1. How Our Eyes Lie to Us

Cognitive Psychologists in the past two decades have been experimenting on narrative fallacy. They say that our minds create stories or narratives which do not portray reality as it is, but as our minds perceive them.

1. Understanding the Muslim Mind

Hindu View of Christianity and Islam – Part 3

It is necessary to understand the Muslim psyche in order to understand the problems of co-existence that all non-Muslim societies encounter with them. The Quran and the Hadith are the sources.

2. Shri Ram Swarup did a deep study for years on these sources and came out with a book called ‘Understanding Islam through Hadis’. Islam is basically a system of law, overarching law which covers all aspects of life. To understand Muslim psyche these laws have to be studied.

3. “Islam is not merely a theology, or a statement about Allah and his relationship with His creatures. Besides containing doctrinal and creedal material, it deals with social, penal, commercial, ritualistic, and ceremonial matters.” It leaves nothing to individual discretion.

4. “It enters into everything, even into such private areas as one’s dress, marrying, and mating. In the language of the Muslim theologians, Islam is a complete and completed religion.” Every human action is pre-decided by Islam. Nothing is left to imagination.

5. “It is equally political and military. It has much to do with statecraft, and it has a very specific view of the world peopled by infidels. Since most of the world is still infidel, it is very important for those who are not Muslims to understand Islam.”

1. How Christianity created the lethal blend of Prophetic Monotheism

Hindu View of Christianity and Islam – Part 2

Shri Ram Swarup explains how the lethal blend of Prophetic Monotheism was created by Christianity. Judaism wasn't particular on conversion. Christianity added it.

2. Jesus started his career by trying to become a Jewish prophet. The initial times are marked by his words which seek audience only in Jews. It was only when Jews considered him dangerous enough to bring Roman ire on Israel that he turned his attention to Gentiles.

3. Gentiles were the pagans of Israel/ Palestine of those times. And this change of audience in attention from Jews (monotheistic people) to Gentiles (pagan people) has its marks on the character of Christianity, mainly in the things that it borrowed from both cultures.

4. From Messiah to Savior

"Jesus himself was converted from a Messiah into a Saviour, into God's First Begotten Son, the Intermediary between God and man. This indeed was a great leap and a great promotion from the humble figure of a Jewish Messiah."

5. Jesus's story is sold as a unique happening in the history of mankind. But that’s false. When Christianity was born there were too many saviors around. Mithras, a Persian god, famous in Roman Empire had a story too similar to Jesus. (All quotes are Shri Ram Swarup’s words)

1. Christian Colonialism in India

Hindu Society Under Siege – 3

The British left another monotheistic residue in India which converted a few Hindus & states and these converts now act as an anti-Hindu force now. What are the traits of ‘Christianism’(as Sita Ram Goel calls it)?

2. The 8 traits of this force, Christianism (residue of Christianity) which is laying siege to Hindu society are provided by Sita Ram Goel in his book, ‘Hindu Society Under Siege’. He considers this Christianism as the second force which lays siege to India. Quotes are by SRG.

3. “(a) That the Hindus have never had a Saviour whose historicity can be ascertained, with the possible exception of the Buddha;”

4. “(b) That Jesus Christ whose historicity cannot be questioned has superseded all earlier Saviours of Hinduism (if they were Saviours at all and not disciples of Lucifer) and rendered superfluous all subsequent Hindu saints and sages;”

5. “(c) That St. Thomas, an apostle of Jesus himself, was specially chosen by the Church to win India for his Master’s message:”

1. 'Hindu' is a word which is often objected to: both by the left-liberals and even by many Hindu nationalists. The disbelief in the word arises from the same historical truth: that the word 'Hindu' is not indigenous and it was a name given to us by the others, by the outsiders.

2. Whether it was a corruption of the word 'Sindhu' by the Iranians who couldn't pronounced 's' as 'h' is now a matter of great debate, but everyone agrees that the word itself is foreign in origin.

3. Anti-Hindus claim that since the word itself is foreign in origin there is no such thing as the Hindu society & Hinduism, & India is a British creation! They mistake the word for the civilization, and proving former’s foreign origin, reject the very existence of the latter.

4. The Hindu Nationalists believe that since the name is foreign in origin, so we should completely reject it and use the name 'Bharat' for our country and 'Sanatana Dharma' and 'Sanatani' for referring to our Dharma and our people.

I disagree.

5. I have no problem with the phrase Sanatana Dharma and I use it quite often. But the word 'Hindu', and the phrase 'Hindu Dharma' are quite useful, easy and we have been using them for the past few centuries very very well to identify ourselves.

1. Hindu Iconography and Knowledge Distribution in Ancient India

Hindu Iconography is a reservoir of powerful symbols. Symbols lead to meaning. Meaning leads to an understanding of Truth. But looking at this ancient process, we also realize a great truth about our society.

2. Just like Vaikhari in language is incapable of expressing the Ultimate Truth, Symbols in themselves are incapable of conveying the Divine Truth about the Supreme Consciousness. They are a ladder to a great meaning and realization.

3. But just as our ṛṣis created a language, Sanskrit, which could most closely approximate the Ultimate Truth and lead the devotees towards it, similarly in Hindu iconography, mudrā and poses were invented by the ṛṣis to lead the devotee towards the path of Self Realization.

4. This symbolism is first codified in the Natyashastra but then many texts expand it into the most elaborate iconography that the world has ever seen. mudrā, hasta and bhaṇga convey the meaning of the poses that the body takes.

5. The symbolism of the āyudha that the deities hold in their hands makes the symbolism richer and more complete. Their āsana and decorations make the meaning richer and more beautiful.