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Showing posts from May, 2018

THE SUFI KING

On arriving in Ajmer the Khwaja and his disciples sat down to rest in the shade of a large tree. This weary group of mystics had barely sat down when some camel-keepers arrived and said in a harsh tone:  “Move out from here. This is the sitting place for the king’s camels.” The Khwaja politely replied that the camels could sit somewhere else as there was a lot of free space available. But the camel-keepers were adamant in their claim and started behaving aggressively. Left with no other option, the Khwaja said in a calm tone:  “Relax! We are moving out. Now your camels would be seated here.” Then the Khwaja with his group of disciples went towards Anasagar Lake and rested on a nearby mountain. When they had departed, the camel-keepers made the king’s camels sit there in the shade of the tree. But the next morning when they returned to raise the camels, they were unable to do so. They tried their best but in vain. It seemed as if the earth had caught hold of the camels and wo

HINDUISM-GOD-ISLAM

The Almighty God is only and only One but known by various names in different languages. While the Muslims consider ‘Qur’an’ to be the ‘Word of God’ whereas the Hindus consider ‘Vedas’ to be the ‘Word of God’. Vedas consist of four books, namely Rig-ved, Samved, Yajurved and Atharved. Next in importance are the Upanishads of which thirteen are primary. The Vedas and the Upanishads are considered to be ‘smriti’, that which is heard or revealed from God. The later texts are known as ‘shruti’, that which is remembered and written down. The Shruti texts comprises of Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Manusmriti, etc. Let’s see the verses from some of the above mentioned texts that point to the existence of One True God. ‘He is One only without a second.’  (Chandogya Upanishad, 6:2:1) ‘O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One. Praise Him Alone.’  (Rig-ved 8:1:1) ‘Verily, great is the glory of the Divine Creator.’  (Rig-ved 5:1:81) ‘Of Him there

MANU AND NOAH

In traditional Hinduism, a total of 14 Manu are mentioned by names. Of these the first one to come upon earth was  Svayambhuva Manu  who is better known as  Adam  (peace be upon him). And the seventh Manu is called  Vaivasvata Manu , also known as  ‘ Jal – plavan – Manu’ , i.e.,  ‘Manu of the Great Deluge’ . He was a man of great integrity and a chosen one of God. The  Satapatha   Brahmana  (compiled around 8th to 6th century BCE) has this to say about Manu:  “There lived in ancient time a holy man called Manu, who, by penances and prayers, had won the favour of the Lord of the heaven.” The Mahabharata describes Manu thus: “And Manu was imbued with great wisdom and devoted to virtue. And he became the progenitor of a line. And in Manu’s race have been born all human beings, who have, therefore been called  Manavas  (humans)…” (Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section LXXV) A famous orientalist A.J.A. Dubious, who studied Hinduism for 40 years, stated in hi

MYSTERY OF MAITREYA

After the creation of the Order of Nuns, Gautama Buddha had told Ananda thus: “Ananda, if women had not obtained the going forth from the house life into homelessness in the Dharma and Discipline declared by the Perfect One, the holy life would have lasted long, the holy life would have lasted a thousand years. But now, since women have obtained it, the holy life will not last long, the holy life will last only five hundred years.” (The Life of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, p.106) There are two important prophecies indicated by the above statement of Gautama Buddha. Firstly, the purity of his teachings lasted only for five hundred years from his time. This means that since the beginning of the first century CE the purity of his teachings has been lost and the so called Buddhists no longer lead a holy life. Secondly, it indicates the arising of Maitreya Buddha in the sixth century CE as the holy life was supposed to last for thousand years if the order of nuns was not created.