When most people hear the term ‘Alternative Medicine’ they tend to think that it is used to describe something that offers a tested, tried alternative to mainstream systems of medicine. In India we have three types of systems of treatment and diagnosis- the recognized evidence based one - the scientific system, the recognized but not evidence based ones under the acronym AYUSH- Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, and the third has a list that is almost never complete but contains common ones like electrohomeopathy, reiki, pranic healing, aromatherapy, music therapy, gem therapy, etc. The term ‘alternative medicine’ perhaps describes best the last class. (Note: Technically all those systems of treatment and diagnosis that are not science-based are designated as ‘Alternative Medicine’, but in the Indian context there are three categories because of the government’s endorsement of AYUSH.) The third class labeled ‘Alternative Medicine’ in India seems to be the favourite hunting ground for quacks of all types. Read the full story
This is Part - III of Dr. Kamath’s series on Heretics, Rebels and Revolutionaries. Read Part II here. Dr. Kamath’s article on The Great Nastik Revolt is part of his previous series on The Truth About The Bhagavad Gita, and can be found here.
Brahmins Claim To Control Cosmos!
By 6th century B. C., the Brahmanic pretentions reached such ridiculous heights that Brahmins claimed to control the entire cosmos. This was based on the following logic: Vedic Gods controlled the Universe; Yajnas compelled gods to fulfill man’s desires; Brahmins composed Mantras (magical incantations) uttered at Yajnas to delude gods; and therefore Brahmins controlled the Universe. Believing this, Kshatriyas sacrificed grain, ghee and animals to compel the gods to grant them their wishes (power, wealth and heaven, BG: 2:43). The Brahmins extracted hefty fees from kings for performing increasingly exacting and complicated Yajnas. Naturally, ostentatious desire-driven Yajnas (Kamya Karma) became the hallmark of an aristocratic Brahmanic Dharma of post-Vedic India. Read the full story
This is the story of a little girl of fourteen and the ambitions of her mother whom we met at the studios of Live India TV channel on the evening of 18th June. The story begins on this date, when I received a call from the channel asking if I could visit their studios if I was in Delhi. When the call arrived, Shubrum, Rakshi and I were on our way over to their house, after a very important and successful meeting with the present director of Vigyana Prasar Network, Dr.Anuj Sinha. Since Shubrum had a meeting, Rakshi and I decided to go for the live broadcast to investigate the case of this girl, Ranjana. It was the claim of her family and some others that she had the unique power to see blindfolded. Some of these folks also accompanied her to the studio. It was claimed that she had been given a certificate by the Ministry of Human Resource Development that she had the power of seeing with a cloth tied over her eyes! That was supposed to be in recognition of her ‘unique talents’. It was quite clear that this girl who was from a village near Varanasi wanted to go places! Read the full story
In my previous article we discussed how Sai Baba satisfied his sexual appetite by abusing innocent children with complete disregard to consequences to their welfare. Sexual abuse serves another purpose for Sai Baba: Dominating these children and converting them into his lifelong devotees and henchmen. In a sense, the sexual abuse is ritual castration by means of which he is telling them literally, “From now onwards I have you boys by the balls.” In a highly shame-oriented society such as India, victims feel great deal of shame to admit that they are sex abuse victims, and they are fearful of exposing such a powerful and revered person. This is further made difficult because of social pressure from victim’s fearful well-wishers; fear of corrupt police who do not hesitate to torture or murder accusers in cold blood; distrust of incompetent prosecutors, and lack of faith in the judiciary incapable of separating state and religion. Read the full story
Last week we wrote about a report by the media outlet Tehelka which, in collaboration with Cogent EMR, conducted Electromagnetic Radiation surveys of Delhi and concluded that radiation levels are well above recommended levels. Analysis by Vaibhav on the forums demonstrated the flaws in the science on which the Tehelka report rested. As Vaibhav pointed out, EMR from cell phones is too weak to cause any structural damage to DNA. However, there could be other long-term effects of low intensity EMR exposure. In this second part I look at a few of the other many inconsistencies in reporter Rishi’s article and comments in the discussion with us on facebook. Read the full story
This is the first part in a series of articles to check the facts and the analyze evidence concerning the recent Tehelka report concluding that radiation levels in Delhi are far above recommended safe levels.
On June 8, 2010, Tehelka reported on a survey they had done of the city of Delhi. The media outlet teamed up with Cogent EMR, a company that, as fellow Nirmukta member Sajith Unni has pointed out, manufactures a number of products that are extremely dubious. Tehelka’s report ended up being one of the most fear-instilling pieces of journalism on the subject. The reporter, Rishi Mazumdar, essentially concluded that Delhi is a radiation hot-zone with levels far exceeding the acceptable limits suggested by the scientists.
Read the full story
This is about those brave ’souls’ who were very keen to teach us a lesson and then learnt the lesson that they had much more to learn than to teach, and hence chose the easy way out - run away! There are quite a number of people who have taken that path, however I am going to write only about those few that I can recall off hand. There is a lot of publicity being accorded to the one who was threatened by a Tantrik in 2008 on a TV channel. Two years later, it is still being talked about. It brings to my mind an incident that happened about a decade ago in a place called Charvathur, 75 kms south of Mangalore. Read the full story
Tamilnadu, formerly known as Madras State, is where the Self-Respect Movement was first started by E.V.Ramaswamy in the early years of the twentieth century. It was for the first time that the so-called ‘lower castes’ rebelled against the hegemony of the Brahmins, and started a movement that rejected all superstitions, religious rituals and the highest superstition of them all- god! In this state whichever party comes to power has to conform to the ideology of EVR Thanthai Periyar as he came to be known. So, in this state one can expect the ideology of the rationalist movement to be accepted without any significant opposition. Read the full story
The treatment know as Cytotron therapy has no scientific basis and is not noted in any approved text book on cancer therapy or prescribed by any oncologists. But for the past few months this “therapy” has been advertised as a cure for cancer. In its latest avatar, the ad carried the name of a doctor. After we had threatened to complain to the State Medical Council and get his name struck from the medical register for advertising unproved remedies, it disappeared.
But the ads continue to run today. Since the matter is an offense under the Drugs and Magic remedies (Objectionable Advertisements Act), we have brought this to the attention of the assistant drugs controller for Dakshina Kannada for necessary action under the act.
It is criminal to raise false hope in patients by promising cures for which there is no evidence. The entire ad is misleading. We could as wel
l make up one as follows:
Ms. Meena Kumari (name changed), 53 years old, complained of dysentery and was diagnosed with cancer etc. etc. She went in for a quack treatment at ABCD clinic for XYZ therapy and passed away within 3 months. Which goes to prove that XYZ therapy is fake and can be fatal within a short time. It is not known whether the cancer was the cause of her mortality or the quack therapy that promised a very rapid cure.
I request oncologists and physicians to take up this issue with their respective bodies and announce to the public the facts about whether this therapy is approved for public use. In general treatments for diseases are not advertised in India, except by quacks, which should make us suspicious of the antecedents of the treatment and the administrators of the same.
Note: All articles in Dr. Kamath’s series on The Truth About The Bhagavad Gita can be accessed from here.
In this article, we will study Varna Dharma (Class System) and Jati Dharma (Caste System), two Brahmanic systems of ancient India, which, though obsolete in modern India, have survived and become serious national disgrace and blight on humanity. As we read in earlier articles, all social systems we now consider as sources of serious national problems, such as these, came into being to solve some pressing social problems in the remote past. They have outlasted their usefulness and have become destructive to the present generation only because Brahmanic loyalists promoted them for their own personal gains.
1. Definition
The Varna Dharma (4:13), the Class System by which the Brahmanic society was divided into four great professional classes (18:40-45), came into being between 1500 and 1000 B. C. Jati Dharma (1:43), the Caste System by which people identified themselves as belonging to a distinct group with shared values, hereditary professions, eating habits, food and marital alliances, came into being somewhat later. Whereas the Varna Dharma divided the society vertically (Brahmins at the top and Sudra at the bottom), the Jati Dharma divided the four classes horizontally. For example, Brahmin Varna consisted of hundreds of distinct Jatis speaking different languages, eating different foods, practicing different rituals, and marrying people only within their castes. Caste system became increasingly rigid after 12th century due to resurgence of Brahmanism as well as rise of Islamic rule in India. Read the full story
