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!

Ranjana Agarwal with her mother who was manipulating her

On the panel which went on air at 9 pm there was an astrologer, an ophthalmologist, Rakshi and myself. The discussions started with the so called “unique talents” of this girl, with some prerecorded footage of her showing her so called remarkable talents! Then the whole drama started. The opinions of the panel were asked.The ophthalmologist said that the phenomenon needed testing. The astrologer, as to be expected, said that it was a case of supernatural powers. Rakshi said that there was nothing supernatural and I promised that by the end of the program I would prove that she had no supernatural powers.

The tests started with a blindfold being tied round the girl’s eyes and a newspaper shown to her. She brought it down at such a low angle that she could read it through the gap between the blindfold and her nose! When I said this was something that anyone could do, the blind fold was tied around my eyes and I was asked to read something held higher. Obviously I could not do that. That was said to be my defeat in round no.1! The discussions continued and when it was Rakshi’s turn she said it was to be seen as to how this girl was doing it. The anchor kept on harping about the unique talents of this girl and how these were recognised by the govt of India, throughout the program!

Then we took a break and there was an argument between the anchor and Rakshi! When the show was off the air, heated discussions were going on. Though I tended to agree with Rakshi, I am a veteran of many such shows and decided to hold my peace in the larger interests of the movement. This was followed by more heated arguments and Rakshi went off the air. But the panel continued without her and so did the nonsense!

Two pieces of cotton were kept on the girl’s eyes and the blindfold put back on. Again she managed to ’see’ a paper held before her eyes, through the same gap. When I suggested that I would put the blindfold properly on her the anchor declined and said that I would get my chance later! That was never to come! In the meantime there were many other superfluous things going on, They were showing footage from Mahabharath, the part where Kunti put her unique powers into Duryodhan etc. The astrologer was harping on about the powers of Sanjay in the Mahabharath who could read written words from miles away! So, I pulled out a currency note from my pocket and challenged the girl to read its serial number from ten feet away. The astrologer backed out saying that the events he mentioned had happened in Threthayuga and it was Kaliyuga now!

Then came the denouncement! The next chance to prove the so called miraculous powers of the girl was another test. She was to have dough applied to her eyes and be asked to read the words. I said that I wanted to participate in this and went near her with two pieces of sticking plaster in my hands. I had observed where the gaps were between the blindfold and her cheeks and wanted to apply the dough to that area. When the ophthalmologist got ready with the dough, the girl complained that her eyes were hurting and that she was having problems seeing! I had anticipated this, as I could see the girls mother signaling to her, apparently out of the sight of all the others, that she should say no! The very sympathetic anchor said that she was a small girl and hence should not be subjected to more trauma! He who was keen up to that stage saying that we would conduct more and more tests to demonstrate these unique powers of the child, suddenly turned very sympathetic when the going got really tough.

I had got ready with the plaster, but there was no question of applying it now as the girl was shedding copious quantities of tears. The whole drama had been planned and carried out in such a way that the girl would be let off when it came to the crunch. She was to be ready to cheat when the criteria were not rigorous, and when really tough tests were to be applied such a drama would be enacted to get her off the hook! But, I was not willing to be a party to this. I was very vehement that the whole thing was a drama and asked why the rigorous criteria of applying dough to her eyes was  not done in the first trial. I also wanted to know why I was not allowed to access the girl the first time! There was no need to go on for an hour when the so called miraculous powers could have been exposed in a few minutes.

The whole thing is about TRPs. They wanted to sacrifice a child at the altar just to improve their viewership. It was obvious that the driving force behind the whole farce was her mother who wanted to bask in the glory of her daughter’s unique “talents”. The whole exercise was fueled by the ambitions of the TV channels to improve their ratings. In fact before it went on air I was requested to wait for some time before I expose this girl, as the whole show was to go on for an hour or so.

Those in on this plan wanted the so called special powers of this girl to be certified by us, which is why I had been invited. This invitation led to their exposure and downfall. In the process, the child was hurt and had to undergo humiliation in public. But the very relevant issue here is that the child was put up to this sort of exploitation. The anchor had been talking all that time about a ‘testimonial’ awarded by the Ministry of HRD, govt. of India. I was wondering, on what grounds did the government issue this “testimonial”? How could have this department verified that this girl had the ability to ’see’ with her eyes blindfolded, before issuing the testimonial? The anchor was also bragging about the ‘certificates’ issued by some local govt. medical officers. Who had given them the authority to certify this so called miraculous power?

Edit: On further checking this certification has been verified to be genuine. The target now includes the ministry of HRD, the government of India, which has so carelessly declared that this girl has the ability to see blindfolded.

While the child’s alleged miraculous powers were exposed on the show, what was the gullibility level of those who certified her? Did none of them have any sense as to see how she was reading blindfolded? My conclusion was that Rakshi had been right from the beginning. It was not about the exposure of so called ‘miraculous’ power, but about a greater exposure of how a publicity-hungry parent, TRP-crazy media and gullible public joined to make a celebrity out of an ordinary myopic girl who was peeking at things held under her nose through the gap between the blindfold and her cheeks. The case needs a more thorough investigation by some agency looking out for children’s welfare, because Ranjana Agarwal is only fourteen years old and legally still a child.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA). He regularly tours the country, giving demonstrations and holding workshops to develop scientific temper.

Related posts:

1. He Lost His Sight But Not His Vision!
2. A Rationalist Exposing Fraudulent Paranormal Claims - The Ones That Ran Away
3. Sambhavi Gudilona, Badilona? Story of a Humanist Campaign Against Religious Exploitation of a Child
4. Is The Virgin Mary Shedding Tears? Rationalists Investigate An Alleged Miracle in Kerala, India
5. Ayurveda Question, And A Story About Akhilesh Sharma
6. Baba Brahmachari- Part II
7. Narendra Nayak’s Rationalism Tour of India- Part 2.
8. The strange case of Ashwini and his Dhyan Foundation
9. A Nastik in Devbhoomi- Part V of Narendra Nayak’s Rationalism Tour
10. Freethought Activism In The Tribal Areas Of Madhya Pradesh
11. Challenges Issued From Rationalists To Those Claiming Supernatural Powers In Nepal
12. Narendra Nayak’s Rationalist Tour of India- Part IV
13. Narendra Nayak’s Rationalism Tour: Part 3

Almost all these children grow up bodily but not mentally, and they become Sai Baba’s lifelong followers who meekly submit to his demands. Their total submission to Sai Baba is rooted in self-deception. Sai Baba reinforces their slavish mentality by means of gifts materialized by magic, rewards, public praise, bribes and intimidation. Sai Baba becomes the central figure in their lives, and they become almost totally incapable of critical thinking when it comes to their relationship with him as exemplified by Dr. Naresh Bhatia in the Caravan article by Mr. Arora. Fear of Sai Baba dominates their lives. Almost all their actions are dictated by what they think Sai Baba would want them to do.

Victims Indulge In Self-deception

Sexual abuse in invariably associated with surge of intense painful as well as pleasurable emotions in the mind of victims such as fear, hurt, anger, sadness, guilt, shame, disappointment, helplessness, hopelessness, humiliation, frustration, rage, ecstasy, happiness, and host of other painful emotions. Some victims begin to develop doubt about their abuser and ultimately disassociate themselves from the abuser, like the Rahm family in the BBC video did. Other victims indulge in a defense mechanism known as reaction formation. They convert “sexual trauma” into “spiritual healing.” Or, they declare “sex with a fraud” to be “sex with god.” Instead of saying, “My free spirit has been destroyed” they would say, “My spirit has been liberated.” It is impossible to convince these victims that Sai Baba has so thoroughly stripped them of their true identity that now they are nothing more than mindless zombies or straw men.

What Is Self-deception?

Self-deception is a mental defense mechanism by which some people cope with intensely painful emotions. They avoid becoming aware of, or accepting the truth about, a current life circumstance or person simply because it is too painful or scary to do so. Either they block off their painful emotions by indulging in denial, or they neutralize them by means of screwed-up rationalization, or they give exactly opposite meaning to their experience.

Individuals, political parties, communities and even nations indulge in self-deception. America’s self-deception about Viet Nam war is a classic example of a great nation indulging in this practice. Nazi Germany is another example. Self-deception is common in all countries where religion plays a major part in people’s daily life. Self-deception is a way of life for religious people.

Self-deception As A Quid Pro Quo

Then there are pseudo-intellectuals such as Dr. Michael Goldstein and Mr. Isaac Tigrett of Hard Rock Cafe who continue to associate with Sai Baba because they hate to acknowledge that he fooled them and took advantage of them all these years. Sai Baba did not abuse them sexually, but he screwed them financially or used them for propaganda purposes. In other words, he played them for suckers. Having been involved with Sai Baba for so many years, they would simply look stupid to acknowledge now that he is a fraud. Besides, they must make sense of all the bribes he had given them for their wonderful work and financial support, which have been their proud possessions all these years. Their way of coping with this dilemma is to compartmentalize the problem of sex abuse. Their screwed up rationalization is, “Well, so what? He is god. He is doing good work.” Here is the interview in the BBC video:

Tanya Datta: But even if it was proven to you that Sai Baba was a pedophile and a serial sex abuser, you’re saying it wouldn’t change the fact that he is your guru. (Tigrett laughs at this rather wildly)

Isaac Tigrett: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. He could go out and murder someone tomorrow, as I said, it’s not going to change my evolution, it’s not going to change the good things that have come out of my relationship down there.

Tanya Datta: Does that mean that some part of you believes there could be some truth to the rumors?

Isaac Tigrett: Oh, absolutely I believe there is truth to the rumors.

Tanya Datta: You believe there is truth to the rumors?

Isaac Tigrett: Sure, there probably is, probably is.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the above conversation with Ms. Datta, Mr. Tigrett asserts that if Sai Baba would murder someone tomorrow, his opinion about Sai Baba won’t change. In other words, Sai Baba is above the law and Mr. Tigrett’s devotion to him is unconditional. Incredible as this might seem, this is the hallmark of Brahmanic brainwashing: The Guru is always right, no matter what. Such unconditional acceptance of Gurus has resulted in accepting their nonsensical and deceitful commentaries on anti-Brahmanic scriptures as true.

Self-deception Could Ruin Lives Of Other People

In the third BBC video, when Marissa and Al Rahm’s teenager son reveals that Sai Baba sexually assaulted him, Al reveals that he too had similar experience with Sai Baba when he was 18 years old. Yet he neither warned his son, nor did he hesitate to deliver him to the cunning predator. If you listen to Marissa and Al Rahm carefully you will realize that before they turned on Sai Baba, they were just “intellectual zombies,” incapable of rational thinking in their relationship with him. Now, years after the alleged abuse, they are full of regret. Their son declares that Sai Baba is an ever-present issue in his life.

Here is an example of dire consequences of self-deception on others:

Case study: A forty-five year old white woman, mother of three girls aged 17, 15 and 13, found herself in a bus station two thousand miles away from her home and she could not explain how she got there. Here is her story: She often woke up at night and did not find her husband beside her in bed. Even though she wondered where her husband could be, she did not bother to investigate for fear of knowing the truth. All her three daughters tried to tell her that they often found their father in their bed at night, but the mother avoided dealing with this bad news by telling her daughters not to “cook up wild stories.”

Detailed past history of this woman revealed that her stepfather had abused her. Admitting that her daughters were being abused would result in resurfacing of buried painful emotions. When finally the children revealed the truth to their school counselor, the father was arrested. Unable to deal with the entire horror the patient went into a fugue-like mental state. She wandered off away from her home, and when she woke up from her daze, she was in a bus station two thousand miles away. Her three daughters became psychiatric cases requiring prolonged treatment.

If this woman was capable of rational thinking, she would have investigated where the hell her husband was if he was not in her bed, and finding him in bed with her own daughters, she would have kicked his ass out of the house, reported him to the police, and filed for divorce. She was too busy deceiving herself to do the right thing. A rational person would have taken extra care not to expose her daughters to the danger she herself had been subjected to as a child.

Self-deceiving People Often Develop Stress Disorders

People who cope with highly conflicting emotions in the mind by means of self-deception often end up developing a psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Case study: A thirty eight year old white married woman, mother of two children, suddenly developed severe panic attacks immediately after she returned home from a two-week-long highly enjoyable vacation at Gulf Shores, Alabama. When asked if anything went wrong during the vacation, she denied it. When asked if anything was wrong when she returned home, she denied it. When asked if anything at all was wrong in her life, such as anyone being sick, she categorically denied it.

Since the distance between Gulf Shores, Alabama and Cape Girardeau, Missouri was over 650 miles, I asked her where she stayed in between. She said she stayed overnight in Oxford, Mississippi, where her elderly father lived. When asked how her father was doing, she replied blandly, “He said last week his doctor told him he has a golf ball sized cancer tumor in his liver and he had only three months to live.”

When I said empathically, “Oh! So you are about to lose him!” she burst into sobs, saying, “I am sorry! I was determined not to do this!” I encouraged her to grieve over her father’s impending death, accept the reality of his mortality, and move on with her life. Her panic attacks disappeared in the course of next few days.

The shock of losing her dear father was too much for this woman to deal with and so she indulged in self-deception as evidenced by her denying that anything bad happened. The problem with her self-deception was that whereas she could fool her mind, she could not fool her body. Sensory input about the bad news instantly produced panic attack even after she fooled her mind into believing that nothing bad happened. If this woman was a rational person she would have dealt with this situation by reacting normally -accepting the reality that her old and sick father must die like everyone does, grieving over his loss, and moving on with her own life.

The purpose of counseling victims of sexual abuse is to gently break down their self-deception, help them to accept the reality, make them become aware of, and express, their painful emotions, and show the irrationality of their thinking. People, who are very much in touch with the reality and capable of rational thinking, rarely, if ever, develop emotional disorders. This is because they are quite capable of dealing with the truth, and as the cliché  goes, truth has a liberating effect on people.

Dr. Prabhakar Kamath, is a psychiatrist currently practicing in the U.S. He is the author of Servants, Not Masters: A Guide for Consumer Activists in India (1987) and Is Your Balloon About Pop?: Owner’s Manual for the Stressed Mind.

Join us on our forums and sign up for an account to participate on the Saibaba Sexual Abuse discussion thread.

Related posts:

1. Baba Brahmachari- Part II
2. Brahmachari Baba and the ‘Supernatural’ Powers
3. Sai Baba: A Whiff of Fraud
4. My Name is Swami Baba and I am Not a Fraud
5. Yogi In Politics: A Rationalist’s Thoughts On Baba Ramdev
6. God’s Own Stockholm Syndrome
7. Regurgitation

Presented below are some of Tehelka’s statements/claims, followed by my analysis:

1. The defense of Cogent EMR: The reporter/representative provided a lot of info on how influential Cogent is, and dismissed Cogent’s involvement in quackery by saying:

Quote:“I did not write an article in any way connected to the products Cogent EMR Ltd sells. So their quackery or otherwise is not related to this article.”

This is strange, to say the least. Cogent has a lot of money to make, and their involvement in providing the data for this survey is a direct conflict of interest, to say the least. What is even stranger is this statement:

Quote:“I couldn’t find any other private concern that conducted EMR audits, and so would be apt for testing EMR levels throughout the city of Delhi. There were government agencies like SAMEER which did this. But why would a government agency undertake a survey which risked showing the government in a bad light?”.

So, it’s OK to trust a private company that has a direct conflict of interest and that makes money selling quack products that rely on distorting the data on the dangers of cell phone use, but it is not OK to trust a government agency designed to safeguard the public and made up of scientists from academia and research institutions, without any ties to industry? This logic sounds like it is designed to feed right into the conspiracy theory mindset.

2. This statement by the Tehelka reporter is just plain wrong.

Quote:“Microwave exposure at levels below the current FCC exposure standard can produce single and double strand breaks in DNA. “

As Vaibhav pointed out, microwave radiation is the non-ionizing kind. Nowhere near the levels that can cause nucleotide damage are found in the environment near residential areas, and all the studies show that EMR levels below the FCC guidelines do not cause nucleotide damage. This entire line of attack relies on the public’s ignorance about the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

3. Fertility, the great fear of the masculine male:

Quote:“Dr. Agarwal - Director of the Clinical Andrology Laboratory and Reproductive Tissue Bank, and the Director of Research at the Center for Reproductive Medicine in 2006 found that using a mobile phone for more than four hours a day is associated with reduction in sperm viability and mobility of around 25 percent and can cause irreversible infertility in men.”

Now let’s look at the facts. The 2006 study was analyzed by Orac over at scienceblogs:

Quote:“This study has a number of shortcomings that make me take its conclusion with a huge grain of salt. Right off the bat, I note that it’s an observational study, and such studies are fraught with problems. Another huge problem with this study is that the men being studied are not a representative group by definition. After all, they are coming to an infertility clinic.”

Quote:A second problem is that the four parameters that showed a decrease are not independent. They are related, and in this study showed significant positive correlation with each other. If one goes up, all tend to go up, and if one goes down, all tend to go down.

The four parameters mentioned here are sperm count, motility, sperm viability, and percent normal morphology. It is possible that there were other more influential factors involved. Orac goes on:

Quote:However, these problems pale in significance with the single biggest problem of the study: the utter failure even to try to control for confounding factors other than age. Not only did the authors not validate cell phone exposure independently, but they did not examine the occupational history of the subjects or other potential exposures of radiofrequency radiation. The reason this is significant is that there could be a factor common to these men with decreased fertility that is the real cause of their problems that is also correlated with cell phone use.

Orac goes on to point out criticism of the study from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, on the point that the distance between the testicles and the handset when in use is too great for any significant effect.

Quote:“If you’re using your phone for four hours a day, presumably it is out of your pocket for longer. That raises a big question: how is it that testicular damage is supposed to occur?”

This is Dr Allan Pacey.

Quote:He said mobile phone use may be a marker for other lifestyle factors known to affect sperm quality.

“Maybe people who use a phone for four hours a day spend more time sitting in cars, which could mean there’s a heat issue. It could be they are more stressed, or more sedentary and sit about eating junk food getting fat. Those seem to be better explanations than a phone causing the damage at such a great distance” he added.

All the above discussion is over the 2006 study. In 2008 the same team did another study, this time to observe the direct effect of EMR on semen. They placed semen 2.5 cms from a cell phone on talk mode. They claim that this is the average distance between a phone in the trouser pockets and the testicles. Firstly, this is an exaggeration. Secondly, this is hardly the natural conditions. People do not usually walk around talking on cell phones that are in their pocekts 2.5 centimeters from their testicles. Also, our semen is not exposed as it was in the experiment. Finally, although they did notice that “Semen exposed to radiofrequency electromagnetic waves emitted from cell phones had higher levels of damaging free radicals, lower sperm motility (the ability of the sperm to move and swim) and sperm viability”, they also conclude that “There were no significant differences in DNA damage between the exposed and unexposed groups.” This directly contradicts the claims made by the Tehelka reporter (and by Cogent EMR) that cell phone EMR can cause DNA damage. If these studies are accurate, we must face the possibility that something else is going on, given that biological systems are complex and there are many things that we may be yet to understand. But the effects and the dangers are yet to be conclusively demonstrated. If there is any truth to the claims, it’s legitimacy is being affected by the hyperbole, poor fact-checking, blatant promotion of falsehoods and evident omissions of fact that Tehelka is resorting to.

4. Henry Lai and his unavailable meta study: The reporter states:

Quote:“I would like to bring to your notice a study by Dr. Henry Lai, biophysicist at the University of Washington [Video - http://www.blip.tv/file/3283837 - (2:30 min onwards - till 4:45 min) ]. Dr Lai reviewed 350 studies (175 industry funded and 175 non-industry funded) and found that about half showed bio-effects from EM radiation emitted by cell phones. But when he took into consideration the funding sources for those 350 studies, the results changed dramatically. Only 25 percent of the studies paid for by the industry showed effects, compared with 75 percent of those studies that were independently funded.”

The video clip asks the question “Are cell phones dangerous, like cigarettes are?”. Ignoring the obvious hyperbole and false analogy, there are still some puzzling aspects that remain. For some reason the original study is impossible to find! There are numerous sources online mentioning the study, many of them linking to the other studies they mention, but not one of them links to the meta study by Lai. For example, this article links to all the other studies referenced, but not to the original source. None of the original lines, data, images etc from Lai’s study have been quoted. Just a vague citation. Of course, the study could be real, but the fact that it is not available to be read and replicated, is reason for suspect, especially since it is claimed to be such a seminal study. The reason why this is important is because it is vital that we carefully go through Lai’s sources and see what he considers an ‘Industry Study” and what he considers an ‘Independent Study’. Also, each one of these studies must be scrutinized to make sure what Lai’s criteria was when he interpreted the results of these studies. Meta studies are easily manipulated, and the fact that no one can find the original study is cause for suspect. Moreover, Lai’s original claims from the 90s seems to have been that cell phone use causes DNA damage. This part is rejected today by the scientific consensus. It seems that Lai is his own ‘industry’.

5. Non-existent group: The reporter claims that:

Quote:The Australian Health Research Institute indicates that due to billions of times more in volume electromagnetic radiation emitted by billions of mobile phones, internet, intranet and wireless communication data transmission, almost one-third of world population (about 2 billion) may suffer from Cell Phone Cancer by 2020. Even if 1% of it comes true it will have devastating consequences to so many people.

What’s interesting is that this story is a complete hoax! There is no Australian Health Research Institute, and the above words seem to be taken almost word for word from some sort of propaganda ‘press’ release: See here, here and here.

I did not have time to fact check all the claims made by Rishi, the reporter, but many of the other claims in the reports look suspect as well, especially given that the majority opinion among science-based medical researchers is that cell phone radiation is too weak to cause DNA damage- a claim that Tehelka refutes over and over. In the time that it has taken us to get around to fact-checking and reporting on this issue, Tehelka has conducted surveys in three other cities, Mumbai, and Bangalore & Chennai. As expected, they concluded their reports on a terrifying note. The push by Tehelka to blow up this issue has made it necessary for us to get involved in looking at the evidence from a rational and scientific perspective. This discussion began on the forums and has now been stepped up to a different level. Nirmukta is calling for the big guns to tackle this one.

Related posts:

1. The Cell Phone Cancer Debate: Fact-Checking The Tehelka Radiation Survey- Part 1.
2. COMPLEXITY EXPLAINED: 4. The Nature of Information
3. Deepak Chopra: A New Age Shaman (Watch Video)

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Many of the claims of the Tehelka report do not stand up to scrutiny. The issue was first highlighted by Sajith and it was taken up by another member, Vaibhav Prakash. Sajith and Vaibhav directly contacted the reporter and participated on an online discussion on Tehelka’s facebook page. Here is that Discussion:

Sajith Unni: I asked this question on twitter too. Why was there no reply ?

Q : Why was the survey was done by Cogent EMR who sell products that border on quackery? So is there not a financial interest involved?

May 28 at 10:50am ·

Tehelka: The question did not appear on our timeline. Else it wouldn’t have been missed. — Here are all the questions we received..

May 28 at 11:34am·

Sajith Unni: Well I did ask the question directly to Rishi and it shows up on my twitter account. It is still a valid question and maybe you should answer it here. Because it appears that you guys are pushing congent products as part of this story.

May 28 at 12:04pm ·

Vaibhav Prakash: This is utter nonsense. There is no relation between microwave radiation and cancer. As far as the 600 mW/m^2 limit is concerned can you refer me to the ICNIRP article? I myself couldn’t find it in the ICNIRP guidelines. Its a typical case of correlation/causation. Delhi is basically one of the most polluted cities in India, hence many people are bound to have symptoms of fatigue.

May 29 at 10:07am ·

Sajith Unni: @Vaibhav That is correct. Notice there is no response to my questions from anyone at Tehelka including the journalist who carried out this so called survey. Classic case of bad reporting. It appears Tehelka is creating hype to market cogent products.

May 29 at 11:50pm ·

Tehelka: @Sajith
Cogent EMR Ltd. is a company that has done over 30,000 radiation audits all over the country since it’s inception in 2005. Some of these audits have been for telecom operators. Some for reputed private individuals and companies. They have done surveys of EMR levels in cities too (though not over as many spots as they did for Tehelka). For some of these surveys, they have received letters appreciating their work from President APJ Abdul Kalam, in his capacity as President of India, and various central and state ministers. For some of these surveys they partnered with other media concerns - namely the Times Of India and Aaj Tak. I have spoken to scientists Dr V P Sandlas, ex chief controller of the DRDO, and Professor J Behari of the School Of Environmental Sciences JNU. Both of these gentlemen were on a committee consulted by the DoT before it decided to adopt the ICNIRP guidelines. Both have reaffirmed Cogent’s credibility.

More importantly, I couldn’t find any other private concern that conducted EMR audits, and so would be apt for testing EMR levels throughout the city of Delhi. There were government agencies like SAMEER which did this. But why would a government agency undertake a survey which risked showing the government in a bad light?

Now, for your second point. I did not write an article in any way connected to the products Cogent EMR Ltd sells. So their quackery or otherwise is not related to this article. They are an ISO certified company, and their profile on the certification includes that of a company which conducts EMR audits. That was what was relevant to the article.

Finally, w.r.t. the link you pasted on EMR and its health effects, read these instead:

Havas, M. 2007. Analysis of Health and Environmental Effects of Proposed San Francisco Earthlink Wi-Fi Network, Commissioned by SNAFU (San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna Free Union) and presented to Board of Supervisors, City and Country of San Francisco, 51 pp. In this Report - Page 5 : Fig 1 -Guidelines, exposures and effects of radio frequency radiation at various power densities and Page 8 : Fig 2 - Response of residents living in the vicinity of a cellular phone base station in Spain.

600 mW/m2= 600,000 µW/m2= 60 µW/cm2

As seen above - All the above health problems can appear at levels below 10 µW/cm2 = 100 mW/m2 itself.

FRENCH STUDY - (Reference) Santini R, Santini P, Danze JM, Le Ruz P, Seigne M, Investigation on the health of people living near mobile telephone relay stations: Incidence according to distance and sex, Pathology Biology, 50(6), 369-73, 2002 27 -http://www.bevolution.dk/pdf/SantiniEnglishBevolution.pdf

Microwave exposure at levels below the current FCC exposure standard can produce single and double strand breaks in DNA. Damage to DNA is a central mechanism for developing tumors and cancer. When the rate of damage to DNA exceeds the rate at which DNA can be repaired, there is the possibility of retaining mutations and initiating cancer.

Exposure to electromagnetic fields can also reduce melatonin levels that protect the brain. Studies show an increased risk in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s; about four times and three times for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) among those exposed to EMF.

Dr. Agarwal - Director of the Clinical Andrology Laboratory and Reproductive Tissue Bank, and the Director of Research at the Center for Reproductive Medicine in 2006 found that using a mobile phone for more than four hours a day is associated with reduction in sperm viability and mobility of around 25 percent and can cause irreversible infertility in men.

I would like to bring to your notice a study by Dr. Henry Lai, biophysicist at the University of Washington [Video -http://www.blip.tv/file/3283837 - (2:30 min onwards - till 4:45 min) ]. Dr Lai reviewed 350 studies (175 industry funded and 175 non-industry funded) and found that about half showed bio-effects from EM radiation emitted by cell phones. But when he took into consideration the funding sources for those 350 studies, the results changed dramatically. Only 25 percent of the studies paid for by the industry showed effects, compared with 75 percent of those studies that were independently funded.

June 1 at 3:37am ·

Tehelka: @Sajith
Also, Dr Lennart Hardell, professor in oncology and cancer epidemiology at the University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden and his co-workers have studied use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk for brain tumours.

Conclusion from his work - Results from present studies on use of mobile phones for >10 years give a consistent pattern of increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma. The risk is highest for ipsilateral (on the same side of the head where the instrument is held) exposure.

“Our review yielded a consistent pattern of an increased risk for glioma and acoustic neuroma after >10 year mobile phone use. We conclude that current standard for exposure to microwaves during mobile phone use is not safe for long-term exposure and needs to be revised”

Reference
Hardell L, Carlberg M, So¨derqvist F, Hansson Mild K, Morgan LL. Long-term use of cellular phones and brain tumours: increased risk associated with use for >/_10 years. Occup Environ Med 2007;64: 626e32.

Hardell Lennart et al, Epidemiological evidence for an association between use of wireless phones and tumor diseases, Pathophysiology, PATPHY-595, 2009.

Dr. Magda Havas - Environmentalist, Lennart Hardell - Professor of Oncology, Olle Johansson - Immunity based studies, Dr. Henry Lai - Biophysicist at the University of Washington, Dr. George Carlo , Dr. Leif Salford - Neurosurgeon, Cindy Sage (founder of Bioinitiative group) - (all very well know in their field) and many other scientists are extremely concerned on the effects.

The Australian Health Research Institute indicates that due to billions of times more in volume electromagnetic radiation emitted by billions of mobile phones, internet, intranet and wireless communication data transmission, almost one-third of world population (about 2 billion) may suffer from Cell Phone Cancer by 2020. Even if 1% of it comes true it will have devastating consequences to so many people.

(1) Mobile Telecommunications and health research programme (MTHR) Report 2007 - Page 44

(2) Hardell Lennart et al, Epidemiological evidence for an association between use of wireless phones and tumor diseases, Pathophysiology, PATPHY-595, 2009.

(3) Santini R, Santini P, Danze JM, Le Ruz P, Seigne M, Investigation on the health of people living near mobile telephone relay stations: Incidence according to distance and sex, Pathology Biology, 50(6), 369-73, 2002 27 -http://www.bevolution.dk/pdf/SantiniEnglishBevolution.pdf

(4) Santini et al, Survey Study of People Living in the Vicinity of Cellular Phone Base Stations, Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 22, 41 - 49, 2003 - http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/electro_bio_med_20030001.PDF

(5) Lai H, Singh NP., Single- and double-strand DNA breaks in rat brain cells after acute exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation, Int J Radiat Biol. 1996 Apr;69(4):513-21. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8627134

(6) Paulraj R, Behari J., Single Strand DNA Breaks in Rat Brain Cells Exposed to Microwave Radiation, Mutat Res. 2006 Apr 11;596(1-2):76-80. Epub 2006 Feb 2.

(7) World Health Organization, ELF Health Criteria Monograph. Neurodegenerative Disorders, p187, 2007 - DO NOT USE THIS

(8) Savitz DA, Checkoway H, Loomis DP. Magnetic field exposure and neurodegenerative disease mortality among electric utility workers. Epidemiology, 9, 398-404, 1998a

(9) Ashok Agarwal, Ph.D., H.C.L.D.,a Fnu Deepinder, M.D.,a Rakesh K. Sharma, Ph.D.,a Geetha Ranga, Ph.D.,b and Jianbo Li, Ph.D., Effect of cell phone usage on semen analysis in men attending infertility clinic: an observational study, Fertil Steril. 2008 Jan;89(1):124-8. - http://www.clevelandclinic.org/reproductiveresearchcenter/docs/agradoc239.pdf

(10) Divan HA, Kheifets L, Obel CJ, Olsen, J, Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to Cell Phone Use and Behavioral Problems in Children, Epidemiology, 2008

(11) http://thegeomancer.netfirms.com/cellphones.htm or http://www.cellphone-health.com/blog/2009/06/cell-phone-for-4-year-olds-bad-idea.html or http://www.cellphone-health.com/cellphonedangers.htm - for radiation penetration in skull study by Dr. Om Gandhi

Of course, it hasn’t been ‘conclusively proved and accepted’ that EMR seriously damages the human body. But such is suspected - by leading scientists and doctors around the world, and it hasn’t been conclusively proved that it doesn’t seriously damage the human body either.

Research on the subject is ongoing. This is why we have spoken about a ‘risk’ of diseases in the article. Not a ‘certainty’. World over, countries go by the ‘precautionary principle’. This means that when the risk to human health is so severe, they would rather avoid it than take it on. This is why other countries have definite enforced rules on where to place their mobile towers - something that is lacking in India, clearly visible from the flouting of government guidelines enumerated in the article.

To end, neither bad nor good reporting can “create a revolution”. People can, provided they ask the right questions.

Thanks,
Rishi

June 1 at 3:37am ·

Tehelka @Vaibhav
Here’s the reference. “Health Issues Related To The Use Of Hand-Held Radiotelephones and Base Transmitters. ICNIRP Statement - April 1996. As for the ICNIRP Guidelines, read them again. They talk about the W/metre square of power which can be a reference level for public exposure at every frequency. This, however is not a reference to ’safe limits’, but a guideline for what each telecom company can emit. There are other references of course - for how EMR may harm:
About Correlation/Causation now. It’s true. We can blame most things on just about anything. Which is why despite innumerable complaints from residents about minor health problems they perceived as arising due to cell phone towers in their vicinity the one case study we cited was that of a man of science, and a successful entrepreneur. He didn’t suffer from fatigue. Excessive exposure from EMR caused him to have a stroke.

Now to address your argument about Delhi being polluted and Delhiites being resigned to fatigue. Fatigue, or cancer, can have numerous causes. And we can go on passing the buck from one to the other. That still doesn’t stop us from eliminating a health risk when we see one - and when it can be eliminated.

June 1 at 3:38am ·

We have presented the entire response by Rishi here in fairness to the reporter. Vaibhav has posted his response to the reporter, Rishi, on the forums. Here is Vaibhav’s response in its entirety.

Hello again,

Let me start off with a simple fact as to why there can’t be a causal relationship between micro or radio waves and cancer. The energy of the particle(photon in this case) is determined by the frequency of the wave and NOT the intensity which is to say the number of particles passing through a unit area in unit time(W/m^2). As far as we know from medical science, cancer is caused due to the breaking of the chemical bonds in DNA molecules of a cell. The energy of these waves is much smaller than the energy required to break the chemical bonds in a DNA molecule. And hence cannot cause cancer even if you increase the intensity of the waves. All they can do is heat up the tissues in our body, which leads to the next question about the threshold levels.

Referring to the ICNIRP guidelines (which is mentioned as your reference in your article), from table 4,6&7 we know; SAR limit for general public: 0.08W/kg between the range of 10MHz-10GHz. Power density limits for general public: 2 - 10 W/m^2 (2000 - 10000 mW/m^2)between the range of 10MHz-300GHz

Please refer me to the page in the ICNIRP guidelines where it says the threshold is 600mW/m^2

SNAFU is not mentioned anywhere in your article.

You sent me three references of the same article from Santini et al. and 2 references of the same article from Hardell at al.
So let me go through those articles first.

The Santini survey shows a significant rise of some of the symptoms(fatigue and headaches) at distances greater than 100m which completely contradicts the fact that the intensity of the wave in inversely proportional to the distance it travels. So the greater the distance from the source the less intense a wave can be. A much higher sampling size is required in order to determine any relationship between these symptoms and the risk of staying near power lines. And that is the problem with all the other references including the Hardell one. If you increase the sampling size the correlation either goes away or there is a negative correlation which is also not plausible. Refer http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100517/f…0.246.html for details.

Another maybe only a minor thing to notice is that all the studies which show a correlation between EMR and cancer are performed on animals which isn’t picked up by the media.

You may find some references of some more studies in these blogs: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=5207 http://www.skepdic.com/emf.html

I am very rarely impressed from the authoritative argument. Dr.Abdul Kalam also attended Sathya Sai’s function along with other state ministers. So I wouldn’t give into Cogent Ltd. even if he himself vouches for it.

Here’s the article which talks about the risks involved with pacemaker and EMI http://cogprints.org/4305/1/francis.htm

My concern was regarding the scare tactics used by Tehelka. It is one thing to say that recent studies show some correlation but its completely dishonest to give only one side to the layman. Moreover the threshold mentioned in the article and also in the youtube clip is misguiding the layman to believe that the radiation levels in Delhi are the main causes of their illnesses. If you wanted to do a reporting on a science based issue it would be far better than just assume that the layman knows the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiations.

Vaibhav Prakash

Due to exponential loss of intensity during propagation of EMR, the radiation from your cell phone is immensely higher in intensity, as far as you are concerned, than the radiation from the tower. In fact, the farther away the tower and the weaker the signal, the harder your cell phone works to put out the signal, thereby increasing your exposure to radiation. Having a cell phone tower nearer to you is a good thing!

In the next part of this series we will discuss some of the other claims made by Rishi Mazumdar and Tehelka. You can continue to follow the story on the forums here.

Related posts:

1. Fact Checking The Tehelka Radiation Survey- Part 2: Misleading And Incomplete Information
2. In the Name of Curing Cancer
3. Cancer Cure Scam: Cytotron Therapy Ad Continues To Run In Newspapers

A state level road show was organised by the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham. B. Premanand was to inaugurate that and I was to debunk so-called miracles. As per routine, during my presentation, I put forth our challenges to those who have supernatural powers and one of them was for those who can do black magic. Our test for the power of black magic is for that Tantrik to kill me by these special powers. And the reward for this would be my entire property. On that day there was no response from anyone. But, the next day the local drummer announced that a person called Amir Raja would be showing his powers of black magic on the public maidan (field) at 5pm. There were about 500 people gathered at the appointed time. One person got on the dais and started a long lecture of the magical powers of the great wizard Amir Raja. When people asked who this man was, he pointed at himself! The people bored by his long talk asked where I was, and told him to kill me and be over with it as they were getting tired of the whole affair! I was not there because I was not aware that someone had taken my challenge! But, there were two persons in the audience who had been trained by me at Trichur. They went on the stage and told Amir Raja that though I was not there to take challenge, they were there and he could show his powers of black magic by killing one of them. They also assured Amir Raja, that he would not have to bother about the disposal of the body. The other person who was left alive would do that! He stared at them and they stared back!

‘Miracle’ exposed by the Kerala Yuktivadi Sangam

Click here to view the embedded video.

As expected, nothing happened, except for an irate audience throwing stones at Amir Raja. He beat a hasty retreat and hid in a mosque, nearby. This incident was reported in many newspapers of Kerala and I came to know about it from the ‘The Week’. I thought this was the end of it. But that was not to be. A few months later, I had gone to Payyanur to address the district meet of the Kerala Yukhtivadi Sangham. During my talk I mentioned the incident of Amir Raja.  The audience quickly pointed out that he was present amongst them. So, I called Mr. Raja to the stage and asked him to kill me with his powers. He came on the stage and stared at me. I too stared back… Nothing happened.

He then, spewed a string of colourful expletives in Malayalam. I could not follow his language, but the audience did! Two of them came up to the stage rolling up their sleeves to take Mr Raja to task.  Just in time, three people came running from outside, looking for Amir Raja. I was given to understand that he was a psychiatric patient who was obsessed with me. He had disappeared from his house and his parents had requested his friends to bring him back. When they heard that I would be speaking at this place, they had come there, expecting to see him in the crowd. They were right. They caught him and pulled him away. And that’s the story of Amir Raja who wanted to kill me by black magic!

About 7 years back, some of the saffron-tinted newspapers in Karnataka had carried front- page write-ups about eternal lamps at a placecalled Chigalli, about 250 kms from Mangalore. The write-up was about three lamps, actually lanterns, burning without any oil or any other fuel for the past 25 years! They were kept alit supposedly by the miraculous power of prayer of an old lady called Lakshmi Raikar. A sage had preached that to attain salvation, one needed to feed the hungry. Since she was poor and had hardly had any food for herself, let alone feed others, she was very worried about attaining this promised salvation. She prayed to god and the answer apparently came in the form of a flash of lightning that lit up a lamp that had been lying around since years without any oil. So Lakshmi decided to worship god, in lieu of feeding the poor and the hungry. Soon another lantern kept nearby started burning and the number went up to three. As she grew older, the lamps came to be tended by her niece though we don’t know what that means! The only care that lamps need is to be re-filled when the oil burns up. But since, oil was apparently not required for these blessed lamps, one fails to understand the need for care! After a few years, Lakshmi Raikar died and the niece, Nagaratna took over the job full time.

To cut this long story short when we went to investigate this, there was a huge crowd of villagers baying for our blood and a good number of policemen to maintain law and order. The end result was that the local authorities refused to give us permission and asked us to go away. That is a good way to escape from any sort of investigation.

There are many things that the escape artists have in common with each other. Their preferred tactic for instance, is to ask us to come to their place, where they would have gathered the local people beforehand under the pretext of outsiders coming to attack their sacred miracles. When we go to investigate any such ‘miracle’ we have to inform local authorities. This turns into a law and order issue. Last September I was called up by a state level channel about a so-called miracle at a place called Gokarna. There they claimed that there was a tank into which if the bones of cremated persons were immersed they would dissolve rapidly! My contention was that cremation would destroy the proteins and other components of the bone matrix and convert the calcium salts to its carbonate or oxide, which would dissolve at a rate dependent on the acidity of the water. This is a verifiable hypothesis. At 8 pm that night I got a call from the same channel and I was told that the call was on air live. The priest of the temple who owned the tank represented the other side. He announced that the souls whose bones were immersed in that tank would attain moksha or salvation. I asked him whether any one had come back and told him that his/her soul had attained moksha. He was furious with my question and berated me saying that we atheists are always like that. I asked him to send me at least 5 litres of water in a can so that I could investigate whether the bones were dissolving faster in that! His only reply was that I should come over there to investigate. I understood the reason behind this demand was to create the usual law and order problem with the locals, and then declare that we, the rationalists, had verified the claim and declared the phenomenon as genuine!

Then, there is the curious case of Ashwini of the Dhyan foundation. This has also been reported on Nirmukta. This person claimed to be able to diagnose the disease and whether the person was dead or alive, just by looking at their photos. He challenged us for a demonstration, and told us that any one from his foundation could face us. When we took up the challenge he sent a few of his ‘followers’ who wanted to argue and backed out from the demonstration of ‘powers’. We are yet to see his miraculous powers of diagnosis by seeing photographs.

We know the case of Bhaskar Shetty, which is an ongoing issue. We are waiting for Bhaskar Shetty to come and tell us about ten people by casting their horoscopes and using the ’science’ of as(s)trology! Well why do the likes of Shetty and Ashwini do that?

They are used to adulation and worship from gullible people. They also have strategies like cold reading - which essentially means observing the dressing style, accessories used for a general categorization of class, caste and religion. These charlatans usually function by word-of-mouth networking and ‘good faith’. Their followers bring in their friends and they in turn bring in their friends. This is how the web spreads. It also ensures that these charlatans always have a fair amount of background information about these people. Typically, in the first interaction, they rattle off a few personal details and the victim falls into the trap. When people like us confront them, they first bluff and bluster, thinking that we can be easily cowed down. When it comes to the crunch they run away offering lame excuses. As for Bhaskar Shetty he might have initially thought that it is easy to guess the gender and living state of individuals thinking that the odds are fifty-fifty. But, when he realised that the odds are stacked very much against just guessing, he developed cold feet. We are yet to hear from him. The crux of the matter is we are still waiting to be convinced about a zillion things under the sun and moon.

Recently, someone invited me for a public debate on the existence of god. Well, instead of a public debate we could have a demonstration for some manifestation of this existence, but under foolproof conditions. Or at least a demonstration of the claims of the supernatural powers which these people keep making in the media and in the presence of their gullible devotees who are eagerly waiting to swallow every word! My humble prayer to them: prove your powers and make me a pauper please!

Professor Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. He tours India performing demonstrations and organizing training workshops on miracle exposure and scientific temper for rationalists.

Related posts:

1. Exposing The “Miracle” Of Blindfolded Sight- The Story of Ranjana Agarwal
2. Narendra Nayak’s Rationalist Tour of India- Part IV
3. Introducing The Bihar Rationalist Forum
4. Reincarnation, Rebirth And Past-Life Regression Therapy In India: A Rationalist Critique
5. Astrologer Bhaskar Shetty Accepts Rationalist/Skeptic Narendra Nayak’s Astrology Challenge
6. Swine Flu Campaign by the Indian Rationalist Organizations
7. Indian Rationalist Movement- The Challenges Ahead
8. Annual “Best Scientific Outlook Award” Ceremony And Rationalist Program
9. Indian Rationalist Activist Narendra Nayak’s Programme for April-May, 2010
10. Organizing The Rationalist Movement In Uttar Pradesh
11. First Meeting Of The Karnataka Rationalist Association in Bangalore on the 14th of March, 2010.
12. Is ‘Hindu Atheism’ Valid? A Rationalist Critique Of The ‘Hindu’ Identity’s Usurpation Of Indian Culture
13. Narendra Nayak’s Rationalism Tour of India- Part 2.

My first programs in Tamilnadu started by accident. Though my college education had been in Chennai and am quite fluent in Tamil, myfirst interaction in that language was by accident. In 2004, if my memory serves right, there was the second National Teachers Science Convention at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. I had interactions with the all the participants, as a sort of curtain raiser for the training session that was to follow. The usual controversy about the language communication came up- English or Hindi? The North Indians wanted it to be in Hindi while the others insisted on English. I finally settled on a compromise, saying that I would speak in both languages. One gentleman from the audience objected and said that it should be English only. I replied to him in Tamil saying that I could have that interaction in Tamil if he wanted but the others would not understand a word of it! There was deafening applause from his group of about ten people and the atmosphere turned cordial. I had my interaction in Hindi and English. When the talk was over this gentleman came to me and asked me whether I could have a program in Tamil at his place. This gentleman was Dr. Madhavan, the director of the planetarium at Tiruchirapally.

Thus started my tours of Tamilnadu! My first program was a two day interaction with students from a few girls colleges which went very well- in Tamil! Though I started my program with a declaimer that my Tamil is not very good, some of the girls came and told me that my Tamil was super! After the Trichy interaction, there was one more at the Chennai planetarium arranged by Dr. Iyamperumal, the VC and the Director. That was the beginning of a wonderful, fulfilling relationship with that organisation, a relationship that continues even today and hopefully for many years to come. Along with these programs other organisations such as trade unions and the Tamilandu Science Forum started having our programs in many places. Tamilnadu Rationalist Forum was a member of FIRA but had not arranged for any of my interactions as they had not known that I could communicate in Tamil. But once they came to know that I could, Dr.Veeramani and Kumaresan have arranged quite a few programs and training sessions. I would like to share some of these experiences with our readers.

In Erode, one of our interactions was at the first hall that was founded by Periyar. But before the program was to start, the local organiser told me that I should not say anything about god because it was a very controversial topic. I agreed, but when my talk started I told the audience that I was very proud to have the opportunity of speaking at the auditorium built by Periyar, but had been told by the organisers not to say anything about god as they felt it was a very controversial topic. I also told them that in that particular auditorium it would in fact be a controversial topic if one were to say that there is a god, and not the other way round! I told them that I was starting my talk by quoting Periyar-

“There is no god, there is no god, there is no god at all.”

E.V. Ramaswamy

The applause was thunderous. The members of the managing committee told me that the auditorium had been hired by the local organisers saying that it was for a science program, and that they were not aware of what it really was! They also said that due to the lack of this understanding they had even charged rent for it! They assured me that the next time I come over they would organise the program themselves, not charge any rent, and even arrange for all the other facilities at their expense! We had quite a few interactions at various schools and colleges. That series of programs went on very well.

We have close contacts with Aruchamy of Coimbatore from an organisation called Periyar Dravida Kazhagam. He has provided us with the

Periyar, Bertrand Russell and Robert Ingersoll were published together as contemporary rationalists

know-how and the manpower for quite a few programs shot by major channels like Discovery Channel, The BBC, Australian TV, etc. Their group arranged for our interactions at quite a few locations. At one of these events, the Puttaparthi prestidigitator had come to Chennai and had allegedly ‘materialised’ rings for a few of the DMK ministers. At that time we were holding a series of programs in which I ‘materialised’ the usual items such as rings and so on, and distributed them much to the delight of the audience who loved parodying the ministers! The publicity because of these attracted the attention of many other groups including the association of High Court lawyers of the state and some trade unions. In September of 2006, a series of programs were organised in Chennai. The first one was of the anniversary celebration of a magazine, held at one of the well known auditoriums of Chennai. After my lecture demonstration some people came backstage and started arguing with us. But, the editor of the magazine told me that I did not have to handle them myself, and he ticked them off. They went away threatening that they would see how my next programs would go on. The next few programs went on uneventfully but at one of the programs at a place called Porur a few people came with stones in their hand and told the organiser of the program that my talk would not be allowed. There were police around, but instead of assuring protection they told me that we better hold the program on some other day. The program that day was to celebrate Periyars birth day, and imagine it being called off in Tamilnadu! At that time I wrote a stinker of a letter to the Chief Minister and also the commissioner of Police of Chennai.

Later on when Aruchamy and his friends came to know of this incident, they arranged for a program at the very same place. This time they were ready for any eventuality! There were around a thousand people who had come and there was not a whimper of protest from any one! There have been dozens of such presentations including many training programs conducted by various organisations from Tamilnadu Science Forum, Tamilandu Rationalist Forum, Birla Planetarium etc. During these tours I had the occassion to meet many interesting people, including a so-called ‘Fire Swami’ at Tanjavur, many die-hard Hindutwavadis, hard-core Christian proselytizers and such. On one of these tours I investigated the famous Nadi Jotidam of Vaitheeswaran Kovil. This investigation has been posted as one of my earliest articles on Nirmukta.

My latest experience in Tamilnadu was on the 17^th of this month. I was invited by the director of the Planetarium, Dr. Iyamperumal, to deliver a lecture-demo on scientific temper. There was very good coverage by the press and other media. The next day I started receiving calls on my mobile, some of which were threatening me, daring me to repeat what I had said at that program in public. I had not realised what had happened, but came to know later that some vested interests of the Hindutwavadi groups had publicized the idea that our miracle exposure program was anti-Hindu! This point had been clarified over and over again, so there was no need for any further explanation. But, it is a very good sign that our program has had such an impact and the vested interests have felt threatened! I forwarded the numbers to some of our people who called them up and asked them for their addresses so that they could organize one such program in their very locality! The brave warriors of Hindutva did not have the courage to give up their addresses! Dr. Iyamperumal has informed me that he has received a number of enquiries for my phone number and that he has told all of them to kindly send their request by letter and he would give them the required information by post. He also expressed his regret at all the negative calls, but I told him that we thrive on adversity and that it was nothing new to us. The strangest part of the whole controversy is that none of those who called had actually attended the program. All their surmises were based on the newspaper reports! Dr. Iyamperumal gave me the very good news that all the children who attended the three-day camp had a very good opinion of our presentation and were praising it! The negative reactions were all from people who had based their opinion on the newspaper reports and the statement of the BJP office-bearer. This clearly shows their ideological bankruptcy!

A number of programs are being planned in Chennai by our supporters. In fact, Dr. Iyamperumal has promised to organize one full-day interaction, open to public. When we held such a program in the first week of February during a science festival at the same venue this year, the response had been overwhelming. It had to be wound up because of the large crowds which could not be controlled!

When the dates are finalized, professor Narendra Nayak’s upcoming Chennai program will be announced on Twitter and Facebook, and will also be posted on the Forums. For further enquiries or to volunteer, please call professor Nayak at 94482-16343.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations.

Related posts:

1. The Seventh WORLD ATHEIST CONFERENCE Begins Today
2. An Atheist March in Krakow, Poland
3. From an Agnostic to an Atheist
4. The Rise of Atheism: The 2010 Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, Australia.
5. Aren’t You? Atheist Posters by Bala Bhaskar
6. Responding to the ‘Atheist Crimes’ of the 20th Century
7. Science Versus Religion: A Report From The World Atheist Conference
8. Narendra Nayak’s Rationalism Tour: Part 3
9. Indian Rationalist Activist Narendra Nayak’s Programme for April-May, 2010
10. Reaching Out To The Younger Generation Of Rationalists
11. The Nastik Returns To Devbhoomi
12. Rationalism tour of India - Part 6
13. Freethought Activism In The Tribal Areas Of Madhya Pradesh

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 well 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.

Related posts:

1. In the Name of Curing Cancer
2. Reincarnation, Rebirth And Past-Life Regression Therapy In India: A Rationalist Critique
3. Beyond Bodily Needs: Prahlad Jani & The Solarian Scam
4. The Cell Phone Cancer Debate: Fact-Checking The Tehelka Radiation Survey- Part 1.
5. Quantum Quacks and Nano Scams
6. Swine Flu Campaign by the Indian Rationalist Organizations
7. Astrologer Bhaskar Shetty Accepts Rationalist/Skeptic Narendra Nayak’s Astrology Challenge
8. Will Astrologer Bhaskar Shetty Keep His Word And Take Up The Rationalists’ Astrology Challenge?
9. An Atheist In Periyar’s Land
10. Rationalism tour of India - Part 6
11. Freethought Activism In The Tribal Areas Of Madhya Pradesh
12. Narendra Nayak’s Rationalism Tour: Part 3
13. Psychic Yoga Challenge: Yogi Ashwini Vs. Rationalists

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 12^th century due to resurgence of Brahmanism as well as rise of Islamic rule in India.

2. The Purpose Of Varna Dharma

In the beginning of Vedic period (1500-1000 B. C.), the immigrant Arya elite divided their new society by a simple system known as Varna (color), which differentiated the fair skinned Arya minority (”Us”) from dark skinned Dasyu majority (”Them”). This color-based division of society was not unlike the now- extinct apartheid system of South Africa. Over the ensuing centuries the fair-skinned upper classes mixed with dark-skinned lower classes and people of varying hues arose. This made it difficult to classify people by skin color alone. A hierarchical class system based on four broad categories of profession came into being: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warrior royals), Vaishyas (farmers, cattlemen) and Sudras (servants). In this context, the word Varna came to mean Class. The goal of Varna Dharma was to: 1. Preserve elitism and purity of Arya culture and traditions of the upper classes (Brahmins and Kshatriyas, 9:33) of Brahmanism as far as possible, and to 2. Bring stability and order into the chaos resulting from on-going influx of immigrant tribes into the settled Indian cultures. For example, when warring tribes of foreign countries such as Huns settled down in India, they were designated the Kshatriya class, and absorbed into Brahmanic society as Rajputs. Rajputs kings did not mind giving their daughters to Mughal emperors because they considered them as Kshatriyas.

3. Foundation: The Gunas Of Prakriti And Law Of Karma

This was obviously a highly unequal division of Brahmanic society. A whole new justification for the unequal division of the society into four classes became necessary. As we read in an earlier article, Brahmanism came up with a pair of ingenious doctrines to explain the inequality of the Varna Dharma: unequal distribution of one of three Gunas of Prakriti (”inherent Qualities”), and consequences of Law of Karma (”one’s current class and circumstances are as a consequences of one’s action in previous lives”) (4:13). For example, Sudras, the lowest of four classes, were born in an “inferior womb” (Papayonaya, 9:32) because of the combination of their Tamas Guna (inherent traits such as ignorance, delusion, heedlessness, indolence and sleep, 14:8), and some sinful acts he must have committed in his previous lives, such as hitting a Brahmin or stealing his cow. Once born as a Sudra, he was forever condemned to be a servant of the upper classes. If a Sudra wished to be reborn in a higher class, he should keep performing his Dharma (designated duty of serving the upper classes) helplessly (18:60) and faithfully in this life (18:45). Brahmanism brainwashed people into believing that one was totally helpless before the force of the Gunas (3:5, 27, 33; 18:60). In fact, if one defied Varna Dharma, he would suffer shame in the society here on earth and hell hereafter (2:33). Ostracism by the society was considered worse than death (2:34).

The Gunas of Prakriti were unequally distributed as follows: Brahmins were given Sattva Guna: Knowledge, purity, and happiness (14:6). Kshatriyas were assigned Rajas Guna: Passion, thirst for power and wealth, and action (14:7). Vaishyas and Sudras were given Tamas Guna: Heedlessness, indolence and sleep (14:8). Brahmanism condemned to hell those people, such as Buddhists, who were responsible for Varnasankara (1:42-44, class admixture). Being a patrilineal society, upper class men could marry lower class women, but upper class women were forbidden to marry lower class men (1:41) for fear of further decimation of the dwindling Arya upper classes, and destruction of longstanding Jati (caste) and Kula (family) traditions and rituals (1:43). People who were outside the pale of these Brahmanic classes were considered as Outcastes (5:18), now known as Dalits (oppressed classes). In this Class System, Brahmins enjoyed almost divine status.

4. Untouchables

The worst aspect of Varna Dharma has always been the existence of the Outcastes who later came to be known as Untouchables. These people were those locals who were too primitive to be part of

"Untouchable" Woman

Arya culture. These people performed menial tasks considered by Brahmanism as degrading, such as skinning animals, carrying out night soil, cremating dead bodies, executing criminals, and other unsavory tasks, which even Sudras refused to do. People known as Chandala belonged to this category. People resulting from Varnasankara such as the union of the Brahmin women and Sudra men were also considered as Outcastes. Brahmins shunned Untouchables so scrupulously that even their shadow was not allowed to fall on them. So Untouchables lived in their own humble colonies outside the village limits. This is still the case in many parts of India. Often high walls separated the upper class dwellings from those of the Outcastes. Often Untouchable were required to use separate roads. Varna Dharma has always been sacrosanct to Brahmanic loyalists simply because it gave Brahmins high status and power in its hierarchy.

The abomination of Varna Dharma did not go unchallenged in ancient India, which was full of freethinking, humanitarian and righteous people such as Charvakas, Jains and Buddhists, who abhorred Brahmanism and its whole range of shenanigans. As we read earlier, these groups abandoned Brahmanism as well all its sub Dharmas.

5. The First Attempt To Dismantle Varna Dharma: The Upanishads

Even within the fold of Brahmanism revolt against its repulsive practices such as Varna Dharma, animal sacrifices, Kamya Karma, degradation of Outcastes, etc. began to brew. The first attempt to overthrow Varna Dharma was made by Upanishadists, Kshatriya freethinkers, in their Secret Doctrines (Rahasyam 4:3). They realized that the only way to overthrow Varna Dharma was to dismantle the doctrines of the Gunas and Law of Karma on which it rested. This is why Upanishadists developed theories of Brahman and Yoga of Mind. Upanishadists’ goal was to replace the hierarchical Varna Dharma with classless Egalitarianism (Samadarsheenah, 5:18-19).

A. Brahman Versus Gunas of Prakriti

To eliminate the Gunas Upanishadists put forward an ingenious entity known as Brahman, which was exactly opposite of the Gunas (Nirguna), and unlike the Gunas, was equally distributed within all living beings:

Mundaka Upanishad: 1:1:6: That (Brahman) which cannot be seen, not seized, which has no Kula (family), and no Varna, no eyes, nor ears, no hands nor feet, the eternal, the omnipresent (all-pervading), infinitesimal, that which is imperishable, that it is which the wise regard as the source of all beings.

Note here how Upanishadists defined Brahman in exactly opposite terms as the Gunas -no Qualities (shape, size, weight, Varna, Kula) whatsoever. Whereas the Gunas manifested themselves by means of the Senses (3:28) Brahman was free from the Sense Organs (eyes, ears), and so it was free from desire for and attachment to sense objects. Whereas the Gunas were the source of all Karma (Action 3:5) and Karmaphalam in action, Brahman being free from Organs of Action (hands, feet, etc.), was free from Karma (Action) as well as Karmaphalam. Whereas the body, made up of the Gunas, is subject to decay and death, Brahman was imperishable. Whereas the Gunas were unequally distributed in people, Brahman was equally distributed in all living creatures. People who know the all-pervading nature of Brahman become same-sighted (Samadarsheenah) on all beings. They do not see any Guna/Karma based difference between a cultured and educated Brahmin on one end of the spectrum to an illiterate Outcaste on the other (5:18-19). The modern equivalence of this is like a geneticist telling a White Supremacist, “The colored people you hate have the same DNA in their bodies as in yours!” Note here the paradigm shift: The source of all beings is Brahman of the Upanishads, not Prakriti of Brahmanism. Also, note that whenever Upanishadists use the word “wise”, they are referring to enlightened Yogis. Whenever they use the word Mudhas (stupid) they are referring to Brahmanic loyalists.

B. Upanishadic Yoga of Mind To Eliminate The Law Of Karma

One way to defy the Law of Karma was not to be again born in this miserable world at all. How does one defy the Law of Karma, end the eternal cycle of Samsara and become immortal? Upanishadists put forward the technique of Yoga of Mind for this purpose. The theory of Yoga of Mind said that if one gave up fruits of action, he would overcome the Law of Karma. Katha Upanishad explains the fundamental idea of Yoga of Mind:

Katha Upanishad: 2:6:14-15: When all desires (for sense objects and fruits of action) that dwell in his heart cease, then (he does not earn Karmaphalam and thus) the mortal becomes immortal (one ends the cycle of birth and death as per the Law of Karma), and obtains Brahman. When all the ties of the heart are severed here on earth, then the mortal becomes immortal -here ends the teaching (of Yoga of Mind).

C. Brahmanic Trick # 1

Until now Brahman was merely a mysterious force Brahmins invoked at Yajna by uttering OM, and it was the exclusive property of Brahmins. That is why they were known as Brahmana. Now Upanishadists declared Brahman as “all-pervading Universal Spirit”, which could be found in everyone! In one stroke, Upanishadists had declared that Brahmins were at the same level as other classes and Outcastes as well because the same Brahman was equally distributed in all living creatures. Brahmins would have none of this “same-sightedness”, “all-pervading Brahman”, “Yoga of Mind” and other Upanishadic nonsense. These concepts struck at the very heart of Brahmanic farce: Hierarchy, attachment to money and power, earning Karmaphalam by Yajnas, etc. They buried the essence of the Upanishads by heaping cartloads of pro-Brahmanism shlokas into the Upanishads, and declared them as Shruti -that which was heard, meaning revealed. In other words, now the Upanishadic Secrets Doctrines became ‘TOP SECRET: FOR EARS ONLY.’ As long as Brahmins did not utter them aloud, no one would know what the Upanishads said. This is how Brahmins blocked the first attempt to eliminate the Varna Dharma.

6. The Second Attempt To Dismantle Varna Dharma: Introducing The Upanishadic Principles Into Arjuna Vishada

We read in an earlier article how, to halt mass exodus of Kshatriyas from Brahmanism and to shore up the sagging Varna Dharma, Brahmins created Arjuna Vishada using Ashoka the Great as the negative model, and inserted it into the Mahabharata epic, a Smriti. Arjuna Vishada was nothing but a treatise on the Varna Dharma, and a lecture by Brahmanic Krishna that Kshatriyas should not abandon their own Dharma no matter how imperfect it is (3:35; 18:47-48) and should helplessly perform their Dharma as per their Gunas and Karma (18:59-60).

Taking full advantage of this opportunity, Upanishadists made a second attempt to eliminate Varna Dharma. They reintroduced their anti-Varna Dharma doctrines of Brahman and Yoga into Arjuna Vishada. They knew that once revealed in a Smriti text, their Secret Doctrine could not be reclassified as Shruti. The main goal of the Upanishadic Gita was to destroy the doctrines of the Gunas of Prakriti and Law of Karma, the very foundation of Varna Dharma, and impart Knowledge of Brahman (Brahmavidya), which equalized all people. However, on the pretext of demonstrating the importance of selfless action, Upanishadic Krishna first took full responsibility for creating Varna Dharma resting on unequal distribution of the Gunas and Karma (4:13). Then he set out to destroy it by dismantling its very foundation.

A. Reintroducing Brahman To Counter the Gunas

Now Upanishadists systematically reintroduced Knowledge of Brahman (Brahmavidya) into Arjuna Vishada:

5:15: The Omnipresent (Brahman) does not take note of the merit or demerit of any (Law of Karma means nothing to Brahman). Knowledge (of Brahman) is veiled by ignorance (engendered by the Gunas); mortals are thereby deluded.

The point made here is that as long as one is deluded by the Gunas, he cannot obtain Knowledge of Brahman. Since the Gunas are destroyers of the Knowledge of Brahman, it should be considered as enemy and should be slain:

3:28: The one intuitive into the nature of the Gunas and Karma knows that Gunas as Senses (desire, attachment) merely abide with Gunas as objects (wealth, power), and does not get entangled.

3:34: Desire and aversion (Dwandwam) of the Senses for their respective objects are natural (they are products of the Gunas); let none come under their domination; they are verily his enemies.

How does one slay the Gunas?

3:41: Mastering the Senses (desires) first, slay it -the sinful, the destroyer of knowledge (of Brahman) and realization (of Brahman).

What is the outcome of gaining Knowledge of Brahman?

Now Upanishadists declared that people who have attained knowledge of Brahman transcend the distinction between the classes engendered by the Gunas and Karma.

5:18: Wise men (those who have gained the Knowledge of Brahman) are same-sighted on a cultured and learned Brahmin, a cow (the animal of Vaishyas), an elephant (the animal of Kshatriyas), and on a dog (the animal of Sudras) or even on a dog eater (Outcaste).

Note here that to emphasize the all-pervading nature of Brahman Upanishadists bring even the animals of the other three classes into the equation! Throughout the Bhagavad Gita-Upanishad, Krishna refers to Upanishadists as wise and Brahmanic loyalists as stupid, idiots, dullards, worst among men, and other similar epithets.

5:19: Those whose minds are established in equality (because they see the same Brahman in all) conquer rebirth even here on earth (they do not earn any bad Karmaphalam by their discriminatory actions). Brahman is flawless and same in all; and therefore they are (all) established in Brahman.

B. How To Defy The Law Of Karma And Become Immortal

The first step in the Yoga of Mind is to steady the mind:

2:58: When one withdraws his Senses from the sense objects like a tortoise withdraws its limbs (into its shell), his wisdom is then set firm.

Once a person says No to his desires, he becomes Buddhiyukta (steady-minded). Now he is ready to conquer the Law of Karma.

2:50-51: The one (acting with his mind) steadied by Buddhiyoga frees himself in this life from result of both good and bad deeds (he earns no Karmaphalam); therefore devote yourself to Yoga of Mind. Work done skillfully (avoiding Karmaphalam as its side effect) is verily Yoga of Mind. The wise acting in the spirit of Buddhiyoga, renouncing the fruits of actions, freed from the fetters of rebirth (Law of Karma), verily go to the stainless state (attain Nirvana).

C. Brahminic Trick # 2

Now Brahmins set out to destroy the second attempt at overthrowing the Varna Dharma by Upanishadists. Since the Gita was already a Smriti, it could not be reclassified as Shruti. Since Lord Krishna, as the Lord of beings of the Upanishads, uttered the above shlokas, Brahmins could not destroy them. A more subtle approach was needed to destroy the Upanishadic message of equality and neutralize the danger of Varnasankara. Brahmins resorted to four clever tactics in the Bhagavad Gita by which they tried to obfuscate the Upanishadic message.

i. First, they inserted an anti-Varnasankara shloka (3:24) between two Upanishadic shlokas uttered by Upanishadic Krishna in Chapter Three. In 3:23: Krishna offers himself as a role model of selfless action, and in 3:25 he exhorts Kshatriyas to give up Kamya Karma, follow his example of selfless action, and become Karmayogis. Now Brahmins inserted an anti-Varnasankara shloka between these two shlokas and made it appear as though Upanishadic Krishna, of all people, was constantly working selflessly to prevent Varnasankara!

3:24: These (three) worlds would perish if I did not perform Action; I should be the cause of admixture and destruction of people.

This surreptitiously inserted anti-Varnasankara shloka completely disregards the basic tenets of the Upanishads, which is that Varna Dharma itself is evil since it is based on unequal distribution of the evil doctrines of the Gunas and Karma. Only people who are totally ignorant of the fundamentals of the Upanishads would swallow this bait. Even great commentators took this bait.

ii. Second, they made an attempt to incorporate Brahman into the Varna Dharma even though Upanishadists made it clear that Brahman cannot be obtained unless one first transcended the Gunas and Karma. Gunas stood for attachment to sense objects and Karma stood for gain of sense objects in action, which were the bases of Varna Dharma. Not till one got rid of these two doctrines could one hope to attain Brahman. Brahmins sabotaged this principle by cleverly interpolating an Upanishadic-like shloka (18:46) between two shlokas embellishing Varna Dharma. In 18:45 Brahmanic Krishna says that when one engages himself in his Varna-designated duty he attains perfection. In 18:47 he says that it is better to perform one’s Varna-duty imperfectly than another’s perfectly, and that when one does so, he earns no sin. Sandwiched between these two Brahmanic shlokas we find this bizarre “mole” shloka uttered by resurgent Brahmanic Krishna:

18:46: He from whom is the evolution of all beings, by whom all this is pervaded (Brahman/Ishwara), worshipping Him with his own duty, man attains perfection.

The ‘own duty’ mentioned in this shloka is the Guna/Karma-based duty of the four classes described in the preceding five shlokas. This shloka cancels out the Upanishadic dictum, which says that to attain Him (be it Brahman or Ishwara), one must first give up all actions based on the Gunas and Karma (2:45). In other words, for one to attain Brahman, one must first rise above Varna Dharma.

iii. Third, they inserted pro-Guna shlokas (14:5-18), and pro-Karma shlokas (17:1-4; 7-28; 18:1-39) in an attempt to restore their discredited doctrines.

iv. Fourth, Shankaracharya further promoted Brahmanic deception by misrepresenting the two Upanishadic anti-Varna shlokas above (5:18-19) as we read in my earlier article on him. Every Brahmanic Guru since Shankaracharya has promoted class and caste system by promoting the pro-Varna Dharma shlokas uttered by Brahmanic Krishna (18:40-45) and not explaining the true intent of anti-Varna Dharma shlokas uttered by Upanishadic and Bhagavata Krishna, which came later. This is how Brahmins blocked the second attempt by revolutionaries to eliminate Varna Dharma. Dishonesty such as this is the hallmark of every Brahmanic commentator over the past 1200 years. On the other hand, it could be plain ignorance.

7. The Third Attempt To Eliminate Varna Dharma

The third attempt to eliminate Varna Dharma was made by Bhagavatas. In the Bhagavata revolution that followed after Brahmins neutralized the Upanishadic revolution, Bhagavatas gave people Krishna/Ishwara as the counterforce to the Gunas, and offered Bhaktiyoga as the technique to overcome the Law of Karma. Again, the goal was to dismantle the very foundation of Varna Dharma.

A. Krishna/Ishwara Replaces Brahman And Becomes The Equalizer

In the Bhagavata Gita, Krishna replaces Brahman with himself (10:12), becomes the guardian of Sanatana Dharma (11:18), himself becomes the Eternal Dharma (14:27), accepts people of all classes into His Dharma (9:29-33), and exhorts them to abandon all Dharmas (18:66). Devotion to Him alone became the equalizing factor (9:29). Knowing Krishna, not Brahman, became the goal of Bhagavatas. He takes responsibility for creating the Gunas, labels them as mere illusion, and tells people that by taking refuge in him alone could they overcome the deluding effect of the Gunas:

7:13-14: Deluded by the threefold dispositions of the Gunas of Prakriti, this world does not know Me, who am above them and (unlike the Gunas) immutable. Verily, this divine illusion of Mine, made up of the Gunas, is hard to surmount; but those who take refuge in Me alone, they cross over this illusion.

Now in the very next shloka he mercilessly condemns Brahmins who hung on the illusion of the Gunas and refused to take refuge in him:

7:15: The evil-doers (those indulging in Kamya Karma), those deluded (by the Gunas), the lowest of men, deprived of discrimination by the illusion (of the Gunas), and following the ways of demons, do not seek refuge in Me.

B. Bhaktiyoga As The Means To Eliminate The Law Of Karma

Just as the Upanishadists gave people Yoga of Mind to overcome the Gunas and Karma in order to gain Knowledge of Brahman, Bhagavatas gave people Bhaktiyoga, the hybrid between Yoga of Buddhi and Bhakti, to overcome the Gunas and Karma to gain Knowledge of Ishwara. Now Bhagavata Krishna told people that if they dedicated all their deeds to Him they could break the Law of Karma and attain Moksha:

9:27-28: Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you gift away, whatever austerity you practice, do it as an offering to Me. Thus you shall be free from the bondage of actions yielding good and bad results.  With the mind firmly set in the Yoga of Renunciation (giving up attachment to fruits), you shall come to Me (liberated from the Law of Karma and attain Moksha).

If one does this, he would forever be liberated from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth as dictated by the Law of Karma:

12:7: For them whose thought is set on Me, I become very soon the deliverer from the ocean of Samsara.

Now Lord Krishna becomes the equalizer of all classes of people including even women:

9:29-33: I am the same to all beings; to Me there is none hateful, none dear (everyone is equal in my eyes). But those who worship Me with Bhakti, they are in Me (I cherish them) and I am in them (they become like me). Even if a man of the most sinful conduct (be it a Chandala or a high class Brahmin) worships Me with undeviating Bhakti, he must be reckoned as righteous, for he has rightly resolved. Soon he becomes a man of righteous conduct (having identified with my attributes) and obtains lasting peace (for he has overcome Shokam and Dwandwam). Know for certain that my Bhakta never perishes (he becomes immortal). For those who take refuge in Me, though they be of inferior birth -women, Vaishyas and Sudras - even they attain the Supreme Goal (Moksha). How much more then the holy Brahmins and devoted royal sages (the upper classes)! Having come into this transient, joyless world, do worship Me.

Then he declares in the Ultimate Shloka of the Bhagavata Gita:

18:66: Abandon all Dharma (Brahmanism, Varna Dharma, Jati Dharma, Kula Dharma, etc.) and surrender unto me alone (by doing which you will overcome the doctrine of the Gunas, 7:14). I shall liberate you from all evil (the cycle of birth, death and rebirth associated with the Law of Karma, 12:7). Do not grieve (for the demise of Brahmanism and Varna Dharma).

C. Brahminic Trick # 3

i. They resorted to extreme editing. They scrambled chapters and shlokas. They arranged the pro-Varna shlokas in Chapter Eighteen to project them as having come after the Upanishadic and Bhagavata anti-Varna shlokas even though they came much earlier.

ii. Furthermore, in their longwinded and obfuscating commentaries, Brahmanic Acharyas elaborated on pro-Brahmanic shlokas and deliberately misrepresented the above anti-Varna Bhagavata shlokas, or interpreted them literally without explaining the fact that these shlokas’ real intent was to overthrow Varna Dharma based on the Gunas and Karma. For example, Shankaracharya completely disregarded the fact that when Krishna asked people in 18:66 to take refuge in him, it was to enable them to overcome the force of the Gunas (7:14); and when he said he would liberate them from all evil, he meant he would liberate them from Law of Karma (9:28). Instead, he interpreted this shloka as a call to abandon all righteous as well as unrighteous Karma completely disregarding the central purpose of this shloka: To destroy the doctrine of Gunas and Law of Karma. This is how Brahmins blocked the third attempt to eliminate Varna Dharma.

8. Crime Against Humanity And Indian Nation

By destroying the true intent of the Upanishadic and Bhagavata revolutions three times in a row out of their selfish desire to maintain their superior status in the class-obsessed Brahmanic society, and thereby perpetuating Untouchability, Brahmins committed the greatest fraud against their own religion as well as serious crime against humanity and India. Had Brahmins accepted the reforms initiated by Upanishadists and Bhagavatas, there would have been no Varna Dharma and no Untouchability. Instead they preserved their discredited doctrines of the Gunas and Law of Karma and Varna Dharma while pretending to be great Bhaktas of Lord Krishna. Every Hindu in the world is clueless to the fact that the goal of the Bhagavad Gita-Upanishad was to destroy the very foundation of Brahmanism, which pervades every atom of Hinduism: The doctrines of the Gunas and the Law of Karma, and Varna Dharma resting on these two evil doctrines.

9. Gandhi Embraces Untouchables

It took Mahatma Gandhi to condemn untouchability as blight on Hinduism as well as humanity. For tactical reasons he accepted Varna Dharma, but rejected untouchability. He could not fight Brahmanism and the British at the same time. Gandhi, who considered the Gita his mother, seemed to have realized that the true message of the Bhagavad Gita-Upanishad, that all people were equal, lay in the revolutionary shlokas of the Upanishadic Gita (5:18-19) and Bhagavata Gitas (9:29-33). He dedicated his life to uplifting the Untouchables. Displaying extraordinary courage of conviction, he embraced the Untouchables as Harijan, the people of Lord Krishna, and took them into his Ashram. Most Brahmanic loyalists detested him for this and withdrew their financial and moral support for his cause. His compassion for Muslims and Harijan did not sit well with Brahmanic loyalists. He was assassinated by a coterie of staunch Brahmanic loyalists. I have never met a single Brahmanic loyalist who had anything good to say about Gandhi. Gita’s elevating philosophy of equality of all people was too bitter for their hankering Senses, too broad for their narrow Minds; too complex for their dull Intellects, and too modern for their fossilized Brains.

10. Atrocities Against Dalits Are Common

Over the past three millennia, millions of aggrieved people, designated by Brahmanism as Untouchables, have suffered untold injustice and atrocity in the hands of the Brahmanic “upper classes.” This problem continues in India even to this day with overt or covert support of Brahmanic leaders. Today you cannot open an Indian newspaper without reading some type of atrocity against Dalits. From time to time, we hear about lynching of Dalit men and rape of Dalit women by Brahmanic gangs. Do a Google search on “Lynching of Dalits” and see how many hits you get. All over India today, we can see such atrocious behavior even among the so-called educated people who are not able to raise themselves above the low-minded behavior engendered by Brahmanism. Yet you will never hear one word of reproach from a single ‘holy’ and ‘triple’ or ‘quadruple Sri’ Swami or Guru of Hinduism against such inhumanity. They are so busy preaching the world of wonderful “Hindu Wisdom and Spirituality” that they have no time whatsoever to issue a condemnatory statement on such trivial matters as lynching of Dalit men or gang rape of Dalit women by upper caste mobs. And the silence of the Hindu majority, which raises hue and cry when a bicyclist accidentally knocks down an emaciated cow, is deafening. Here is an example of man’s inhumanity to man engendered by Brahmanic legacy of untouchability:

A. Dalit Lynched For Plucking Vegetables In Mainpuri

Indian Express: Esha Roy Tags: crime Posted: Tuesday, Jul 21, 2009 at 0236 hrs Lucknow (link):

A Dalit died after he was beaten up for allegedly plucking vegetables from the field belonging to the assailants in Elau area of Mainpuri district.

The station officer (SO), outpost in-charge and a constable have been suspended for laxity in handling the matter and the Superintendent of Police has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the role of the erring policemen.

The Agra Range IG, Vijay Kumar, said Shri Krishna Baheliya (50) had been assaulted on Saturday and succumbed to his injuries on Monday evening. The local police had lodged the FIR only after his death, providing enough time to the accused to escape, the IG said.

The Mainpuri CO (City) Ajit Kumar said Subhash Chandra and Sitaram of Nagla Kail village had assaulted fellow villager Baheliya alleging that he always plucked vegetables from their field. They thrashed him hard and left the place leaving him unconscious. END

It is ironic to note here that the dead man’s name was Shri Krishna! We will read below how Brahmanism killed all the elevating teachings of Krishna in the Upanishadic as well as the Bhagavata Gita.

B. Government’s Indifference To Institutionalized Untouchability

The mistreatment of Dalits is not just individual incidents such as the above. Often it is institutionalized with studious indifference, or full backing, of the government machinery dominated by the upper classes. In such cases, the government officials are either gutless to intervene, or are in cahoots with the upper classes:

Madurai’s Wall Of Shame Still Stands

NDTV: Sam Daniel, Saturday September 12, 2009, Madurai (link)

CPM leader Brinda Karat on Saturday decided to do a reality check at the village in Madurai where the wall of shame that divided Dalits and dominant communities was brought down in 2008.

Things seem to have got worse now. Dalits can’t walk on the road meant for upper castes; they have a separate ration shop and a separate school for their children.

It wasn’t easy for CPM leader Brinda Karat to walk into the village in Madurai. Police detained her for a few hours, but she finally made it, only to find out that the Dalit segregation has deepened further.

“The Tamil Nadu government has given legal sanction to untouchability through this Dalit segregation,” said Brinda Karat.

Six months ago, the state government chose to open a separate ration shop for Dalits than acting tough against the dominant Pillai community. There’s also a school and a road, meant strictly for Dalits only.

“When we go to the shop, even if our dress touches them they’d take a shower because we are untouchables,” said a woman.

“It will be nice if our children could study with their children in schools,” said a man.

“Villagers have reported about the ration shop issue. We will inform the collector for further action,” said B Balasubramaniam, DIG, Madurai.

When it comes to vote bank politics in Tamil Nadu, the upper castes are well organized and Dalits are divided, that’s one reason why successive state governments have encouraged segregation of Dalits than antagonizing Dalits.

Click here to view the embedded video.

11. Preaching The Perverted Dharma

If Untouchability is still alive and well in India it is only because Brahmanic loyalists refused to change the status quo during this entire 3500 years of its existence. There was not one Brahmanic religious leader during this entire period that had either the courage to criticize, or the capacity to reform, this demoniac system. The system, which came into being 3500 years ago to bring order in a chaotic society has been the cause of incalculable damage and suffering to millions upon millions of people during this long period in India’s history. The tragedy of all this is that in the thousands of lecture halls of temples of India today, Brahmin Swamis and Gurus are preaching this perverted Dharma as part of discourse on the Bhagavad Gita. While praising Lord Krishna to the skies, they sabotage his message of equality in the Gita. Brahmanic loyalists, who believe in the concept of heaven and hell, would certainly deserve to go to hell for such crimes against humanity in the name of their decadent Dharma. In the fast changing world, however, this national disgrace could explode into a national catastrophe unless Hindus wake up to the reality that next to slavery untouchability is the worst crime against humanity. A Great Civil War, like the one fought in the United States in mid 19^th century to emancipate the slaves, is not highly unlikely in the next few decades. I simply hope that Brahmanism wakes up from its stupor in time to avoid this calamity.

12. Scourge Of Jati Dharma

The divisive Jati Dharma (1:43, birth groups, castes) came into being to preserve the distinct identities of various Brahmanic groups, which shared the same values, professions, foods habits, languages, beliefs, gods, and various other cultural attributes, as they migrated to, and settled down in, the eastern and southern regions of India. For example, in ancient times several groups of Brahmins migrated away from the shores of now-extinct Saraswati River to escape from draught and famine, and settled down in different parts of India. Though they all identified themselves as Saraswats, they developed into distinct Jatis speaking different languages, eating different foods and intermarrying only people from their own castes. Often castes originated as industrial guilds, which basically protected the interests of a group of people with identical hereditary professions and shared goals. The caste system served a legitimate purpose in ancient India:

It (caste system) offered an escape from the plutocracy or the military dictatorship which are apparently the only alternative to (Brahmanic) aristocracy; it gave to a country shorn of political stability by a hundred invasions and revolutions a social, moral and cultural order and continuity rivaled only by the Chinese. Amid a hundred archaic changes in the state, the Brahmins maintained and transmitted civilization. The nation bore with them patiently, even proudly, because everyone knew that in the end they were the one indispensable government of India.

Will Durant

Over the past three thousand years, at least three thousand distinct Jatis evolved in India. Imitating Brahmanism, even Untouchables developed a caste system within their class. Brahmanism never fostered a feeling among Hindus that they are one single classless and casteless entity. Their oneness was defined by their common allegiance to Brahmanism. In the monopoly of knowledge and division of Hindus lay the source of their power. Every foreign ruler learned from Brahmins how to use Sama (diplomacy), Dana (bribery) Bhedha (division) and Danda (force) to subjugate Hindus and rule them. We are yet to correctly assess the role of caste system in the thousand year foreign rule of India. For how could warriors of a hundred different castes unite and fight together against a foreign invader when they even refused to socialize, eat together or intermarry?

The caste system is riddled with dozens of problems in modern India such as job discrimination, favoritism, prohibition of inter-caste marriages, not eating with people of other castes, inter-caste rivalry, disunity, caste-based politics, etc. Even some caste-obsessed Hindus living in the United Kingdom have been accused of discriminating against lower caste Hindus living there! To this day, Brahmanism forbids “inter-caste marriage,” especially if the couple is of the same Gotra. Even in the twenty first century, honor killing of violators of Jati and Gotra restriction is not uncommon, especially in the more conservative north Indian communities. Here is a recent news item from NDTV:

A. Honor Killing

Karnal Honour Killing: Death sentence for 5, life for 1 (link)

NDTV Correspondent, Tuesday March 30, 2010, Karnal

When her newly-married son, Manoj, was found floating in a canal, his young bride beside him, Chanderpati had no doubt about who was responsible.

Two years ago, Babli’s family bitterly opposed her wedding with 23-year-old Manoj. The reason: they belonged to the same gotra or sub-caste, which, in many villages in Haryana, means they’re considered siblings.

Babli’s family had asked the local khap panchayat for help. In the villages of Haryana, these khap panchayats are caste councils known to act with vengeance when their diktats are ignored.

In Manoj and Babli’s case, the khap panchayat asked them to dissolve their marriage. In Manoj’s village, other families were ordered not to talk to the young couple.

Manoj decided to move with Babli to a different village. He also asked the police for help, which accompanied the young couple to court. The judge there ordered police protection for Babli and Manoj.

Yet, barely a week later, they were found dead.

Now, five of Bali’s relatives, including her brother, and the head of the khap panchayat that acted against her have been found guilty. Their sentence is exacting: death sentence for five, life imprisonment for one, and seven years in prison for a man who helped abduct the young couple.

B. Not Eating With Other Caste Members

Castes even restricted members from eating food with members of other castes. The social pressure to obey Brahmanic injunctions is such that even educated people become gutless to disobey them. Here is how Brahmanism deludes even so-called doctors:

Doctors Work Together, But Eat By Caste:

NDTV: Alok Pandey, Thursday August 27, 2009, Muzaffarpur (link)

By day, they work together, consulting with each other to help their patients. But at lunch, the 150 doctors at this medical college in Muzaffarpur head to seven separate rooms.

The menu in each cafeteria is the same. Daal, rice, sabzi.  But “the kitchens are separate for Harijans, Thakurs and Brahmins,” says Shatrughan Rai, who works as a cook in the Yadav kitchen, one he describes as a kitchen for a backward class.

The doctors say this is a tradition.  “Our seniors followed it. Now we do,” declares Dr. Aditya, who refuses to reveal his caste.

The kitchen and dining rooms were separated at the height of the caste movement in Bihar in the 60s and 70s.

The call for change is not deafening, even though the majority of the doctors today are from lower castes. They say they have to proceed with caution.  ”It has been happening for a long, long time. It’s not our choice, but a tradition. The government should intervene and stop it,” says Dr. Raman, President, and Junior Doctors’ Association.

The principal of the college insists that doctors eat together. A few hours later, we witness them filing into their separate cafeterias.

The government has not received a formal complaint, and says it therefore has never investigated the issue.

The caste system is so deeply entrenched in India that it colors almost all behaviors of even educated and so called cultured people. The first question that pops into the minds of most Hindus when they meet another Hindu is, “I wonder what caste he belongs to?”

13. Brahmanism’s Opportunism

Over the centuries Hindu religious leaders opposed every “lower caste” reformers, such as Kanakadasa and Santa Chokamele, who exposed Brahmanic hypocrisy. However, they were quick to cash in on their alleged “miracles.” This did not reverse their dislike for the lower classes. Claiming Sampradaya Parampara (longstanding tradition), they did not allow lower classes into their temples. Such hypocrisy and discriminatory treatment of the lower castes and Outcastes is emblematic of Brahmanism and it has led to hundreds of thousands of them embracing seemingly more egalitarian religions.

14. Dalits Jump From Fire Into The Frying Pan!

More recently thousands of Dalits, who are considered by Brahmins as outsiders to Hinduism, and also Sudras, have begun to embrace Dharmas such as Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. Unfortunately, they are not enlightened enough to realize that they do not need a religion at all to be happy in life. Brahmanism has deluded even these people so thoroughly that they think they too need a religion and god. They have no idea that by joining another religion, they are jumping from the fire into the frying pan. One religion in particular is very good at brainwashing their naïve new converts into becoming terrorists. In this sense, agnostics and atheists of ancient India who abandoned Brahmanism were far more progressive than the modern day converts. However, the sad reality is that even those people later on fell prey to the illusive charm of Brahmanized heterodox religions.

15. Brainless Response Of Brahmanism

What is the brainless response of Hindu fundamentalists to conversion of Dalits and lower caste people to Christianity and Islam? Burning Churches and Mosques, killing Christian Padres and raping Nuns, and building more temples to delude the masses. They hang on to their smug justification by quoting the following Brahmanic shlokas in Arjuna Vishada, which had been created to stop Kshatriyas from abandoning decadent Brahmanism during the turbulent post-Vedic period:

18:47-48: Better is one’s own Dharma, though imperfect, than the Dharma of another well performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature (Guna) does not incur sin. One should not abandon the Dharma to which one is born, though it is attended with evil, for all undertakings are enveloped by evil, as fire by smoke.

No doubt that Christianity and Islam are not any less evil than Brahmanism. However, at least they let the new converts to enter their shrines and eat with them. Shouldn’t Brahmanism do some soul-searching instead of reacting violently? Shouldn’t they ask themselves, “What are we doing wrong? Why are so many people joining other Dharma? What can we do to get rid of our archaic Varna and Jati Dharmas, which are destructive to people and whole nation?” Instead, their thinking is, “Muslims and Christians are even worse than us!” Their hubris and sense of self-righteousness precludes any soul searching. Brahmanism’s simplistic explanation is that other religions entice people by means of money. The reality is that most Hindus are not willing to give up their outdated Varna and Jati system no matter how useless and destructive they are to India. This is because their primary allegiance is not to the Constitution of India, the New Dharma of modern India, but to their Old Dharma, Brahmanism, which was the Constitution of ancient India. Even though Hindu brain looks like the latest version of MacBook, it is in fact thoroughly antiquated Apple IIc.

16. Anti-Brahmanic Sentiments Have Entered Politics

Capitalizing on the stupidity of demagogues of pro-Brahmanism political parties such as BJP, brainless leaders of Dalits are now whipping up Dalit community’s long-suppressed rage and are reacting in extremes. Dalit leaders are spending thousands of crores of rupees to erect their own statues and build huge monuments as if to say that when it comes to obscene ostentation, they could outdo Brahmins! While farmers are committing suicide to escape from the burden of debt, and millions of children are starving to death, these Dalits, driven by their hatred for Brahmanism, are squandering national wealth and their obviously ill gotten money on such stuff as huge garlands made up of thousand rupee notes! Their theme seems to be: “Hindus, whatever stupid or obscene stuff you can do, we can do it more stupidly and obscenely!”

17. Time To Get Rid Of Varna And Jati Adharmas

Maybe the Varna and Jati systems had their place in India three thousand years ago. They are absolutely obsolete in the modern world, as people no longer perform jobs dictated by their class or caste, as was the case in ancient times. Now, in the fast leveling world, people do whatever jobs they are most qualified to do as per their aptitude, education and training. It is time to completely eliminate this pernicious vestige of decadent Brahmanism. When the practice of these two evil Dharmas conflicts with India’s Constitution, the Law should assert its authority and severely punish the culprits.

18. Enlightened People See The Same DNA In All People

Remember here that the sole purpose of creating Brahman was to eliminate Brahmanism. At least in the beginning it was not meant to be a divinity. As Krishna said in the Upanishadic Gita, enlightened people were same-sighted on all living beings (5:18) because they saw the same Brahman in all people. The modern way of saying this is that enlightened people see the same DNA in all people. We are all part of the same incredible creation. This, above all, is the elevating secular message of the Upanishadic and Bhagavata Gita. This message is applicable to people of every religion in the world. However, of all the people in the world Hindus, misled by Brahmins into following the narrow-minded, archaic and elitist message in the Brahmanic Gita (18:40-48), are the least ardent followers of this humanitarian message. Brahmanism has perpetrated a grievous fraud against the Bhagavad Gita, which they claim as its handbook. What this means is that the entire sham known as Brahmanism rests on fraud, not truth.

In my next article, I will discuss how Brahmanism created and fostered mental blocks in Hindu minds, such as fear of authority and blame, passivity, extremes of reaction, sycophancy, passive aggressive behavior, helplessness, and many other behavioral quirks, which persistently come in the way of their ability to assert their rights and carry out their responsibilities as citizens of a secular, modern democratic nation.

(To be continued)

Dr. Prabhakar Kamath, is a psychiatrist currently practicing in the U.S. He is the author of Servants, Not Masters: A Guide for Consumer Activists in India (1987) and Is Your Balloon About Pop?: Owner’s Manual for the Stressed Mind.

Related posts:

1. Legacy Of Ancient Religions Of India
2. Upanishadists Use Arjuna Vishada To Overthrow Brahmanism
3. The God of Gods Battles Brahmanism: Vaasudeva, Krishna and the Bhagavata Revolution
4. The Origins and Evolution of Brahmanism
5. The Upanishads Attempt To Reform Brahmanism
6. Upanishadists Create A New God To Beat Back Brahmanism
7. Brahmanism And Mental Blocks Of Hindus
8. Subterfuge: How Brahmins Destroyed The Bhagavata Revolution
9. The Gita Becomes The Battlefield For The Great Sectarian War
10. Hindu Revisionism: Was Shankaracharya Deceptive Or Just Ignorant?
11. How Ashoka The Great Gave Brahmins A Song With Which They Conquered India
12. The Decay of Dharma and the Rise of Adharma
13. Obsessive-Compulsive Religion

Come, March and there was no response from hBhaskar Shetty. We were waiting for him on the 14^th of March from morning to evening at Akhila Karnataka Makkala Okkuta, Chamrajpet, Bangaluru and he did not turn up! So, we came to the conclusion that he must have developed cold feet! In the meantime we kept contacting Mr.Surendran Nair, the journalist who had given him publicity, and he has finally now provided Bhaskar Shetty’s telephone numbers. Here they are: +918022244483 (land line) and +919448044483 (mobile). I have not called him as I do not want to get into unnecessary arguments and pointless debate. However, I have informed our colleagues at Bangalore to get in touch with this man and ask him about his willingness to accept my challenge. Anyone is welcome to try and contact this person and inform him about this.

I will be in Bangalore on the 24 ^th and 25 t^h of April and also from the 29^th of April to 2^nd May. Subject to my other appointments and commitments Mr. Shetty is welcome to choose one of these dates for the challenge. However, he has to indicate his willingness in writing 15 days before the date of the challenge.

The specifics of the challenge will be as follows:

I shall bring with me 20 numbered sealed envelopes with the date, time and place of birth of young people between 20-30 years of age, and the corresponding numbered envelopes containing the solutions.

The first set of envelopes containing the details of these individuals shall be shuffled and ten selected from amongst them by Mr.Shetty himself. He shall have 60 minutes to cast the horoscopes of each of them and provide the answers in writing by filling up the data in the columns of the answer sheets provided by us. The answers will have to be very specific and may involve striking out what is wrong and/or ticking what is right or both. It shall be also clearly indicated as to which of them pertains to which one of the individuals and method of prediction.

After all the ten answer sheets are filled up in triplicate, the envelopes containing the solutions shall be opened and the evaluation done. If thirty two of the forty expected answers are right, then I shall accept that Shetty’s method of prediction is very scientific and shall undertake all steps to study under his guidance. If the number of correct answers is less than 32/40, he will have to agree that his methods of prediction are nonsense and he must begin working for our movement.

Additional conditions are as follows:

1. Bhaskar Shetty has to sign a declaration that there are no religious sentiments involved in this challenge and that it is only a scientific study of a topic that Shetty believes has a logical foundation. He has to also state that he is taking up this challenge in his individual capacity and not as a representative of any religious body or denomination.

2. If Shetty wants to take my prize money he has to deposit a sum of rupees five thousand as earnest money in cash or in the form of DD payable to Narendra Nayak at Mangalore. If he is proved right this money shall be refunded to him along with the prize money of one million rupees in the form of a DD.

The above are only indicative guide lines. An agreement in detail on a stamp paper of the required value shall be signed a week in advance before the date of the conducting of the challenge.

If Mr. Shetty does not take up this I shall have to come to the conclusion that he is a fraud, seeking publicity for his non existent powers of prediction and using the media to advertise his pseudoscience.

Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. Email him at narenyen (at) gmail.com

Related posts:

1. Astrologer Bhaskar Shetty Accepts Rationalist/Skeptic Narendra Nayak’s Astrology Challenge
2. Astrology Flops Again: Follow up to the Astrology Challenge
3. Psychic Yoga Challenge: Yogi Ashwini Vs. Rationalists
4. One Million Rupees Election Results Prediction Challenge to Astrologers
5. Pseudoscience In The Stars: An Indian Rationalist’s Experiences with Astrology
6. Eyewitness report of the Psychic Yoga Challenge
7. Challenges Issued From Rationalists To Those Claiming Supernatural Powers In Nepal
8. Is The Virgin Mary Shedding Tears? Rationalists Investigate An Alleged Miracle in Kerala, India
9. Reaching Out To The Younger Generation Of Rationalists
10. Aren’t You? Atheist Posters by Bala Bhaskar
11. Reason in Motion - Dawkins Typography (Promo for Nirmukta.Net by Bala Bhaskar)
12. Freethought News: Weeping Mary (Mathavu) to be Investigated by Rationalists (Video)
13. Annual Conference: The Science & Rationalists Association Of India- Celebrating 25 Years On March 6-7, 2010

In this article we will study how Shankaracharya further contributed to this process by means of his commentary in which he obfuscated, misinterpreted and misrepresented the revolutionary shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita. By a typical Brahmanic sleight of hand, he singlehandedly revived Brahmanism from its deathbed. Biography of Shankaracharya makes very interesting reading, but is beyond the scope of this article. 

1. Three Basic Tactics Of Latter Day Acharyas

In the course of next few centuries since the Bhagavata revolution, the latter day Brahminic Acharyas came up with three ingenious, self-serving tactics to conceal the Upanishadic and Bhagavata revolutions to overthrow Brahmanism.

A. The need to study under a Brahmanic Guru: They declared that all those who wanted to study the Bhagavad Gita must do so under the tutelage of a Brahmanic Acharya. This was in keeping with the dictum that all Upanishadic secret doctrines should be studied only under the tutelage of a learned Guru (BG: 4:34; Mundaka Up: 1:2:12-13). This gave Brahmins the opportunity to deliver soporific discourses to their bewildered listeners. They obfuscated the all-round anti-Brahmanic diatribe in the Bhagavad Gita by means of ample verbosity, high-sounding Sanskrit words, and quotations from obscure and latter day scriptures such as Puranas.

B. Hanging on to Arjuna Vishada context: They hid the historical-revolutionary context by explaining all anti-Brahmanic shlokas in the Arjuna Vishada context only. This required them to indulge in much tongue-twisting verbosity and mind-bending logic. When they could not explain an anti-Brahmanic shloka in Arjuna Vishada context, they just gave its literal meaning in total isolation. Thus the later generation of Acharyas did not learn the true meaning or context of anti-Brahmanic shlokas. Like their Gurus, each generation of Acharyas faithfully passed on to their students their ignorance of the historical-revolutionary context.

C. Writing long-winded commentaries: They wrote long-winded commentaries in which they obfuscated, misinterpreted and misrepresented the meanings of anti-Brahmanic shlokas. This made already complicated matters even worse. We will read below several examples of this tactic.

2. The Three Great Acharyas Who Destroyed The Bhagavad Gita

Over the past twelve hundred years, numerous commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita have been written both by Brahmanic loyalists and Western authors. During the medieval times, three great Brahmanic Acharyas wrote lengthy and “authoritative” commentaries (Bhashya) on the Bhagavad Gita, all of which glorified Krishna while systematically undermining every one of his fundamental teachings: Give up rituals; give up Gunas and Karma; and give up class system based on them. These three Acharyas were Shankaracharya (788-820 A. D.), Ramanujacharya (1017-1137 A. D.) and Madhvacharya (1238-1317 A. D.). It is possible that these Brahmanic commentators were not aware of the historical-revolutionary context at all as evidenced by their tendency to view the Bhagavad Gita as a monolithic text written in one stretch by one author, its only context being Arjuna Vishada. Very often their commentaries on the same shloka are extremely divergent from each other’s.

To readers who are aware of the two distinct contexts of the Bhagavad Gita -Arjuna Vishada and Historical-Revolutionary- these great Acharyas come across in their commentaries as thoroughly confused. For example none of these Acharyas seemed to know, or they refused to acknowledge, the fundamental fact that the Upanishadic doctrines of Atman/Brahman and Buddhiyoga’s purpose was to transcend the doctrines of the Gunas of Prakriti and Law of Karma, and therefore, they are mutually exclusive terms. Krishna repeatedly tells readers that one must transcend all three Gunas in order to gain knowledge of Brahman (2:45; 14:20), and transcend Law of Karma to attain Nirvana (2:15, 51). Yet, these Acharyas keep promoting both the Brahmanic and Upanishadic doctrines at the same time. At times all three Acharyas are blatantly fraudulent when interpreting shlokas, as we will study below. After reviewing Shankaracharya’s interpretation below, let readers decide to which category Shankaracharya belongs.

3. Modern Day Nonsensical Commentaries

Imagine a pro-Confederacy author writing a commentary on President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, ignorant of, or unwilling to acknowledge, the fact that it was a speech delivered to dedicate thebattlefield to soldiers who gave their lives to abolish slavery in the United States. To explain away Lincoln’s every laconic sentence, the pro-Confederacy author would have to cook up something to support the Southern Cause. He would interpret the phrase “All men are created equal” as meaning, “All white men are created equal” or, “All men are separately created equal.” The situation is identical with all Brahmanic commentators of the modern times. Ignorant of, or unwilling to acknowledge, the fact that the anti-Brahmanic shlokas in it are the evidence of a sectarian war between Brahmanism on one side and the Upanishadism and Bhagavatism on the other, they wrote mindboggling and nonsensical commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, applying all shlokas to Arjuna’s predicament on the battlefield.

Two popular modern “commentaries,” which fall into this category are ‘Bhagavad Gita As It Is’ by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and ‘The Bhagavad Gita -God Talks With Arjuna’ by Sri Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda. Space does not permit me to go into details about the nonsense in these two commentaries. Let the reader be assured that other available commentaries are not any better. Skeptics among the readers of this article should compare my interpretation given below with those in currently available commentaries. Also, I recommend that readers encourage Brahmanic loyalists and scholars to read this article and encourage them to counter my thesis with sensible articles.

4. Five Upanishadic Shlokas and One Bhagavata Shloka

In this article I will discuss five anti-Brahmanic Upanishadic shlokas and one Bhagavata shloka in their historical-revolutionary context. The only goal of the first four Upanishadic shlokas shown below (2:47, 3:15; 4:31, and 4:32) is to eliminate Vedic Yajnas centered on Vedic gods and replace them with Upanishadic Yoga centered on Brahman. The goal of the fifth Upanishadic shloka (5:18) is to eliminate Varna system. The goal of Bhagavata shloka shown below (18:66) is to replace all Dharma of the land with Bhagavata Dharma centered on Krishna.

As we will read below, Shankaracharya’s goal was to completely neutralize the respective goals of these shlokas. People believed anything he said in keeping with the mindless Hindu tradition of uncritically accepting any nonsense uttered by a saffron-clad Sanyasi. This was even more so in the case of Shankaracharya, as he had gained great moral authority by means of his heroic deed of rescuing Brahmanism from the jaws of death.

5. Shloka 2:47: Kshatriyas’ Entitlement Is To Perform Yajna Only But Not To Its Fruit

Let us now examine the most quoted and utterly misunderstood shloka of the Bhagavad Gita:

2:47: Your entitlement is to Karma alone, and never at any time to its Phalam (fruits). Never be the cause of Karmaphalam. However, never become attached to inaction.

This shloka has no Arjuna Vishada context. In this shloka, Guru Krishna tells corrupt Kshatriyas indulging in Kamya Karma that whereas they have the entitlement to perform various Yajnas (Karma) as per the ordinances of scriptures, they have no right to Karmaphalam thereof. The Karmaphalam of Yajna belongs to the Devas. If they keep the Karmaphalam to themselves, they become thieves (3:12). Earning Karmaphalam condemns them to the eternal cycle of birth, death and rebirth. So they should not indulge in Yajna, which earn them Karmaphalam. However, just because they have nothing to gain from Yajna, they should not become Sramanas who do nothing.

The key to understanding this shloka lies in the following six shlokas in which Krishna explains to corrupt Kshatriyas indulging in Kamya Karma the original purpose of Yajna:

3:10-11: Having created mankind in the beginning together with Yajna, the Prajapati (Brahma) said, “By this shall you propagate; this shall be the milch cow of your desires. Nourish the Devas with this (Yajna) and may those Devas nourish you (in return); thus nourishing one another, you shall reap the supreme welfare (of the society). Nourished by Yajna, the Devas shall bestow on you the enjoyments you desire.”

What happens to those who take away the fruits of Yajna for their personal use?

3:12-13: A thief verily is he who enjoys what Devas give him without returning them anything. The good that eat the remains of Yajna are freed from all sins (Karmaphalam); but the sinful ones who cook food only for themselves, they verily eat sin (earn Karmaphalam).

What is this quid pro quo between Vedic ritualists and Devas? Guru Krishna explains the Wheel of Yajna:

3:14: From food beings become; from rain food is produced; from Yajna rain proceeds.

3:16: He who does not follow on earth the Wheel (of Yajna) thus revolving, malicious and delighting in the Senses, he lives in vain.

The above shlokas condemn Vedic ritualists who corrupted Yajnas by stealing Karmaphalam for themselves as thieves, malicious and vain.

Now, to put the shloka 2:47 in proper perspective, let us now quickly review the eight revolutionary shlokas leading up to it. In 2:39 Guru Krishna introduces the doctrines of Knowledge of Atman and Buddhiyoga to replace the Brahmanic doctrine of the Gunas of Prakriti and Law of Karma. In 2:40, he explains the advantages of Buddhiyoga of Upanishadism over Kamya Karma of Brahmanism. In 2:41-44, he condemns Vedic ritualists as ignorant, desire-ridden and fickle-minded due to their obsession with earning Karmaphalam (pleasure, lordship and heaven) in Yajna. In 2:45, Guru Krishna recommends transcending all three Gunas and Law of Karma. In 2:46, he downgrades the Vedas as useless to enlightened people. Now in shloka 2:47, Guru Krishna lays down the law to the corrupt Vedic ritualists:

2:47: Your entitlement is to Karma alone, and never at any time to its Phalam (fruits). Never be the cause of Karmaphalam. However, never become attached to inaction.

So if these Kshatriyas gave up sinful Kamya Karma and not become inactive like Sramanas, what would they do to keep themselves occupied? Krishna, as the Upanishadic Lord of beings, tells them to become Karmayogis (3:7-9; 19-23), and willfully redirect their energies in guiding the masses:

3:25: As the unenlightened (Vedic ritualists) perform Yajna with attachment to Karmaphalam, O Bharata, so should the enlightened (Karmayogis) act (perform their obligatory Kshatriya duty) without attachment to Karmaphalam, desirous of the guidance of the masses.

What does Krishna advice Brahmins who want to continue to perform Yajna?

4:15: Having known thus (that Yajnas should be performed without motive for Karmaphalam) even the ancient seekers after liberation (from debt to the gods) performed Yajna. Therefore, you should perform Yajna (selflessly), as did the ancients in the olden times.

Krishna follows this advice by giving the fallen Brahmins a crash course on proper performance of Yajnas in 4:16-24.

Obviously, this shloka has nothing to do with Arjuna’s predicament whatsoever. Besides, the word Karma in this context does not mean Action, but Yajna. If one thinks that this shloka’s context is Arjuna Vishada and the word Karma means Action, the whole shloka’s meaning is distorted. This is exactly what Shankaracharya does in interpreting shloka 2:47:

“You have the right only to perform Karma and not to undertake the discipline of knowledge (You can practice Karmayoga but not Jnanayoga!). While doing works (Shankaracharya does not explain what the word ‘works’ means in this context), do not think you have the right to claim their fruits. Never, in any state of life whatsoever, should you crave for the fruits of your works (Can warrior follow this in reality?) -this is the idea.

Shankaracharya goes on: When you crave for the fruits of your works (such as your kingdom), you make yourselves liable to reap fruits; but you should never be the cause of such fruit-gathering, for when one works, impelled by the craving for fruits, one has to reap the fruits of such works, namely, birth in the world (Correct). ‘If the fruits of works are not to be desired, why should painful works (meaning war) be undertaken at all?’ This thought should not tempt you, Arjuna, to withdraw from all works, either (Clearly he is addressing Arjuna’s predicament and he does not explain what he meant by ‘all works’).”

Shankaracharya identifies Arjuna Vishada as the context of this shloka when he tells Arjuna that his entitlement is only to become a Karmayogi, and not a Jnanayogi! He did not know the fact that the call to become Karmayogi was directed to errant Kshatriyas in the historical context and not to Arjuna. Strangely, the great Acharya did not seem to realize that the ultimate goal of both Jnanayoga and Karmayoga was to attain Knowledge of Brahman. Jnanayogis attain it by giving up attachment to sense objects (Sanyasa), and Karmayogis attain it by giving up fruits of their action (Tyaga). In practice this meant giving up Kamya Karma: 18:2: Giving up Kamya Karma is Sanyasa; giving up fruits of all works is Tyaga. Telling Arjuna that his entitlement is only to Karmayoga and not to Jnanayoga is, to put it mildly, ignorant and childish as Krishna himself says:

5:4-5: Children, not the wise, speak of Sankhya (Jnanayoga) and Yoga (of action, Karmayoga) as different; he who is truly established in one obtains the fruits (Knowledge of Atman) of both. The state (of Brahmajnana) reached by the Jnanis is also reached by the Karmayogis. He sees who sees Jnana and Karmayoga as one. Obviously Shankaracharya did not see this or pretended like it.

Thirdly, even if we apply this shloka to Arjuna Vishada context, telling Arjuna that ‘his entitlement is only to fight but never, in any state of life whatsoever, should he crave for the fruits of his works’ makes the entire Mahabharata war a sham. If this were true, what was the point of waging the ghastly war? Isn’t this exactly what the Duryodhana had been telling Pandavas all along? “Listen, Pandavas. You can claim all the entitlement to wage this war against us, but you have no right to this kingdom!” What was the great Acharya thinking?

Fourthly, when it comes to fighting, no one could give Arjuna better advice than Brahmanic prince Krishna as he did in Arjuna Vishada:

3:37: Slain you will gain heaven; victorious you enjoy the earth. Therefore rouse up O son of Kunti, resolved to fight.

Who could improve upon this advice? Obviously, Shankaracharya did not know that the true context of this shloka was historical-revolutionary and its true purpose was to induce corrupt Kshatriyas to give up Kamya Karma. If he knew this fact, he chose not to reveal it to his audience. Now, that is duplicity.

6. Unfortunate Result Of Misinterpretation

One unfortunate result of such Brahmanic misinterpretation is that millions of Hindus wrongly believe that they have only the right to act but no right to expect results. Even eminent scholars such as A. L. Bhasham misunderstood this shloka to mean, “Your business is with the deed, and not with the result.” Imagine a surgeon whose only concern is with his deed and not the result! Again, imagine a man taking a bath in a dirty pond and claiming, “My business is to take the bath; not the result thereof.” This attitude makes all actions mere rituals. Not only should one do the best one could but also one must be result-oriented. The question is whether this much-quoted shloka has any relevance in our daily life.

First of all, the word ‘entitlement’ in this shloka has a very specific context. It refers to the entitlement granted to certain Kshatriyas by Brahmins to perform certain Yajnas as per the ordinances of scriptures (3:10-14). In our everyday life, with rare exceptions, no one has the ‘entitlement’ or ‘right’ to act. One acts only because one chooses to act as the situation demands. For example, if one donates money to a cause or lends money to a relative, or volunteers to help someone, he does so not because he is entitled to but because he chooses to.

Secondly, any person who acts without expecting results from his action is a fool. Even when we do volunteer work, we expect to get results from our service. However, almost all Hindus take this distorted meaning of shloka 2:47 without critical analysis.

However, this shloka could be applied to corrupt politicians (modern day Kshatriyas) and bureaucrats (modern day Brahmins) of India. The message to them is that they are entitled to perform their Karma (their works as politicians and bureaucrats) but they have no right expect fruits of their toil for themselves. The fruits (national progress) belong to the people. If they take bribes for their services, they become thieves. The other context in which this shloka could be applied in civilian life is in Social Activism.

“Your entitlement as a Social Activist is only to serve the people, and never to benefit personally from its results (fruits), for fruits should go to the people you have chosen to serve. Never indulge in activities with motivation for personal gains. However, just because there is nothing in it for you personally, do not give up your Social Activism.”

Here we must assume that the Social Activist has earned his ‘entitlement’ by virtue of his expertise in, and dedication to, a particular cause. This dictum would make an ideal guide for Social Activists anywhere in the world. This is the essence of Karmayoga.

7. Shloka 3:15: Vedic Devas Are Out, Upanishadic Brahman Is In

3:15: Lord Krishna says: Know Karma (’ritual works’) to have risen from Brahma (the Vedic god Prajapati, 3:10); Brahma arose from the Imperishable (Brahman the Supreme of the Upanishads). The all-pervading Brahman (not the Vedic gods) is, therefore, ever centered in Yajna.

The real purpose of this shloka is to appoint Brahman over the Vedic Lord of beings, Prajapati; to make Brahman as the object of worship in the place of the Vedic gods. The Upanishads describe how these Vedic gods “run away in terror” before Brahman (Katha. Up: 2:6:2-3). When Brahman becomes the object of Yajna, Yoga automatically becomes the modus operandi, for Brahman could be obtained only by Yoga (Sanyasa and Tyaga) and not by the sacrifices based on the Vedas (Mundaka. Up: 3:2:2).

Let us examine the context of this shloka. This shloka is in Chapter Three, titled Karma Yoga, which is dedicated to converting Kshatriyas performing Kamya Karma into Karmayogis performing Nishkama Karma. This shloka has no Arjuna Vishada context. In this shloka, Krishna, as the Upanishadic Lord of beings, decides to end Vedic Yajnas dedicated to the Vedic gods once and for all, because they earn Karmaphalam and thus perpetuate the evil of Samsara (9:20-21). He declares that the Upanishadic divinity Brahman should be the object of all Yajnas instead of the Vedic gods. His logic is this: All ritual activity arose from Brahma (Prajapati), Brahmanic Lord of beings (3:10); Brahma himself arose from the Upanishadic divinity Brahman the Supreme. This being the case, Brahman should be the center of all Yajna, not the Vedic gods. Once Brahman becomes the goal of Yajna, it becomes Nishkama Karma. Why? Well, to attain Brahman, one must first practice Sanyasa or Tyaga; that is, giving up desire for, attachment to and possessiveness of fruits of action.

Here is how Shankaracharya subverts this Upanishadic intent with a superb sleight of hand:

“Know that this work (meaning Yajnas) is born of the Vedas (Not Brahma), and that the Vedas are born of the Imperishable Reality (Brahman). Therefore, the all-pervading Vedas are eternally rooted in sacrificial work.”

Shankaracharya follows this fraudulent interpretation with even more duplicitous commentary to embellish the Vedas:

“Work is born of Brahman (Not Brahma), Brahman is the Veda. ‘Born of Veda’ means revealed by the Veda (Nowhere does it say born of the Veda). Work, in this context, is of this description. Again, Brahman or Veda is born of the Imperishable or Brahman the Supreme Self (Now Shankaracharya creates a Paramatma above Brahman). That Brahman here means the Veda is the sense. Since Brahman, the Veda, is directly derived from the Supreme Self, the all-revealing and eternal Veda is established for all times in sacrificial work, the latter being a dominant theme of the Vedas.”

Listen to the incredibly twisted and fraudulent logic of Shankaracharya: First of all, he does not even mention Brahma the Brahmanic Lord of being as the originator of Karma. Secondly, he straightaway declares that Vedas and Brahman are the same. Now this Brahman is derived from another Brahma above it -Paramatma. Now the “eternal Vedas are all-pervading.” How utterly nonsensical!

In all ancient scriptures, the term “all-pervading” applies only to Brahman the Supreme. Brahman and Paramatma are one and the same. The term “all-pervading” applies neither to Vedic god Brahma nor the Vedas. The Upanishads repeatedly pronounce the Vedas as the “lower knowledge” and that one could never obtain Brahman by means of the Vedas:

Mundaka Upanishad: 1:1:4-5: Two kinds of knowledge must be known, this is what all who know Brahman tell us, the higher and the lower knowledge. The lower knowledge is the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, Vyakarana (grammar), etc. etc.

Mundaka Upanishad: 3:2:3, Katha Upanishad: 1:2:23: Atman/Brahman cannot be gained by the Vedas, nor by understanding, nor much learning (study of the Vedas).

Guru Krishna declares in the Gita: 2:46: To an enlightened Brahmin (one who has gained Knowledge of Atman and Brahman) all the Vedas are as useful as a tank of water (meaning, they are practically useless) when there is flood (vast knowledge of Brahman) all around.”

Guru Krishna expresses even disgust with the Vedas: 2:52: When your Buddhi transcends the thicket of delusion (engendered by the doctrines of the Gunas and Karma) then you will be disgusted by Shruthis yet to be heard as well as Shruthis (Vedas) you have already heard.

In fact, the Upanishadic Lord Krishna declares: 6:44: Even he who merely wishes to know of Yoga rises superior to performer of Vedic rites.

Even Bhagavata Krishna declares: 11:48: Neither by the study of the Vedas, nor by Yajnas, nor by Dana, nor by rituals, nor by severe austerity can this form of Mine be seen in the world of men by anyone else but you (My Bhaktha), O hero of the Kuru.

It is obvious that the great Acharya he was deceitfully subverting the Upanishadic intent to overthrow Vedic sacrifices, or he had no clue that the purpose of appointing Brahman as the center of Yajna was to convert Yajna into Karmayoga. You decide which of these statements applies to him.

8. Shloka 4:32: Give Up Vedic Yajna And Take Up Upanishadic Yoga

4:32: Various Yajnas such as these are spread out before Brahman. Know them all to be born of Karma (’selfless ritual works’); and knowing thus you shall be liberated (from bonds of Karma).

The goal of this shloka is to replace Yajna, which binds people to Karmaphalam to Yoga, which liberates them from the bonds of Karma. To appreciate the extent of Shankaracharya’s duplicity in interpreting this anti-Brahmanic shloka into pro-Brahmanic one, we need to first thoroughly study the context of this shloka. This shloka is found in Chapter Four, which is titled: Yoga of Renunciation of Karma (Yajna) in Knowledge (Jnana). Obviously, this shloka has no Arjuna Vishada context. The goal of this shloka is to renounce Vedic Yajna (Karma) centered on Vedic gods and take up Upanishadic Jnana (Knowledge) Yajna centered on Brahman. Jnana Yajna is nothing but Jnanayoga in disguise. To refresh the memory of the readers: The goal of Vedic Yajnas was to please Vedic gods and earn Karmaphalam; the goal of Jnana Yajna is to gain Knowledge of Atman/Brahman.

Let us briefly review shlokas leading up to shloka 4:32:

In shloka 4:15, Krishna tells Brahmins to perform Yajnas selflessly like the ancients did. In 4:16-18, Krishna explains various types of Yajnas: Proper Yajna (selfless), improper Yajna (Kamya Karma) and non-Yajna.

In 4:19-23, he explains the basics of Jnanayoga: Renunciation of Sankalpa (design), desire (Kama) for and attachment (Sanga) to fruits.

Krishna explains in the following shlokas that when one renounces these impurities of the heart, one does not earn any Karmaphalam.

4:23: Of one unattached (to sense objects), liberated (from Dwandwam thereof), with mind absorbed in Knowledge (of Atman), performing work for Yajna alone (and not for personal gains), his entire Karmaphalam (both good and bad) melts away.

What are various constituents of the so-called Jnana Yajna (Knowledge Sacrifice) centered on Brahman?

4:24: The oblation is Brahman, the clarified butter is Brahman, offered by Brahman in the fire of Brahman; unto Brahman verily he goes who cognizes Brahman alone in his Karma (Yajna).

Obviously, Jnana Yajna is a metaphor for Jnanayoga. Unlike in Vedic Yajna, all constituents of the metaphoric Jnana Yajna -oblation, ghee (clarified butter), the offering person, fire, object of sacrifice- are all made up of all-pervading Brahman. Krishna recommends Brahmins to recognize “Brahman alone in Yajna.” There is a paradigm shift of the object of Yajna from Vedic gods to Brahman. All selfless Karma, with or without a fire, shall be known as Jnana Yajna from now onwards.

Who are various performers of Jnana Yajna? In 4:25-29, Krishna describes various types of Yogis who perform Jnana Yajnas in which they sacrifice impurities of heart and mind, and concludes:

4:30: All these (Yogis) are knowers of (Jnana) Yajna, having their sins (Karmaphalam) destroyed by (Jnana) Yajna.

In all these so-called Jnana Yajnas there is no altar, no fire, no sacrifice of materials such as food and animals. In these Yajnas one sacrifices or renounces one’s impurities (desire, attachment, etc.) residing in the Senses, the Mind and the Intellect. What remains after one has sacrificed his mental impurities in Knowledge Yajna?

4:31: The eaters of the immortal remnant of Jnana Yajna go to the Eternal Brahman. This world is not for non-sacrificer, how then the other (Abode of Brahman)? O best of the Kurus?

Whereas the remnant of Vedic Yajna is burnt food, the immortal remnant of Upanishadic Jnana Yajna is whatever remains after one has sacrificed the impurities of the heart and mind -Atman. One who gains Atman, the immortal nectar, gains Eternal Brahman.

These “Yajnas” are Yoga in disguise. Lord Krishna calls these Yogic renunciations Jnana (Knowledge) Yajna, for in this type of Yajna instead of gaining Karmaphalam one is liberated from the bonds of Karma, and one gains Knowledge of Atman. Having said all this, Krishna now comes to the point:

4:32: Various (Jnana) Yajnas such as these are spread out before Brahman (the Upanishadic divinity). Know them all to be born of Karma (’selfless ritual works’); and knowing thus you shall be liberated (from bonds of Karma).

And Krishna concludes:

4:33: Jnana Yajna (Jnanayoga), O Scorcher of foes, is superior to Dravya (material) Yajna. All (Jnana) Yajnas in their entirety culminate in Jnana (of Atman).

With this background information let us now review how, by a sleight of hand, Shankaracharya neutralized shloka 4:32:

“Thus have many sacrifices been spread out in the pages of the Veda (He decides the word Brahman means the Vedas). Know them all to be born of works (What kind of work?). Knowing thus will you be liberated (from what?).“

Shankaracharya continues:

“As stated, many sorts of sacrifice have been ’spread out’ -set forth- in the Vedic path. Those, which are known by means of the Vedas are said to be ’spread out’ in ‘the face’ of the Vedas; for example, “we sacrifice the vital breaths in speech” (Ait. A. 3:26). Know all of them to be born of works -born of exertions of the body, word and mind, and not of the Self. For the Self works not. Therefore, thus knowing, you will be released from evil. Knowing, “these are not my activities; I exert not, I am indifferent” -due to this right perception, you will be released from ‘evil’ or the bondage of empirical life. This is the idea.”

Here is how Shankaracharya subverts the whole shloka whose goal is to establish Brahman as the center of all Yajna and convert Kamya Karma, which earns bondage of Karma into Nishkama Karma, which does not.

1. He interprets Brahmanomukhe -from the face of Brahman- into ‘the face of the Vedas’ and ‘Vedic path’, even though this shloka’s goal was to overthrow Vedic Yajna. The Upanishads repeatedly pronounce: One cannot obtain Brahman by the Vedas! He has no clue, or he refuses to acknowledge, that the “Yajnas” listed in 4:25-29 are not Vedic sacrifices at all but they are Upanishadic Jnana Yajnas. In his zeal to promote the Vedas, he does not even mention Brahman. His adherence is not to truth but to the Vedas. It is impossible to believe that Shankaracharya did not know the true meaning of this shloka.
2. He then says that if a person fooled himself into believing, “these are not my activities” he will not earn Karmaphalam due to “right perception.” What he should have said was, “If you perform Karma (Yajnas) centered on Brahman in the spirit of Yoga, that is without the impurities such as Sankalpa, Kama and Sangas for fruits (4:23), then you would not earn any Karmaphalam, and therefore you will be liberated from the evil of Samsara. This is Jnana Yajna; this is Jnanayoga.”

How do we know that Shankaracharya was hell bent on preserving the Vedic Yajnas? Let us review his commentary on shloka 4:31, which we read above.

9. Shloka 4:31: Immortal Remnant Is Atman, Not Food

4:31: The eaters of the immortal remnant (Yajnashistamrita) of (Jnana) Yajna go to the Eternal Brahman. This world is not for non-sacrificer, how then the other (Abode of Brahman)? O best of the Kurus?

What is the remnant after one has sacrificed food and animals in Vedic material sacrifice? It is the remaining food (Yajnashista), which the sacrificer consumes at the end of Yajna as a sign of humility and gratitude. What is the remnant of Jnana Yajna after one has sacrificed impurities (desire, attachment, etc.) residing in one’s Senses, Mind and Intellect? That immortal remnant (Yajnashistamrita, nectar) of Jnana Yajna is Atman. Here Krishna is trying to show that the end result of Jnana Yajna (Jnanayoga) is attainment of Atman/Brahman and liberation from Samsara.

What is the meaning of the word Yajnashistamrita? This word means ‘immortal remnant.’ This is not just Yajnashista food of Vedic sacrifice (3:13). The clue to this word’s special status is in the word Amritham (nectar of immortality). Here is how Shankaracharya dismisses this profound shloka with a very superficial explanation:

“The remains of sacrifices are what is left over; it is ambrosia. The sacrificer partakes of it. Having performed the sacrifices enumerated above, they eat, according to the Vedic injunctions, the ambrosial food and they repair to the Eternal Brahman, in case they seek liberation. From the logic of the situation it follows that this happens in course of time.

Obviously, the great Acharya completely missed the whole point of the above nine shlokas (4:23-30, 32), which is that these sacrifices are not Vedic (material) Yajnas but Jnana Yajnas of the Upanishads. As we read above, the nectar (Yajnashistamrita) mentioned in the above shloka has nothing to do with the leftover food of the Vedic (material) Yajnas (3:13). The word Yajnashistamrita is a metaphor for immortal Atman, which is the remnant of Jnana Yajnas. There is no real food here to “eat according to the Vedic injunctions” after Jnana Yajna, as there is no fire, no burnt offerings, and no ceremony. The great Acharya has no clue about this. And the phrase, “they repair to Brahman in case they seek liberation,” is indicative of this. He is simply not able to think outside his “Vedic box” even though he apparently knew the Upanishads inside out. This is because Shankaracharya mistakenly believed that the Vedas and the Upanishads are one and the same, not antagonistic to each other.

10. Shloka 5:18: Brahman The Equalizer

5:18: The sages perceive the same truth in Brahmins rich in knowledge and culture, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater.

In this shloka the point made is that an enlightened person sees the same Brahman in a highly cultured and educated Brahmin on the one extreme and an ignorant dog-eating outcaste on the other, and even in the animals owned by the lower classes in between. Here cow is the animal of Vaishyas; the elephant is the animal of Kshatriyas; the dog is the animal of Sudras. Conversely, when a person is deluded by even one of the three Gunas, he is not able to see the sameness or equality of all people.

The sole purpose of this Upanishadic shloka was to overthrow the Brahmanic Varna system based on unequal distribution of the Gunas and Karma (4:13) in the four classes, and replace it with an egalitarian system based on the equal distribution of Brahman in people of all classes (5:18-19).

Here is how Shankaracharya promotes supremacy of Brahmins while obfuscating the true intent of this shloka:

“Knowledge and culture” -culture consists in restraint -rich in these is the Brahmana who knows and is cultured. In him, in a cow, elephant, dog and outcaste the sages behold the same Reality (True). In the Sattvika Brahmana (Here he hangs on to the Guna), endowed with knowledge and culture, who has the best latent impressions of life’s experiences, in an intermediate being like the cow that is Rajasic (Cow is not Rajasic; tiger is) without such impression, and in the low merely Tamasic beings like an elephant etc. the sages are trained to perceive the same single, and immutable Brahman, wholly unaffected by constituents like the Sattva and by the latent impression they generate.

In the above commentary, Shankaracharya does not seem to understand the fundamental fact that an enlightened sage does not see a Brahmin as Sattvic, a Kshatriya as Rajasic, Vaishya, Sudra, and an outcaste as Tamasic. All he sees in them is Brahman. One cannot attribute a Guna to a creature and see Brahman in it at the same time. The Gunas and Brahman are mutually exclusive entities. His ignorance of this fact is evident in his statement: “Sages are trained to perceive the same single and immutable Brahman, wholly unaffected by constituents like the Sattva and by the latent impression they generate.

11. Shloka 18:66: Abandon All Dharma

Let us take up Shloka 18:66, the Ultimate (Charama) Shloka of the Bhagavad Gita.

18:66: Abandon all Dharma and surrender unto Me alone; I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve.

As we read the true purpose of this shloka in the article titled ‘God of Gods Enters The Battlefield To Fight Brahmanism.’ It encapsulates the essence of the entire text as well as the revolution to overthrow Brahmanic Dharma. This shloka has nothing to do with Arjuna Vishada context. After knocking off all other Dharmas of the land, Bhagavata Krishna declares himself as THE DHARMA (14:27), and asks everyone to abandon their Dharma and embrace his Dharma.

This Ultimate (Charama) shloka, asking everyone to abandon all Dharmas, has baffled all Brahmanic commentators as evidenced by their confusing, misleading and utterly nonsensical commentaries on it. It is obvious that they were not aware of the historical-revolutionary context and true intent of this shloka.

What is the correct meaning of the word Dharma in this context? The word Dharma has many meanings, such as religion, Law, righteousness, Duty, obligatory sacrificial duty (Kriya, Karya), a discipline of knowledge, a system, and the like. In the above shloka the word Dharma stood for religion or sect such as Brahmanism and Buddhism. If one took any one of these alternative meanings to the phrase ‘all Dharmas’ and applies it to the context of Arjuna Vishada, it means Arjuna should give up all Dharma -righteousness and performance of his obligatory duty as dictated by his Dharma. This is exactly what all Brahmanic commentators say in their commentaries. Here is what Shankaracharya says:

“Giving up all Dharmas (acts of righteousness), seek refuge in Me alone; I shall liberate you from all sins; grieve not.

‘All Dharma or acts of righteousness’-Dharma (righteousness) here includes Adharma (unrighteousness) also. What is sought to be conveyed is the idea of freedom from all works (Dharma here means Karma).”

Shankaracharya wants Arjuna to give up all Karma- righteous as well as unrighteous! Unaware of the historical-revolutionary context of this shloka, the great Acharya thinks that the word Dharma in it means Karma, not religion or sect. He tries to back up this outlandish claim by fourteen pages of long-winded and inscrutable explanations quoting various scriptures, which no Ph. D. candidate of religious studies, leave alone a humble student, could digest. This is a classic example of baffling one with bullshit when one cannot dazzle one with his brilliance. It is obvious that the Acharya was baffled by Lord Krishna’s call for one to “give up all Dharma.” Without realizing that Lord Krishna’s call was not meant for Arjuna at all, but was directed toward all people of various diverse Dharmas in the turbulent post-Vedic society, he must have thought, “How could the Lord ask Arjuna to give up all Dharma? The Lord must have meant Karma when he said Dharma.” So, he said that Arjuna should “give up all Karma -righteous as well as unrighteous.”

If the Acharya had said, “perform righteous Karma but abandon all Karmaphalam” (2:50; 9:28) instead of saying “give up all Karma” he would have made better sense, even though that was not what Krishna meant here. His interpretation implies that Arjuna should give up even righteous Karma (fighting for a right cause). Arjuna had already said he wanted to do just that when he said in 2:9 “I shall not fight” knowing full well that his was a righteous cause. Prince Krishna did a splendid job of dissuading him from giving up his Dharma-designated Karma (2:31-37). Obviously, Shankaracharya’s interpretation of this shloka makes mockery of the Mahabharata war as well.

No religion, no matter how profound its philosophy might be, tells its followers to give up righteous Karma. In all the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, there is not one single call for anyone to give up righteous Karma though there is plenty of call to give up Adharma, namely Kamya Karma (2:47-49; 4:7), and fruits of Karma. However, one must perform his Karma with indifference to personal gain or loss of fruits (3:19) if he does not want to earn Karmaphalam. Krishna never gets tired of telling people how important it is to be active all the time:

3:8: Engage yourself in Dharma-bound action, for action is superior to inaction, and if inactive, even the mere maintenance of your body would not be possible.

The entire Bhagavad Gita is about performing Karma in a righteous manner, meaning doing the right thing but without selfish motive. All three Gitas attest to this wisdom.

1. In Arjuna Vishada, prince Krishna asks Arjuna to perform his Karma as per his Dharma (2:37) giving up his self-centeredness failing which he would incur sin (2:33).
2. In the Upanishadic Gita, Guru Krishna tells Arjuna to perform his obligatory Karma as per Kshatriya Dharma without Dwandwam (2:38) and for guidance of the masses (3:20).
3. In the resurgent Brahmanic Gita, Lord Krishna tells people to selflessly do their duty as assigned by their class (18:45) and attain perfection.
4. In the Bhagavata Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to dedicate all Karma to him in order to free himself from the bondage of Karma (9:27-28). Even after showing Arjuna His Universal Form, Krishna says: 11:33: Arise and attain fame! By Me have your enemies been verily slain already. You be merely an outward cause, O Savyasachin! Lord Krishna did not tell Arjuna, “Give up all Karma and go home, for I have already killed them all!”

All this shows that shloka 18:66, in which Lord Krishna exhorts Arjuna to abandon all Dharma, was not applicable to Arjuna in the Mahabharata context at all, and that its real context was historical-revolutionary. Shankaracharya’s explanation of this shloka makes mockery of both the Mahabharata epic and all the fundamental teachings of the Bhagavad Gita: Never abandon the path of righteous Karma; but perform it with complete indifference to fruits.

12. How Could Hinduism Be Based On Misinterpretation Of Its Most Sacred Scripture?

Hinduism, or more correctly Brahmanism, as practiced today is largely based on Shankaracharya’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita. Like Shankaracharya did, every Brahmanic commentator misinterpreted all anti-Brahmanic shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita. Such erroneous, and often blatantly deceptive, interpretations of shlokas to shore up Brahmanism are the hallmark of all Brahmanic commentaries. All right-minded Hindus, who practically consider the Bhagavad Gita as the Handbook of Hindu Dharma, must ask, “How can we practice Hindu Dharma based on such erroneous and false interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita by Brahmanic Acharyas and Swamis whom we revere?”

In my next article, I will discuss the pernicious legacy of Brahmanism on modern India.

(To be continued)

Dr. Prabhakar Kamath, is a psychiatrist currently practicing in the U.S. He is the author of Servants, Not Masters: A Guide for Consumer Activists in India (1987) and Is Your Balloon About Pop?: Owner’s Manual for the Stressed Mind.

Related posts:

1. Is ‘Hindu Atheism’ Valid? A Rationalist Critique Of The ‘Hindu’ Identity’s Usurpation Of Indian Culture
2. Am I a Hindu?
3. Introduction to “The God Market: How Globalization is making India more Hindu”
4. Hindu Terrorists and BJP Double Speak
5. Upanishadists Use Arjuna Vishada To Overthrow Brahmanism
6. Review: The God Market- How Globalization Is Making India More Hindu, By Meera Nanda
7. The God of Gods Battles Brahmanism: Vaasudeva, Krishna and the Bhagavata Revolution
8. The Gita Becomes The Battlefield For The Great Sectarian War
9. The Upanishads Attempt To Reform Brahmanism
10. Upanishadists Create A New God To Beat Back Brahmanism
11. Subterfuge: How Brahmins Destroyed The Bhagavata Revolution
12. The Origins and Evolution of Brahmanism
13. The Decay of Dharma and the Rise of Adharma