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Renuka ji

Renuka is the wife of Jamadagni rishi..Therefore its origin is definitely sanskrit ,(may be renu means dust or minute particle because she had been beheaded by Parasurama and her head fell in the dust...i don't know that may or may not be the reason but your name is sanskrit and brahminical name only)

Dear sir,

The name Renu existed even before Parashurama's mother was born cos her fathers name was Renu and since she was daughter of King Renu she was called Renuka.

So the meaning of Renu as in minute particle,dust etc has no connection with the beheading episode cos the word Renu is also seen in Trasrenu to denote a trimolecule.

Yes the name is Sanskrit in origin without the need to attach a religion or caste to it.
 
First of all brahmin is not a caste previously...i stressed it several times. Varana concept never discriminated anyone on the basis of varna...After marrying a king, brahmin girls became raja patni not rishi patni...like that kings daughers married rishis and became rishi patnis..I'm not making here any forced conversion to brahmin...i told about the origin only...Since you are better educated..i agree the name might have existed before itself...But Renuka paramesvari is a goddess ..therefore they might have given the name to you not because it is meant as dust
 
First of all brahmin is not a caste previously...i stressed it several times. Varana concept never discriminated anyone on the basis of varna...After marrying a king, brahmin girls became raja patni not rishi patni...like that kings daughers married rishis and became rishi patnis..I'm not making here any forced conversion to brahmin...i told about the origin only...Since you are better educated..i agree the name might have existed before itself...But Renuka paramesvari is a goddess ..therefore they might have given the name to you not because it is meant as dust


???? Besides Devayani marrying King Yayati..I have not heard of any Pratiloma type of marriage among Kings.

In fact King Yayati did not want to marry Devayani becos he did not want a Pratiloma marriage but becos he helped out of a well by pulling her right hand she insisted that he had to marry her!

I cant imagine..sometimes to get into some places people we dont know help us by holding our right hand too ..just imagine if we had to marry them!LOL

BTW I have no problems with my name meaning dust in Sanskrit..it does not have to be linked to a Goddess for parents to name a kid..after all the name existed even before the Goddess came into being.

What is wrong with dust..when we die we all go back to dust..Ashes and Ashes Dust to Dust.
 
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Every time i say something you are taking in the wrong sense itself...i never want to demean anything..Even any name for heaven's sake. Previously they believed in more gods and goddesses. The way in which you are telling there was no pratiloma marriages..i totally disagree..there were many instances..shakuntala daughter of kanva maharishi married dushyanta...The kings gave more respect to the sages or rishis..They just followed their words and ruled. ..previously intellectuals and satvic people (who lived for the sake of others) guided the kings...now our scientists are driven by political and commercial (marketing) compulsions to invent...our intellectuals are guided by the administrators and politicians..if i say degradation you will object ...but that is the truth...since we are not solve many of the complicated problems ...it is mostly due to political compulsions and always guided by wealthy people rather than intellectual people. Dust i know there is golden dust...i hope you have not named yourself..that's why i said that...what is the meaning of LOL? (it is Lollu)
 
does not anyone rule for the common man even though they get votes from common man...previously even if one objected..they relinquished the kingdom or even their own wife, even their son, even cutting their portion of thigh for the sake of a bird..everything happened because they respected the common people's views and there was no fallacy. The four varnas were natural divisions and when one strive to go another varna, they were permitted..Caste system was never invented by brahmins..favouritism was there previously but no en mass reservation for the sake of a particular community without giving respect to talent and hard work...now dominant castes or people who are smart enough rules..previously the righteous ruled.
 
Every time i say something you are taking in the wrong sense itself...i never want to demean anything..Even any name for heaven's sake. Previously they believed in more gods and goddesses. The way in which you are telling there was no pratiloma marriages..i totally disagree..there were many instances..shakuntala daughter of kanva maharishi married dushyanta...The kings gave more respect to the sages or rishis..They just followed their words and ruled. ..previously intellectuals and satvic people (who lived for the sake of others) guided the kings...now our scientists are driven by political and commercial (marketing) compulsions to invent...our intellectuals are guided by the administrators and politicians..if i say degradation you will object ...but that is the truth...since we are not solve many of the complicated problems ...it is mostly due to political compulsions and always guided by wealthy people rather than intellectual people. Dust i know there is golden dust...i hope you have not named yourself..that's why i said that...what is the meaning of LOL? (it is Lollu)

Shankunthala was the daughter of Vishwamitra so she is not a Brahmin..Kanva was just a foster father and Dushyant knew that Shakunthala was not Kanva's real father cos Kanva was a celibate sage..there is a line in that story where Dushayant will tell " Dharma itself can falter but not the Celibate Sage Kanva..so tell me how come the celibate sage Kanva has a daughter"

Then he is told that Shakunts is the daughter of Vishwamitra and then Dushyant makes the next move..till he was not sure if Shankunts was the sage's daughter or not he never tried any stunts.

BTW LOL means Laugh Out Loud....sort of a Lollu only!


Dust is Dust whether its gold or rust...at the end of the day everything decays.

BTW you said "hope you have not named yourself"..as far as I know my mother chose my name cos like all babies I never spoke at birth saying "Hey I am here..I am Renuka"
 
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???? Besides Devayani marrying King Yayati..I have not heard of any Pratiloma type of marriage among Kings.

In fact King Yayati did not want to marry Devayani becos he did not want a Pratiloma marriage but becos he helped out of a well by pulling her right hand she insisted that he had to marry her!

--- Here not because of pulling her out of the well King Yayati married...The king vruba father of sarmishta tell to sukracharya in which he tells the whole episode "That is sarmishta pushing devayani into the well because as a friend she wore sarmishta's clothes..this irritated sarmishta even though a friend she pushed her into the well out of arrogance thinking as king's daughter all her servants (which is wrong conception of her because Raja Guru is more than Raja in those days)...when the king narrated this incident and asked sukracharya to give punishment..sukracharya asks the king to go to devayani and since she is the affected ask her for the punishment...at that time devyani in order to take revenge says "I will marry yayathi and sarmishta should be my servant along with her servant maids"...here pratiloma marriages forbidden in the way as "When Brahmin man wanted to marry daughter of raja", it is not prohibited.even arjuna went in the disguise of brahmin when marrying draupathi ..therefore it is out of question..Another is that vishwamitra and menaka abandoned their child sankuntala and only when dushyanta disagrees to marry sakuntala , vishwamitra comes into picture.
When he was in love , he never knew that it was vishwamitra daughter...even if you say vishwamitra is not a brahmin is not correct because he relinquished kingdom , did tapas and became a rishi..then only sakuntala was born..therefore when he attained brahmana varna only , he was born..

One thing i found in Wikipedia and how to name "RENU" is a very powerful name and many many strong points are told about that.i wonder how did you acquire so much knowledge even without being a brahmin or getting any information from brahmins...this is also not to demean
 
.i wonder how did you acquire so much knowledge even without being a brahmin or getting any information from brahmins...this is also not to demean


LOL! I cant believe what you wrote? LOL! LOL! LOLLU!

You want to know how I acquired so much knowledge even without being a Brahmin or getting any information from Brahmins?

I cant stop laughing..the answer is simple..I know how to read a write and the rest just falls in place....you should check out the books I have at home...God knows if I cant even finish reading them in this life ..I love to read yaar..all sorts of books. And if i have interest in something I pursue it..I am addicted to reading..even when I eat I read something.

BTW I still cant believe you asked me this question!LOL

I feel sad for you yaar...you seem trapped in the Jurassic era!

Jurassic_park.jpg
 
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Renuka,

Aren't you happy about the invention of the printing press? Otherwise you would have to find a guru who may all be unwilling to impart knowledge to a NB woman.
 
Renuka,

Aren't you happy about the invention of the printing press? Otherwise you would have to find a guru who may all be unwilling to impart knowledge to a NB woman.

But I wonder how the person who invented the printing press got his knowledge from??

I need to ask Vignesh that!LOL


BTW his post to me asking me how come I have knowledge being a Non Brahmin took me down memory lane last night..I was recollecting my school days and thinking of all my teachers.


My Kindergarten teacher Ms Joyce taught me ABC.
My teacher Mrs Fatimah was the one who taught me in 1st standard.
My Teacher Mrs Wong taught me maths.
My Malay Language teacher the late Mr Izwan
My Science teacher Mr Lee
My English teacher Mrs Raja

So I did not have any Brahmin teach me in school.

Now in colllege in India we had all sorts of Profs teaching us Brahmins,Non Brahmins Hindus,Christians,Muslims etc..from all over Indian some even from Assam and Orissa and some Punjus too.


So its Vasudaiva Kutumbakam..my teachers have been all types of races.

What does it matter from whom I get my knowledge from..a capable teacher is worthy of respect.

Last but not least..I learnt a lot from a cobbler lady in India on how to handle life..she was like a mother to us students in our hostel and I also observed how she mended shoes and gain some shoe mending knowledge..its not that hard its like how a surgeon sews his patients.
 
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But I wonder how the person who invented the printing press got his knowledge from??

I need to ask Vignesh that!LOL


BTW his post to me asking me how come I have knowledge being a Non Brahmin took me down memory lane last night..I was recollecting my school days and thinking of all my teachers.


My Kindergarten teacher Ms Joyce taught me ABC.
My teacher Mrs Fatimah was the one who taught me in 1st standard.
My Teacher Mrs Wong taught me maths.
My Malay Language teacher the late Mr Izwan
My Science teacher Mr Lee
My English teacher Mrs Raja

So I did not have any Brahmin teach me in school.

Now in colllege in India we had all sorts of Profs teaching us Brahmins,Non Brahmins Hindus,Christians,Muslims etc..from all over Indian some even from Assam and Orissa and some Punjus too.


So its Vasudaiva Kutumbakam..my teachers have been all types of races.

What does it matter from whom I get my knowledge from..a capable teacher is worthy of respect.

Last but not least..I learnt a lot from a cobbler lady in India on how to handle life..she was like a mother to us students in our hostel and I also observed how she mended shoes and gain some shoe mending knowledge..its not that hard its like how a surgeon sews his patients.

Dear Mz. Renuka,

You have exposed one of the weaknesses of our Indians which has hindered our progress and adversely affected us in many aspects. We seem to be the only nation who deem some vocations as inferior and some as superior etc. For example, a cobbler's profession is still considered mean and sub-standard. In Tamil Nadu they are separated as a low caste and treated as untouchables. Likewise many other jobs/vocations are treated as mean and sub-standard. Some vocations, though not paying much, is considered as superior and I dont want to mention them.

If a non-brahmin exhibits extra-ordinary knowledge, barring a few, some brahmins look at them in awe and wonder as if they are come down from Mars. I was taught English by anglo-indian ladies when in nursery school and hence i could speak english fluently, flawless, without grammatical error. when i was a boy, my counterpart brahmin cousins and neighbours who studied in a school run by brahmins, would look at me as if I was a child prodigy whenever I spoke in English. Our neighbour aunties would exclaim "ava aathu kozhandai evlo nalla english pesaran paar. andha maamiyum and maamaavum evlavo punniyam panniyirukkanum" (how good that boy speaks english. his parents would have done some great righteous deed!). but my mother would never let me inside house with my school uniform on, since my teachers are non-brahmins and they would have touched me (although she later on changed to the extent that she fostered an anglo-indian lady as her foster-mother, which is an entirely different story).

If a non-brahmin is found to possess awesome knowledge, some of us (not everyone) jump to probe into their knowledge-source, to investigate and find out the secret of their eminence and excellence and desperately seek to discover brahmin roots if any in them. Some of us desperately want to establish our supremacy in the knowledge realm.

I request you, with an apology, to kindly bear with us assuring you that we will drastically change our mentality and mindset and change very soon, in the very near future.
 
......What does it matter from whom I get my knowledge from..a capable teacher is worthy of respect.

Last but not least..I learnt a lot from a cobbler lady in India on how to handle life..she was like a mother to us students in our hostel and I also observed how she mended shoes and gain some shoe mending knowledge..its not that hard its like how a surgeon sews his patients."

My dearest Renu,

You deserve a trophy for this fitting reply.

Our ex-president, Dr. Abdul Kalaam, though a muslim, is also an erudite scholar in hindu scriptures, south indian arts, culture etc. He loves carnatic music played on veena. he also magnanimously makes mention about his teacher in school, sri subramanya iyer, who was an immense inspiration for him. what amazes me about Dr. Kalaam, is his humility in spite of his tremendous knowledge and intelligence.

Intelligence, knowledge, wisdom and excellence are neither the property nor belonging of any caste or community.
 
???? .i wonder how did you ...

I wonder how a brahmin could stoop to such low meanness and feeble-mindedness to wonder a so-called-non-brahmin's wisdom.

I wonder if this superiority complex, false pride, ego, arrogance and conceit have been the root cause of brahmins' fall.

I wonder why the moderators have not removed your unethical post from this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Dear Renu,

My iyengar teachers in Srirangam taught me how to be a better iyengar.

My non-Iyengar teachers in the same Srirangam, most of them Christians, taught me how to be a better Human being.
 
I wonder how a brahmin could stoop to such low meanness and feeble-mindedness to wonder a so-called-non-brahmin's wisdom.

I wonder if this superiority complex, false pride, ego, arrogance and conceit have been the root cause of brahmins' fall.

Madam,

Please exercise some restraint in your outburst.

This does not befit an iyengar-cum-bureaucrat.
 
Dear Renu,

My iyengar teachers in Srirangam taught me how to be a better iyengar.

My non-Iyengar teachers in the same Srirangam, most of them Christians, taught me how to be a better Human being.
. why bring christians into all discussions.there are good and bad teachers belonging to all castes and religion
 
I wonder how a brahmin could stoop to such low meanness and feeble-mindedness to wonder a so-called-non-brahmin's wisdom.

I wonder if this superiority complex, false pride, ego, arrogance and conceit have been the root cause of brahmins' fall.

I wonder
why the moderators have not removed your unethical post from this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
perhaps the views of vigneshji are not in good taste. and he can withdraw them.

your views on brahmins are equally offensive.kindly withdraw them at the earliest

these kind of posts spoil the image of this forum
.
 
Krish Ji,

You are right. I studied in a Christian School but there were Brahmin teachers taking class on Maths and Tamil subjects. Teacher and student relationship is something which is beyond caste, colour and creed and the syllabus does not cover subject ‘religion’. All that we were taught was to love each other and spread brotherhood.
 
Dear Renu,

My iyengar teachers in Srirangam taught me how to be a better iyengar.

My non-Iyengar teachers in the same Srirangam, most of them Christians, taught me how to be a better Human being.

This is addressed to all but this poster:

I live in USA and I have Christian friends who mostly are honorable people. They respect other traditions.

For some reason, some Christians in India - especially the recent converts - are bent on trying to propagate messages of conversion & hate while trying to be deceptive. By this they taint a fine religion and its followers (I mean Christianity here).

The message by this poster is supposed to suggest that better Iyengars are not better human beings. I am not an Iyengar and I know none of the Iyengars would care - they may at best laugh seeing such silly & hateful messages.

No one else here is going to take such messages seriously. I even thought of not dignifying by a response but then it was comical in one way and sad for the portrayal of Christianity (which I respect) on the other end by such assumed representatives.

If they want to go to heaven let them - let us happily go to hell, but spare us the nonsense while we live here LoL
 
perhaps the views of vigneshji are not in good taste. and he can withdraw them.

.


Dear Krish ji,

I dont really find Vignesh's post as offensive..in fact it made me laugh..so no big deal..let it stay.

Each person has their own opinion of who has knowledge and who does not have knowledge.

I remember a few years backs when I had gone to B'lore..it was a cold day so I was dressed in a Western attire and wore a Trench Coat.

I went to a shop run by a very beautiful Tamilian lady from Tiruvanamalai..she heard me and my husband speaking Tamil and told us she is from there.

Then she asked me what I wanted and I told her that I wanted a Aum figurine and she was showing me some and she asked me if I even knew what an Aum was.

So I said yes..than she asked me if I had kids and I said yes and she asked me my son's name and I said his name is Varun ..then she said 'Ok let me test you..do you know the meaning of Varun?"

So I stopped to think "how to give her a simple answer..I surely dont want to go into the details of the root word of Varun etc which has origins in the word Vari"..so I said its the name of Varuna Bhagavan.

She was surprised and said 'you know all these...but you dont look like a person who knows about our culture"

Then I took some Devanagari Om Namah Shivaya saffron colored shawl and she told me "do you even know what is written there?"

This time I told her "yes..its Om Namah Shivaya"

and she was "you read Hindi?" I said that was Sanskrit.

Then our madam was surprised and told me "if you know so much how come you are not dressed in a saree but wearing a Western attire?"

Then I thought this lady really wanted to win the conversation and I didnt reply her and just paid the bill and smiled at her.

So you see most people who have not had exposure to the outside world..have pre fixed notions that this should be this and that should be that.

The lady was expecting a person who knows something about Hinduism to be only dressed in a Saree ..so likewise Vignesh was expecting knowledge to be only with a Brahmin.


Pre fixed notions sometimes cloud our judgement.
 
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Don't understand this point. Only a Christian can teach you that? Such conviction of the converted!

Dear Renu,

My iyengar teachers in Srirangam taught me how to be a better iyengar.

My non-Iyengar teachers in the same Srirangam, most of them Christians, taught me how to be a better Human being.
 
I request you, with an apology, to kindly bear with us assuring you that we will drastically change our mentality and mindset and change very soon, in the very near future.

Dear Brahamchari ji,

Dont worry... I never generalize any community based on just a few people's mindset...cos by generalizing we form vasanas(imprints) in our mind.

In fact there is no need to even apologize cos its not your fault.

For me its simple... I consider knowledge as a gift from God ..so it just depends who decides to unwrap it.


Once upon a time when I was in Puttaparthi many years ago... I heard a few Japanese devotees reciting Rudram/Chamakam and I felt ashamed of myself that I was not well versed in it at that time.

Then I stopped to question myself that I felt ashamed of myself becos I was feeling that even a Japanese can recite and I could not recite it?

Then I realized my mistake that I felt possessive over Rudram/Chamakam ..it was that time I realized that I actually owned nothing and everyone is entitled to know anything and I can NOT establish any kind of "ownership' over Hinduism just becos I am born a Hindu and I had no right to think that 'even a Japanese could recite" cos that was being prejudiced.

I apologized to God right away saying that I should have never even wondered how a Japanese could recite Rudram/Chamakam so well and I needed to give the Japanese devotees their due respect of being so efficient in Rudram/Chamakam recital.


So you see..life experiences teach us to let go of what we think belongs to us cos we never really owned anything to start with.
 
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Dear Renu,

My iyengar teachers in Srirangam taught me how to be a better iyengar.

My non-Iyengar teachers in the same Srirangam, most of them Christians, taught me how to be a better Human being.

My 5th Standard teacher Abusali Khan made me go to the irrigation tank every saturday along with a few other classmates during the season in which the tank used to have water in it to catch fish for him. The Ayirai (அயிரை) variety of fish was his favourite.

My 7th Standard teacher Janaki Wilfred made me attend the church once in a week and participate in the prayer and the choir singing in the church attached to the school.

Mr. Easwaran Pillai who was my teacher when I was in the 3rd and 4th class became a role model for me with his cleanliness, smiling face, patience and pleasant bearing.

Each one here comes with a different experience. To pass a judgment on that basis that the Iyengar teacher was inhuman or the christian teacher was an angel sent straight from the gates of heaven by Peter himself is just plain stupidity. The Iyengar asked you to be just an iyengar and not a rowdy-he must have believed that the girl from Iyengar background if becomes a good Iyengar that would make her a good human being also. Be happy about it. A lot of accumulated grievance load is being jettisoned here. LOL.
 
Well written article on Secularism

[h=1]Need to Understand Secularism



The aspiration of those who amended the Constitution to call India a secular nation is a noble one. Secularism, as originally conceived, embodies basic principles that implement and nurture universal values. Thereby, it fosters a state that is harmonious and, in harmony with the Lord. However, one may know or is taught that the Lord and ethical behaviour are inextricable. The essence of such behaviour is captured in a single guideline that is found in all religions—the ethic of reciprocity. Popularly known as the golden rule, it mandates, “Do to others as you would want them to do to you.” This maxim that guided humans throughout history is traceable to ancient religious traditions all over the world. It is so pervasive because it is based on a special human endowment, empathy. Empathy is the capacity to sense the pain of another being and act appropriately. And the extent to which this empathy is honed is a mark of one’s evolution as a human being seeking harmony with the Lord.[/h]

[COLOR=#000000 !important][FONT=helvetica !important]The principle of reciprocity based on empathy is the key component of a secular state—all citizens are equal, including before the law. Nothing helps to bring about the stability, growth and unity of a nation more than the implementation of this single idea. It instils in each and every individual a basic sense of security and confidence that there is order, justice in this world. You can go ahead; the laws will protect you and guide you. Equality also extends to religion. Each individual in a secular state is granted freedom to practise his or her religion. Though the Constitution now mandates so, it was originally part of the fabric of this country. The proximity of religious structures of different traditions, such as the Ellora caves, the long history of vigorous, public debate of different views, the Ashoka edicts, and the religiously persecuted communities who found refuge in India all testify to this.
This two-fold promise of secularism—equal citizenship and religious freedom for all—depends on the fulfilment of a condition that is the most defining feature of secularism. The separation of the sphere of influence and operation of the state and religion, which means there is neither interference of the state in religious matters, nor the influence of religion in the affairs of state. The prohibition of religious interference in matters of state is a corollary of equality before the law and equal citizenship. If separation of faith from state is not achieved, it will be impossible to avoid state interference in religion, inevitably violating the religious freedom of individuals and groups. And there will also inevitably be discrimination by the state against the individual’s rights and privileges as a citizen. The result can only be a discordant, fragmented nation, or nations. If there is to be real equality, one group cannot be privileged over another by the state.
The Constitution ensures this required separation by the prohibition of religious instruction in state schools, and of taxes to support any particular religion. But it also mandates to ensure religious freedom breaks down in the constitutional sanction for state interference in religious affairs. The trouble is the unequal application of this sanction. This sanction is used for state administration of temples and maths, state appropriation of temple land and donations, even legislation of who should be admitted into the temples. On the other hand, in dealing with minority religions, there are political constraints, which restrict the interference. But in respect of the majority, there is no political constraint. As a result, the state has taken over places of worship and collection of revenue from offerings of the majority religion, but not others. Moreover, such revenue can be redistributed for other purposes, including maintenance of institutions of other religions, even those which are opposed to the majority religion. It has also led to the discriminatory modification of personal religious laws. The religious laws of some minority religions supersede parliamentary laws, while for the majority religion, parliamentary law has been enacted to supersede religious laws. This unequal treatment of religions by the state has created legitimate grounds for discord. And different civil or criminal laws for different groups, religious or otherwise, is the antithesis of secularism. If secularism is the aim, it is, therefore, necessary to find an alternative to the current relationship between state and religion. And whether it is called secularism or something else, such change is necessary if there is to be unity, and at the same time, religious freedom in this country.
Non-interference of state in religious affairs is sound, as it recognises an important fact of human existence. Though universal values, which form the basis for equality before law, are connected to religion, there is another dimension of the religious life of a human being, so intimate, so sacred, that interference of any kind, by the state or other faiths, is experienced as violence. This consists in one’s understanding of and relationship to the Lord. It is here that protection is required. It is the state’s responsibility to ensure no individual or group, including the state, interferes in religious expression of another group, by conversion or otherwise. To do so is to violate sacred space, individual and collective, and sow the seeds for dissent and fragmentation. If national unity and harmony are to be secured, the jurisdiction of the state has to be limited to framing and enforcing criminal and civil laws. Conventions, religious or otherwise, are outside its scope, unless they transgress the criminal and civil laws. Because of this, framing the laws is a matter of great responsibility and complexity in a religiously and culturally diverse society. There are unique realities in any society. India is no exception. The issue, for a governing body, is being in touch with all those realities and responding appropriately. This is sane. What is sanity but being in touch with reality? If we are to function as a homeland for every Indian citizen, and as a contributor in a global era, we must be sane. And to be sane, we must be united and fair. We cannot afford to marginalise or privilege any group, religious or otherwise. If sanity is being in touch with reality, our religious traditions have something more to say about this. In all traditions, that reality is the Lord, and the ethical laws are intrinsic. Thus, the more ethical one is, the more one is in touch with the sacred reality, and, whether as an individual or a nation, the more sane one is—free of conflict, productive, in harmony with the universal order. This is our heritage. Together we can claim this heritage. It is our duty to do so—our duty to our ancestors, to our neighbours, local and global, our children and their children, and to our own integrity.
Source: Need to Understand Secularism - The New Indian Express

[/FONT][/COLOR]
 
Secularism and the Shah Bano case

The “sickularists” pretend to see India as just a collection of minorities, to be played off against each other. Worse, they make no real effort to contribute to the society in any positive way: the poor remain poor, the Muslims and Dalits remain backward, while the political parties continue to merrily exploit the minorities for their political ends.

Let us not forget what happened in The Shah Bano case and the 1985 Supreme Court’s judgment in that case.

To refresh the memory, the Shah Bano case was about a maintenance lawsuit, in which Shah Bano, a 62-year-old Muslim lady, daughter of a police constable and mother of five from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, was divorced by her husband in 1978. She went to court, but even after winning the case at the Supreme court, she was subsequently denied alimony because the Congress-majority Indian Parliament reversed the judgement under pressure from Islamic fundamentalists.
The muslims cited the Qur'an to show that the judgement was in conflict with Islamic law.

It triggered controversy about the extent of having different civil codes for different religions, especially for Muslims in India. This case caused the Congress government, with its absolute majority, to pass the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 which diluted the judgment of the Supreme Court and, in reality, denied even utterly destitute Muslim divorcées the right to alimony from their former husbands.


More recently, less than a year ago, a University of Madras Professor of Islamic studies invited a US muslim scholar Amina Wadud, for a lecture at the University. At the last minute, the Vice-Chancellor of the University was pressurized to cancel the lecture. Of course, the pressure came from the muslims through you-know-who.

After she was forced to call off her visit to the city and prevented from speaking at the University of Madras, Amina Wadud sharply questioned the capitulation of intellectuals to fringe groups and voiced her disillusionment with the country.

Dr. Wadud was scheduled to speak at the University of Madras, interact with select media at the US Consulate and give a talk at the Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College For Women (SIET college in Teynampet), mainly on issues concerning gender and Islam.

“It is .. a shame that Madras University went to so much trouble to be thwarted by factions of the ignorant. Whereto intellectualism if that is so?” she tweeted on 29 July 2013 ( Monday ).

“People of India, you have a chance to redeem yourselves for your own best interest. Do not be silent when the ignorant speak, claim your voice. ...” she said, preferring to speak through her Twitter and Facebook accounts rather than directly to the media.


Does any one recall any opinion article by N.Ram or Siddharth Varadarajan (the champions of Wendy Doniger) about these issues?

The Hindu dated June 27, 2013
July 30, 2013 Madras-university-cancels-islamic-feminist’s-lecture
31 July 2013, The Hindu
 
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