In this News 24 program, Professor of Biochemistry and President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, Narendra Nayak debunks “miracles” of “Godmen/women” with live demonstrations and scientific explanations.

Featuring:

Tricks with fire:
How to hold fire with your bare hands and even your tongue!
and
How to have an “Agni-snan” or “Fire-bath” and be a “Fire-eater”.

Tricks with Oil:

How to put you hand in boiling oil and not get burned!
and
How to take Puris out of boiling oil with your bare hands.

Feats with Piercings and Trishuls!

Stiffen your body and become superhuman!

How to lift a 100 kilo weight with four people each using their index fingers only!

Make water disappear and reappear!

And also, a SURPRISE FINALE, rivalling Satya Sai Baba!

George Carlin ’s fiery takedown in kinetic typography.

This video was made by Bala to promote the Nirmukta community of Freethinkers who are concerned with promoting science, reason and Freethought in India. Please visit our community forums at http://nirmukta.net

Kinematic typography featuring perhaps one of Richard Dawkins’ most famous rebuttals. I made this video for Nirmukta to promote their forum nirmukta.net .

Editor’s Note: Video footage of Basava Premanand from the Australian TV show, 60 Minutes, aired on 9 Network Australia in August, 1997.

B. Premanand (17 February 1930 04 October 2009) was an eminent skeptic and rationalist from India. He was the founder of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA) and he was also the convener of Indian CSICOP, a skeptic group which is an affiliate of CSICOP. He was the owner-publisher-editor of the monthly magazine, The Indian Skeptic, which “publishes articles on the scientific investigation of apparently paranormal occurrences with a special emphasis on cases from India”.

This is a video of Basava Premanand, founder of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations and Indian CSICOP which published Indian Skeptic magazine. Premanand has been featured in many documentaries, notably ones by the BBC.

This is an excellent short video by youtube user QualiaSoup that explains the nature of and the need for critical thinking.

This is an incredible piece of work by youtube user melodysheep.

Here are the notes that were posted with the video:

My own musical tribute to two great men of science. Carl Sagan and his cosmologist companion Stephen Hawking present: A Glorious Dawn - Cosmos remixed. Almost all samples and footage taken from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and Stephen Hawking’s Universe series.

RIP Dr. Sagan, you will be missed!!

Please, click HQ to watch in better quality.

Go here to download the track:
http://www.symphonyofscience.com

And here for another scientist remix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84P…

And my website for more original music:
http://www.colorpulsemusic.com/

This video is self-explanatory and almost no introduction is needed. All I will say here is that the rationalist in the video is Narendra Nayak, president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. If you watch closely, the late Basava Premanand appears for a second or two, providing support (and advise, no doubt) to the younger rationalists.

The rationalist movement in India needs more volunteers. If you like what these brave folks are doing, please consider joining and helping in the effort. Together let’s fight these superstitious ideas that pervade our culture.

Deepak Chopra is a modern day Shaman who promotes mystical notions of reality to millions of people by slipping magic into the gaps in our naturalistic understanding of the world around us. He always begins with a naturalistic assertion usurped from science and follows a fuzzy metaphorical interpretation of the argument to a supernaturalistic end. The hook is his claim that these ideas are on a higher truth level than that which science can access.

In reality, the motives behind Chopra’s science distortion are not very idealistic. The fantasies he promotes form the marketing strategy behind a vast business enterprise selling magical cures to every ailment imaginable.

The harm done by such New-Age Shamans as Deepak Chopra is avoidable. What is needed is for scientists, humanists and all concerned people to expose these lies that are repeated everyday in the popular media.

In the video that follows, I analyze Chopra’s strategy to show how he distorts science using metaphors in order to profit from selling quackery. If your internet connection is too slow for streaming the HD quality video, you can try accessing a lower quality version here, or the lowest (cell phone) quality version here.

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This is a video made by Henrik Thomé about how superstition in India affects people. The original can be found here. Thanks, Henrik, for your very important work in helping expose these dangers to the public and for letting us post this video on Nirmukta.

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Here is the description of the video as posted by Henrik:

“The dalits (the “untouchables”) are usually the first victims of superstition in India. This film was recorded in India 2009 by Henrik Thomé. It shows how people become victims of superstition, and follows the battle against superstition during a few days.”