives in seven minutes. Neither a matchstick nor a portable kerosene stove could explain this kind of fire.
The judge has completely evaded the issue of why the passengers failed to open the doors at both ends of the compartment and either escape into the adjoining bogeys S-7 or S-5, or jump off the train once smoke spread in the compartment. Who or what impeded these obvious escape routes when the train was at a standstill? This issue will seriously erode Banerjee's credibility if he does not address it in his final report.
I am equally anxious for the results of the Supreme Court probe into Zaheera Sheikh's contention that despite the verbose activism of Begum Teesta Setalvad, she (Zaheera) had not filed any affidavit seeking transfer of the Best Bakery trial outside Gujarat. I shall briefly recapitulate facts for readers who have not understood the importance of this disclosure.
When Zaheera's testimony in the Vadodara Fast Track court led to the acquittal of 21 accused persons, a bunch of well-connected activists landed in Gujarat, dragged her to Mumbai and sponsored the sensational press conference in which she said the Vadodara testimony was inspired by fear. The publicity-conscious National Human Rights Commission rushed in; accepted voluminous documentation furnished on behalf of Zaheera without any scrutiny; and urged the Supreme Court to transfer the trial to another state (currently going on in Mumbai) as a fair trial was not possible in Gujarat.
To its eternal embarrassment, the Supreme Court has since discovered that Zaheera had not signed a single page presented to the NHRC or the apex court! In other words, there is no legal basis for taking the trial outside Gujarat. The learned judges cannot escape their share of this ignominy, for it is clear that they responded to the hype generated by an ideologically-committed media, rather than perusing the legal record before them. Public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary is at stake; the judges must examine their contribution to this crisis.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Conversions - What the Mahatma said
Mahatma Gandhi called religious conversions a fraud on humanity. "If I had power and could legislate, I should certainly stop all proselytizing". "I resent the overtures made to Harijans." "Stop all conversion, it is the deadliest poison that ever sapped the fountain of truth." Poverty doesn't justify conversion.
(source: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Volume 46. p.110 and Volume 61, p. 46-47 volume 64, p. 37 and 400 New Delhi 1968). For more refer to Mahatma Gandhi on The Christian Missionary Menace - Compiled by Swami Aksharananda).
Gandhi was pained by the missionary work with the Harijans. He said: "Lots of people will come and tell you that your Hindu religion is all wrong, as you are not allowed to go to school or enter the temple. To such people you should say, 'We shall settle accounts with our Hindu brothers; you may not come between us as you may not intervene in quarrel between father and son or among relatives." And you should remain steadfast to your religion...Why should I give up my religion. Hinduism is meant for me and my soul.."
(source: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Volume 26, New Delhi, 1967 p. 8-9).
"This proselytization will mean no peace in the world. Conversions are harmful to India. If I had the power and could legislate I should certainly stop all proselytizing.''
"It pains me to have to say that the Christian missionaries as a body, with honorable exceptions, have actively supported a system which has impoverished, enervated and demoralized a people considered to be among the gentlest and most civilized on earth...."
(source: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Volume 24, p. 476).
Mahatma Gandhi writes: " In the matter of religion I must restrict myself to my ancestral religion; that is, the use of my immediate surroundings in religion. If I find my religion defective, I should serve it by purifying it of defects."
He told the Christian missionaries "it is no part of your call, I assure you, to tear up the lives of the people of the East by the roots."
(source: Mahatma Gandhi's His Life and Ideas - By C. F. Andrews, p. 96).
Gandhi had tried to put the Christian missions in a tight spot by proclaiming that proselytisation was morally wrong and spiritually sterile, if not counter-productive. He had also appealed to the missions to employ their enormous resources for rendering humanitarian services to the poor without any motive for proselytisation.
Further he asks, "How can the conversion achieved through such unethical means be called religious in its true sense?" Mahatma Gandhi once told his friend, the missionary E. Stanley Jones, “Don’t attempt to propagate your faith; just live it."
Gandhi wrote to an American Missionary who claimed that the Christian way is the best of all: "You assume knowledge of all people which you can do only if you were God. I want you to understand that you are laboring under a double fallacy. That what you think best for you is really so; and that what you regard as the best for you is the best for the whole world. It is an assumption of omniscience and infallibility. I plead a little humility."
(source: Religion and Culture - By S. Radhakrishnan South Asia Books 1994 ISBN 8122200125 p. 64).
He wrote in My Experiments With Truth: "It was impossible for me to believe that I could go to heaven or attain salvation only by becoming a Christian." All religions were equally capable of leading the follower to salvation.
Gandhi said:
"If instead of confining themselves purely to humanitarian work such as education, medical services to the poor and the like, they would use these activities of theirs for the purpose of proselytising, I would certainly like them to withdraw. Every nation considers its own faith to be as good as that of any other. Certainly the great faiths held by the people of India are adequate for her people. India stands in no need of conversion from one faith to another.
(source: Foreign Missionaries, Young India, April 23, 1931.)
Gandhi was equally wary of the Church and its missionaries. Writing in Harijan (March 13, 1937) he said: "My fear is that, though Christian friends nowadays do not say or admit it that Hindu religion is untrue, they must harbour in their breast that Hinduism is an error and that Christianity, as they believe it, is the only true religion. So far, as one can understand the present (Christian) effort, it is to uproot Hinduism from her very foundation and replace it by another faith." He took great care to distinguish between his work and that of the Church: "The first distinction I would like to make...between your missionary work and mine is that while I am strengthening the faith of the people, you (missionaries) are undermining it." (Young India, March 1927).
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Conversion.htm
(source: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Volume 46. p.110 and Volume 61, p. 46-47 volume 64, p. 37 and 400 New Delhi 1968). For more refer to Mahatma Gandhi on The Christian Missionary Menace - Compiled by Swami Aksharananda).
Gandhi was pained by the missionary work with the Harijans. He said: "Lots of people will come and tell you that your Hindu religion is all wrong, as you are not allowed to go to school or enter the temple. To such people you should say, 'We shall settle accounts with our Hindu brothers; you may not come between us as you may not intervene in quarrel between father and son or among relatives." And you should remain steadfast to your religion...Why should I give up my religion. Hinduism is meant for me and my soul.."
(source: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Volume 26, New Delhi, 1967 p. 8-9).
"This proselytization will mean no peace in the world. Conversions are harmful to India. If I had the power and could legislate I should certainly stop all proselytizing.''
"It pains me to have to say that the Christian missionaries as a body, with honorable exceptions, have actively supported a system which has impoverished, enervated and demoralized a people considered to be among the gentlest and most civilized on earth...."
(source: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Volume 24, p. 476).
Mahatma Gandhi writes: " In the matter of religion I must restrict myself to my ancestral religion; that is, the use of my immediate surroundings in religion. If I find my religion defective, I should serve it by purifying it of defects."
He told the Christian missionaries "it is no part of your call, I assure you, to tear up the lives of the people of the East by the roots."
(source: Mahatma Gandhi's His Life and Ideas - By C. F. Andrews, p. 96).
Gandhi had tried to put the Christian missions in a tight spot by proclaiming that proselytisation was morally wrong and spiritually sterile, if not counter-productive. He had also appealed to the missions to employ their enormous resources for rendering humanitarian services to the poor without any motive for proselytisation.
Further he asks, "How can the conversion achieved through such unethical means be called religious in its true sense?" Mahatma Gandhi once told his friend, the missionary E. Stanley Jones, “Don’t attempt to propagate your faith; just live it."
Gandhi wrote to an American Missionary who claimed that the Christian way is the best of all: "You assume knowledge of all people which you can do only if you were God. I want you to understand that you are laboring under a double fallacy. That what you think best for you is really so; and that what you regard as the best for you is the best for the whole world. It is an assumption of omniscience and infallibility. I plead a little humility."
(source: Religion and Culture - By S. Radhakrishnan South Asia Books 1994 ISBN 8122200125 p. 64).
He wrote in My Experiments With Truth: "It was impossible for me to believe that I could go to heaven or attain salvation only by becoming a Christian." All religions were equally capable of leading the follower to salvation.
Gandhi said:
"If instead of confining themselves purely to humanitarian work such as education, medical services to the poor and the like, they would use these activities of theirs for the purpose of proselytising, I would certainly like them to withdraw. Every nation considers its own faith to be as good as that of any other. Certainly the great faiths held by the people of India are adequate for her people. India stands in no need of conversion from one faith to another.
(source: Foreign Missionaries, Young India, April 23, 1931.)
Gandhi was equally wary of the Church and its missionaries. Writing in Harijan (March 13, 1937) he said: "My fear is that, though Christian friends nowadays do not say or admit it that Hindu religion is untrue, they must harbour in their breast that Hinduism is an error and that Christianity, as they believe it, is the only true religion. So far, as one can understand the present (Christian) effort, it is to uproot Hinduism from her very foundation and replace it by another faith." He took great care to distinguish between his work and that of the Church: "The first distinction I would like to make...between your missionary work and mine is that while I am strengthening the faith of the people, you (missionaries) are undermining it." (Young India, March 1927).
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Conversion.htm
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