The Arya Samaj and Monotheism . Is there a Vedic monotheism? The occasion for this paper on monotheism and its presence or absence in Hinduism is an upsurge in the Arya Samaj’s long-standing campaign to convince Hindus of the superiority and Vedic basis of monotheism. Founded in 1875, the Ârya Samâj, in effect “Society of Vedicists”, was a trail-blazer of Hindu revivalism and anti-colonial nationalism until Independence. It worked bravely for the reconversion of Indian Muslims, the only humane solution to India’s communal problem. Some of its spokesmen gave their lives for speaking out on Islam, most notably Pandit Lekhram in 1897 and Swami Shraddahananda (co-founder of the Hindu Mahasabha) in 1926. The Arya Samaj also led the way in the abolition of caste discrimination and the acceptance of widow remarriage, both as a matter of Vedic principle and in order to free Hindu society of its weaknesses which its enemies were exploiting to their advantage.

Unfortunately, in its opposition to the predatory religions of Islam and Christianity, it interiorized some of their beliefs and attitudes. Foremost among these was the assumption that monotheism, the belief in a single God annex the condemnation of all worship offered to any being but Him, is the supreme form of religion. Hence, the Arya Samaj decreed that the Vedic religion had always been monotheistic, so that Islamic and Christian missionaries had nothing to teach the Vedicists about the true religion of the One God. If Hinduism now seemed like the polytheistic religion par excellence, this was partly due to post-Vedic degenerative developments and partly to textual misinterpretation of the seemingly numerous god-names in the Vedas. In reality, or so the Arya Samaj claimed, these many gods were only different faces of the One God.Until Independence (completed by the struggle against the Nizam of Hyderabad for Hyderabad’s accesion to the Indian Union in 1948, in which the later Arya Samaj president Vandematharam Ramachandra Rao took a leadership role), this monotheistic

reinterpretation of the Vedas could be excused as a tactical device useful in the Arya Samaj’s main struggle, viz. against the predatory monotheistic religions. Ever since, however, and especially in the recentmost decades, the Arya Samaj seems to have forgotten its original mission, and is now turning the bulk of its polemics against fellow Hindus who have not embraced this monotheistic reading of the Vedas. In effect, the Arya Samaj has become Christianity’s and Islam’s first line of attack against Hindu polytheism.

As an organization, the Arya Samaj is no longer very powerful or important, but its message has spread far and wide in educated Hindu society. The same is even more true of a similar movement, the Brahmo Samaj (°1825), a flagbearer of the Bengal renaissance which tried to translate Hinduism into rational-sounding concepts acceptable to the British colonizers and the first circles of anglicized Hindus. Whereas the Arya Samaj embraced a Christian-like religious theism, the Brahmo Samaj tended more towards a modern Enlightenment-inspired deism, i.e. the philosophical acceptance of a distant cosmic intelligence rather than a personal God biddable by human imprecations and sacrifices. But like the Aryas, the Brahmos rejected Hindu polytheism as a degenerate aberration from the true Vedic spirit.

In the course of the 20th century, the Arya and Brahmo views of Hindu tradition have become mainstream among English-speaking Hindus. Many introductory textbooks on Hinduism used in India, and most of those used in NRI-PIO circles, deny Hindu polytheism and insist that the many Hindu gods are merely faces of the One God. Thus, among the textbook edits proposed by two Hindu foundations that triggered the California textbook controversy of 2005-2009, a prominent one was the replacement of “gods” with “God”.Before entering the specifics of the monotheism argument, let us say beforehand that we don’t believe the contents of this argument have been decisive in the Arya Samaj’s prioritizing the struggle against polytheism nor in its abandonment of its original alertness against Islamic and Christian aggression. On both issues, the organization is simply riding with the tide. Now that Nehruvian “secularism” has become the norm, it is just not done to criticize Christianity or Islam (except by the brave) or to describe their conversion offensive as a problem. The Arya Samaj has abandoned its own raison d’être. We may not be able to counter anyone’s opportunistic reasons for being on the safe side of an existing trend; but we are in a position to refute the theological justification which the Arya Samaj proclaims for its adoption of “Vedic monotheism”.

1. The dawn of monotheism
Monotheism is not merely the cult of a single god, which would be called henotheism, but also implies the active rejection of all other gods. The recipient of monotheistic worship is notHeis Theos, “one god”, but Ho Monos Theos, “the only god”. Thus, Hindus worshipping an ishta devata, “chosen deity”, selected from among many, are henotheists but not monotheists. A Hindu who never worships any god except Shiva, but doesn’t object to his neighbour’s worshipping Krishna or Durga, fails the test of monotheism.

1.1. Akhenaten’s solar Monotheism
At the present state of knowledge, the first recorded monotheist was Pharaoh Akhenaten or Ekhnaton (r. 1351-1334 BC).  He not only worshipped a single god, the solar disc Aten, but also tried to terminate the worship of other gods, starting with the removal of Amon from his own original name Amenhotep (“Amon is satisfied”), which he replaced with Akhen-Aten (“Living spirit of Aten”). Later, his son would make the reverse movement, changing his own name from Tut-ankh-Aten (“Living image of Aten”) to Tut-ankh-Amon. Akhenaten’s monotheism didn’t survive him for long because it went against the grain of Egyptian culture and sensibilities.

Perhaps he could have made people accept his religion sincerely if he had at least combined it with political successes and prosperity. In his own new capital Akhet-Aten (“Horizon of the Aten”, Amarna) he concentrated a community of followers that enjoyed privileges provided for from the state treasury, which means the rest of the people had to subsidize his socio-religious experiment. His foreign policy was a disaster, he neglected diplomacy and military fortifications and thus greatly weakened his empire. After his death, the Egyptians tried to quickly forget him.

Akhenaten’s present popularity, attested by his enormous overrepresentation in textbooks on ancient Egypt, is a consequence of the plentiful and innovative artworks depicting him, his chief wife Nefertiti and his Aten cult; and mostly of his monotheism, deemed uniquely meritorious. Since Moses, the founder of Israelite monotheism, lived in Egypt about a generation after Akhenaten, it is widely assumed the Pharaoh influenced the Prophet.

1.2. Moses’ monotheism
Moses found his One God when he was living in the desert as a guest of Jethro, the priest of the Beduins of Midian (Exodus 2:15 ff.), a region in the northwestern corner of Arabia where he had fled to as a fugitive from Egyptian criminal justice, wanted for manslaughter. He experienced an audio-visual sensation while looking into a burning bush, a desert plant from which an ethereal oil evaporates that catches fire in the noontime heat. A voice told him to take off his shoes as he was standing on hallowed ground, i.e. in the presence of a divine being. The god, when asked by Moses for his name, introduced himself as “I am that I am” (eheyeh asher eheyeh). Biblically, this is understood as a hint at the name Yahweh, interpreted through approximative folk etymology as “the Being One”, “the One Who Is”; or by later exegetes with airs of profundity, as “the One Whose Essence is Being”.

In fact, as the great Orientalist Julius Wellhausen has shown, the name Yahweh is Arabic (its root is attested in the Quran) and means “the Blower”, apparently the Beduin god of wind and storm. Egypt’s Nile Valley has an extremely stable climate with endless sunshine, but the desert is subjected to sand storms, hence the logic of Moses’ replacing the Pharaoh’s sun god with a storm god.

After having fallen from grace in Egypt, Moses fashioned himself a new career as the national leader of the Semitic immigrant population in Egypt, which he led away to Palestine. Along the way, in the wilderness of Sinai, he staged a show with smoke and trumpets and had the gullible people believe that he had seen God on the mountain and received the Ten Commandments from Him. These consist of two unrelated parts. The second part is age-old general morality of the “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not commit adultery” type. Of course people don’t need a divine revelation to know that societies couldn’t function for long without such a set of basic rules. Other nations didn’t bring God in and called these rules the mos maiorum, “the ancestral customs”. In this case, however, they were tagged on as a second half to the first set of commandments, which by contrast went completely against the tradition. Rendered more acceptable by the coupling with indisputable rules of morality, this first part was quite revolutionary, viz. Moses’ new theology. This included a prohibition on using God’s name lightly (a taboo also found in other religions), on making images of God, and most of all, on offering worship to any god beside Yahweh.

The first thing Moses did when he came down from the Sinai mountain with his rock-hewn Ten Commandments was to slaughter 3000 religious dissenters. These were enthusiasts of Ba’al, “Lord”, originally a generic term of address for kings and gods, later used specifically for the Northwest-Semitic fertility god Hadad. He is known from Semitic royal names like Jeze-bel,Bel-shazzar, Hanni-bal and Bal-thazar. This traditional fertility god was typically depicted as a bull. For the purposes of worship, the devotees in the Sinai had fashioned a statue (what Hindus call a mûrti) of the bull god from their own jewelry: the “Golden Calf”.

Nowadays this term is used as shorthand for crass materialism and greed, as if this moral vice were needed to justify the devotees’ mass slaughter by Moses. In fact, they were anything but greedy, they donated their wealth in exchange for the joy of having a focus for their religious exercise of worshipping Ba’al. It was not because of a moral vice that they were put to death, but only because they worshipped another god than Yahweh. The latter could not tolerate this since he was, in his own words (as reported from Mount Sinai by Moses), “a jealous god”.

Moses did not live to see the conquest of the Promised Land, of which he only caught a glimpse from afar. His successor Joshua devised a clever strategy of keeping the non-combatants concentrated outside the war zone and attacking the cities one by one. Citing orders from God, he eliminated the native fellow-Semitic population, the Canaanites. This he justified with a promise which he claimed Yahweh had made long before (scholars’ estimate: 4 to 5 centuries) to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Note that the natives were not asked for their theological opinions. They were not killed because of their polytheism, and it seems unlikely that they could have saved themselves by quickly converting. At that time, Yahweh was still the god of a nation, not of a community of like-minded believers.

1.3. Henotheistic origins
It is widely assumed among scholars that the Yahweh cult was initially henotheistic rather than monotheistic. Yahweh insisted that his followers worship only him and no other gods, but this did not immediately imply that other gods were deemed non-existent and illusory. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”, the first of the Ten Commandments, can be read as a husband’s claim on the absolute loyalty of his wife. By no means does such a husband deny the existence of other men, he merely demands that his wife disregard all other men and devote herself exclusively to him. In the initial phase, Yahweh’s religion makes no truth claim about the non-existence of other gods, rather it sees them as dangerous seducers who have to be kept at bay. From the 13th to the 7th century BC, Israelite monotheism was in a formative stage of a henotheism increasingly hyperfocused on the chosen One God, leading to the ultimate black-out of the other gods. From seductive rivals to Yahweh, they shrivel to become illusory projections of the human mind.

This evolution is summarily acted out in the evolution of the Biblical god’s other name, Elohim. In Northwest-Semitic (Canaanite, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew), this is a masculine plural form, meaning “gods”. The Semites had a god El, whose name lives on in personal names like Gabr-i-el, “my strength is God”, Mi-cha-el, “who is like God?”. In cuneiform, this name was rendered with the sumerogram Dingir, showing a star. That indeed is the original West-Asian concept of the gods: they were stars, collectively “the heavenly host”. One of the oldest epithets of Yahweh is “Lord of Hosts”, i.e. the supergod presiding over the army of gods in their daily march across the sky (which again presupposes that the other gods were real, though lesser in stature). The contrast between polytheism and the first monotheism was quite literally that between the numerous stars in the night sky and the lone star of the day sky.

A noun derived from El is the feminine abstractive noun Eloha, “a god”, “deity”, better known in its Arabic form Ilâha. This countable noun referred to any of the numerous gods worshipped by the Pagan Arabs. With the South-Semitic definite article al-, this becomes Al-Ilâha, “the god”, better known in its contracted form Allâh. Both in Hebrew Elohim and in Arabic Allâh, we see how the conception of the One and Only God, to judge from his name, is rooted in the polytheistic conception of “god” as a countable noun, “one of the gods”. As if a single star was selected, looked at ever more closely until it outshone and rendered invisible all other stars, and was then reinterpreted as the only star in existence.

This rootedness in polytheism is found in most languages where the concept of a single God was introduced. To the pre-existing Greek and Latin generic terms theos and deus, “a god”, the emerging Christian Church assigned the new monotheistic meaning “God”. In Germanic, the word god seems to have been a uncountable noun since pre-Christian times, but of neutral (rather than of masculine) gender, i.e. impersonal: “the numinous”, “the divine”. Its Sanskit etymological equivalent is hutam, “(that which is) honoured with libations/sacrifices”, “(that which is) worshipped”. Here too, the Christian monotheistic term is borrowed from a pre-Christian non-monotheistic conception, viz. of the divine as a numinous essence present in an undefined number of gods and perfectly thinkable apart from a single personal God. In Chinese, Protestant missionaries have chosen the old term Shangdi as their translation of the Biblical names for “God”. They may not have realized that in Chinese, which doesn’t morphologically distinguish plural from singular, this ancient term had been conceived as plural: “the powers on high”, “the gods above”.

In the 19th century, the idea of an Urmonotheismus, a primeval monotheism, gained ground. It meant that the historically attested polytheistic religions had come into being as aberrations from an older monotheistic religion. Islam had pioneered this idea with its claim that Adam had been the first Muslim and that the Kaaba, built by Adam, had later been usurped by the Pagans for the polytheistic worship which Mohammed had found (and destroyed) there. But in the actual history of early monotheism, we find its cradle was polytheistic, with no trace of a reference to an earlier, primeval monotheism.

1.4. The jealous God
In polytheistic pantheons, gods with a specific character are typically counterbalanced by gods with the opposite character, e.g. war-like Ares or Mars with harmony-seeking Aphrodite or Venus. No doubt the Arab Beduin storm-god Yahweh had brothers and sisters in the pantheon who represented less stormy traits to keep the whole in balance. If the idea of a single god had been thought up in the abstract, one could have expected him to be neutral, elevated far above all those pairs of opposition. Later thinkers working within a monotheistic framework will indeed try to understand their god in this manner: as a coincidentia oppositorum,  “unity of opposites” (thus German philosopher Nicolaus Cusanus, 15th cent.). Instead of a war-god held in check by a peace goddess, you would logically get a single god transcending the war/peace opposition.

However, that is not how monotheism originally came about. When all other gods were outlawed, Yahweh nonetheless retained his character of tribal storm god, but no longer counterbalanced by more pleasant fellow-deities. Though not as sexually playful as the Indo-European storm-gods Indra, Zeus, Jupiter, Perkunas, Perun or Donar (unless you include his begetting Jesus upon the Virgin Mary, and even that fling on the side he outsourced to the Holy Ghost), Yahweh resembles and outdoes them in choleric flare-ups and violent discharges of anger. Thus, his initiative to destroy mankind by means of the Flood was motivated by anger at the disappointing performance of his own human creatures.

Let Yahweh’s short temper be his privilege and that of his followers, the one thing truly objectionable about him from the viewpoint of the non-believers is only his effort to destroy alternative gods and their religions. Pre-Christian Israelite history is punctuated by episodes of slaughter against non-Yahwists. Thus, the prophet Elijah challenged a group of Ba’al priests to have their god produce a miracle and set fire to a sacrificial animal. Of course miracles don’t exist, so nothing happened; and when Elijah had Yahweh set alight his own sacrifice after he had sprinkled “water” on it, the gullible were taken in, but he had obviously used a trick (petrol?). At any rate, the next thing we know is that he had the 450 Ba’al priests put to death. His own disciple Elisha organized a coup against the Ba’al-worshipping queen Jezebel and killed her and 70 of her relatives.

However, until the expansion of Christianity, this campaign of destruction was limited to the Israelites or such foreigners as lived among the Israelites and had an influence on them. It did not interfere with the religion of “the nations”. To be sure, there was plenty of slaughter of non-Israelites during the conquest of the Promised Land. But this was simply to make way for the Chosen People, to create living space, not to make them change their religion. On the contrary, it was taken for granted that “the nations” (goyim) had other religions than that of Yahweh:“And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars — all the heavenly array — do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshipping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.” (Deuteronomy 4:19)

You’ve read that right: the heavenly hosts as the gods forbidden to the Israelites, have been “apportioned to all the nations” by Yahweh, who consequently didn’t want them to worship him instead of the gods given to them. This again testifies to the fact that Yahweh was originally conceived as a tribal god, entitled to the loyalty of his own tribe but without universal pretentions (just as a husband is entitled to his wife’s loyalty but not to that of all women).

The first dim apparition of Yahweh’s universal ambition is perhaps Prophet Isaiah’s fantasy of an end-time in which all nations come to pay tribute to the Israelites and their god in Jerusalem.  But it is only later, in the multicultural and universalizing climate of the Hellenistic states (4th-1st cent. BC), that some Israelites start conceiving of their God as universally valid. This didn’t make them embark on massive missionary campaigns, but on a small scale they did start to attract converts or “proselytes”. Jewish thinkers like Philo of Alexandria briefly tried to incorporate notions from Greek philosophy, such as Plato’s “idea of the Good” or Aristotle’s “unmoved mover”, into their conception of God.

It fell to Christianity to complete this job of incorporating the universalist Greek concepts of the Absolute into the monotheistic construction of God. Because Christianity had universal rather than national ambitions, it made the destruction of everyone else’s “false gods” its chief mission. This same mission was later interiorized and amplified by Mohammed. To the surviving non-monotheistic traditions, monotheism became an all-devouring predator and a self-declared enemy.

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ISLAMABAD, 12 Rabi Al-Awwal/4 Feb (IINA)-President National Youth Assembly (NYA) Hanan Ali Abbasi has represented Pakistan in an international conference of youth hosted by the government of Iran, and suggested solutions to the troubles faced by the Muslim Ummah.

Abbasi also urged the launching of world-wide Islamic channel for portraying better image of the Muslims along with well-developed social media sites, and also suggested formation of General Assembly of Muslim youth, declaration of joint strategy against terrorism and relation with influential countries, creation of international Muslim youth think-tank, and founding of a ‘Muslim World Bank’. The suggestions were thoroughly discussed in his research paper that he formally presented to Secretary General of the conference, Ali Akbar Velayati, who is also a former foreign minister of Iran.

Iranian President Mohmud Ahmedinejad delivered the opening speech and said today’s participants were the future of world. He urged the need for educational supremacy by using technology, and said they had to play a role to build peace and justice all over the world. He also observed that Islamic Revolution led by Imam Khomeini, the great revivalist of Islamic movements, provided depth to Islamic thought. More than 1200 young people from 73 countries participated in the conference. The prominent leaders, speakers, ministers, ambassadors, and members of the parliament from Islamic world made their presence in the conference.

The Pakistani delegates Hanan Ali Abbasi and Mustafa Haider Syed were honoured to occupy reserved places, where selected members, ambassadors and representatives of the Muslim world during meeting with Supreme Leader of Iran – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei- would seat. The Pakistani delegates also received special traditional gifts from the Supreme Leader of Iran. Abbasi met delegations of various countries – Canada, India, KSA, UK, Egypt, Jordan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Maldives and Malaysia. He exchanged views of mutual interest and delineated all activities and projects about the National Youth Assembly.

All the participants of conference were also taken to the provinces of Mashhad and Isfahan, and Qum city of Iran during a week-long stay, where they were briefed about the historical significance of the places.

Talking to Pakistan Today, President National Youth Assembly said: “I really felt privileged after addressing this event – World Assembly of Islamic Awakening – which is playing tremendous role to converge young leaders under a platform to study the grave problems faced by future of the world”.

While addressing the commission of Indian and Pakistani delegates, Abbasi said: “The extremism and intolerance has deteriorated the image and repute of Islamic world which must unite and inculcate the culture of tolerance. He stressed the Muslims to focus on scientific and technical education which was essential for development and progress in modern times.

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Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus are accusing Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum of bigotry and ignorance after he said that “equality” is solely a Judeo-Christian concept.

“Where do you think the concept of equality comes from?” Santorum said on the campaign trail last Friday (Jan. 20). “It doesn’t come from Islam. It doesn’t come from the East and Eastern religions. It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”Not everyone agreed.

“Sen. Santorum’s presidential campaign is now playing to the lowest common denominator of religious bigotry and prejudice by attacking Eastern religions and Islam,” said Aseem Shukla of the Hindu American Foundation. Santorum’s comments, Shukla added, “show a profound ignorance of the teachings of Dharma spiritual traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.”

Santorum’s campaign did not answer repeated requests for comment. Critics said Santorum — a devout Catholic — not only has his politics wrong, but also his history. For example, in the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, the god Krishna writes, “I look upon all creatures equally; none are less dear to me and none more dear.”

“Indian religions predate Abraham, Jacob and all that Rick Santorum was talking about,” said Sulekh Jain of Sugar Land, Texas, chairman of the International School for Jain Studies. “All souls are equal in every way. All feel pain and all feel pleasure. This concept is deeply embedded in the whole philosophy of Jainism.”

Sikhs, who also trace their religion to India, were equally upset. “In Sikhism, all human beings have equal status in the eyes of God. No differentiation in status or ceremonies or rights is made between men and women, rich and poor, foreigner and countryman, high caste or low caste,” said Manbeena Kaur, education director for the New York-based Sikh Coalition.

“Sikhs have had this belief in and practice of equality as a spiritual mandate long before the political revolutions that brought freedom to America and much of the Western world.”

Buddhism expert Toshie Kurihara argues equality was a foundational teaching of the Buddha.
“The Buddha preached against the caste system and advocated equality of all people. From the beginning, Buddhism espoused the concept of equality of all people,” she wrote last year in the Journal of Oriental Studies.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said it would send Santorum a copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy text. “The Quran is the best refutation of Mr. Santorum’s inaccurate and offensive remarks,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman.

The group cited Quran verses and sayings of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that supported equality. For example, Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said, “All people are equal as the teeth of a comb.”

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Numerous temples, ashrams, spiritual gurus and yoga exponents put up stalls at the fourth edition of the Hindu spiritual and service fair, which concluded on Sunday.

The organisers — Hindu spiritual and service foundation, and global foundation for civilisational harmony (India) — had brought 160 spiritual and service organisations from across the country to participate in the fair at D.G. Vaishnav College grounds, Arumbakkam, from January 25. The fair has emerged as a platform to offer an insight into the spiritual, philosophical, religious and cultural dimensions of Hinduism.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has flooded the fair with its collection of books and epigraphy about the temple, its activities and details on the eight holy theerthams in the vast stretch of Venkatadri hill. The Brahmakumaris have created a unique temple to provide an enchanting experience to the visitors to see all the 12 Jyothirlingams at one place.

It was also an occasion for Chennaiites to know about the pujas and numerous other services rendered by the organisations. While the Hindu religious and charitable endowments department of Andhra Pradesh recreated the image of Srikalahasti temple, its Tamil Nadu counterpart put up idols for sale.

The Archaeological Survey of India, in its 150th year, displayed a collection of rare images of Hindu gods and goddesses. Certain organisations like the Hindu mission hospital, Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Mata Amritanandamayi math, highlighted their services in medical, education and social service sectors.

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Arriving at My Son, tourists may lose themselves in the vast green forest, fresh air and tranquility. After going up and down the slopes, travelers will see an ancient tower hidden behind the gravel path and bushy trees.

My Son is a cluster of Hindu temples and is surrounded by mountain ranges. In the past, My Son was a burial place for Cham royalty and a site of religious ceremonies for the kings of the ruling Champa dynasties.

My Son is regarded as one of the oldest Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is a unique place in Vietnam. Observing the My Son temples, with their sandstone exhibits and statues, tourists will see spiritual culture more often identified with India. Scientists said that the first temple was built in My Son in the sixth century. Unfortunately, a major fire reduced it to ashes. Some other temples were built to make My Son an original architectural complex. These temples are different from each other, and each has its own mysterious exterior.

Apart from the temple architecture, Hindu culture is also reflected through the relics found in My Son. They were made in the era of King Bhadravarman I, who ruled from 380 until 413 AD. A temple was built to worship Shiva in the form of lingam, which is interpreted as the God of Rebirth. Until now, this religious culture has existed in old written records in Sanskrit.

Lingam, yoni, Nadin and Apsara statues have been kept in the temples. Tourists will be amazed when seeing the red bricks used to build the temples. No one fully understands how the bricks were made, or what construction techniques were used by the Cham builders to set up these temples without any adhesives.

No matter how the temples were built, every cluster in My Son consists of the main temple of Kalan, which is surrounded by temples featuring lingam, yoni and Shiva statues. Researchers said that in front of the complex is the entrance gate-tower called Gopura, and the next is Mandapa, a vestibule for public rituals.
Next to the vestibule is an architectural work facing the north, often called the direction of Kubera, the God of Wealth. It has one or two halls containing offerings to worship the gods. The main entrance gates of all temples face the east to receive the sunlight completely. Every temple is shaped like a pyramid, which is the symbol of Lord Meru and where Hindu gods reside. However, tourists will find some traces of Buddhism in the land of Hinduism. In the 10th century, Buddhism became the main religion of the Cham people.
Sweating profusely after a tour around temples in My Son Sanctuary, tourists can enjoy a folk music program performed by Cham girls in traditional dress.

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gandha-candana-liptAGgo nIlAmbara-samAvRtaH |
svarNa-raupya-pravAlAdyair alaGkAraiz ca maNDitaH ||

His body is fragrantly smeared with sandal paste and draped in deep blue garments. His limbs are arrayed in precious ornaments of gold, silver and coral.
karpUra-tAmbulAdyaiz ca pUrNa zrI mukha paGkajaH |
loha-daNDa-dharo rUpya-hAra-kaustubha-bhUSaNaH ||

His mouth, a radiant lotus in bloom, is fragrant with camphor-laced tambula. He carries a copper cowherd's stick. He wears a silver necklace bearing the kaustubha gem.
kuNDalaika-dharaH zrImAn vanamAlA-vibhUSitaH |
veNu-pANiH sadA kurvan gaurAGga-guNa-kIrtanam ||

He wears a single earring and a garland of forest flowers on His chest. He holds a flute. He always sings Sri Gaura's glories.
caura-dasyu-gaNAH sarve dRSTvA tasya vibhUSaNam |
hartuM kurvanti te nAnA sva-yatnam AtatAyinaH ||

All the theives and dacoits noticed Nitai's ornaments and tried many times to steal them.
tAn eva kRpayA pUrNo nityAnando mahA-prabhuH |
gaurAga-kIrtanAnanda-paripUrNAn cakAra ha ||

But Nityananda Mahaprabhu's mercy foiled them; He plunged them fully into the bliss Gauranga-kirtana.

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Islam promotes peace
The media these days often mentions the word ‘Islamic terrorism’. Islam is a religion that strongly denounces terrorism. Killing innocent human beings is forbidden in Islam so the media should stop using the word ‘Islamic terrorism’. I know very well that there are some ignorant people in the world who are spoiling the name of Islam but this does not mean that terrorism is related to Islam. In our religion it is said that if you kill one innocent human being then it is equivalent to killing the whole of humanity whereas if you save one human being it is equivalent to saving the whole of humanity. My humble request to media organisations all over the world would be to stop exploiting Islam. Recently, Anders Behring Breivik went on a rampage in Norway and killed many innocent people, but for this heinous crime no one would point fingers at his religion. Terrorism has no religion. ‘Islamic terror’ is an erroneous concept, which contradicts its message.

Economy down the drain
As an investor, I have watched the markets and my meagre funds slide at the mere whisper of downgrades and opinions expressed by financial wizards (“Global economy ‘more dangerous than ever’”, Gulf News, January 17). Billions are wiped off the world’s stock markets every time the euro is downgraded. My question is, isn’t it time that some entity assumed responsibility towards the investors? When we talk of economic crises affecting countries, we are really pointing towards the millions of people who have lost their savings.

Be safe
A firefighter rushing to save other people’s lives at high speed can endanger his own life because this two-wheeler does not offer the collective restraint of a vehicle with more than one personnel or the stability of a four-wheeled vehicle (“Sleek bikes to replace fire trucks as first-response vehicles in Dubai”, Gulf News, January 18). Therefore, it’s vital that our brave firefighters manning these bikes are trained to balance the call of duty with the sanctity of their own lives.

How many can fit?
There is no doubt that this is a very good initiative and I applaud Dubai Municipality for promoting this (“Public urged to leave their cars at home today”, Gulf News, January 18). Ever since Dubai Metro was introduced, it has reduced travel time tremendously. However, is our Metro equipped to cater to the public should everyone decide to use the Metro instead of their cars? I use the Metro in the evenings while going home and occasionally in the mornings getting to the office. I have always found the Metro to be packed to capacity, with the passengers practically breathing down each other’s neck.

After midnight
I think that the life of pedestrians in Dubai is much more terrible than traffic on the road. Thousands of people in Dubai work different shifts and many of them work night shifts. They depend on public transportation and experience a hard time when going to work or home, as there are no public buses or Metro services operating after midnight. Companies do not pay any night allowance. The authorities have to take this issue into consideration.

Car-free day every day
The authorities should really think of introducing a Metro or fast train running from Ajman to Jebel Ali via Sharjah. Every day we can celebrate car-free day and save energy.

Seeing all the emirates
I left my car at home and walked to my shop. It is just 15 minutes away. I hope there are fast trains connecting all the emirates so that I could see them. So far, I have only seen Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah due to a lack of public transport.

Life without cars
This is a very good initiative. If possible, this should be done frequently — maybe every Sunday. Or if you want to start slow, then you could make it at least once a month. I look forward to seeing this initiative taken up in Abu Dhabi. It will make this emirate more beautiful and pollution-free. Abu Dhabi has a very good bus network and a car-free day every week or month would make public transport more popular.

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Hindu leader Rajan Zed announced in a statement  that Oprah Winfrey should make use of her trip to India to “rediscover” herself by spending some time in an ashram (hermitage) and taking a dip in holy Ganges. It is believed that bath in the sacred Ganges purifies one of all sin, and its water if taken daily confers immortality. It finds mention in Rig-Veda, oldest existing scripture of mankind. It also means Hindus think the famous American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist has sinned.

Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed that ashram stay would help bring Oprah Winfrey and everyone tranquility, spirituality and serenity. Lord Krishna himself went to sage Sandipani’s ashram to gain knowledge, Zed added.

Ganges flows through Rishikesh (in Uttarakhand state), known as Gateway to Himalayas, which attracts large number of pilgrims from around the world. It is a vegetarian and alcohol-free city; full of temples, yoga centers and ashrams; and nicknamed “World Capital of Yoga”. It is said to have been visited by Lord Rama and his brother Lakshmana; and Hindu scholars Swami Vivekananda, Swami Rama Tirtha and Swami Shivananda studied here. In 1968, The Beatles stayed in a Rishikesh ashram to contemplate and meditate and composed 48 songs during that time. “The Happy Rishikesh Song” was recorded by John Lennon.

Oprah Winfrey is currently in India on a week-long trip. Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

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It is said that Vedas being too vast, many of them are lost; their knowledge was condensed into Srimad Bhagwad Geeta. Again it needed a great deal of the knowledge of difficult Sanskrit language for a common mass; hence this compendium is further condensed into this monosyllable, “AUM”, beautifully depicted above.

Pranava or AUM is the universally accepted symbol of Hinduism. Literally, the word Pranava means “That by which God is effectively praised”. It also means “That which is never new”. AUM comprises of three independent letters A, U and M, each of which has its own meaning and significance. The letter ‘A‘ represents the beginning or origin (Adimatwa), ‘U‘ represents Progress or sustenance (Utkarsha) and ‘M‘ represents limit or dissolution (Miti). Hence, the word AUM represents that power responsible for creation, development and dissolution of the Universe, namely GOD himself.
 
The most interesting thing about Hinduism is, it has survived the most turbulent and invasive period over the last couple of millennia. The other peculiarity is that it is open for everybody to join in irrespective of any strings and at the same time it enforces no bindings on those who want to leave. There are no conversions, no blaspheme and no apostasy. All these adjectives do not merely exist in Hinduism; but are nostalgic to its very core value of “Sanatana Dharma” concept of Vedas and Upanishads and it’s all other known scriptures.
 
Bell’s Theorem-Vedanta, Quantum Physics, Human consciousness and the physical world is a subject of intense research. Ultimately the scientists and physicists have come to recognise the importance of Consciousness to our being in this universe. Bell’s Theorem of inequality contradicts the very basic foundations laid down by the Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity. The recent controversy centering round the “Speed of Light” as fastest in the Universe known so far to our scientific community is being questioned.
This has brought the very fundamental basis of science in question. This is unacceptable on the very fundamental concepts of Science and Physics on one hand, while it validates the inexplicable nature of the visible world on the other hand; the Ancient Sages had experienced through their penance and gave us the valuable Srutis and Smritis.

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Hinduism is a way of life under one understands the principles of Vedas and Upanishads. Veda is revealed knowledge. Just as knowledge of gravity was revealed by Newton, It is that several saints and Rishis have been awakened to certain transcendental Eternal Truths. These Rishis have realized that their true nature was not involved in or associated with body or mind and was not dependant on feelings, but in fact, was identical to the universal consciousness. In the Vedas, we find nowhere such a resonance, which can be attributed to show that Hinduism believes in many gods to one. Vedas, Upanishads and all other official written clearly, one God and one God that pervades the universe.

Hinduism is a belief and practice. The belief in the basic tenets of Hindu Dharma is all that is needed. The rest belong with the individual. Despite the raucous celebration with strong shrill bells Conches, the essence of the practice of Hinduism is a contemplative introspection and quiet meditation. A Hindu is trying to purify his ego called Jiva Atman. Hindus may do this by following the path of Dharma. No Indian shall be deprived of this right.

Action is inevitable in life. There are two distinct types of actions - good and bad. A Hindu is invited to show moral judgments in all its actions. This is mainly because of the doctrine of karma. He is responsible for all actions. The objective is to collect good karma through many births. Because Hindus believe Atman is indestructible, it is estimated that the same Atman is transferred from one birth to another. But karma is never forgotten and worn by Jiva-Atman as a veil around a naked soul as birth, at birth.

More than any other religion is an attempt to truth and religion, which is destined to become obsolete: it recognizes the potential of new records, new avatars, new institutions. It does not dispute any information or speculation: perhaps it is left to the materialists, because they have no clear religious, but also tolerates the Sankhya philosophy that has the nothing to say about God or religion. Hinduism is generally considered the world's oldest organized religion. These are "thousands of different religious groups, which have evolved in India since 1500 BC. Since the various Hindu traditions, beliefs and practices of the main characteristics of Hinduism.

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