government of India

“Babri Masjid – Ram Mandir” issue is definitely not going to get resolved for next couple of centuries, as long as religions exist, or as long as people seriously follow religions. A Court verdict is not going to change anything. Either one of sides will to play victim card or appeasement card. Even if court gives a perfect verdict, religions won’t accept them, they can’t, because they are not supposed to!. Remember, these religions (or interpretations, if you want it that way) mandate follower to destroy existing structure and build their own, whenever applicable. It could go for infinite loop, but hey! Religions can’t give up!

Babri Masjid issue is still young, it just going through second iteration! We have bigger examples, one with with seven iterations! Somnath temple! Both Domestic and Middle Eastern Muslim kingdoms kept destroying it, and Indian kings kept building it. Seven iterations are silly and painful! But hey, they are religions – just see what they make people do.

Iterations: Read Wikipedia for more information

Initial construction is in mythology. If history is considered first one was built by the Yadava kings of Vallabhi around 649 AD.

1st: In 725 Junayad, the Arab governor of Sind, sent his armies to destroy the second temple. Gurjara Pratihara king Nagabhata II constructed the third temple in 815.

2nd: In 1024 A.D.the temple was destroyed by Mahmud Ghazni. Rebuilt by Paramara King Bhoj of Malwa and the Solanki king Bhima of Gujarat between 1026 and 1042.

3rd: In 1296 A.D., the temple was destroyed by Sultan Allauddin Khilji’s army. Rebuilt by Mahipala Deva, the Chudasama king of Saurashtra in 1308 A.D.

4th: In 1375 A.D the temple was once again destroyed by Muzaffar Shah I, the Sultan of Gujarat. About 1400 A.D. it was reconstructed by the local public.

5th:1451 A.D the temple was once again destroyed by Mahmud Begda, the Sultan of Gujarat. reconstructed again.

6th In 1701 A.D the temple was once again destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb built a mosque on the site of the Somnath temple. Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore rebuilt the temple in 1783 A.D adjacent to the mosque.

In 1947 newly formed Indian government moved the mosque to nearby location and built currently existing structure.

Phew,! See this is the problem with religion. You need to spend whole time building and destroying religious structures, endlessly!

I heard about ISKCON during my school days, and I was told it’s a different version of looking at Hinduism. Built to make the concepts reach everywhere, especially to the west. I also learned about the things they do, and their culture. I never happened to attend the courses they offer. In my high school, I was inspired by on my teacher and also my brother, to look at these things. They asked me to be skeptic, I became atheist!. I lost my interest visiting any of the religious place unless either historic or aesthetically different, I was told it is different. I did not get chance anyway. In my college also weekly seminars were happening, I did not attend.

They came to the town once, the lecture was held at the costliest auditorium in the town (heard the rent is 1 lack Rs.

Per day, just heard not sure). And the ticket was of 500 Rs. And for students 250 Rs. (again I am not sure). One of my friends argued, costly because they want quality crowd to understand what they say. I did not know it comes from rich. If I haven’t had the entry pass I wouldn’t have gone at all. But they did not make anything less than a royal treatment. The food, settings, decoration and all the things, it was really pleasant. I had myself entered a different world, everyone wishing “hare rama, hare Krishna”, all the small games we played was based of based on these games. People were so polite.

The problem started with the 108 times chant and meditate. I really did get this concept. Meditation as I know, is to calm your mind, and concentrate. why do you have to chant only the mantra they tell? why not anything else ? Why is it on that particular number? why do we need to count simultaneously ? Why do you need “god” to meditate? I tried but I could not hold it for a long. Continue reading “ISKCON and I” →