I am a Hindu - A nice writeup.........

I AM A HINDU-MUST READ Four years ago, I was flying from JFK NY Airport to SFO to attend a meeting at Monterey , CA An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours. I was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible unusual of young Americans. After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk.I told her that I am from India Then suddenly the girl asked: 'What's your faith?' 'What?' I didn't understand the question. 'I mean, what's your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?' 'No!' I replied, 'I am neither Christian nor Muslim'. Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that. 'Then who are you?' 'I am a Hindu', I said. She looked at me as if she was seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what I was talking about. A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today. But a Hindu, what? I explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth. 'Who is your prophet?' she asked. 'We don't have a prophet,' I replied. 'What's your Holy Book?' 'We don't have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,' I replied. 'Oh, come on at least tell me who is your God?' 'What do you mean by that?' 'Like we have Jesus and Muslims have Allah - don't you have a God?' I thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God (Male God) who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief. According to her (or anybody who doesn't know about Hinduism), a religion needs to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. I understood her perception and concept about faith. You can't compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of god. I tried to explain to her: 'You can believe in one god and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in god at all, still you can be a Hindu. An atheist can also be a Hindu.' This sounded very crazy to her. She couldn't imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after onslaught from foreign forces. 'I don't understand but it seems very interesting. . Are you religious?' What can I tell to this American girl? I said: 'I do not go to temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes..' 'Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?' 'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly..' She thought for a while and then asked: 'Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?' 'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning. . I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.' I told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority.. 'So, you don't believe in God?' she wanted everything in black and white. 'I didn't say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.' 'Why can't you believe in one personal God?' 'We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy, telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.' I told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions. 'Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?' 'Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,' 'Funny,' she laughed, 'What does it mean?' 'May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.' 'Hmm ..very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free' she exclaimed. 'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.' 'How does anybody convert to Hinduism?' 'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single authority or organization either to accept it or to reject it or to oppose it on behalf of Hinduism.' I told her - if you look for meaning in life, don't look for it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one guru to the next. For a real seeker, I told her, the Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ' Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life. Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. 'Isavasyam idam sarvam' Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That's what Hinduism teaches you. Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas.- It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity. Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion. I said: 'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception' I am a Hindu primarily because it professes Non-violence - 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharma' - Non violence is the highest duty. I am a Hindu because it doesn't conditions my mind with any faith system. A man/ woman who change 's his/her birth religion to another religion is a fake and does not value his/her morals, culture and values in life. Hinduism was the first religion originated. Be proud of your religion and be proud of who you are. Om Namo shiva…………… -------------------------------------

Interesting Aspects about Warren Buffett....

"I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute" - Warren Buffett

See and download the full gallery on posterous

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Political drama in INDIA

politician's drama                                                        Natak Mr. Rahul Gandhi do this work just for an hour....without media. Then tell us what you got... If you really want to Change our India....No need to show us..... We will follow you......Definitely. “Karunaa”Nidhi Fasting First time in the world history fasting only 4 hours and that too with an AC ……. This is the comedy of the year 2009….Fasting starts after breakfast and ending before lunch. Interesting one!! Dont forget to forward this mail, We have to show these type of drama's to everyone stop this....................grow up to be an indian   Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament (MP) Monthly Salary : 12,000  (Correction 80000) Expense for Constitution per month : 10,000 Office expenditure per month : 14,000 Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km) : 48,000 ( eg.For a visit from kerala to Delhi & return: 6000 km) Daily DA TA during parliament meets : 500/day Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train: Free (For any number of times) (All over India ) Charge for Business Class in flights : Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A .) Rent for MP hostel at Delhi : Free Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units Local phone call charge : Free up to 1 ,70,000 calls. TOTAL expense for a MP [having no qualification] per year : 32,00,000 [ i.e. 2.66 lakh/month] TOTAL expense for 5 years : 1,60,00,000 For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years : 8,54,40,00,000 (nearly 855 crores) AND THE PRIME MINISTER IS ASKING THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED, OUT PERFORMING CEOs TO CUT DOWN THEIR SALARIES..... This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities....... And this is the present condition of our country: 855 crores could make their life livable !! Think of the great democracy we have............. PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ALL REAL CITIZENS OF INDIA ..... but, STILL Proud to be INDIAN I know hitting a delete button is easier..........bt.......try 2 press fwd button 2 make people aware of it!   See and download the full gallery on posterous

Cute zoo zoos

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Young Love..First Love Job joining day Time with friends celebrations with friends Quarrel with friends Having great time with loved one Making up the loved one Yippee time! And the Best one " IT engineer "

Animals love flowers

How to Call Internationally For Free Using Internet

International free calls has been an interesting subject, many blogs and websites have been trying to cover by suggesting stupid softwares, tips and ways. Spend hundreds of hours searching internet and you will find some crappy softwres which will enable you to call free anywhere in the world for few minutes. That's it. End of story. While we have another way of doing it in a proper and authentic way which is always successful. You can literally call anywhere free of charge. Atleast you won't get charged for call. However you need an internet connection at both sides. Let's say at one side there is a PC and at the other side there is mobile and you want to get connected and want to make call. Modern technologies have replaced the word 'call' with the 'voice chat' using 'VOIP'.


Consider you are in United states and your friend is in Canada, United Kingdom or Dubai or vice versa. You both should have mobile phone with internet access or one should have a PC with internet access and the other should have mobile with internet access. Mobile internet connection comes even in $3 per month in some countries. That's what you need.


You can use Skype, gTalk, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, ICQ etc.at your PC and your friend who has mobile with internet access can use Digsby, Nimbuzz or Fring and there are other many such free services he can use and get connected with his/her buddies at messengers. Now you can send a voice chat from PC to friend who is using Nimbuzz or Fring and he can get connected with you.


I mean you are calling your friend, but when there is internet between it, its VOIP and its really very very cheap than the standard call. You can even use mobile to mobile chats using these platforms and still you are at internet and using VOIP via these networks but calling your friend.


Use internet which is not costly at mobiles to call (Voice Chat) your friends and family and do not make calls locally and internationally from phones.

Computer Generated Images

ITS NOT A "REPOST " ITS A REMAINDER

And we say that we are working hard… just see that & tell me, how can we progress..? ? ? Jab in hath me Books ke badle...... ...... i can't see more..!!! Can u see it..? ? ? Lets redefine our thinking Child labour is a curse to humanity adopt one child and pay for his education.

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50 Stunning Examples of Photo Manipulation Art

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Motorcycle by oilcorner Banshee by Poisonvectors S P L A S H by FaerieNymph And The Giant Awoke – Selfpor. by GiuseppeParisi Witness To Sorrow by ~NooYawkGurrl Decline by kokoszkaa Other worldly by manbearpig168 Melting point by alltelleringet Photomanipulation 3 by saishu Into – The – Sky by morsky Reunion by Funerium Smoke On The Water by samoshaver Dance 60×50 by frankgarzia DEAR Time by Wildfire2003 Collapse by arekusan The music nature By Jerico Santander Head in the clouds by ~Wings-of-dust Les Toreadors Hunters by *singletree The Scarecrow by Wildfire2003 Appearances can be deceiving by FrozenStarRo Near far worlds by iTop-edition Truth by damnengine Krump It by craZy18gurl Twin Pears House by cristalart Fire and Ice by Emerald-Depths Fungusaurus by Onanymous Deep cuts by alltelleringet Try to reach photography By Arnas Goldbergas Over the hills and far away By: Matteo Rosin Mystery by Keid David Lynch + Ice Cube By Multiple Owners If Wishes Were By Archan Nair Stay Alive By Fabian Warnke Photo-Manipulations By poyzon Survival vs Intelligence By Zach Bush HumanKite by Ydole Winter Fairies by remembering-amnesia Spring Eye by violakaia Spring – Breathe by sxd-gfx Escape by mOsk CONSCIENCE by kharlamov Coffee by Valexina Passement Rapid Watermelon Meat by Tyshea Monarch by Emerald-Depths Aquarium by StanOd The land of the living dead by mariano7724 S i l e n c e by iyo-yo Melusine by `Wishmistress Ocean of secrets by foureyes Love Is Dead In Metropolis by Poerti

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