Hitler in India: Modi ("While We Watched")

There are two issues being reported here, which are connected in that they are part of the news in India. The news in India is in crisis, and Manipur is burning after men paraded two naked ethnic minority women then gangraped one of them while the police did nothing other than side with their ethnicities in stoking and arming violent extremists.

While We Watched (trailer)

(MetFilm Distribution) June 16, 2023. Directed by Vinay Shukla, the award-winning While We Watched is a turbulent newsroom drama intimately chronicling the working days of broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiraling world in India of truth and disinformation. As factual reporting is in freefall globally, While We Watched is a dignified lens into the abyss. In UK cinemas July 14 metfilmdistribution.co.uk/while we watched...

"While We Watched" documentary spotlights Indian journalist Ravish Kumar's fight for truth in Modi's [corrupt, racist, nationalist] India

(Democracy Now!) July 20, 2023. Latest Shows. As world leaders from the United States to France welcome India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi [a kind of Trump-Hitler hybrid], Democracy Now! looks at dying press freedom in India under the leadership of Modi's Hindu nationalist party BJP.

One of India's last bastions of free media, NDTV, has been taken over by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani (the third richest man in the world), believed to have close ties to Modi. NDTV's former executive editor and longtime anchor Ravish Kumar, one of India's most prominent TV journalists who has reported critically on Modi's Hindu nationalist policies, is the subject of Vinay Shukla's film While We Watched -- which is being released this week in theaters in the United States. Kumar and Shukla speak about the "anti-opposition, anti-minorities, anti-Muslim" state of mass media in India, where dissent is suppressed and pro-Modi nationalism is the de facto rule.

"No sober society can afford to have a kind of rogue media, which is so weaponized," says Kumar.

Manipur Horror: Outrage as two women paraded naked [then raped] on camera

(Vantage with Palki Sharma) A disturbing video of two naked [ethnic minority] women being paraded by a mob in Manipur has triggered outrage across India. The incident happened on May 4, 2023, and a police complaint was filed on May 18th, but nothing was done. [In fact, the police are implicated in aiding and abetting or ignoring the crimes]. Why then did it take 76 days for Manipur police to arrest suspects or the known culprits? As violence continues to grip the state (in easternmost India), Palki Sharma says why it's time for top state leaders to step aside. India | Manipur | Violence | Sexual Assault | Firstpost | World News | Latest News | Global News | International News | Trending News

Communal violence in Manipur, India: Mara is hard at work

(Soch by Mohak Mangal) What is happening in Manipur? (Part 1) May 8, 2023. Manipur (the forested hills of India above Burma) is burning. To understand why, watch this video.

Manipur violence: What's happening and why?

(WION Live) July 22, 2023. A chorus is growing for capital punishment for accused who kidnapped two women in Manipur in shocking sexual violence. Manipur CM N. Biren Singh promised his government will push for the highest punishment for the gang-rapists/culprits. #manipur #wion #modi

India appoints a Minister of Yoga (audio)

Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Andrea Crossan, The World (PRI.org)

Swami Vivekananda visits USA in 1893, Parliament of World Religions, Chicago (Dziewa/wiki)

Cosmic om, aum (taopunk/flickr.com)

On the left the photograph, Vivekananda wrote: "One infinite, pure and holy -- beyond thought, beyond qualities, I bow down to thee."
 

Yoga is many things to many people. To some it's just a form of exercise, to others it's about mindfulness and meditation [which is the point and purpose of practicing the first seven limbs to bring about success in the eighth]. Now, in India, it's also a cabinet portfolio.

(This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview).

 

Americans visit Muslim architecture for taste of Indian culture: Taj Mahal (internationalyoga)

.

Newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just appointed a "yoga minister" to his government on Monday (Nov. 10, 2014), tapping Shripad Yesso Naik to promote the traditional medicines and practices of Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, and homeopathy.

Modi himself practices yoga daily. He's so passionate about it that he asked the United Nations in September to consider an International Yoga Day. He also discussed the ancient Indian [and possibly Indus Valley Civilization] discipline with Barack Obama during a recent visit to the U.S.

 

I've always wanted to learn yoga (grokker).

Modi is a follower of Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu monk who played a key role in introducing the Indian philosophies of Vedanta (the best of the Vedas) and yoga to the Western world. He's also credited with bringing Hinduism to the status of the fourth major world religion [behind Catholicism/Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism] during the late 19th century.

 

Vivekananda first shot to fame at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. In his speeches, he called for tolerance and the end of religious fanaticism.

[If only PM Modi could have listened to those speeches -- and the teaching of ahimsa, or nonharming, promoted by the Buddha, Mahavira, Gandhi, and yogis throughout India -- he might have avoided pushing nationalist fanaticism that led to atrocities and the deaths of countless Muslims in communal violence in Gujarat he was involved in prior to his election as prime minister as the head of the nationalistic BJP Party.]

 

"His followers told him to...present Hinduism to the West," says Pravrajika Shuddhatma Prana, another of the swami's followers who lives and works at the Vivekananda Ridgely Retreat in Stone Ridge, New York. "The very first talk he gave at the Parliament of Religions, he got a standing ovation for several minutes because people were so impressed." More

World's largest election concludes: results

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez reporting on the Largest Democracy in the World, DemocracyNow.org, May 16, 2014

The chakravartin's thousand-spoked wheel of Dharma at the center of the Indian flag

"Tibet" lives on in Himalayan Indian

Early results from the largest election in the world show that India’s opposition leader Narendra Modi has won a landslide victory to become the country’s new prime minister. 

Modi is the leader of the BJP, a Hindu nationalist party (unfriendly to minority Muslims, of which there are more than 100 million in India).

 

I live in India

"This is the result that the corporations in India wanted," says Siddhartha Deb, Indian author and journalist, noting that Modi "is very a pro-development politician, which basically means pro-business." 

 

Deb adds that Modi served as the chief minister of Gujarat state, where anti-Muslim riots in 2002 left at least 1,000 people dead. After the bloodshed, the U.S. State Department revoked Modi’s visa.

Modi has never apologized for or explained his actions at the time of the riots. Deb’s recent article in The Guardian is "India’s Dynasty-Dominated Politics Has No Space for Dissent" and his nonfiction book is The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India. More 

• Is India on a totalitarian path? Arundhati Roy on corporatism, nationalism, and the world’s largest vote
• Read: Capitalism a Ghost Story by Arundhati Roy (excerpt) 
• Did CIA’s fake polio vaccination program in India-adjacent Pakistan help fuel a global health emergency?
• Glenn Greenwald on NSA coverage: U.S. corporate media is "neutered, impotent, and obsolete"

Hindus say the Buddha was Vishnu (video)

Wisdom Quarterly

WARNING: Profanity and vulgarity (NOT suitable for any age)!

There is a myth that the Buddha and therefore Buddhists are and always were Hindus. Only Hindus say this, of course, in spite of the fact that the Buddha opposed the authority of the sacred Hindu scriptures (Vedas) and the traditions, sacrifices, and customs of the brahmins.

The Buddha, a wandering ascetic unencumbered by Temple politics, taught a path that did not depend on intermediaries for "salvation." He made known the liberating truth directly visible here and now. Practitioners penetrated it and directly experienced its benefits immediately. It is said of Buddhist teachings that they invite one to "come and see."

The benefits of doing so are not delayed, even if one does not immediately glimpse nirvana or become fully enlightened. Ordinary individuals listened to discourses, which were recited in standardized form then explained in detail, or asked questions. They gave attention to the Buddha's reply, committing it to memory, and reflecting on it. This led to insight, often right on the spot.

Yet, Hindus still claim the Buddha was merely an incarnation (avatar) of one of their gods. That is a wonderful compliment. And it is beautiful that, unlike traditional Jews and Rabbi Jesus, brahmins accept and even try to co-opt the Buddha, largely ignoring his teachings or reinterpreting them to teach the Vedas.

In an effort to discredit Buddhism and bring Indians back to Vedic Brahmanism (Hinduism), brahmins spread the idea that he was a Hindu god.

Hindus have done the same to Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, ignoring his teaching by holding him in high esteem for his severe asceticism and support of basic Brahminical beliefs (regarding the soul, karma, the afterlife, and the role of self-mortification in spiritual purification).

Why does Hinduism do this? It is because "Indus-ism" was not a religion but a collection of all things "Indian" lumped together by outsiders trying to make sense of the spiritual traditions of the Indus Valley Civilizations.

It became a "religion" (a dogma with a hierarchical structure that again put brahmin priests at the top) as Adi Shankara eventually bought into the need to organize the divergent schools under a single system. He standardized beliefs that became the hallmarks of Eastern Philosophy modern Hinduism.

Since the Buddha, perhaps the brightest luminary that ever came out of India, could not be excluded, he was subsumed within the central theistic Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva).

Sadly, while it seems like a compliment, brahmins explain away his contrary views in all seriousness by saying that "God" in his incarnation as Vishnu was purposely trying to lead people away from the "eternal truth" (Sanatan Dharma) of the Vedas and Hinduism.

The Buddha in Hinduism

sanatansociety.org

In Hinduism, the Buddha is regarded as the ninth incarnation of Vishnu following Ram and Krishna. That is obviously a real honor, even though Buddhism may not see it that way. Buddhism in fact does not believe in Gods and sees him only as an incarnation of a realized being. Nevertheless, various forms of the Buddha are worshipped in Buddhism in ways that are very similar to the worship of Hindu gods [particularly in Mahayana with its veneration of many buddhas and bodhisattvas].

• Holy Land Hoax: Jerusalem UFO not Kosher?
• People on the Right with no need for God
• The Dharma search engine
• Renowned atheist Dawkins draws large crowd

Christians want to trouble Buddhist Bhutan

Bhutan’s Royalists fear Christianity will Create Tension
Anugrah Kumar (pro-Christian "Compass Direct News")

THIMPHU, Bhutan — Bars, pubs, and discos have become legal in Bhutan -- a cause of concern for the older generation. But construction of worship buildings other than Buddhist or Hindu temples is still prohibited. The prohibition remains in force even though Christians [who make up less than half of one percent of Bhutan's tiny total population] abide by Bhutan's codes of conduct, speaking the Dzongkha language as well as the Nepali language at church gatherings and wearing the national dress.

• Christians create tension in Pakistan
• Catholic church screening of Jesus film attacked by Muslims
• Radio delivers Christian leadership training to North Korea

The National Assembly of Bhutan banned the practice of non-Buddhist and non-Hindu religions through edicts in 1969 and in 1979. But Christians do meet for Sunday worship [nevertheless].

• Bhutan invited Christian teachers
  Bhutan, which promoted Buddhism and Hinduism and detered Christianity in the past, allegedly sought support from the mission of Bibles of the World to provide 500 teachers to teach English, maths, and science, according to Christian news group MNonline.org.

Why are Christians seen as a greater threat to the culture of the nation than the "democracy disco culture," as one government official described the emerging subculture among the Bhutanese youth? It is believed that Christianity will create religious tensions in the country. More>>

"Prayer File" on Bhutan: Bhutan is the only country in the world to have adopted Mahayana Buddhism in its Tantric form as its official religion. The word "Tantrism" comes from Tantras, the name of a body of esoteric Indian texts divided into four groups: tantras of action, behavior, yoga, and tantras without any superiors. Tantric Buddhism came to Bhutan in the 8th century. Today Bhutan's population of about 600,000 is over 70% Buddhist. Hindus constitute 24%. Protestant Christians make up only 0.3%. Christian worship in public and evangelism are prohibited.

Hindu mobs kill Christians, burn churches

ORISSA, India -- In an unfortunate pattern of erupting violence, a Maoist rebel has inadvertently spurred inter-ethnic violence in India. Retaliation for the killing of a Hindu religious leader, mobs mistakenly attacked Christians. Now inflamed by political motives, the violence continues. The lowest caste converts to Christianity are targeted in particular. The prime minister has condemned the deadly violence.

• CNN video, India

Christians are also being targeted in Mosul, northern Iraq. Members of the minority faith are being killed and forcibly displaced. Muslim extremists are demanding protection money, forced conversion to Islam, or leaving.

• CNN video, Iraq

More: www.CNN.com