Guruphiliac: Sri Sri's Mission: <i>Untouchable</i>



Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Sri Sri's Mission: Untouchable

File under: The Siddhi of PR

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is keeping himself in the news with yet another hopeless peace junket. This time it's to foster reconciliation between India's untouchable caste and the rest of India.

We'll say this for Sri Sri, he sure knows how to pick a mission to fail. Dalits have been taking it in the backside from the rest of India since before the baby Jesus was born. In the States, racist white folk have only had about 300 years to hone their craft. Hindus have been doing the same for thousands.

Thus, we predict little will happen to make any real difference for the Dalits, although Sri Sri will have harvested yet another round of good PR cheer. It's a tried and true formula for the famewhoring fauxru. In the end, he always comes out the hero, regardless of how ineffectual his efforts always are.

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18 Comments:

At 3/07/2007 7:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a joke. This, from a guy who freaked out at a western person sharing meals with an Indian Brahmin of the opposite sex! Maybe he thinks people have forgotten that he has at times excluded foreigners from certain pujas, saying that only Hindus should attend. SSRS is a total hypocrite.

 
At 3/09/2007 2:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

One indian cannot change the racial and religious hatred of the untouchables. Many religions have had 'dalit' converts, some luring them with ££. Dr B.R Ambedkar, himself challenged hinduism and wrote many books and considering he is a dalit/ buddhist convert himself and educated and he got recognition from the indian government,which are all hindu!
The only way to get rid of the problem is to get rid of the cause and not treat the symtoms. In other words....DEAL WITH RELIGION in this case hinduism! Thanks for reading.

 
At 3/09/2007 9:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

One indian cannot change the racial and religious hatred of the untouchables.

yep not that easy. in india, it even happens against "dalit muslims" and "dalit christians"

 
At 3/10/2007 3:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"dalit muslims" you bet. I have seen a muslim woman who upbraided her maid for hanging her clothes in the same clothesline calling her a " low caste" woman. Also "converted christians "particularly in Kerala practise caste based dicrimination while burying. "conversion " just does not bring about any metamorphosis in mindset.

 
At 3/10/2007 4:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Prakash J. said:

The only way to get rid of the problem is to get rid of the cause and not treat the symtoms. In other words....DEAL WITH RELIGION in this case hinduism!

Anon said:

In india, it even happens against "dalit muslims" and "dalit christians".

Combine the two and you get the real solution. It is not the hindu religion or the christian religion or the islamic religion that is the root cause. It is the RELIGION itself that is the root cause. Name me one religion that does not foster an 'us vs. them' in one form or the other? Just one religion that does not create conditions for persecuting the 'other'?

What is the fun of being a jew, a christian, a muslim or a hindu, if you cannot see the 'un-chosen ones' or the pagans or the infidels or the untouchables burning forever in the eternal fire of hell? No Prakash, your solution is half way. There is no way to get rid of such problems as long as ANY religion exists.

 
At 3/10/2007 3:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Freefall, I agree with what you said about being half a solution, as I have not included the mindset of people influenced, such as by things not going their way and the psychological 'feel good/superior to them lot factor' by thinking that someone imaginary is dealing with it, and very powerful and influential people who altered history to their own end like the Vatican. (Batican be a priest and molest choir boys and get away with it).

Be aware that it is only in hin'doodoo'ism (cow dung is sacred) that there is a caste system.
I only commented on Hinduism and dalits, as it is deeply embedded in Indian culture and religion, and part of the Indian culture means it is being leaked into Christian and Muslim Indians who converted from Hinduism.
The conversion is to get freed from the oppression (or get loads of ££ or education for the kids), but like a nasty virus, it still follows even in the religion that does not have a caste system like Christianity or Islam. That’s why I mentioned Dr B.R Ambedkar as an example for rejecting hinduism and caste system.

Hinduism is slightly different in the sense that they see god in everything, and that all rivers (religions) lead to the ocean (god), so the freedom 'who' to choose or not is in a sense a good thing, but even then it gets complicated with loads of gods claiming to be superior than the other. Yet this caste system is like a blockage, and also the spiritual mumbo jumbo that goes with anything, like in my martial art.

Last thing, I found out that in Hinduism and Zoroastrianism, what is good in one is evil in another and what is bad in one is good in another. Friking awesome this Hindu religion is (not). I ought to challenge the pundits on this.
Anyway, thanks for reading.

 
At 3/11/2007 8:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I only commented on Hinduism and dalits, as it is deeply embedded in Indian culture and religion, and part of the Indian culture means it is being leaked into Christian and Muslim Indians who converted from Hinduism.

Getting confused here. Is it a part of religion or is it a part of culture? If it is a part of religion, then why is it being allowed in islam and christianity, which are so much against everything, even good ones, of pagan religions?

The conversion is to get freed from the oppression (or get loads of ££ or education for the kids),...

I keep hearing that it is reverse now. With job reservations, many castes even lobby for being given dalit status!

 
At 3/11/2007 2:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dalits are basically the untouchables another term is lower than the caste system. It is part of religion and there are texts that prove this. The religion then began to influence the culture and laws. Hindus who mass converted into the other religions bring 'hindu traditions' with them because that is how they are brought up and that is the life they know, and also make it easy for people who converted them to keep them happy without learning new traditions just changing to another god.Many still even worship the hindu gods,but at home.
Also christianity and islam (and judaism) are abrahamic religions who believe in the 'one and only true god'. Pagan is worshipping many gods and nature, and the word is also used to insult others who don't believe the the abrahamic one and only god.
I didn't know that people are trying to get dalit status, its news for me, but typically to get converts, you need to lure them and it has been happening thruout history.
Anyway I hope this has answered ur Q's. I just read around alot, and since I was a hindu, I suppose I could relate to the mindset to a certain extent.
The one and only true god is a dumbass, so much so that only a fool would believe that he exists.
Thanks for reading.

 
At 3/11/2007 10:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A statement quoted Ravi Shankar as saying: 'Historically Dalits were on par with caste Hindus. We need to make the present generation aware of this truth. The only solution to the problem of social discrimination is to educate people and make them realise that caste by birth is not sanctioned by religion.

dear "prakash j.",
u need to learn more about hindu and other religions than just "reading around a lot" which gives only half-baked knowledge. good luck.

 
At 3/12/2007 9:02 AM, Blogger CHUCK said...

The only kind of human as obnoxious as the religious fanatic is the anti-religious fanatic. In both cases the object of worship is their own sorry ass. Most ass are not fit to be worshiped. One notable exception is my horse faced wife's.

 
At 3/12/2007 5:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To anon: Amongst all the other things I am saying to you that I am not allowed to type here, have you read about Dr Ambedkar? why did he criticise hinduism?
Half baked knowledge, read about hinduism? I was a frickin hindu LOL. Why don't you read and add some rational and critical thought inside your head. A question, what would make my half baked knowledge, fully baked? Should I just read the positive, which promoters are saying? Should I ignore the criticisms from other religions and even ex-members of that religion? I couldn't care less who you quote. Quotes from one person doesn't make it absolute fact. SSRS looks weird with the beard and looks like one of the charlatan gurus from 'goodness gracious me'. And get your retarded brain in gear, 'read around alot' is my way of saying that I read about all the religions, and I read all the opinions.

To Chuck: Yep, fanatics, they stick to what they know even if its wrong and even if someone tell them something new about it. I hope that I am not too fanatical in my 'anti' approach to religion.

To all and disclaimer: The intention concerning my posts were simply to point out that the caste system is deeply rooted in the Hindu religion and the upbringing of those born in india. Dr Ambedkar himself have pointed that out and provided proof on his site and books.

My half baked knowledge and sarcasm were not intended to offend, but to humour and challenge the minds of other thinkers on this site, find out other peeple's opinions and to provide a response to a few questions, as unbiased as I can from what I have 'learnt'.

If offended, get stuffed. If enlightened, good for you.

Cheers.

 
At 3/12/2007 5:41 PM, Blogger guruphiliac said...

If offended, get stuffed. If enlightened, good for you.

Excellent suggestion, Prakash! It could be the motto of this blog.

 
At 3/13/2007 1:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amongst all the other things I am saying to you that I am not allowed to type here, have you read about Dr Ambedkar? why did he criticise hinduism?

He was a politician, wasn't he? Now, don't get me wrong. Some politicians may actually know what they say. But as a general rule, it is better to avoid quoting a politician to a prove a point.

A question, what would make my half baked knowledge, fully baked? Should I just read the positive, which promoters are saying? Should I ignore the criticisms from other religions and even ex-members of that religion.

I respect your right to get pissed by whatever chose to. But personally, I have enjoyed studying vedanta and to me a lot of it seems to make sense. I know that all hindus are not vedantins and all vedantins are not hindus, yet there is some unmistakable connection between the two. And it is for this reason that I have a soft spot for hinduism despite my non-hindu background.

To all and disclaimer: The intention concerning my posts were simply to point out that the caste system is deeply rooted in the Hindu religion and the upbringing of those born in india.

Yes, it seems so. But as far as I can see, hinduism is not going to die away any time soon. And it should not. Given that, what is your solution?

My half baked knowledge and sarcasm were not intended to offend, but to humour and challenge the minds of other thinkers on this site, find out other peeple's opinions and to provide a response to a few questions, as unbiased as I can from what I have 'learnt'.

If offended, get stuffed. If enlightened, good for you.


Calm down. It looks you got quite offended from some previous posts.

 
At 3/13/2007 4:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not too offended, some posts were quite funny! I was merely asking 'civilised' questions because 'anon' started telling me to learn more and that I got half baked knowledge by reading too much.

Your opinion is that Hinduism isn't going to die soon, and shouldn't. I respect your opinion and you posted it without sarcasm.

Quoting politicians, that's a situation I don't want to get into.

Although I don't agree with your opinions regarding hinduism, as a whole, I respect your ideas and you have put forward some good arguments.

My solution is to be more concerned about myself and my future. I am only 21.

I hereby declare this topic a stalemate.

 
At 3/14/2007 2:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My solution is to be more concerned about myself and my future. I am only 21.

that explains it. just get laid dude. worry about those bigger things later in life. have fun!
/sincere advice>

 
At 3/14/2007 8:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I didn't think Indian dudes got laid, anon. I didn't think they even touched themselves down there except with a soapy rag!

 
At 3/14/2007 9:28 PM, Blogger CHUCK said...

Mule Puky, guess that makes their private parts "untouchables"!

 
At 3/16/2007 11:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Prakash said:
My solution is to be more concerned about myself and my future. I am only 21.

So,the charge of 'half baked knowledge' was not without basis then?

 

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