India That is Bharat
Faith is blind, so is secularism
Satiricus
Sophisticated secular Satiricus feels outraged. How dare these cussed communal cusses claim that any religion apart from sacred secularism can be scientific enough to be acceptably modern? But this is precisely what they profanely profess. Of course, that is ridiculous rubbish, for hi-tech Hinduism is a contradictory concept, and no sterling secularist can subscribe to the boorish belief that modern science and technology are actually in tune with it. But then, we live in a less than perfect world, so there are pernicious people who preach such puerility with impunity. What is worse, they have foreign friends (rather, friends) who agree with these Indian idiots. Take, for instance, this prayer business. Prayers in the form bhajan and kirtan are a highlight of Hinduism, and its dim-witted devotees claim that prayers have even curative powers.
Satiricus is stunned at this stupidity. He is all the more stunned to see that this stupidity is shared by Western (and therefore modern) experts. For example, a British psychiatrist by name Daniel Beor, who is conducting research in the curative factors in times of illness, says the curative power of prayer has its origin in Einstein'sprinciple according to which matter and energy are interchangeable, and adds, ?if people are Matter, they can interact on an Energy basis in endeavours such as prayer.? There are other westerns who are still more emphatically eastern. For instance, Dr. Michael Friday of London Medical College, says, ?Patients who have strong faith in God and who pray regularly, recover more quickly than those who do not believe in the efficacy of prayer and depend solely on medicines.? In other words, a prayer is a stronger medicine than medicine itself. This is all so abominably anti-secular and therefore deeply distressing .To cap it all, it is also hopelessly, horridly, hideously Hindu. For, believe it or not, Col. Kripal Singh, president of the Psychiatrist Society, says the Sundar Kanda in Ramayana, the Vishnu Sahasranama, the 12th and the 15th adhyayas of the Gita, are all part of the science of psychotherapy??and I can emphatically say so on the strength of my own experience.? This is the limit. For this scientific citizen of secular India seems not to realise that while he is apparently talking of psychotherapy, he is actually talking of Hinduism. Such men are dangerous and they need to be detoxified.
Better still, Arjun Singh should see that what this doctor says is duly ?doctored?,?in whatever dictionary sense the minister in charge of the Department of Detoxification sees fit, from ?altering? to ?falsifying? . Unfortunately for this Don Quixote, the don of detoxifiers, the battle between Indian secularism and Hindu science seems to go on and on.
For instance, in Maharashtra there is a body called Andha Shraddha Nirmulan Samiti, dedicated to the eradication of blind faith. And, of course, blind faith is the exclusive abomination of Hinduism, so this organisation is virtually devoted to the eradication of every Hindus belief?of course, in the service of science and secularism. So during the Ganesh festival time it carried out a campaign against Ganesh idol immersion in a river on the ground that it pollutes the water. Now religion pollution and secular sanitation are equal and opposite, so who would want unclear water in the name of Lord Ganesh? Naturally no one, not even the Lord himself. But does he really permit pollution on the day he takes leave? No, says the Srishti Eco Research Institute of Pune.
During the Ganesh festival time, Andha Shraddha Nirmulan Samiti carried out a campaign against Ganesh idol immersion in a river on the ground that it pollutes the water. Now religion pollution and secular sanitation are equal and opposite, so who would want unclear water in the name of Lord Ganesh? Naturally no one, not even the Lord himself. But does he really permit pollution on the day he takes leave? No, says the Srishti Eco Research Institute of Pune. Some facts and figures given by this ecological research institute in a recently published statement make interesting but, alas, anti-secular, reading.
Some facts and figures given by this ecological research institute in a recently published statement make interesting but, alas, anti-secular, reading. It says 60,000 Ganesh idols are immersed in the local river every year. On an average the idol is eight to ten inches tall, and weighs 250 grams. This means, around a tonne-and-a-half of plaster of Paris used for the idols mixes with the river water during the ten days of the Ganesh festival. But the total residue that daily mixes with the water is around 90 tonnes. This means the residue added by the Ganesh idol immersion is less than 2 per cent of the daily total. Then again, the calcium sulphate used for making plaster of Paris is neither easily soluble in water nor toxic in any way, and so does not endanger flora and fauna in the water. As for the artificial pigment used for painting the idol, it weighs less than 0.1 per cent of the idol.
In sum, say these ecological researchers, no supportive ground seems to be available for the claim that river water is polluted by Ganesh idol immersion. Now what does Satiricus have to say? He is too stunned to say anything, except that secularism still communal khatre mein hai, all detoxic daring on Veer Arjun Singh'spart notwithstanding. In fact, he fears there is a deep-seated conspiracy between science and Hinduism against secularism. For there have also been other cases in which it has been proved by modern science that blind faith after blind Hindu faith actually has penetrating vision.
Gandhari had hundred sons, the Kauravas. Blind faith? Dr. B.G. Matapurkar, pioneer of stem cell research in India, says the method used by sage Dwaipayana to produce the babies was scientifically correct. Abhimanyu learned the war strategy of chakravayuh bheda from Shri Krishna while he was in his mother'swomb. Blind faith? Modern medical science says babies in the womb can learn. Good Lord! Where are we heading?
We may actually end up accepting that the only blind faith in need of eradication is our blind faith in secularism. The secular Gods forbid!
