From: "Brian Muehlbach " Mailing-List: list vediculture@yahoogroups.com Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2002 05:53:53 -0000 Subject: [world-vedic] The Invention of Hinduism? With the advent of missionary activity in the 19th century, the claim that `Christians were already Hindu' managed to diminish the threat of conversion to Christianity. Diminution of the Threat from Buddhism - Ambedkar led a mass Black Untouchable movement of conversion Buddhism in order to escape the astika Brahmanist (Vedic, Vaishnava) caste system. The claim that Buddhists were in any case Hindu served to diminish any threat from Buddhism. >>>This reactionary movement to the oppression of the dark-skinned 'dalits' by the 'Aryan' birth-caste adwaiti 'Vedic' and often Ram-associated Vaishnava Brahmins in South India continues to gather steam at the present. Often this reactionary movement is fueled by blatant disinformation campaigns and lies against Vaishnavism such as the "protocols of Zion"-like disinformation campaign promoting the now tragically pervasive idea that the vanaras forest-dwellers in the Ramayana were actually dark-skinned Dravidians enslaved as sub-human 'monkeys' by the white Aryan race hero RAMA. Along with this completely baseless idea is the allied one that the demons or asuras of the Ramayana were also dark skinned Dravidians. This racist reading of the Ramayana is a purely modern phenomenon, which WAS promoted by the British and their Euro-aryanist allies to drive a wedge between the lighter-skinned caste brahmins and Theravadin Buddhists of India and Sri Lanka and the darker skinned, often Shaivite Tamils of South India and Sri Lanka. The Europeans projected their 'white' Aryanist racism onto the ancient Sanskrit Vedic and Vaishnava scriptures, inventing the 'Aryan invasion' myth to support their global campaign for white-racist imperial domination of the world. Thus they re-imagined the high civilizations of India and Egypt as the product of THEIR OWN REMOTE ANCESTORS, THE 'WHITE ARYAN' INVADERS. To promote this idea, they reinterpreted and in some cases redacted Sanskrit Shastras / scriptures. They re-interpreted the vedic-Vaishnava Purusha Sukta Hymn as promoting birth-caste-ism by insisting that the varnas of the mystical sacramental social body of the cosmic Purusha referred to racial colors, and not to a symbolism connected to the gunas and occupational 'modes' of being and work. They also re-interpreted, redacted and aggressively promoted, with their printing presses and educational systems, other ancient Sanskrit 'Aryan' Vedic literatures from the perspective of their own 'white' racism. In doing-so, they laid the ground-work for the Aryan versus Dravidian defined wars of Sri Lanka and South and other innumerable atrocities ever since. The Theosophical thought-leaders were involved in this Aryanist myth-making. Olcott spent a great deal of effort in Sri Lanka promoting Aryanism among the Sinhalese Theravadin Buddhists. With an alliance with the Buddhists, Olcott used his influence to diffuse Aryanism globally via a movement for Theravadin Buddhist unity. Thus racist Aryanism was spread exoterically by the colonialist governments of Europe and Russia, esoterically by the occult and secret societies of Theosophy-related groups (including forms of Indian, Persian and Arab racist Sufism), and exoterically by the racist elite (often mayavadi and smarta) brahmins of India and the Elite priests and monastics of Theravadin Buddhism, where ever it was connected to the Sri Lankan-led movement for Buddhist unity. In the next century this Buddhist Aryanism would significantly unite some Theravadin Zen Japanese, Sri Lankan Theravadin and Nepalese-Tibetan Theravadin Buddhists in their Aryanist support of the Third Reich. >>>>I would like to suggest to anyone who thinks that the claimed racist reading of the Ramayana is authentic, that they should look at the illustrations of the Ramayana commissioned by Akbar in 1582. These full-color miniatures can be viewed from the Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., U.S. A.. They are also available in publications such as the Palace Publishing Edition of "The Illustrated Ramayana". In these illustrations Rama, the Epic's Hero, an Incarnation of Vishnu, is depicted as black, gray, blue or greenish, but NEVER as a 'white' human racial 'Aryan'. Furthermore, Hanumat (Hanuman) and the other VANARA FOREST DWELLERS are real monkeys with tails, and the ASURA demons are giant multi-colored shape-shifting monsters. Ravana their demon leader (a 'white' skinned brahmin by the way) has ten heads and twenty arms. The other demons and demonesses are also clearly giant shape-shifting non human monsters with bizarre forms and colors. So the reading that the Ramayana is a story about a white 'Aryan' race-hero's subjugation of the dark-skinned natives of South India and Sri Lanka is ridiculous. The English census-compilers created Hinduism in the 1830s as a blanket term for several communities, but arbitrarily excluded Buddhism (since it was found in East Asia) and Jainism. It is thus not surprising that many `native' scholars have classed Jainism and Buddhism as `Hindu'. In favor of Jainism and Buddhism being merely `Hindu' religions, the following points have been put forward: >>>>Jainism and Mahayana Buddhism share a common language of belief with Vaishnavism, thus when the World Hindu Organization formed under the Patronage of the late lamented King of Nepal, H. M. King Birendra, the entire "family of Hindu Indic Sanskrity" INCLUDING JAINISM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM was included in its membership. I sat on the Executive Committee of this Organization in Kathmandu, and saw Jain and Buddhist leaders enthusiastically participating there. Sanskrit, the 'Aryan' (but NOT RACIST) language of the Vedas unites all the later Vedic-related (thus Indus or 'Hindu') traditions INCLUDING THE JAIN, MAHAYANA BUDDHIST, SHAIVITE, SHAKTA, VAISHNAVA, ADVAITI etc. traditions. Buddha and the Jain Tirthankaras are classed as incarnations of Vishnu in Aryan Vaishnavite literature. >>>>>>>This is a fact. Black Krishnas and white Balas and the Krishna of the Gita are also mentioned in Jain lore. The Mahayana Buddhist forms of Amitabha and Lokeshvara are forms of Krishna-Vishnu, and the M. Buddhist names of Amitabha-Lokesvara are names of Krishna-Vishnu. The Tamil epic poem Manimekalai mentions the 6 systems of philosophy current in India in the early centuries AD as the Lokayata, Bauddha, Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaiseshika and Mimamsa, and thus a Brahmanist author claims that "the Bauddha and Lokayata far from being non-Hindu, formed 2 of the 6 Hindu systems" [Man.Mek. canto xxvii] [1800, p.225]. The author then concludes that the Europeans have made a mistake in classifying Buddhists and Jains as separate religions, and that these persons are Hindus! >>>>>>It all depends on how 'Hindu' is being defined. The Nepalese- based World Hindu Organization (this is NOT the Vishva Hindu Parishad of India) defined 'Hindu' as inclusive of all those Indic traditions belonging to the family of Vedic-related Sanskrity. To further strengthen his point, he claims that the mistake was due to the Europeans following Madhvacharya's `Sarva-darsana-sangraha' of the 14th century, which mentions 6 systems: 1. purva Mimamsa, 2. Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta, 3. Sankhya, 4. Yoga, 5. Nyaya, 6. Vaiseshika. Since this list did not include Jains, Buddhists and Atheist Carvaks, these were not included by the Europeans as Hindus [1800,p.225]. >>>>>>>Madhvacarya was describing the traditional orthodox systems of Vedic thought. Furthermore the modern classification of "Hindu" would not have been known to Sri Madhvacharya. In late 1998, the Hindu (ie. astika Brahminist, or Orthodox Vaishnavite) Fundamentalist party, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), then the ruling party of the Government of India, issued several statements that the Buddhists were Hindus. Other statements also claimed that the Muslims were mostly converted from `Hindus' (a fact long controverted by the English census, which showed that even in Bengal half of the Muslims were of `foreign' origin). This coincided with widespread violence against Christians, Muslims and Buddhists, with attempts to `reconvert' the `lost' Hindus. >>>>>>>This author's perception of the BJP is rather strange. Has he ever heard of SHAIVISM? Doesn't he know about the long oppression of hundreds of millions of Vaishnavas by the non-Vaishnava caste brahmanas? Why is it traditionally joked all over India that the Brahmin devotees of Shiva are rich and powerful while the devotees of Vishnu are poor and powerless? Why did Gandhiji call the Untouchables the HARI-JANAS or CHILDREN OF HARI (KRISHNA), and why did hundreds of millions of poor Vaishnavas follow the Pranami and RAMA VAISHNAVA Gandhi in his stand against BOTH THE BRITISH and all forms of undemocratic, racist and class oppression? Thus, the noble faith of Buddhism has been insulted and denigrated by being included in the Hindu monolith of Vedic apartheid, sati and dowry-burning - >>>>>Using these anti-Hindu buzz-words of the Dalit Movement, this author clearly suffers from extreme, blinding anti-Vaishnava prejudice, of the kind exhibited by the long-oppressed South India Dalits who have bought-into the anti-Ramayan "we are not your monkeys" movement. While I am sympathetic to his cause to free the Dalits and others oppressed by racism and caste-ism, it saddens me that he is unable to realize that his thinking has been corrupted by Euro-aryanism, so that he cannot understand who the real enemy of Indian brotherhood and solidarity is. "Advani delivered himself of some newfangled wisdom on November 6 at Sarnath, while addressing an "international" seminar on "World Unity in the Buddha's Trinity" as part of the Buddha Mahotsav organised by Union Tourism Minister Madan Lal Khurana, and much publicised in the media in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Buddha, he declared, "did not announce any new religion. He was only restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals of the Indo-Aryan civilisation." According to The Telegraph (November 7), "Advani said (the) Buddha derived his teachings from the Bhagvad Gita and was an avatar of Vishnu." -- [Bidwai] The bigoted Vaishnavas have also made many attempts to subvert the separate religion of Jainism to the `Hindu' yoke. Naturally, the Jains have valiantly resisted these sinister attempts to destroy their religion and heritage, as is evident from the following recent press release: "Jains demand minority status Sunday, February 14, 1999 The Indian Express PUNE: The national conference of Jains Saturday passed a resolution to recommend to central government to include Jains in the list of minority communities. The conference, 'Jain Action 99', organised by 'Jain Sahyog' also passed a resolution that out of the expenses which the Jain community spends on religious functions, some part should be kept aside to promote education, social and cultural activities of the Jain community in the local areas, reports PTI. Another resolution urged for creating unity among Jain groups of different castes and sects and to bring all the national as well as local level organisations together to form a pressure group at the national level. The conference also mooted health projects by providing homeopathic medical service to the community. Among other states, delegates from Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra were participating in the two-day conference. Dalchand Jain, treasurer of All India Congress Committee, in his inaugural speech called for preserving ancient Jain temples in a better way. He also called for setting up of hostels for Jain students. Milind Phade, chairman of Jain Sahyog, outlined the purpose of the conference. Assistant editor of 'Maharashtra Times' Ashok Jain released a special issue of 'Divya Shakti', a booklet on Jain community." -- [Min_J] >>>>>>This is an extremely important point. When I was meeting with religious and governmental leaders in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal in 1982, I was repeatedly told by all the Vaishnava, Shaivite, Jain, Sikh and other leaders about the problems caused to ALL religious communities by the secular and communist-influenced government's insistence on lumping all the groups politically into the single category of "Hindu" as opposed to "Muslim'. Funds to support communities, for education, social services, infrastructure, to restore temples, preserve heritage and archeological sites...funds for everything were tied-to obliterating "sectarian differences" and accepting the government's one-category-fits-all "Hindu" political label. The effect was that if a group insisted on preserving its unique identity and heritage by not identifying itself on the census as part of the generic 'Hindu' category, it would become a governmental non-entity, and be deprived of all future tax-dollar paid services. Thus the secular government was using the tax dollar developmental monies purse-strings for anti-"communal' social engineering. The above example of the Jains' efforts to fight this is a good one, but it gives the erroneous impression that the Vaishnavas and other 'sectarian' and 'communal' groups are not ALSO subjected to the same anti-religious and ultimately genocidal forces to conform-or-die-of-neglect. 8.2 Judeo-Christian Hindus Indeed, so vague is the definition of `Hinduism' that one can include Jews and Christians in it! This has already been done by our bigoted Brahminists and Vaishnavas. Jews who has put forth the claims that Jews are Hindus? A Pandit from Kashi Mandir? Or an Acharya from Poona Vedic Institute? No! A European Aryan friend of the Brahmin Aryans has put forward these claims. Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, which originated the Nazi version of the Aryan race theory, wrote: "Megasthenes says that the Jews were an Indian sect called Kalani, and their theology resembled that of the Indians. Other authors also suspect that the colonized Jews or the Judeans were the Yadus from Afghanistan -- the old India. " -- [Isis.I, p.567] Madame Blavatsky notes that the old French scholar Jacolliot, who lived in the 19th century, had already realized that India was the cradle of humanity. The august Jacolliot derived the Books of Moses from India: "He [Jacolliot] shows the sources whence proceeded the revelations of all the ancient creeds, including the inspired Books of Moses, and points to India directly as the cradle of humanity, the parent of all other nations." -- [Isis.I, p.584] What these citations show is that the main culprits in the spread of the bogus Hindu-Aryan race theories were European Aryans, who were bolstering their race pride. >>>>>>One of the tragic things about the disinformation of the European Aryanists is that it has polluted the entire field of indological studies. Aryanism really pervaded the western humanities. As a result, real unbiased inquiry into the ancient relationships between the Eastern, Levantine, Afro-Egyptian and European cultures has been severely inhibited. Any evidence for real ancient interactions between the African and Semitic and Indic civilizations has been contaminated by the nonsense racial Aryanist speculations of the Euro-Aryanists. At present, one good thing to come out of the Dravidian pride movement, is a new look at the possible connections between Agamic Shaivism and other S. Indian traditions, and those of very ancient Sumer, Akkad, the traditions of the Biblical Western Semites in general, and traditions of Africa. >>>>>All the above and below Aryanist 'historical' nonsense is typical of the bizarre mixture of truth, fantasy and out-rite racist lies being promulgated by various fanatical Aryanist 'Hindu' groups today. Over the years I have written letters to the authors of some of the outrageous claims made in this post, refuting them and demanding the lies be retracted. This has not made me very popular with the Hindu Aryanist fanatics whether Advaiti, Vaishnava or Shaivite. Fanatical Hindu Aryanism does unite the elite powerful Brahmins of India as a pro-Brahmin, anti-everyone else POLITICAL, not religious entity. >>>>>>The authors and promulgators of some of the below ideas are also HEAVILY INFLUENCED by the Western Occult traditions, and have wholly adopted some of their racist Aryanist, anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic lies and doctrines from these sources. In reviewing a recent book by ISKCON's popular historical-fiction-as-fact writer Stephen Knapp (2000 World Relief Network) it is noteworthy that not only is his work pervaded by Rosicrucian, Masonic and Theosophical ideas, but he actually cites western esotericists like Spencer Lewis, and New Age occult 'wisdom' pseudo-historians like Kersten as quotable authorities alongside bona fide scholars, as if there is no difference! In the above and below statements, some of which come from Knapp's book and the very popular bizarre writings of P.N. Oak, Western esoteric sources have been used. Above Louis Jacolliot, and his avid Theosophical Society promoter H.P. Blavatsky are both mentioned. Theosophy-related and New Age influenced Eastern and Western Vaishnava sites on the internet often refer to the imaginative esoteric and Aryanist teachings of persons like Blavatsky, Jacolliot, Nicholas Notovitch, Eliaphas Levi, Spencer Lewis, Manly P. Hall, Kersten, Gruber and the spurious 'Tomb of Jesus' esoteric Sufism related Ahmadiyya Muslims. P.N. Oak's rabidly fanatic writings are very popular in some Hindu and Vaishnava circles. None of Oak's or Knapp's fans seem to have any ability to discriminate between authentic historical scholarship and the imaginative fictions of the esoteric channeled 'masters; and their earthly spokespersons. http://mailbox.univie.ac.at/~muehleb9 Brian