Author: G.P.Srinivasan
Publication: IVarta.com
Date: July 7, 2009
URL: http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/Inculturation-Hybrid-Bible/blog-291.htm
It is not at all surprising for me to know
that the Archbishop of Mumbai lied to editor, Hindu Voice while answering
his question on The New Community Bible during the press meet held on 12th
June 2009, 3.30 p.m at the famous Shanmukhanada Hall, Mumbai.
Just read the following quote.
"When the existence of the Church is
threatened, she is released from the commandments of morality with unity (of
the Church) as the end; the use of every means is sanctified, even cunning,
treachery, violence, simony, prison, death for all order is for the sake of
community and the individual must be sacrificed to the common good" -
Bishop of Verden, AD 1411. (Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, Time Reading
Program, 1941, Macmilan Co. Page 77).
Ends justify the means.
Inculturation, as propounded by the Vatican
Council II Documents 1, is the plan of Christians being within the folds of
culture, tradition and heritage of any people, posing as faithful devotees
and declare the "hidden Christ" at right moment, so that they (dubbed
as heathens, infidels & unbelievers) would become "Christians".
Till such time, they have to adapt and adopt their culture and related customs,
practices and manners. They even build Temple-like Churches, use Hindu symbols
and paraphernalia extensively and the Christian priests roam as Hindu Sanyasis
and Sadhus. By the Vatican Directive Prot. N. 802/69 dated April 25, 1969,
Twelve Points of Inculturation were permitted in India. So far, the "Inculturation"
activities carried out by the Christian missionaries among the Saivites have
been the topics discussed in selected and published books also. The authors
have come across a Jesuit, who has been carrying out his activities among
the Srivaishnavas for around 30 years. He is Professor FX. Clooney from Harvard
University"s Divinity department, following the steps of Roberto de Nobili
. It is well known as to how Roberto de Nobili, a Jesuit came from Italy claiming
as a "Roman Brahmin", donned ochre robes, learned Indian languages,
forged "Yasur Veda", was tried by the Ecclesiastical Court and finally
died in Chennai itself without any news.
In 2000, after the Pope"s condemnation
of practice of Yoga and other Eastern Meditation methods by the Catholic priests
and others, some Christians have also started criticizing the inculturation
programmes. However, the ongoing activities by the inculturation and Inter-religious
/ Faith groups / programs clearly prove that they are pursued vigorously with
the same old plans. Though, Fr. Bede Griffiths has not openly recorded in
his writings, Jesuits like Ignatitius Hrudhayam, Francis X. Clooney, Amaladas
and others have revealed that they follow Roberto de Nobili as their role
model. Thus, the succeeding Jesuits in India have taken his method of "Inculturation"
as a "role model" overtly and covertly. The mushrooming Catholic
Ashrams and increasing ochre rob clad Christian priests and preachers amply
prove their game-plan.
Gullible Hindus
Gullible Hindus are found often helping Christians
in their Inculturation directly and indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly.
They simply think that these Christians want to know Hinduism and they are
happy that the white skinned foreigners too want to follow their religious
practices.
Academic Iron Curtain
Dr. Bettina Baumer, a German is based in Varanasi.
She is well versed in Sanskrit. She has studied Kashmir Saivism also. She
has ingratiated herself with Hindu Scriptures. About 18 year ago (1991), she
arranged a conference in Dehradun. Selected Scholars about twenty in number
participated in this closed conference which lasted six days. The theme of
the conference was "Mysticism in Christianity and Saivism". The
Director of the International Institute of Saiva Siddhantham Research located
at Dharmapuram (Tamilnadu), presented a paper on Saivite Mysticism. It was
well received. Years later eventually Dr.Betina Baumer, brought in a book
form the papers presented. However the paper on Saivite Mysticism did not
find a place in the Printed book. When confronted, by the Director of IISSRC,
Dharmapuram, She told him that English was so rich, and high, that even Englishmen,
were unable to follow it. However the reason given for omission of this paper
was, that the paper on Saivite Mysticism, was not received in time. The fact
is that the paper was handed over well on the very day, after it was presented
and discussed. It was also the best paper, and appreciated by the participants,
When confronted with this fact, she only said "I am really sorry."
When elegant papers on Hinduism are presented, Christians in Hindu garb never
fail to draw, an iron curtain over them.
Misguided Sri Vaishnavas helped Father FX
Clooney
The Vatican sees India as the last bastion
of the sacred, and hence seeks to infuse that spirit into Christianity in
the West. Harvard Professor FX Clooney says, he wants to infuse the inspiration
that he has derived from Nammalvar"s "Thiruvaimozhi" into Christianity.
Western values are driven by adventurism, pop music, evangelizations, sports,
commerce, politics, technology and humanism; a fact which our policy makers
should take note of.
Thomas Paine (1737- 1809) wrote:
"Everything in the Old Testament is perverted
and distorted into meanings never intended by the writers. The practice which
the writers of the books employ is not more false than it is absurd. They
state some trifling case of the person they call Jesus Christ, and then cut
out a sentence from some passage of the OT and call it a prophecy of that
case. But when the words thus cut out are restored to the places they are
taken from, and read with the words before and after them, they give the lie
to the New Testament."
Robert L. Johnson wrote in "The Bible"s Ungodly Origins".
"Many rank and file Christians sincerely
believe the Bible is a direct communication from God to man. I know I used
to believe it was when I was a Christian. And from recent conversations with
many sincere Christians I know this is currently true for many believers.
Once it is proven to our God-given reason that the Bible is strictly a man-made
collection of mythology the mind loses yet another shackle of "revelation"
and is soon on its way to full freedom and progress.
The Bible was not handed to mankind by God,
nor was it dictated to human stenographers by God. It has nothing to do with
God. In actuality, the Bible was VOTED to be the word of God by a group of
men during the 4th century. "
Thomas Paine (1737- 1809) in his work titled
The Age of Reason noted that the very basis upon which Christianity was raised,
on "flawed methodologies," For example the taking of alleged Old
Testament prophecies and claiming that they referred to Christ who was born
some 700 to 500 years after they had been uttered by the Hebrew prophets.
H.G. Wells
H.G Wells in the world famous, The Outline
of History, Vol. I, pages 462-463, wrote: "It (the Council of Nicaea)
marks the definite entry upon the stage of human affairs of the Christian
Church and of Christianity as it is generally understood in the world to-day.
It marks the exact definition of Christian teaching by the Nicene Creed."
Constantine ordered and financed 50 parchment copies of the new "holy
scriptures". It seems with the financial element added to the picture,
the Church fathers were able to overcome their differences and finally agree
which "holy" books would stay and which would go and following its
true tradition the Indian Bible has been written with over one hundred quotations
from Hindu scriptures incorporated.
Late major Vedantam, who pioneered the investigation
of Christian misionaries in India over thirty years ago wrote:
"Theo centric and theocratic eclectics
are dangerous as nuclear, chemical and other warheads. The concept of "My
God is your God, but your God is No God" does not foster understanding,
co-operation and goodwill." The concept should be changed to "Your
God is my God and my God is your God" and accepted by all religions.
According to Professor John Crossan of Biblical
Studies at DePaul University, USA .
"The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great
(274-337 CE), who was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity,
needed a single canon to be agreed upon by the Christian leaders to help him
unify the remains of the Roman Empire. Until this time the various Christian
leaders could not decide which books would be considered "holy"
and thus "the word of God" and which ones would be excluded and
not considered the word of God.
"Emperor Constantine, who was Roman Emperor
from 306 CE until his death in 337 CE, used what motivates many to action
- MONEY! He offered the various Church leaders money to agree upon a single
canon that would be used by all Christians as the word of God. The Church
leaders gathered together at the Council of Nicaea and voted the "word
of God" into existence. (I wish to thank Brian Show for pointing out
in his rebuttal to this article that the final version of the Christian Bible
was not voted on at the Council of Nicaea, per se. The Church leaders didn"t
finish editing the "holy" scriptures until the Council of Trent
when the Catholic Church pronounced the Canon closed. However, it seems the
real approving editor of the Bible was not God but Constantine! and the Holy
Bible has been once again tampered with, in 2008 Edition - only this time
with additions from Hindu Scriptures.
Why would Christian Church copy Hindu Scriptures?
The answer is here. "Such, indeed, is
the exuberance and flexibility of this language (Sanskrit) and its power of
compounding words, and when it has been, so to speak, baptized, and thoroughly,
penetrated with the spirit of Christianity, it will probably be found, next
to Hebrew and Greek, the most expressive vehicle of Christian Truth."
- M. Monier - Williams (1861:54)
When we hear that at least a hundred quotation
from Vedas, Yogasutra and Upanishads have been incorporated into the Indian
Bible published in 2008. We are worried. We are also shocked when we hear
the cross behind the Jesus has been removed about which a leading archeologist
commented "this is tribanga pose of Sri Krishna and also resembles the
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in ecstacy". The pain and trauma in face of
Jesus has been erased and to be replaced with the picture of Joy found in
Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or Nataraja. The transformation is not yet complete,
and the words "he is dancing with joy has been interpolated in the adjacent
page". Hindu musical instruments used in religious Bhajans like Tambura
is on the right side , Tabla is on the left side and a violin is on the upper
left, dangles in the air, and there are twinkling stars all around in the
space. A pair of cymbals (jalra) is found at the Right foot of Jesus. He has
been adorned with a long Yahnopavitham, which extends up to the left ankle,
instead of the traditional one that stops at the waist. We Hindus are legitimately
worried at the blatant plagiarism.
Kalakshetra controversy
Whenever we hear the name "Golden Temple",
we tend to think of the beautiful Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. There is another
Golden Temple in South India - the great Nataraja temple at Chidambaram in
Tamilnadu that is associated with the cosmic dance of Nataraja. These are
sacred cultural and religious symbols of Bharat and of great importance and
immense sacrifices have been made by both Sikhs and Hindus respectively to
save and protect their holy symbols and sacred places. Kalakshetra Foundation,
Chennai, an Institution established for promoting Hindu Dance forms, is used
for inculturation by its Jew-Christian Director. She has removed the Nataraja
and Ganesh statues from its premises, which is certainly a matter of concern
for Hindus (Hindu Voice, Sept. 2007).
The classic Bharat Natyam cannot be serrated from Hinduism by Vatican ideologues
in India, as they have found it a useful tool of evangelizations.
"(Christian) inculturation is cultural
plagiarism (and) cultural vandalism, with the idea of ultimate conquest says
" Swami Devananda .He says "We must be beware of Christians with
their flattery and money, taking over our sacred art forms such as Bharathanatyam,
even as they did to those of ancient Greece and Rome, and calling them their
own". Drawing from his four decades of dealing with Christian Missionaries,
he gave this ominous warning to Hindus "Christianity is a parasitical
religion, which attaches itself to a host culture and feeds off it, absorbing
its spirit and lifeblood into itself until the host culture dies and become
Christian." This was articulated by Art of Living fame Sri Sri Ravishankarji
"How can you separate Bharata Natyam & Hinduism?" and again
echoed by Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswathy, "Dance is Sacred, You cannot
think of Dance without Nataraja", and now Hindus have the double duty
to defend their fellow religious people and also their texts from poachers.
(Hindu Voice, Sept. 2007).
Conclusions:
"To understand the Hindu Concept of Cosmic
Nataraja we have to understand the Hindu Concept of dance itself. When it
comes to natya the greatest inimitable exponent, Balasaraswathy had stated
that Bharat Natyam is nothing but "Natya yoga". Bharat Natya originated
with Tapas and Nataraja himself is the supreme teacher of Natya and codified
by Bharatha Muni in his Natya Sastra. Bharat Natya is the Supreme cultural
Symbol of Perfection in dance form. When the most revered cultural symbol
of Sikhs was threatened as happened some months ago when the blue attire of
their most revered Guru Govind Singh was copied by Dera Sacha Sauda founder
Baba Ram Rahim, the entire sikh community of Punjab and Haryana were outraged.
They came to streets, and the two states came to a stand still. it was a war
like situation. This incident was an eye-opener, as to what the consequences
will be if religious sacred religious symbols and traditions of one section
of the population are misappropriated illegitimately.
In the absence of any law whatsoever in India
to protect the original indigenous Cultures, heritage and knowledge- the entire
gamut of Hindu is under threat of unholy poachers. Its heritage and dominant
concepts and Ideas, Icons, Scriptural lore and Philosophical heritage. It
is well known that Basmati, Neem, Turmeric, Yoga and Bharat Natyam have has
now become endangered, and now it is the very Vedas, Yoga Sutras, having been
plagiarized and hence the crying need to enact strict legislations.
Food Items like Basmati, Neem and Turmeric
have since been protected after stiff legal battles in international courts.
Now it is the turn for the other rich symbols of Hindus, Buddhist, Sikh and
Jaina literature in books, sacred objects, icons, temples, sacred forests,
mountains, caves, rivers, religious spaces like bathing ghats, sacred trees
, groves, passages, ashrams, mutts, properties, lands endowed to them, unique
customs, leadership , sampradhayam, follower ship, rituals, practices, worship
methods, mantras, tantras, yantras, associated with these traditions, padarthas,
aushadas, pathways, places, religious, cultural icons, art, architecture,
music, dance, folk art, instruments, dress, jewellery, festivals, methods,
stories and organizations, sanctity, even food and gastronomic effects, need
urgent documentation and immediate protection from our authorities. Acts like
intellectual property rights must me enacted, and copy right provisions must
be extended for Cultural objects and the religious space of Hindus must be
protected as holy sanctuaries, but before that Hindus have to be sensitized
for the great work that lies before them.
