Google Logo
Image Caption goes here.
/* Variable definitions ==================== */ /* Defaults ----------------------------------------------- */ body { margin:0; padding:0; font-size: small; text-align:center; color:#29303b; line-height:1.3em; background:#483521 url("http://www2.blogblog.com/scribe/bg.gif") repeat; } blockquote { font-style:italic; padding:0 32px; line-height:1.6; margin-top:0; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:.6em; margin-left:0; } p { margin:0; padding:0; } abbr, acronym { cursor:help; font-style:normal; } code { font-size: 90%; white-space:normal; color:#666; } hr {display:none;} img {border:0;} /* Link styles */ a:link { color:#473624; text-decoration:underline; } a:visited { color: #956839; text-decoration:underline; } a:hover { color: #956839; text-decoration:underline; } a:active { color: #956839; } /* Layout ----------------------------------------------- */ #outer-wrapper { background-color:#473624; border-left:1px solid #332A24; border-right:1px solid #332A24; width:700px; margin:0px auto; padding:8px; text-align:center; font: normal normal 100% Georgia, Times New Roman,Sans-Serif;; } #main-top { width:700px; height:49px; background:#FFF3DB url("http://www2.blogblog.com/scribe/bg_paper_top.jpg") no-repeat top left; margin:0px; padding:0px; display:block; } #main-bot { width:700px; height:81px; background:#FFF3DB url("http://www.blogblog.com/scribe/bg_paper_bot.jpg") no-repeat top left; margin:0; padding:0; display:block; } #wrap2 { width:700px; background:#FFF3DB url("http://www1.blogblog.com/scribe/bg_paper_mid.jpg") repeat-y; margin-top: -14px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align:left; display:block; } #wrap3 { padding:0 50px; } .Header { } h1 { margin:0; padding-top:0; padding-right:0; padding-bottom:6px; padding-left:0; font: normal normal 225% Georgia, Times New Roman,sans-serif; color: #612e00; } h1 a:link { text-decoration:none; color: #612e00; } h1 a:visited { text-decoration:none; } h1 a:hover { border:0; text-decoration:none; } .Header .description { margin:0; padding:0; line-height:1.5em; color: #29303B; font: italic normal 100% Georgia, Times New Roman, sans-serif; } #sidebar-wrapper { clear:left; } #main { width:430px; float:right; padding:8px 0; margin:0; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */ } #sidebar { width:150px; float:left; padding:8px 0; margin:0; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */ } #footer { clear:both; background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/scribe/divider.gif") no-repeat top left; padding-top:10px; _padding-top:6px; /* IE Windows target */ } #footer p { line-height:1.5em; font-size:75%; } /* Typography :: Main entry ----------------------------------------------- */ h2.date-header { font-weight:normal; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em; font-size:90%; margin:0; padding:0; } .post { margin-top:8px; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:24px; margin-left:0; } .post h3 { font-weight:normal; font-size:140%; color:#1b0431; margin:0; padding:0; } .post h3 a { color: #1b0431; } .post-body p { line-height:1.5em; margin-top:0; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:.6em; margin-left:0; } .post-footer { font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size:74%; border-top:1px solid #BFB186; padding-top:6px; }

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Democratic Faiths

General elections, whether rigged, manipulated or impartial, are the most vital and visible signs of life in any functioning democracy. Be it presidential or parliamentary, democracy has been widely accepted as the nearest form to minimum acceptable governance embodying the vital elements of liberty, human rights and equality that are ‘beyond-bargain’ parameters for dignified human existence. The harsh reality that many world nations are still suffering from greedy monarchies, military dictatorships and religious theocracies makes a mockery of all our claims of progress in this 21st century. There are several reasons for the flourishing or floundering of democratic institutions in different parts of the world. The latest elections in India and Iran provide a very good opportunity to look at some of the reasons for the sustainability of democracy in the current world.

Though various forms of democracy are under trial in different nations, we can easily notice that it is showing signs of survival only in certain environments. The very spirit of democracy, especially in countries offering universal adult franchise, seems to be compatible only with certain types of people and faiths. The strengthening or weakening of democracy as a form of government among 200 odd nations with 6 billion people gives some clear indications about the real faith of democracy. One can also draw very good conclusions about the thought process, mentality and behavior of the people, nation and faith of those who prefer essentially democratic arrangements for governance. In contrast we can also get glimpses about why certain faiths are incompatible with democracy. There must be underlying reasons for both.

Conceding Spirit

Enough and more clues about the reasons for success or failure of democracy in different nations can be obtained by analyzing the happenings in their recent elections. In the last one decade we have seen presidential elections in USA (2000, 2004, 2008), general elections in India (2004, 2009) and different types of elections in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afganistan and Nepal. It will not take much effort to prove that the 2000 election in USA, 2009 elections in India and Iran were neither impartial nor fair. All these elections have been rigged in one form or another. Rigging of elections need not always be in the form of duplicate voting or over printing of ballots or even false counting of votes. It can be in the form of manipulating the tools for elections, including the election commissions that conduct the elections, or even by hijacking of mandate obtained in any election. In India the popular mandate in 2009 elections in favour of a particular political formation has been hijacked by installing an ‘unelected’ leader.

No election is perfect and the success of any democratic arrangement emanates from the spirit and willingness of contesting parties to accept defeat. Only if equanimity exists to accept defeat or victory on the part of each and every contesting party, prior to any election, can the democratic process end conclusively. Extreme contrasts in this regard are provided by the reactions of an erstwhile Indian Prime Minister as against the current stance of the ‘defeated’ Iranian leaders in the recent elections. “Our party may have been defeated but India has won” were the famous words of a statesman like Vajpayee when he got defeated in 2004. And Al-Gore and Advani went many steps further when they conceded defeat in elections which they have morally won for furthering democracy in their own nations. The fact that these leaders had the support of their followers (in India it is in hundreds of millions) shows the general characteristics of their faith. However, the unhealthy trend of certain families hijacking the rule under the guise of electoral victory in successful democracies is another factor that merits the attention of all those who value genuine democracy.

Basic Incompatibilities

There are certain basic incompatibilities between some dominant faiths and the essential spirit of democracy. The bare minimum belief that is needed for any favorable thought on democracy is the concept of equality of human beings. To accept anyone becoming the nation’s ruler, its majority must strongly believe that all of them have equal rights (even if they are not equals in every sense) and hence eligible to rule. In the case of genuine communism and theocracy, this concept of equality is non-existent. If workers are more equal than others in a communist setup, it is the rights of clergy to be more than others in a theocratic arrangement. No wonder that democracy does not find any foothold in nations that discriminates between believers and non-believers, men and women, masters and slaves and even slaves white, brown and black. The exhibition of universal brotherhood by hugging, singing, praying and preying together are only skin deep rituals in such societies.

Conceding equality to others is easy to preach but difficult to practice. It needs a strong underlying principle to accept equality as a natural concept. In Hinduism it is easily available in their belief of having the very same God present in everything animate and inanimate. And in Christianity it is provided by the belief that all are born as sinners. But having the very same starting point does not provide a good reason for considering other competitors as equal in the subsequent race for living. The belief that all are made by the same God does not automatically confer equality on everyone. Products can be of different value even if they are manufactured in the one and only producing company. It is difficult to consider them equal but there is no harm in having brotherly feelings that can subsidize, promote or confront the enemies together.

In very general terms it is easy to conclude that democratic process succeeds only amidst some of the world’s dominant faiths, and fails miserably in the case of others. The current turbulence in Iran and successful transformation from monarchy to a democratic republic in Nepal provide living examples for this argument. And in Pakistan, democracy has failed to make any foothold even after 60 odd years of free rule. In Iraq and Afganistan it has miles to go before we can conclude that it is acceptable. There is a great message to humanity coming out of all these. It is about the misery and turbulence that awaits us if one of those undemocratic faiths comes to dominate the world. Silence of graveyards will be the only sign of equality that will be present among all nations then. Only by considering and respecting all others as our equals can we nurture democratic principles and that requires nothing less than the acceptance of same God’s presence in everything.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Half-Converted Kerala

Kerala, the most ‘progressive’ state in the Indian union, is more than half converted and religious conversion was unbecoming an issue in Kerala these days. But the recent demise of Kamala Suraiyya (Madhavikutty or Kamala Das) has highlighted the issue once again. The story goes that she was lured into Islam by the tricks and nuptial promises of a much married, learned and cunning lawmaker belonging to an overtly communal party. Madhavikutty’s literary works represent some of the finest aspects of uninhibited and immaculate Hindu culture that had once prevailed in most parts of Kerala. She could easily differentiate between the quintessence of pristine love of ‘gopikas’ for Krishna vis-à-vis the cheap commonplace lust, by deft handling of both in her stories and poetry. The fact that even such a tall literary figure could fall an easy victim shows the reach of proselytization forces in a region of India with the highest literacy rate. What is happening in Kerala today is bound to be repeated in all other parts of India as our skewed version of secular education is spreading everywhere. Like in Kerala today, Hindus are bound to reduce themselves to a minority community in their own nation one day.

The unfortunate saga of conversion in Kerala begins from around 1500 AD when the first European colonizers landed at one of those beautiful beaches of Kerala. Though we had traders, fugitives and tourists landing at Kerala’s long seashore from time immemorial, damages by them remained limited to their excreta in the coastal belts. The highly structured Kerala society then was impenetrable to foreigners who were much below in terms of social and economic evolution. Cooked-up stories about adventures of one Saint Thomas who could convert the forward castes are nothing but mythology invented as afterthoughts. Kerala’s decadence started much later when the naturally symbiotic caste system became rigid and triggered internal revolts. Foreign religions were waiting at the sea and seacoasts for such an internal upheaval for easy penetration into the much coveted God’s Own Country. In 500 years they could convert more than 50% of the population is no mean achievement for the proponents of the two major religions in the world today.

Silent Terrorism

What happened in the last five centuries and what is happening in Kerala today is nothing but silent terrorism in the form of organized and externally fuelled religious conversion. It was Christianity which started first with the intention of conditioning the ground ready for European colonization. In every colony of ‘ours’, we need quite a few of our ‘own’ people. In distant lands the only way to get ‘our own’ people is by way of aggressive and accelerated cultural conversion. Religion is an integral part of culture and religious conversion is the best tool available for easy conditioning of the target population. Increasing rigidity of the caste system provided a golden opportunity for the European missionaries to penetrate into the Indian society. Enemies of India had budgeted big sums for the project and India’s toiling masses could be easily made disgruntled and aggrieved. As most of them were lacking any formal education, tricking them into a new religious system was easy with the help of material inducements in terms of milk powder and rice.

The next predator in Kerala started their work in terms of organized conversion much later. Though we had sizeable number of Muslim population in the coastal areas, especially in the north Malabar region, their intrusion into the interiors of Kerala as an organized religion is only about one century old. The Mapillah Rebellion in 1921 was perhaps the first organized assault aimed at religious conversion under the guise of so many other objectives. Though North India was under Muslim rule for several centuries, its influence in the southern regions of the country was minimal. Also their enmity with the European colonial powers was not helpful in increasing their numerical strength by targeting Hindus. But the situation has changed drastically in the 20th century when millions of Oil money started flowing into Kerala. Increasing their number by all means and capturing power by organized might is high on the agenda of the Muslim mind of Kerala.

Suicidal Indifference

Any nation or people in decay will ultimately have only themselves to blame. The current status of Hindus in Kerala is at a highly critical juncture in this regard. Three or four prominent Hindu sections are totally indifferent about the overall status of the Hindu religion and society in Kerala today. The leaders of these sections are forgetting one of the most important rules of science and history – any culture can survive only if there is the minimum quantity. Most of these sub-sections of the Hindu society namely Nairs, Ezhavas, Brahmins and OBCS are fighting more among themselves than for their combined rights. They have left their weakest brothers (Adivasis) at the complete mercy of the two predators vying for numbers and real estate. Almost the entire five lakh Adivasis of Kerala will either die off or get converted, and their entire property will ultimately lie with one of the predating groups.

Much has been said and written about the suicidal indifference of Hindus in Kerala and the catastrophe impending their community a few generations from now. None of the Hindu community leaders of any significance have shown the courage to speak up for consolidation and caution. It will be only at their extreme peril that the entire spectrum of Hindu society in Kerala can feign ignorance to the following basic FACTS:-

Hinduism is no more the dominant religion in Kerala. As half of those born as Hindus are genuine communists, Hinduism is only at par with Islam and Christianity in Kerala. And uninhibited religious conversion is still rampant in many parts of Kerala.
• Kerala has the highest (family) suicidal rate in the world and at least 75% of them are Hindus.
• Hindu temples are the only one in government custody. All income from temples (which are only from Hindus) flow into the common government coffers.
• Kerala politics is overwhelmingly dominated by leaders belonging to the two dominant communities and parties which are overtly communal (Muslim League and Kerala Congress).
• There is almost complete monopoly of the two dominant communities in the print and electronic media in Kerala.
• Almost all Hindu families in the current generation have only two children. But one can invariably find three children in all Christian families and four children in most Muslim families. This trend is almost confirmed if they are more educated and richer. This clearly shows a determined and deliberate effort to increase the numbers.
• Christian clergy and Muslim religious leaders are freely indulging in politics in Kerala which is a part of the so-called secular republic of India. Many times they openly challenge the authority of democratically elected governments and the rule of law, with no impunity.
• Ownership of land (especially high valued), number of professionals (doctors, IAS officers etc) and untaxed (and unaccounted) income from abroad are disproportionately high in favour of the two dominant communities in Kerala.


The few critical aspects listed above point to a determined and calculated move by the foreign religious ideologies to establish their superiority over Kerala within one or two decades. Both are now equally organized, resourceful and determined to achieve their ultimate aim. The apparent discordant notes among subsidiary factions within these religious forces are designed and serve as deceptive distracters for those who are opposing the move. In Kerala (also India) today, anything Hindu or Hindutva is condemnably communal, Muslim or Islamic is secularly acceptable and Christian or Christianity is laudably broad-minded. Any one who talks anything about Hinduism or Hindus are ostracized in public life and politically unacceptable. Barring unforeseen developments, Kerala’s Hindu goose will be cooked and eaten with full satisfaction as precisely planned. And once that is digested, the harvest of entire South India is only one decade away and Indian nation a few more. Only organized reforms and determined positive action can save Hinduism from the combined onslaught of its three known enemies.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Indian 'Democrazy'

India is considered the world’s largest democracy, but does the result of 15th Lok Sabha elections in India corroborate this claim? Yes and No. There is no doubt that an election process with its widely acclaimed universal adult franchise system has been concluded peacefully and some definite results have been announced. But the whole process has been unduly drawn out and the net results do not really reflect the mood of the nation and its people. If the previous two general elections reflected the popular mood for a change of guard in a healthy fashion, what has come out as latest election results portent a potential degenerative tendency in Indian democracy. Our remarkable tryst in 1947 with democratic destiny reached rock bottom in 1975, then started climbing back to glory and now again it looks to be heading for degeneration into a distorted democracy. As in secularism, we are distorting democracy too for formalizing the rule by a dozen families in various parts of India by merely manipulating victory in elections.

Democracy can definitely be considered as the most civilized, progressive and just form of governance in the 21st century. But it must be true democracy involving political parties with definite and different agenda. Otherwise it can become worse than monarchy or theocracy or fascist communism. Ideally, all those who are eligible must be listed, a majority of eligible voters must vote and ultimately those who claim victory must have support of more than 50% of the whole national population. In that sense only those parties or pre-poll alliances that have won more than 500 million votes can claim victory in India. As the voting percentage was only about 50%, this may be too ideal in present day Indian politics. But the simple fact that we have now ended up with an ‘elected’ government headed by an ‘unelected’ leader shows the sham that is enveloping our democracy. Electoral reforms must be at the very top of the agenda of any government in India today.

Doubtful Umpiring & Unelected Leader

The darkest shadow over India’s 15th General Elections has been cast by doubts about impartiality of the Election Commission itself. Election is all about faith & fair play and how can there be confidence on results if there are strong doubts about integrity & interests of those who are conducting the elections. It is not one or a dozen of MPs’ who had pointed fingers at a particular member of the Election Commission. When about half the number of sitting MPs’ had appealed for his dismissal and when the Chief Election Commissioner himself had recommended his removal, the least that could be done was to keep him away from this particular all important elections. We should also remember that the same person was specifically singled out by the famous Shah Commission as not fit enough to hold any public office in India. The extensive use of Electronic Voting Machines - EVMs (not even done in advanced countries like USA) makes the shadows even darker. Post poll audit of randomly picked 10,000 EVMs from all over India, by an independent agency like the Supreme Court, can restore our confidence at least to respectable levels now.

But the ‘most unkindest cut’ to Indian democracy has come in the form of an ‘unelected’ leader for the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha. Writers of our constitution never even dreamt of such a possibility. Otherwise they would have definitely closed such a loop hole which is now wide open and being ‘mis’used for the last several years. The underlying moral strength of leadership in parliamentary democracy is convincing victory in elections and not nomination by party leaderships. What has happened now is complete hijacking of people’s mandate for nomination of someone who never faced the electorate. It is ‘mukhota’ politics of the worst kind. The eminently qualified Dr. Manmohan Singh could have got himself elected from any constituency anywhere in India to avoid such a controversy. That was the minimum he could have done for the sake of nurturing true democracy in India.

Dying Parties & Developing Families

Weakening of genuine political parties offering definite alternatives in all walks of life is another sad feature noticed during the latest general elections. In a true democracy we should be witnessing strengthening of political parties with clear cut policies in economical, social, political and even international affairs. In India this is practiced mainly by the right wing and left wing parties, and hardly by the middle of the road non-aligned political parties. Most of the centrist parties in India indulge in vote-bank politics and have their own captive voters in the form of some castes or belonging to some religion or region. Hardcore supporters of such namesake political parties have blind faith in their evergreen leaders and never bother to read their manifestos. And then there are some monolith parties which resemble more of a mediocre crowd of onlookers than a group of people with specific aims and agenda.

The weakening of genuine political parties is adding to the strength of family oriented political groupings. In fact this is a growing problem in the whole of south Asia and has made a mockery of democracy in these parts. In India it is now Nehru family at the Centre, Dixit family in Delhi, Karunanidhi family in Chennai, Patnaik family in Orissa, Hudda family in Haryana, Badal family in Punjab, Deora family in Mumbai, Abdulla family in Kashmir, Sangma family in North East, Reddy family in Andhra, Maani family in Kerala etc. etc. Every other MP is the son, daughter, nephew or niece of someone big in the same party. It is really a matter of grave concern and shame that the political party, that claims to be the oldest in India, is degenerating into a blatantly family party. Open and unabashed sycophancy is the main trait of that party. Those Europeans who have literarily (re)captured the top party slots must be wondering at the intensity of sycophancy, extend of selfishness and depths of disgrace that some members of the oldest civilisation in the world are capable of descending to. Robert Clive, Thomas Macaulay and Max Muller must be laughing in their graves.

It is most certain that India will retain its essential democratic character thanks to the importance of general democratic principles in the faith of its majority citizens. The moment such a majority is lost, for which efforts in the form of organized religious conversions are in full force, India will also slip into anarchy, monarchy, military dictatorships or hopeless communism like its neighbours. But what is of immediate worry is its degeneration into a ‘shamful’ federal setup of distorted democracy. At this rate, we may need only a few mini-elections within certain families to determine the Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers of India. At least we can save the millions of rupees spend on making a mockery of general elections in this way. It is time for the real majority of India to act in a decisive manner. Their indifference can prove fatal for their children and the Indian nation.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Yellowing Taliban

In the soccer game of international relations, the yellow card has been shown many times. As usual we will wait till the red card comes up all of a sudden and then there will be no respite. The whole world, especially India and Japan, is going to bear the brunt of a monstrous and mad dragon that will be unleashed after several warnings. Day by day, the over ambitious yellow dragon namely People’s Republic of China (PRC) is growing into an unstable state of gigantic proportions in every sense. Its growth rate and resource requirements will leave its leaders with no option but to outgrow its present borders. It is like a tiny puppy being brought up in a puny cage that went into an unrealistic growth rate. Though we were given enough and more warnings about its ominous portents, the onlookers never bothered to change its chain nor its cage. It is now only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.

Buddhists are the least provocative and aggressive of humans. In fact it was this unique trait of Buddhism that weakened all the states it dominated and fell easily before the onward march of imperial forces. Afghanistan is just one such and blasting of the Bamyan Buddhas in the recent past was a highly symbolic one. Yet Tibet, one of the last surviving strongholds of Buddhism, was the first target of PRC in modern times. The exiled Tibetan ruler, our saintly Dalai Lama has been languishing in Indian soil for the past 60 years. He was honoured with several international prizes (including Nobel) and rubs his shoulders with all the world leaders, but still nobody dares to act for his return to his own homeland. In reality, what is the difference between Tibetans in India and Palestinians all over the Gulf? But the whole world is afraid of the economic and now military might of the Chinese to utter a word.

Growing Twins

PRC and Taliban are two of the dreaded names in the international scene today. Both entities are made up of human beings who are almost robotic in their behavior. Born and brought up in societies that abhor freedom and cloister minds, these adherents are highly disciplined and are more prone to obey first and think (if at all) later. Even after extensive bombardment by full contingents of US and NATO forces, Taliban has been growing from strength to strength. There is every reason to believe that PRC is behind this unusual and unexplained growth of such a dreaded force. Perhaps Taliban is already one of the numerous components of penetrating forces that PRC mandarins have mobilized. Do not be surprised if Taliban returns to power with full backing of PRC and some of the GCC countries that supported it earlier. It might as well be a mutated Taliban with a yellowish tint.

A mutated Taliban can carry out quite a lot of dirty works for PRC. With its religious stamp it can bleed India million times more in Kashmir. Then it can access their brethren remotely in Bangladesh and devastate whatever Bengal that is left with India. Keeping India tied down with its own internal problems is what PRC wants to get more time to prepare for the next onslaught on India. They have already prepared the grounds ready in Pakistan and Nepal for the final push into Indian heartlands. International standing of PRC has been on the rise and it is only one or two decades away from the top slot. Their recent challenge to replace American dollar as the world currency and a recent veto on an ADB loan to India (part of which is to be used in Arunachal Pradesh) are indications of what is in store. These are nothing but yellow cards which Indian authorities are refusing to take note.

Red Crescents

There is no doubt that the symbols of Red Cross and Red Crescent represent the best of human intentions at times of distress. But the two words have much more connotations than what they individually mean. They represent the deadly permutation and combination of the three prominent isms that dominate the world today. If Red Cross was on the ascent a decade back, now it is sunrise time for Red Crescent. Papal activism and liberation theology accelerated the spread of Red Cross philosophy across the globe at one time. But the death of old Pope and unending saga of court cases against the sexual escapades of Catholic clergy all over the world has brought it to a sudden end. Its place is now occupied by the new theology of Red Crescent fuelled by the richness of oil and gas.

PRC is in very good trading terms with all the oil rich sheikhdoms raring to tighten their grips on the world order by a deadly combination of fuel and jihad. These Sheikhs have very few followers in PRC and PRC knows that it will never be a threat to them. This scenario has given one more weapon to PRC in its arsenal against its rivals like India and Japan. For the time being it is a mutually beneficial arrangement for both the parties to forge an alliance for weakening democracies like India from within by utilizing the legal avenues like elections, protests and strikes. It can also be energized to provide infrastructural support for the blast series all over India every two or three months. With minimum expenditure, PRC is achieving maximum by weakening the secular fabric of Indian society.

One of the American think tanks had recently predicted a PRC attack on India before 2020. Though Americans may have their own reasons to frighten India into their own traps, such studies can never be ignored. The simple fact that no terrorist attacks take place in PRC and the growth of Taliban from strength to strength are reason enough to believe in the strengthening yellow shades of Taliban. A democratic country like India can survive a growing collusion among Mullahs and Mandarins only if we get a patriotic and nationalist government to rule India. And only a strong alliance between India, USA, Israel and Japan can guarantee the existence of freedom and democracy as the concepts for the civilized world. If the current general elections do not throw up such a strong rule for India, the damages can be far reaching.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Purpose of Life

We carry out so many actions and indulge in so many activities. But what exactly is the real purpose of our life? A lot of prophets and saints have attempted an answer for this. But none have given a more logical and satisfying answer than the Indian Rishis by way of their theoretical exposition of soul, karma and rebirths in umpteen works of Sanatana Dharma. The concepts of soul and rebirth form part of the core ideology of Sanatana Dharma that stands on very solid foundations. No other religion or ism has given a better answer as to the purpose of life than Sanatana Dharma. Rishis in India have never craved for political power and that is why their Dharma is Sanatana (eternal) that could offer such an unquestionable answer regarding purpose of life. Any ideology designed for seeking power and conquering lands cannot provide answers to eternal questions.

Attaining paradise and redemption for sinners are the unquestioned objectives of two contemporary isms dominating the world today. But a mere pointer to the objective will not provide a satiable answer to our questions about the purpose of everyday life. Voluntarily and involuntarily we are carrying out so many activities in the entire span of our lives. Many a time we do understand the immediate purpose only in the case of our voluntary actions eg. we walk or run when we want to reach a destination. But why do you want to reach that particular destination at all? For that matter, why do you want to reach any destination? Why is our heart working tirelessly or shutting down suddenly without our control? Why do we tend to love something and hate something else? There is no end to such questions and no answer either. Only Sanatana Dharma provides a simple satisfying answer as to the overall purpose of life of each and every human being.

Insatiable Souls

Almost all religious isms accept the existence of a body and soul for each human being and Sanatana Dharma is no exception. But the similarity ends there. We are considered alive only until our body and soul are together. When the soul decides to leave, it leaves behind a dead body. But what is this soul and what is its role? Indian Rishis considered these souls as nothing but indestructible microcosms (jeevatma) of the larger universal force of Ishwar (paramatma). We know Ishwar is present in everything, but what is special about the soul? If Ishwar is present in everything, why is soul not present in everything? The answer is simple and straight forward. It is true that Ishwar is present in everything, but soul is present only in living beings. And that is what differentiates between living and dead bodies. Each soul comes with a partly defined purpose based on accumulated karma from previous lives (which also determines when, where and how it is born), but leaves with the karma accumulated by the actions of the body that carried it.

Presence of life in it makes all souls inherently insatiable. The prime purpose of bodies carrying them gets defined here. It is the solemn duty of each living body to carry its soul to a more elevated plane in the cycle of evolution. Refinement of the soul it carries is thus the solemn duty of each living individual in this universe. And the only tool available at our disposal for achieving this is our action. Each and every one of our actions is important here. Each thought and each movement is vital. Application of the dharma tool, another unique aspect of Sanatana Dharma, becomes unavoidable in this regard. Each dharmic action (including thoughts) refines our soul and each adharmic action will taint it further. And finally when your body’s turn to carry that soul is over, it leaves and may or may not be reborn depending upon the accumulated karma so far. In a way it is the insatiability of the soul inside us that force us through each moment of our life.

Moksha Deliverance

It is clear and evident that we are all born with souls of different characteristics which in turn depend on the intensity of refinement they have gone through in the past lives. Since none of us have any role in our birth that carries along with it the associated fortunes (and misfortunes), the vast differences that exist among us at birth is also something beyond our control. All of us are uniquely different at birth and our actions start to count only after we come of age. And beyond that point whatever we think or say or act will definitely affect our principal task of refining the souls in our custody. That is why it is always stressed by various religious leaders that success or failure of our births is largely in our own hands. One’s life is a success if he or she has managed to refine the soul and it is a failure if it gets more and more tainted in your custody.

And finally what happens after so many cycles of births and deaths. Nature of accumulated karma would carry the soul forward. If the latest one holding it has done well enough, the soul (jeevatma) shall merge completely into Ishwar (paramatma) and shall be relieved of further trials and tribulations associated with births and re-births. Complete liberation or emancipation (moksha) of the soul happens at this point. In rarest of rare cases we have also seen individuals amongst us achieving emancipation (moksha) even during their lifetimes. Ramana Mahirshi of yesteryears and Mata Amritanandamayi Devi in contemporary times are cases of such jeevanmukta. Their actions are so very noble that refinement of the souls they carried outpaced their own lives. It will be a rare honour to interact and be associated with such noble souls.

Purpose of our life and what we all should aim for in the course of our lives is explicitly clear now. Reference material available in Sananata Dharma for finer clarifications and research on this topic is literarily monumental. The logic of soul refinement and rebirths is so unambiguous that all our doubts will evaporate when we dig deeper and deeper into the works of Indian Rishis. No other religious ideology can claim such a credible and convincing repertoire of coherent works and their innumerable commentaries. Genuine followers of Sanatana Dharma have no reasons to be in doubt as to the purpose of their lives. Perhaps the days are not very far when the whole world would realize their mistake of not noticing the truth of their lives that always existed in the cradle of culture that is Sanatana Dharma.