By Maria Wirth

Though I have lived in India for a long time, there are still issues here that I find hard to understand. For example, why do so many educated Indians become agitated when India is referred to as a Hindu country? The majority of Indians are Hindus. India is special because of its ancient Hindu tradition. Westerners are drawn to India because of Hinduism. Why then is there this resistance by many Indians to acknowledge the Hindu roots of their country? Why do some people even give the impression that an India which valued those roots would be dangerous? Don’t they know better?

This attitude is strange for two reasons. First, those educated Indians have a problem only with “Hindu” India, but not with “Muslim” or “Christian” countries. Germany, for example, is a secular country, and only 49 percent of the population are registered with the two big Christian churches (Protestant and Catholic). Nevertheless, the country is bracketed under “Christian countries” and no one objects. Angela Merkel, the former Chancellor, had stressed the ‘Christian roots of Germany’ and had urged the population “to go back to Christian values.” In 2012 she even postponed her trip to the G-8 summit to make a public address at the Katholikentag, “Catholics Day.” Two major German political parties carry “Christian” in their name, including Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.

Germans are not incensed that Germany is called a Christian country, though I actually would understand if they were. After all, the history of the Church is appalling. The so-called success story of Christianity depended greatly on tyranny. “Convert or die” were the options given—not only some five hundred years ago to the indigenous population in America, but also in Germany, 1,200 years ago, when Emperor Karl the Great ordered the death sentence for refusal of baptism in his newly conquered realms. This provoked his advisor Alkuin to comment: “One can force them to baptism, but how to force them to believe?”

Those times, when one’s life was in danger for dissenting with the dogmas of Christianity, are thankfully over. Today many in the West dissent and are leaving the Church in a steady stream. They are disgusted with the unholy behavior of Church officials and they also can’t believe in the dogmas, for example that “Jesus is the only way” and that God sends all those, who don’t accept this claim, to hell.

The second reason why I can’t understand the resistance to associate India with Hinduism is that Hinduism is in a different category from the Abrahamic religions. Its history, compared to Christianity and Islam, was undoubtedly the least violent as it spread in ancient times by convincing arguments and not by force. It is not a belief-system that demands blind acceptance of dogmas and the suspension of one’s intelligence. On the contrary, “Hinduism encourages using one’s intelligence to the hilt. It is an inquiry into truth, based on a refined character and intellect. It comprises a huge body of ancient literature, not only regarding dharma and philosophy, but also regarding mathematics, architecture, music, dance, science, astronomy, economics, politics, etc.”

If Germany or any other Western country had this kind of literary treasure, they would be so proud and highlight its greatness on every occasion. When I discovered the Upanishads, for example, I was stunned. Here was expressed in clear terms what I intuitively had felt to be true, but could not have expressed clearly: Brahman is not partial; it is the invisible, indivisible Essence in everything. Everyone gets again and again a chance to discover the ultimate Truth and is free to choose his way back to it. Helpful hints are given but not imposed.

In my early days in India, I thought every Indian knew and valued his tradition. Slowly I realized I was wrong. The British colonial masters had been successful in not only weaning away many of the elite from their ancient tradition but even making them despise it. It helped that the British-educated class could no longer read the original Sanskrit texts and believed what the British told them. This lack of knowledge and the brainwashing by British education may be the reason why many so-called “ “modern” Indians are against anything Hindu. They don’t realize the difference between Western religions that have to be believed blindly, and which discourage, if not forbid, their adherents to think on their own, and the multi-layered Hindu Dharma which gives freedom and encourages using one’s intelligence. “

Many of India’s educated class do not realize that those who dream of imposing Christianity or Islam on this vast country will applaud them for denigrating Hindu Dharma, because this creates a vacuum where Western ideas can easier gain a foothold.

At the same time, many Westerners, including staunch Christians, know the value of Hindu culture and surreptitiously appropriate insights from the vast Indian knowledge system, drop the original Hindu source and present it either as their own or make it look as if these insights had already been known in the West.

As the West appropriates valuable and exclusive Hindu assets, what it leaves behind is deemed inferior. Unwittingly, these ‘modern’ Indians are helping what Rajiv Malhotra of Infinity Foundation calls the digestion of Dharma civilization into Western universalism. That which is being digested, a deer for example (analogue to Hindu Dharma), disappears whereas the tiger (analogue to Western Universalism) becomes 

If only missionaries denigrated Hindu Dharma, it would not be so bad, as they clearly have an agenda which discerning Indians would detect. But sadly, Indians with Hindu names assist them because they wrongly believe Hinduism is inferior to Western religions. They belittle everything Hindu instead of getting in-depth knowledge. As a rule, they know little about their tradition except what the British have deceptively taught them, i.e., that the major features are the caste system and idol worship. They don’t realize that India would gain, not lose, if it solidly backed its profound and all-inclusive Hindu tradition.

The Dalai Lama said some time ago that, as a youth in Lhasa, he had been deeply impressed by the richness of Indian thought. “India has great potential to help the world,” he added.

Will the Westernized Indian elite realize it?

About the Author
Maria Wirth is a German who stopped in India (that’s at least what she thought) on her way to Australia after finishing her psychology studies at Hamburg University. She visited the Ardha Kumbha Mela in Haridwar in April 1980 where she met Sri Anandamayi Ma and Devaraha Baba, two renowned saints. With their blessing she continued to live in India and never went to Australia. She dove into India’s spiritual tradition, sharing her insights with German readers through articles and books. For long, she was convinced that every Indian knows and treasures his great heritage. However, in recent years she noticed that there

The post Why Not Hindu India? first appeared on Desh-Videsh Media reaches 1.5 Millions+ Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi, and Indo-Caribbeans..]]> https://www.deshvidesh.com/why-i-am-against-conversion/ Fri, 28 Jan 2022 13:21:01 +0000 https://www.deshvidesh.com/?p=58143 By Maria Wirth In 1999, the Pope declared in Mumbai that in the 21st century the cross will be planted in Asia. Strangely, there was not much objection in the media that the Pope expressed so openly his eagerness to convert Hindus. Not only the Pope but also the different evangelical sects want to convert Hindus in big numbers. And ...

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By Maria Wirth

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In 1999, the Pope declared in Mumbai that in the 21st century the cross will be planted in Asia. Strangely, there was not much objection in the media that the Pope expressed so openly his eagerness to convert Hindus. Not only the Pope but also the different evangelical sects want to convert Hindus in big numbers. And unfortunately, they are doing it successfully because they have lots of money. In the last 20 years, after the Pope made his statement, Christian missionaries have become increasingly visible, blatant and controversial.

As I grew up as a Christian, I would like to share my observations from a personal angle.

I noticed that most Hindus are very cautious when it comes to religion. They take care ‘not to offend the sensibilities’ of the followers of Christianity and Islam. Yet on the other hand, Christians and Muslims don’t hesitate to offend the sensibilities of Hindus, and even badly demean them.

Many Indians argue that, because those religions are in the minority, their followers need special consideration so that they don’t feel threatened by the Hindu majority.

It is true that those religions are in the minority in India, but worldwide, Christianity and Islam have the biggest number of followers. Both religions also have great financial and political clout. This clout is reflected even in the Indian media. Just observe how favorably mainstream media reports on minorities and how unfavorably on the majority. I can’t help feeling that there is a clever Public Relation strategy. In contrast, Hindus don’t seem to have a PR strategy. ‘Truth will triumph’, is their motto, even if it takes ages…

Why no debates on religious matters?

Sometimes I hear the following argument from Hindus: “Only because missionaries despise Hinduism, Hinduism does not become bad.” This is of course true, but why not refute the obnoxious, false accusations that Hinduism is a primitive polytheistic religion and Hindus are sinful idol-worshippers?

Such accusations do not only completely misinterpret Hindu Dharma, but they are meant to help the Christian agenda to wean away Hindus from their faith.

Hindus should at least explain the basics of Sanatana or Hindu Dharma, and show how profound they are, if not pointing out the shortcomings of the dogmatic founder religions.

Pointing out the shortcomings of other religions seems to be taboo for Hindus. I wonder why. Debates on religious matters were common in ancient India and were of the highest order. Women also took part in those debates, which are recorded in the Upanishads.

Yet today there is hardly any discussion on religion or philosophy. One reason may be that a part of the intellectual class in India has been influenced by the British to such an extent that they adopted their ignorant view that Hinduism is primitive without ever reading any of the ancient texts. It is a small, but influential group that is ever ready to loudly defend the minority religions.

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“The first distinction I would like to make between your missionary work and mine is that while I am strengthening the faith of people, you (missionaries) are undermining it.”

Mahatma Gandhi (Young India: November 8, 1927)

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Heaven and Hell

Most Hindus are good natured and consider all religions as equal, as all believe in the same God, as there is of course only one creator. Moreover, all religions have good points. They all stress the need for a moral life. They all give suggestions on how to connect with God in prayer.

Yes, it’s true, but two religions have a very negative point which nullifies the good points. This negative point is that they divide humanity into those who are right and go to heaven and those who are wrong and go to hell without any proof. Christianity is one of those religions (Islam is the other one). It declares that it is not only superior but it alone is true, and therefore everyone needs to join it to be saved. The Church claims that Jesus Christ himself commanded his disciples to go out and baptize all nations (Matthew 28.19). Therefore, they believe that they have the ‘divine duty’ to convert the whole world. And the Church goes about it with great zeal and dubious means.  If Jesus Christ was indeed a historical person (some historians doubt it), he might be shocked to see what is happening in his name.

What makes Christianity so special that it declares itself as alone true?

The main point is the status of Jesus Christ. The Church says that he is not only above normal humans but also above enlightened sages and avatars. He is the “only indigenous son of God”, whom God had sent to earth and who, through his death, has saved mankind from the original sin which Adam and Eve committed (their sin was that they ate an apple from the forbidden tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden).

This claim that Jesus is the only son of God cannot be verified. It has to be believed. It is a dogma and dogma means, there is no proof. So why should one believe it? The reason is that bishops had decided in the Council of Nicea some 1700 years ago, that Jesus is the son of God, and Christians have to believe it.

Many Christians do believe it, because they hear it from childhood. I, for example, ‘knew’ already in primary school in a small town in Germany, that we, the Roman Catholics, are ‘right’ and chosen by God and all others, including our Protestant neighbors, who had fled from the Russians to our small town at the end of the II World War, were ‘wrong’. Those neighbors had a little girl of my age and we played together, but I would have not gone to her church. I ‘knew’ it was a sin…

In 1965, in the II. Vatican Council, the Catholics reconciled with the Protestants, and it was no longer a sin to pray together. But Hindus remain in the category which needs to be converted or else they go to hell…

How I got doubts

As a child, I believed whatever I was told, but in high school, I started questioning. I could not believe in a God any longer who sits in heaven, loves only Christians and sends all others to hell.

A brother of my mother was a priest and, in his library, I read about the history of the Church. It was an eye-opener – how decadent the popes were, how brutal and bloody the conversion of South America was, how dissenters were imprisoned, tortured and killed, how the bishops schemed for power and wealth… Together with religion, I was about to throw out God as well, as He seemed inextricably linked with it.

Then I read an article on modern physics. It said that the whole creation is one energy. It was for me a Eureka  moment. “This means there is a God!”  I felt: If God is really the Highest, It cannot love one group and hate others. It has to be the ground of everybody and everything.

Getting to know about the profound Vedic wisdom

When I came to India, I was amazed how profound her ancient wisdom was – a wisdom that makes no claims, which need to be blindly believed, and a wisdom which does not divide people into “us versus them”.

‘Brahman’ or ‘Tat’ of the Vedas is not a personal God that has likes and dislikes, but it is the invisible, conscious basis of all forms and names in this creation. This conscious basis is also in our own person and can be experienced, and this makes sense. “Question, reflect and experience” is recommended.

In contrast, Christianity demands blind belief and does NOT encourage questions, nor experience. It claims doubts are from the devil. A Church that branded its own mystics, who realized their oneness with God, as heretics, cannot teach anything to India. It can only divide.

 

Hindu Dharma is universal

Missionaries try by hook or crook to get converts and target especially the poorer sections of society and even children. It seems as if they have a quota to achieve.

They claim that Christianity is the right faith and Hinduism is very wrong and they will land in hell if they don’t convert. The Upanishads claim “Tat Tvam Asi” (You are THAT/ Brahman). “You” means everyone, not only Hindus. This philosophy is truly universal.

Christian theologians would need to study Indian wisdom with an open mind. They would realize that dogmas are a hindrance in the process to uncover Truth. Such openness would make religion spiritual. Mystics would be appreciated. No “us versus them”, no borders, no God, who belongs only to one group and who condemns the rest, just a genuine search for the One Essence beyond name and form…

Mind set  of Church representatives

Church representatives are adamant that conversion is not only their right, but also their duty. Many Hindus still don’t get the mindset of missionaries.

For example, after my mother had passed away in Germany, I went to the priest to arrange the funeral. When he came to know that I live in India, he said,

“Oh, a friend of mine just went to India.”

“I hope not for conversion”, I replied.

His reaction, “Of course for conversion. It is our duty.”

Strangely, Hindus feel religion must not be talked about and only a few question the ‘one and only way’ bogus. But is anything more important than to find the truth about God, us, and the world? So shouldn’t we talk about religion?

In the west, many leave the Church, in India many join

Indian converts generally join Christianity for reasons that have nothing to do with God or faith. Those converts may initially get material benefits but the price is very high. They have to despise the faith that they held dear and for which their ancestors have fought and made many sacrifices. They have to disown their devas as devils. They are coerced to put meat from the dead body of a cow into their stomach. They have to confess a belief in dogmas, which don’t make sense, like the claim that one has only one life and on the basis of this one life one will go either to heaven or hell for all eternity.

Yet slowly, they or at least their children, will become convinced that they alone have the right faith and that Hindus are inferior and damned by God. The brainwashing into the doctrine is much stronger in India than in Christian countries. While most people in the West, who are not employed by the Church, don’t believe any longer that Hindus go to hell, even an IIT graduate convert told me that he believes it and he had already convinced his parents to convert to save them from hell…

I once heard Bede Griffith, who had a Christian ashram near Trichy, giving a talk to nuns from Kerala and I was shocked how he threatened them with hell. After his talk I asked him how he could frighten them so much. He said, “I have to strengthen their faith so that they know where the border to Hinduism is.”

Hinduism is truly universal

Hinduism has no border. It has a place for everyone. If someone worships Jesus, no Hindu will object. But Hindus need to object to the baseless claim by non-hindus that worshiping Krishna or Shiva is wrong and will land one in hell, because this is not true and also dangerous for Hindus, because it breeds hatred which can lead to hate crimes. Christian converts need to reflect on what they are taught. If they start reflecting, they surely will wonder if this can possibly be the truth.

When I recently took a taxi, there was a picture of Jesus. I asked the driver if he converted. “Yes”, he said.

I told him, “You became Christian from Hindu and I became Hindu from Christian.”

He looked surprised. “Why?” he asked. I explained a bit and said that Hindu Dharma makes sense.

Before leaving I requested him not to look down on Hinduism and Hindus, even if missionaries tell him how bad they are. Hindus are not bad. They are good, better than many others, and Hindu Dharma is the best option for humanity.”

He smiled and said that he doesn’t believe everything the padres say.

 

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About the Author:

Maria Wirth is a German who stopped in India (that’s at least what she thought) on her way to Australia after finishing her psychology studies at Hamburg University. She visited the Ardha Kumbha Mela in Haridwar in April 1980 where she met Sri Anandamayi Ma and Devaraha Baba, two renowned saints. With their blessing she continued to live in India and never went to Australia.

She dove into India’s spiritual tradition, sharing her insights with German readers through articles and books. For long, she was convinced that every Indian knows and treasures his great heritage. However, in recent years she noticed that there seemed to be a concerted effort to prevent even Indians (and the world) from knowing how valuable this ancient Indian heritage, so she began to point out the unique value of Indian tradition also in the English language and shared them via a blog.

She is also the author of the book Thank you India – a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga.

The post Why I am against Conversion first appeared on Desh-Videsh Media reaches 1.5 Millions+ Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi, and Indo-Caribbeans..]]>

by Maria Worth

It is again this beautiful time before Diwali. Five years ago, I got a glimpse into the simple and spiritual lives of villagers off the beaten track in the Himalayas.

‘Would you like to come to some villages around Chamba?’ a friend had asked. I happily said yes. He wanted to visit the people who had formerly worked as domestic helpers for his family; and bring them gifts before Diwali. After buying boxes of sweets and drawing money from an ATM, the three of us set off from Mussoorie.

The air was crystal clear, and the snow peaks shone in great splendour. How beautiful to be out in the open at the height of 2,000 metres! What wonderful surroundings the villagers live in. Blue mountain ranges were rolling, one after the other, like waves of the ocean. Kids in school uniform walked on the road. Their school may be much simpler than those in cities, yet the location is enviable and the openness of the space may be conducive for an open mind.

Our first stop was in a tiny village near the old road to Tehri town, which has been submerged in the Ganges due to the Tehri Dam. It was a steep climb down the hill. An old woman was sitting in a courtyard sieving grain. She had few teeth left, yet her smile was warm and welcoming. It was a surprise visit, and immediately her neighbours gathered, too. ‘Kursi lao’, I heard; and children brought chairs from a neighbouring house.  The woman lives alone in an old house. Her husband, who had worked for my friend’s family for decades, had passed away several years ago. Her only daughter is staying with her in-laws.

We had to stress really hard that our stomachs were very full and had no place even for a cup of tea. Yet we took water, and she sent a girl to pluck some limes. My friend had to show her how to use the zip on the jacket he had bought for her; and then the talk was mainly about people she knew from the olden times, and about crops.

When we left, she said she would come to Mussoore to see the father of my friend; who was about her age. Will she still be able to climb up the hill?  She can probably do it. Village folk are hardier than city folk.

Next, we drove to a tiny village some 30 km away. It was a two hours’ drive in wonderful surroundings. The car climbed over a mountain range, plunged down into a valley, and ended up very high up on a kachha road only as broad as our jeep. It was frightening. A mantra kept automatically repeating itself non-stop in my mind.

We were expected, because Panditji (as his former cook was called) had a mobile. Two boys waited for us at the head of the road to guide us further up to where a table had already been laid with sweets and namkeen. His three daughters are married and live nearby; and his eldest son is working in Hyderabad.

After leaving my friend’s house some years ago, Panditji became a part-time pujari (priest) in a mandir (temple) further down the hill – for Rs. 150 a month. Even five years ago, this was an incredibly meagre salary. Meanwhile he stopped going there. The climb was too tough for him. He was offered a full-time job as pujari for Rs. 1100. (No, I did not forget a zero, only Rs. 1100 for a month). It would have required him to stay the whole day and sleep in the mandir, too. He declined the offer as he felt that he was too old to live alone. If something happened to him, nobody would know. His son is sending him money from Hyderabad.

His house had two rooms with a buffalo staying downstairs, and here too, neighbours gathered straight away when we arrived. The view from his narrow veranda was truly spectacular. It became dark and the hills lit up with lights sparkling everywhere, down in the valley and above in the sky.

Lastly, we went to a house near Chamba on the new road to Uttarkashi to visit the widow of one more former help. My friend was all praise for this man who was with his family over 40 years ago in Kolkata, when my friend was still in school. Once, he went home to Chamba for a holiday. While there, he started working for daily wages on road construction. After a few days a rock fell on him and he died on the spot.

His wife was young, his only son barely two years old and physically slightly handicapped. Now his wife was in her sixties and lived with her daughter in law and three grandsons in the village and her son worked in a restaurant in Ludhiana over 200 km away.

When we reached the simple house made from mud and wood, she had just come back from Ludhiana after a check-up in a hospital. Her health is not good. She has water in her lungs. Yet her nature was very sweet and loving. It was a pleasure to be with her, her bahu and the grandchildren in the small room, which had a garlanded photo of her husband on the wall.

Their belongings were stashed away in trunks and boxes, quilts were neatly folded, and only school books were piled up on a trunk. Though she must have been tired from the long journey, apart from being ill, she enquired about everyone she knew from that time, while her grandsons were leaning on her. Her hard life has made her into a beautiful person.

I once again realized that it is neither status nor money that ultimately counts. Important is how one takes the experiences in one’s life; whether one can accept them or not; whether one has trust and faith in life or not; whether one feels support from within or not and whether one can ultimately let go of one’s life when the time comes.

While walking up to the road two young men passed us on the narrow track. “Hi!” one of them said in a tone that one hears occasionally in cities, yet it sounded odd in the village. “Where are you from?” he asked further. “Germany”, I replied. “Oh, I worked for 3 years in a restaurant in Munich”, he surprised me in German.

Driving back to Mussoorie several jackals got trapped in the light beam of our jeep. We stopped in the silent night and admired the vast expanse of flickering lights down in the valley which was Dehradun.

What a rich, inspiring day it was! I had been allowed a glimpse into different lives which are side by side on our beautiful earth. Each person is the centre of a unique, private world that depends heavily, if not fully, on the mind. The outer circumstances may be determined to a great extent. Yet the option to be at peace with one’s life seems to be open to everyone.

About the Author

Maria Wirth is a German who came to India on a stopover on her way to Australia after finishing her psychology studies at Hamburg University. She visited the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in April 1980 where she met Sri Anandamayi Ma and Devaraha Baba, two renowned saints. With their blessing she continued to live in India and never went to Australia.

She dived into India’s spiritual tradition, sharing her insights with German readers through articles and books. For a long time, she was convinced that every Indian knows and treasures his great heritage. However, when in recent years, she noticed that there seemed to be a concerted effort to prevent even Indians and the world from knowing how valuable this ancient Indian heritage is, she started to point out the unique value of Indian tradition also in English language and shared them on her blog. She also wrote the book Thank you India – a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga.

By Maria Wirth

This question is natural for any human being and is asked in every generation by many of the youth. I remember it troubled me a lot when I was young.

I don’t think I could have found the answer on my own because some basic philosophical knowledge about us and the universe is needed, but luckily I landed in India and was even luckier to become familiar with India’s profound wisdom. This philosophical knowledge is contained in the Vedas and has painstakingly been memorized by Indian Brahmins and handed down to us over many millennia.

One could call the Vedic mantras a “revelation” because the ancient Rishis clearly stated that they are apaurusheya, which means that they are not created by humans. This revelation, however, is not comparable with the so-called revelations of Christianity and Islam because it is not about a claim which can never be verified and which does not conform to common sense, like the claim, “if you don’t believe that this book contains the full truth you burn in hell forever.”

In contrast, the knowledge in the Vedas makes sense, and part of it has already been validated by modern scientists. In fact, Veda means knowledge in Sanskrit (from vid) or science in Latin.

Vedas say that in absolute truth there is only consciousness (called Brahman) and though unimaginable, it is described as truth-consciousness-bliss, Satchitananda in Sanskrit. From that eternal, infinite, blissful, conscious ‘void’, the world of forms and names appears, like plenty of bubbles and waves appearing on the ocean. Their forms are temporary; the ocean is eternal. Nothing is lost when the forms are lost. And ultimately, even during their existence as forms, the bubbles and waves are nothing but the ocean.

Similarly, claims Indian wisdom, the forms in this universe are in essence nothing but consciousness. There are myriads of forms in different realms – visible and invisible to our eyes. Devas (usually translated as gods) are also forms, invisible to our eyes and far more powerful and long-lived, but they are not the absolute reality. Unmanifested Oneness is the Absolute, Brahman.

Science also came to the conclusion that ultimately all is one, nothing can be separated, and all is interconnected, but they have not yet acknowledged the ‘conscious’ aspect. Scientists call this oneness “energy” and assume it is dead and insentient, and they mistake the consciousness of the scientist as some chance happening.

Now this claim that all is blissful consciousness means that Brahman must be also in us. And indeed, the Upanishad declares “Aham Brahmasmi” (I am Brahman). If this is true, then it must be verifiable.

Indeed, the Rishis claim, you can know that you are not a small person in a big world, but that you are one with Brahman.

They give many tips on how to go about discovering this truth.

And here we have the meaning of life: discover who you really are. You are not what you think you are, but you are one with all. When you discover it, you won’t run any longer after happiness in the world. You have discovered the ocean of bliss within you.

“Know Thyself” was also encouraged in ancient Greece and probably in all ancient cultures which unfortunately have all been destroyed. Only the Indian culture is still alive and still has true wisdom preserved, though it was also greatly damaged by Christianity and Islam, which want to make man forget his innate divinity.

These two religions, which require blind belief, claim to be about the spiritual well-being of humanity. In fact, it may be just the opposite: over the last almost 2000 years, they cut off humanity from the source of spiritual well-being which can be found only in one’s union with the Divine Existence.

philosophical knowledge

Vedas

Vedic mantras

ancient Rishis

revelations of Christianity and Islam

apaurusheya

Veda means knowledge in Sanskrit

science in Latin

truth-consciousness-bliss

Satchitananda in Sanskrit

Aham Brahmasmi

ancient Greece

Indian culture

Divine Existence

Sanatana Dharma is so vast; it has so many aspects. How to put it briefly? Let me try.

Sanatana means eternal and Dharm is difficult to translate. It means: to do what is right in a given situation, to do one’s duty.

How to know what is right? Our conscience tells us in most cases what is right. The human being is equipped with a moral barometer which gives the right direction. Only in some cases, there may be a genuine doubt. In those cases, texts like the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana or Dharma Shastras can prove helpful, or the advice of a trusted guru.

But, is the main thing in life to be an honest, upright, compassionate human being?

It is probably the most important part, because only on this basis, the other important aspect of Sanatana Dharm can be understood. Being honest and following one’s conscience makes one susceptible to finer layers of awareness, and such refinement is needed to understand the truth.

And the truth about us and the universe is the other very important aspect of Sanatana Dharma. The Vedas, Upanishads and innumerable other ancient texts contain wisdom which a human being cannot easily discover. This wisdom was “seen” by the Rishis and has never been proven wrong.

The main point of this wisdom is: you are not what you think you are, but you are one with everything. In other words: You are not a small person in a big world but your Essence is the one blissful Awareness which is the basis of the universe and beyond – SatChitAnanda. Or again in other words: your person is like a wave on the infinite ocean. In essence the wave is nothing but the ocean.

From this claim (that we are not a small person in a big world) follows naturally that the goal of life is to realize this Oneness, to “know” it as clearly as true as one now knows that one is a human being and not a dog.

Plenty of tips are given how to discover this Oneness. Probably the best guide is the Bhagavad Gita, which explains in detail Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga. Jnana means to approach unity (Yog) by reflecting deeply on the truth, Bhakti by devotion and surrender to that great Intelligence and its divine forms, and Karma by dedicating one’s actions and leaving their result to that great Intelligence.

There are many more helpful means, like poojas, mantras, meditation, pranayama, yog asanas, temple visits, vegetarianism, etc.

It follows that Sanatana Dharma fosters good humans who are aware that SatChitAnanda is within them and in all others, including in animals and nature. It gives them inner strength, and it makes them kind to other living beings and respectful to nature. It’s the ideal basis for society.

Now in comparison, Christianity and Islam, both of which claim to be the only true religion, do not foster universal goodness in humans, and also do not have the wisdom about the Oneness of all.

Both religions demand that the doctrine of their religion must overrule one’s innate knowledge of good and bad. The most important claim of their doctrine is that the Highest loves only the followers of their respective religion. Therefore, Muslims and Christians are taught from childhood that non-Muslims, respectively non-Christians, are inferior and will be rejected by the one Almighty. Their goal of life is to make the world free of those unbelievers either by pushing conversion or even by killing to please their God/ Allah.

And to hide that they have no proof whatsoever for their strange beliefs, they keep attacking Hindus as superstitious, caste-ridden, etc. to put them on the defensive and prevent them from exposing them.

Fortunately, Hindus are waking up and see through their game. And even several converted Indian Christians and Muslims wake up and realize that the almighty Creator cannot possibly be such a terrible tyrant, who enjoys making billions of people suffer for all eternity in hellfire

About the Author

Maria Wirth is a German who came to India on a stop over on her way to Australia after finishing her psychology studies at Hamburg University. She visited the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in April 1980 where she met Sri Anandamayi Ma and Devaraha Baba, two renowned saints. With their blessing she continued to live in India and never went to Australia.

She dived into India’s spiritual tradition, sharing her insights with German readers through articles and books. For long, she was convinced that every Indian knows and treasures his great heritage. However, when in recent years, she noticed that there seemed to be a concerted effort to prevent even Indians and the world from knowing how valuable this ancient Indian heritage is, she started to point out the unique value of Indian tradition also in English language and shared them on her blog. She also wrote the book Thank you India – a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga.

Sanatana Dharma

Maria Wirth

Bhagavad Gita

the Ramayana

Dharma Shastras

The Vedas

Upanishads

Bhakti Yoga

Karma Yoga, poojas

mantras

meditation

pranayama/h2>

yog asanas

temple visits

vegetarianism

Christianity

Islam

It hardly ever happened in recent times that I read a book from cover to cover within a few days, due to the huge daily influx of information via the internet. But it happened after I received From the Beginning of Time – Modern Science and the Puranas by Ganesh Swaminathan.

The Puranas fascinate me ever since I started many months ago to study the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana (1700 pages in English), and I am glad that more and more books come out on the Puranas. It seems that slowly the realization dawns that the Puranas are an incredible treasure house of knowledge in many fields – knowledge that is so vast and a lot of it so ‘far out’ that it actually couldn’t be obtained by mere humans stationed on earth. Strangely the impression was created (by whom?) that the Puranas are only mythological stories, about fights between gods and demons and about the life of Avatars. And they are mainly meant to promote a dharmic, righteous life and devotion for the Divine in common people through stories, as Vedic philosophy is too complex for them. At least that was the impression I got in my early time in India.

It is often not known that all the 18 main Puranas start with the creation of the cosmos, a fact, that should make us sit up and reflect. Who could have recorded it? Who was present? Or is it just all plain imagination, like the fairytale that God created the world in 6 days some 6000 years ago, which has been disproven by now, as science estimates that the world is 4,5 billion years old.

Ganesh Swaminathan puts the spotlight on the rational aspects or interpretations of the Puranic stories of creation. He wants to show that those stories are not fairytales but amazingly in tune with the modern scientific framework in regard to the topics he selected. The topics include: the lifecycle of the sun, the moon, the history and geography of the earth, and the different lokas above and below our earth. Further, the descent of Ganga, the story about the Great Flood in different cultures and the Puranic universe in general with its huge timelines have also chapters in the book with many quotes from different Puranas. Those quotes make the book a worthy read in itself.

The author gives first a detailed, informative summary of the insights of modern science regarding these topics, for example from postulated or observed astronomical phenomena and events, and then compares them with the stories in the Puranas and his interpretation.

Not surprisingly, in many instances, the scientific and Puranic views are close to each other, for example the five stages of the life cycle of the sun or that water came from outer space, or that the moon rises each day next to another star (nakshatra), etc. In other instances, the interpretation of the author can be open for debate, for example his view that the North Pole could be seen as Mount Meru.

The author expresses his surprise how such old texts, like the Puranas, could know what modern science knows. However, it may be more surprising how science could discover this knowledge. The book starts with a quote from the Brahmanda Purana:

“Hence listen to this summary. Narayana creates the world. It is on that occasion of creation when he makes this entire Purana. It does not remain at the time of annihilation.”

We live in a time where “divine creation” is looked down upon as unscientific. We take it for granted that “of course” science knows that our earth is part of the solar system, and that we know the other planets, and can trace their position. Google says that the “five planets were known since ancient times”. And it is made to look as if it is not a big deal that the ancients knew about the planets. “They can be seen with the naked eye, and are given as explanation.”

But how to know that certain lights in the night sky full of lights are planets of our sun and relatively close by? While other lights are like our sun and far, far away? Even if we watch the sky for thousands of years, we cannot come to this conclusion, can we? Only when Indian knowledge contained in the Puranas, Surya Siddhanta, etc., reached Europe, together with math and tables to calculate their position and the constellations in the sky, “science” suddenly took off and models about the cosmos appeared. At first these models were hampered by the Church. It tried to suppress them to make its religious claims more acceptable. Only 400 years ago, in 1600 CE Giordano Bruno was still burnt at the stake by the Church because he did not recant heretic (Indian) ideas about the universe. But ultimately, the Church had to give in.

Swaminathan credits science with a lot of worthwhile insights, but he also points out that the scientific claims are so far only models. For example the theory that the earth was in the beginning a fireball got in recent time competition from another theory which suspects that the earth was in temperate water, after probes from 4 billion year old stones indicated this.

Incidentally, the Puranas accommodate both these claims. They say that at the end of Brahma’s day, the earth first becomes an inferno due to the sun becoming a giant and then, when the sun diminishes and cools, the heat turns into a deluge of water which submerges everything during the night of Brahma. Most Indians are familiar with the story of Vishnu incarnating as a boar to bring out the earth which was lying submerged in water at the start of our present cycle of creation, which lasts for a day of Brahma, or 4,32 billion years.

The book is definitely an interesting read. However, in the process of making the Puranic narrative “scientific” the universe becomes lifeless, whereas the quotes from the Puranas project a universe full of life and divine entities. While the Puranas give Brahma the credit for creation, science turns it into dark, lifeless chance. Would the creation make any sense if there is no awareness inherent in it? Science still sees the awareness in human beings only as a chance by-product of the material brain. Is it possible that this chance consciousness of humans on earth and maybe on some other planets would be the only knower and enjoyer of such an unimaginably vast, mysterious cosmos while everything else is dead matter?

I wished the author had incorporated the imperative role of awareness and even the possible personification of celestial bodies into the narrative. For example, most Indians don’t see Surya Bhagawan as merely lifeless matter but endowed with awareness and identity. Unfortunately, it requires courage to express such views, as so-called scientists may call one mad. Yet Hindus could have this courage. Their ancient texts are the basis for modern science. In all likelihood, it won’t take long and Darwin’s theory and the view that the Big Bang happened by chance will go out of fashion. So why not challenge it already now and stand by the ancient knowledge before the West changes its view?

Regarding the divine origin of the Puranas, the author preferred to let the text speak for itself. Yet to make it acceptable for “scientific minded” people, he went with the view that they are “2000 years old.”

The last chapter is dedicated to the life and immense contribution of Maharishi Vyasa, who not only compiled and simplified the Vedas, but also simplified the Puranas, which were at his time already “old.” The author quotes from the Matsya Purana that the original 100 crore Slokas were condensed by Vyasa into four lakh Slokas. Even now in Devaloka they have the original number.

What I was missing in the book was a causal connection between the Puranas and the scientific models. The similarities are in all likelihood not by chance but the Puranas would have been inspiration for the modern scientific models.

Incidentally, the Jesuits got the Puranas translated in the 17th century by Brahmins in Kerala and then Jesuits were suddenly at the cutting edge of science, of course only in those fields which the Church allowed. Western universities valued Indian knowledge greatly in the 18th and 19th century. When Tuebingen University in Germany for example received the Srimad Bhagavata and 10 other ancient Indian texts from a missionary in 1839, the Dean praised them as an ornament for the university and added ruefully that this treasure however is small in comparison to the treasure which the India House in London possesses. So it can be safely assumed that a lot of modern science is based on the knowledge of the huge body of Puranas.

Some of it may have been misunderstood, too. For example, it is intriguing that, though till recently the earth was claimed to be 6000 years old, suddenly the age was expanded to a huge 4,5 billion years. Incidentally, the Puranas claim that the lifespan of the earth is 4,32 billion years, which is very close to the estimate. However, the Puranic calendar claims that of those 4,32 billion years, by now around 2 billion years have passed in our present cycle of creation or about half a day of Brahma. Is it possible that some western scientist took inspiration from the Puranas but mixed up the lifespan with the present age?

I hope and wish that this book by Ganesh Swaminathan inspires more Indians to take interest in and study the Puranas.

About the Author
Maria Wirth is a German who came to India on a stop over on her way to Australia after finishing her psychology studies at Hamburg University. She visited the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in April 1980 where she met Sri Anandamayi Ma and Devaraha Baba, two renowned saints. With their blessing she continued to live in India and never went to Australia.

She dived into India’s spiritual tradition, sharing her insights with German readers through articles and books. For long, she was convinced that every Indian knows and treasures his great heritage. However, when in recent years, she noticed that there seemed to be a concerted effort to prevent even Indians and the world from knowing how valuable this ancient Indian heritage is, she started to point out the unique value of Indian tradition also in English language and shared them on her blog. She also wrote the book Thank you India – a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga.

From the Beginning of Time

Maria Wirth

Modern Science

the Puranas by Ganesh Swaminathan

Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana

Vedic philosophy

18 main Puranas

modern science

scientific minded

Tuebingen University in Germany

By Maria Wirth

Europeans have a horrifying record regarding human rights violations. Germany is well known for an unprecedented, systematic holocaust of Jews and gypsies right in the middle of Europe only 80 years ago. Yet Britain, France, Portugal and others were as brutal with equal or even higher numbers of humans killed in their colonies. Their victims count many millions and many of them were Indians.

The Arabs, Turks and Mongols, too, have a horrifying record regarding human rights. The number of victims killed also goes into many millions, and many of them were Indians.

The Muslims invaded India already over a thousand years ago and were as brutal as ISIS in our times. Unspeakable torture and beheadings were done on massive scale. Even the supposedly benign “Akbar the Great” slaughtered Hindus in huge numbers. The collective sacred threads of the Brahmins massacred by him is said to have weighed 200 kilogram. Can one even imagine such incredible injustice and brutality to civilians and priests? Thousands of temples were destroyed. Hindu women were sold into sex slavery. Hindus even had to open their mouth and receive gratefully the spittle by Muslims sitting on horses, and slaughtering cows was seen as “noblest deed” because it was so painful for Hindus, as recounted in “Legacy of Jihad” by Andrew Bostom.

The brutality experienced by Hindus was so horrendous that, even in independent India, they hardly dare to complain when they are subjected to cruel discrimination. It is painful to read comments whenever Hindus are killed or raped by Muslims: “This won’t make news, as the victim is only a Hindu”. It is so sad, but understandable after what they have gone through for over a thousand years. They had no way to get justice; had to bear their suffering silently.

Guru Nanak cried out to the Supreme, and it is part of the Grant Sahib, “Having lifted Islam to its head, You have engulfed Hindustan in dread… Such cruelties they have inflicted and yet Your mercy remains unmoved….Oh Lord, these dogs have destroyed the diamond-like Hindustan.”

The British colonial masters were not less brutal. Their disdain for the natives was incredible. Winston Churchill is on record saying that he “hated Indians” and considered them a “beastly people with a beastly religion”. Celebrities like Charles Dickens wanted the Indian race ‘exterminated’ and considered them vile savages and Max Mueller wanted them all converted to Christianity.

Britain looted and reduced the formerly wealthiest country of the world to painful poverty, where during their rule over 25 million people starved to death, 3 million as late as in 1943 in Bengal.

The crimes of the British colonialists are, like those of the Muslim invaders, too numerous to list. They tied Indians to the mouth of canons and blew them up, hanged scores of them on trees, and even just after over one million Indian soldiers had helped Britain to be victorious in the First World War with many thousands sacrificing their lives, General Dyer gave orders to shoot at a peaceful gathering in Amritsar in 1919 where thousands died. An old coffee planter in Kodagu told me that even in the early 1950s there was a board in front of the club house in Madikeri. It read: “Dogs and Indians not allowed”.

Can anyone imagine the pain those Indian generations went through, having arrogant, often uncouth ruffians looting their land and despising them as dogs?

How could Europeans and Arabs be so cruel to other human beings? The reason is that they saw themselves as superior and others not quite as human.

Religion played a big role in making them feel superior. Both Christianity and Islam teach their members that only their religion is true and that the Creator will reward them with eternal heaven, but will severely punish all those who do not follow their ‘true’ religion. If God himself will torture them eternally in hellfire, why should his followers be good to them? Wouldn’t it mean siding with God’s enemies and betraying Him?

But on what basis do they consider only their religion as true and themselves as superior? The reason is that the respective founder of their religion allegedly said so. No other reason exists and no proof. On this flimsy basis, Christians and Muslims treated other human beings most inhumanly, believing they are destined for hell while they themselves are God’s favorites and will go to heaven. This brainwashing in the name of religion happens even in our times and its effect is still not questioned and analysed.

Yet today, neither white Christians, nor Arab or Turkish Muslims are constantly reminded of those terrible crimes of their forefathers. “The present generation must not be held accountable for the sins of their fathers”, is however not applied to Hindus and especially not to Brahmins. Media keeps hitting out at them as if they had been the worst violators of human rights in the past. Hinduism is portrayed as the villain due to the “horrific and oppressive” caste system.

Anyone, who knows a little about history, knows that this is false and malicious. The structure of Hindu society into four varnas or categories is mentioned in the Vedas and depends on one’s aptitude and profession – Brahmins, who memorise and teach the Vedas, Kshatriyas, who administer and defend society, Vaishyas who supply the society with goods and Shudras, who are the service sector. The varnas are not fixed by birth in texts like Bhagavad Gita or Manusmriti. But the British themselves cemented ‘castes’ (a Portuguese word) in their census and then turned around and accused Hindus of their birth-based, fixed caste system.

There was however one more category which the whole world has been told about and which is used to the hilt to despise Hinduism. They were the untouchables who do unclean work, like handling dead animals, cleaning sewers, etc. The fact that other varnas avoided touching them is still made a huge issue of in the West. In fact it is portrayed, as if this practice made Hindus the greatest violators of human rights and makes the millions tortured and killed by Christians and Muslims pale in comparison.

Yet there is no proof that even one of those untouchables has been killed for doing unclean work. Higher castes may indeed have looked down or still look down on those whose job involves dirt, which is unfortunately a human trait in all societies. It has nothing to do with Hinduism. Most people are aware that such work also needs to be done.

There is in all likelihood another angle regarding “untouchability”, which the British did not realize: Ayurveda knew already 3000 years ago that invisible germs can cause serious illness and those dealing with cadavers and dirt are more likely to carry and spread those. However, the British didn’t know about this fact till only some 150 years ago, when Louis Pasteur claimed that germs cause sickness. (By the way, Google describes this discovery as “crowning achievement of the French scientist”, and avoids mentioning India’s ancient Ayurveda).

Now in today’s time of “social distancing” due to the Corona Virus, we know that not touching others is a precaution to prevent potential infection and has nothing to do with discrimination. The British could have given Hindus the benefit of doubt that they avoided physical contact with certain people due to caution. But since the British didn’t have the advanced knowledge about harmful germs they could not see the possible reason behind it.

Since Independence, the caste system is officially abolished and discrimination against lower castes is a non-bailable offense. Yet the West still makes a huge issue of the caste system and untouchables. Why? Was this the greatest crime the British could find against the “natives” and therefore exaggerated it tremendously?

This is not to say that people of higher castes didn’t or don’t look down on lower castes, but the demonization of Brahmins is most unwarranted, as Brahmins are least likely to harbour hatred for others due to their strict rules for sadhana which requires them to keep a very high standard of mental and physical purity. Yet evangelicals, NGOs, international media, Muslim organisations, they all are after them and Hindus in general. They attack them for “atrocities” which never even happened, while the unspeakable atrocities, which were perpetrated upon them, are ignored. It’s a classic case of noticing the speck in the brother’s eye, but not the beam of wood in one’s own eye.

They got away with it for too long, because Hindus didn’t react. The meekness of Hindus was legendary. They were even called cowards. Yet in recent time, Hindus are becoming more assertive. They realize that the constant attacks on them are malicious, and that they are being fooled in the name of secularism because neither Christians nor Muslims can be secular. They are by nature communal because they need to make their community spread all over the world.

It is time to call out this blatant insincerity. When a head of state, like Imran Khan, accuses the Modi government in a tweet of “moving towards Hindu Rashtra with its Hindutva Supremacist, fascist ideology”, he better looks at his own country and his own ideology. A Hindu Rashtra with its inclusiveness and freedom are any time better than the exclusive, supremacist ideologies of Islam and Christianity, which force human beings into a strait-jacket of blind belief and several Muslim states threaten even today those who want to get out with death sentence.

About Maria Wirth

Maria Wirth is a German who stopped in India (that’s at least what she thought) on her way to Australia after finishing her psychology studies at Hamburg University. She visited the Ardha Kumbha Mela in Haridwar in April 1980 where she met Sri Anandamayi Ma and Devaraha Baba, two renowned saints. With their blessing she continued to live in India and never went to Australia.

She dove into India’s spiritual tradition, sharing her insights with German readers through articles and books. For long, she was convinced that every Indian knows and treasures his great heritage. However, in recent years she noticed that there seemed to be a concerted effort to prevent even Indians (and the world) from knowing how valuable this ancient Indian heritage, so she began to point out the unique value of Indian tradition also in the English language and shared them via a blog.

She is also the author of the book Thank you India – a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga.

human rights violations

unprecedented

systematic holocaust of Jews

gypsies

Britain

France

Portugal

Arabs

Turks

Mongols

Akbar the Great

Brahmins massacred

sex slavery

Legacy of Jihad

Andrew Bostom

independent India

Guru Nanak

hated Indians

Charles Dickens

Christianity

crimes of the British colonialists

coffee planter in Kodagu

club house in Madikeri

Dogs and Indians not allowed

ruffians

social distancing

Corona Virus

Ardha Kumbha Mela in Haridwar

Devaraha Baba

Australia

a German woman’s journey to the wisdom of yoga

There is no other country where basic questions crop up as quickly as in India,” a young Spanish woman recently told me. I fully agreed with her, as it reminded me of my early time in India some 30 years ago. One basic question then was about love. In the west, love refers mainly to the attraction between the sexes. Falling in love is considered highly attractive especially among youngsters and causes envy in those who are not in love. And whether one is in love seems to depend on whether one met Mister or Miss Right. However, experience shows that even though one thought one has found the right person, the emotional high usually wears off and what one had considered as eternal love sometimes turns not only into disappointment, but even into hate. The conclusion usually is that it was the wrong person, and one is again on the lookout for the right one. There is probably no other issue in the west that causes so much emotional pain among people as so called ‘romantic love.’ I wondered whether the western approach is immature and whether India has a more mature approach to love.

An analogy is used for illustration: The wave (individual) is one with the ocean (the Whole, God). If the wave fixes its gaze only at other waves, chooses some to give its love to and to receive their love, then this love is narrow, small minded and definitely not as eternal as the wave may dream it is. Eternal is only its oneness with the ocean. The ocean is the essence of all the waves, and the wave is anyway for ever one with it. The ocean is its great love, even if the wave doesn’t know it. As long as the wave considers itself to be simply a wave, unconnected with the ocean, and doesn’t even see the ocean because of all those other waves, it suffers from the illusion, that it is lacking in love and that it has to look for it among the other waves.

“Don’t get caught up in the illusion,” advised Ramana Maharshi, the sage from Tiruvann-amalai. “The senses are deceiving you. There is only the One behind all names and forms, whether they are beautiful or ugly. Think of the projection of a film. The different persons are fascinating, but they don’t have any substance in themselves. Substance has only the screen, on which they appear. This screen stands for the one consciousness.”

I knew not only intellectually that there is a whole behind the multiplicity – a fact that nowadays nobody can question thanks to the findings of modern science. Therefore I also knew that the Indian sages are right when they claim that only love for God can really and permanently fulfill, because He alone truly is.

However, it was one thing to understand this, and another to live accordingly. When I honestly looked into myself, I had to admit that my love for God was not very great. I certainly wouldn’t have called it ‘true love’. Moreover, I could not imagine how I could deeply love the One that is not accessibly to the senses. I felt there need to be at least eyes into which I could look. “Let me learn to love you”, I prayed. The second prayer which logically had to follow was more difficult: “Let me not fall in love again, but let me love all equally.”

I tried to resign myself that I would have to manage now with a kind of ‘medium’ love for everyone for the rest of my life without any highlights. I didn’t quite believe that the whole screen could become my ‘great love’. The One was so incomprehensible, without any substance, like air. But if I wanted to live with integrity I had to put it in the first place.

By thinking such thoughts I had moved far from normal western thinking, however in regard to India, I was moving towards normal thinking, because here, the majority still considers it normal and important, to develop love for God. After all, life is meant to realise the truth and there are mainly two methods recommended:

– Jnana – knowledge or wisdom. In jnana the main point is to be aware of the one limitless being, to identify with it and to deny the truth of the manifold appearances radically and continually. This path is more difficult, says Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita.

– Bhakti – devotion. The main point here is to develop love for God, and to dissolve in it. In both cases the goal is the disappearance of the ego. The bhakti path is easier, says Sri Krishna. And as the human being needs something tangible to love, he suggests to Arjuna: “love me”. Or love Rama, Shiva, the divine Mother and so on. One has the choice of many personalities with the noblest qualities – as a helpful means.

People hear it from childhood: bhakti fulfils. There are many stories of saints who were mad with love. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a professor of logic, who lived some 500 years ago, is an example. He finally left all logic aside and moved through the streets singing and dancing, always the name of Krishna on his lips. “A-chinta” he supposedly said when he left the university. He is the founder of the Hare Krishna movement.

Of course, not all Indians strive for bhakti, because the attractions of the world are strong also in India. But in contrast to their western contemporaries, Indians usually don’t (wrongly) expect heaven on earth from romantic love. Here, love is not taken to be the opposite of hate, but as our basic nature. Therefore, they don’t give so much importance to falling in love, but rather to developing love in their relationships. Compared to them, our western attitude seems like kindergarten – where sexual attraction is considered as the highest of all possible human states, where ‘making’ love scores over ‘feeling’ love, where ‘love for the neighbour’ is delegated to charity organisations and where love for God has no place. I did not doubt that westerners, too, sincerely want to love. But I felt that we are lacking in wisdom and therefore experience so much disappointment. In India, people have not yet completely thrown out their ancient tradition and the wisdom contained in it, even though many are eagerly doing it. Yet many Indians are still well rooted in life. They still know where they have to look for happiness and love – in themselves …

India I learnt that the dream of eternal love is not unrealistic. In fact, love is so close, so real that it is quite amazing that it is not felt. It is not outside, but deep inside, intimately connected with one’s own being.

About the Author

Maria Wirth is a German who went to India for a holiday after finishing her psychology studies at Hamburg University. She visited the Ardha Kumbha Mela in Haridwar in April 1980 where she met Sri Anandamayi Ma and Devaraha Baba, two renowned saints. With their blessing, she continued to live in India and dove into India’s spiritual tradition, sharing her insights with German readers through articles and books. For long, she was convinced that every Indian knows and treasures his great heritage. However, recently she noticed there seemed to be a concerted effort to prevent Indians (and the world) from knowing how valuable this ancient Indian heritage is, she started to point out the unique value of Indian tradition. Learn more about India and Hinduism through her blog: http://www.mariawirthblog.wordpress.com/