RMF Summary: Week of December 4 - 10, 2012

December 4 (continuing discussion from November 24)
Life of Pi - lessons for Hindus
Equal-equal Hindus might feel encouraged by the attention paid to that idea in Ang Lee's visually magnificent movie, "The Life Of Pi". A sampling of Christian...

Harsh argues:
"I agree with Mr. Ganesh. Why did PI convert to Christianity? it had nothing to do with the story or plot. Even my "secular" friends felt that PI converting to Christianity made no sense whatsoever. Infact if they could have explained the dharma philosophy nicely in the circumstances shown but it is seen from a Christian POV."

Carpentier responds:
"Actually he does not convert. As a child he wanted to be baptised but it was only a desire and then he went through other religious experiences like Ramakrishna Paramahansa. In the end he is shown having married the Bharata Natyam dancer he had loved as a teenager and having given his children Hindu names. His worldview is distinctly Indic, not "semitic" throughout the movie though it is inclusive, as all truly sadhakas are, in all times and places..." 

December 6 (continuing discussion from December 4)\
Hinduism: The ultimate anti-fragile
The above is an interesting and innovative use of BD's thesis. Clearly, the...

Vibhaa responds:
"Blog author posits that in Stage 2 (1857-1947), Hindu society joined hands with Muslim society. This position is arguable as Muslim leadership in India seems to have collaborated with the Christian West against the nativist Dharma. Syed Ahmed Khan, MA Jinnah are some major examples that apparently applied people of the book solidarity against "Non-Believers""

December 6 (continuing discussion from November 22)
Angana Chatterji hosted at Harvard by Michael Witzel
In Breaking India, Rajiv & Aravindan write about some US academics who produce literature with questionable funding that could aid in the disintegration of...

Bhattacharya notes:
"Only one week from the day this thread regarding Angana Chatterji began, a relevant development has taken place. According to recent news reports [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/specials/gujarat-assembly-elections/US-\
lawmakers-urge-Hillary-Clinton-to-continue-denying-visa-to-Narendra-Modi/article\
show/17473016.cms], in a letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dated 29 November 2012, twenty-five U.S. lawmakers, including Congressmen Joe Pitts, Dan Burton, Trent Franks, and James Moran (all discussed in message #3835 in this thread) as well as others, have recommended that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi be denied a visa. In their letter, the lawmakers specifically mention Modi's alleged involvement in the 2002 Gujarat
riots. It is notable that 11 of the 13 U.S. Congressmen named as signatories to the letter in the news article referenced above are members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission [http://tlhrc.house.gov/members.asp], the very same
Congressional committee before which Angana Chatterji testified in March of 2012 [http://tlhrc.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1227 , click on Chatterji's name
and Transcript/Webcast in left margin for documents/testimony], as discussed in message #3835 in this thread. Another signatory to the November 2012 letter,
Congressman Frank Wolf, is co-Chairman of this committee. (A complete list of the twenty-five signatories and the full text of the letter were not found on the web)...." 

December 6 (New Thread)
AAR session on Being Different

Rohit posts:

"Comments of Sri Koenraad Elst on the AAR session on Being Different: The debate about Rajiv Malhotra's book Being Different was very instructive. At the end, Malhotra ably put his critics in their place, but first they had their say. I was appalled by the bad manners of Brian Pennington against the invited responder, Rajiv Malhotra: he wondered aloud, after a long diatribe which I guess was his privilege, why the AAR and organizer Francis Clooney s.j. had cared to pay any attention to Malhotra at all, let alone invite him. It was typical for these academics: they fight by exclusion, they shamelessly  exploit the fact that they are in and Rajiv is out, eventhough his book will prove more influential (and far more factual) than anything they will ever produce, or than the wrongly famous Orientalism by Edward Said..."

Rajeev responds:

"Rajiv comment: I very much appreciated Koenraad's participation from the audience. He pointed out that those like Pennigton who accused me of "essentializing" Hinduism were themselves essentializing the notion of "minorities". The panel failed to offer any response.

I agree that Edelman (like Rambachan) completely lacked creativity, originality or any imagination to look beyond the box of "standard works" on Hinduism by one "side" or another.

Regarding history-centrism: someone from the audience asked Edelman how the historicity of Krishna according to Vaishnavs resembled and how it differed from that of Jesus. He ought to have taken this opportunity to give some thoughtful remarks. But he look dumbfounded and muttered something like "I have not thought about this." Amazing that the man who was the Vaishnav expert on the panel had never bothered to think of this rather obvious question.

In my response to Edelman, I pointed out that his credentials as Vaishnav scholar (which he went on emphasizing) were based on his years of study at the feet of his guru Dr. Satya Narayan Das, who is arguably today's foremost prominent exponent of Sri Jiva Goswami's Achinta-bheda-abheda. (I happen to know this fact about Edelman's learning of Vaishnavism from Dr. Das.) Then I pointed out much to his embarrassment that: Dr. Das is a dear friend and supporter of my work; that he had read the entire manuscript of BD a year it got published and made numerous comments and suggested changes, that i had used his interpretation of Vedanta in Appendix A and not relied entirely upon Shankara; and that he had written a most wonderful endorsement of this book. This completely slid the rug from under the feet of this scholar.

I have finished reading Rambachan's PhD dissertation written in 1984 where his ideas come out clearly against Swami Vivekananda and others he thinks of as the culprit starting what he calls "Neo-Hinduism". I have also finished reading very thoroughly the complete writings of Hacker (a Christian missionary) on this matter along with related works by others. So I will first write a full purva paksha of this school of anti-Vivekananda...

Of course Penington's crass and very unscholarly conduct is most reprehensible and deserves to be address as such. There was no scholarly content in his paper that was relevant to BD - mostly generic attacks on the type of scholarship he presumes Hindus to produce. I doubt he read BD more than skimming through it and looking for things quickly to get his bearings.

Below is Dr. Das' endorsement of BD:

Reviewer: Dr. Satya Narayan Das, Founder of Jiva Institute of Vedic Studies, Vrindavan

Many Indian spiritual leaders, lacking a profound knowledge of their own culture, and feeling inferior to the West, try to respond to the Western challenge by showing how Indian and western religions are the same. They chant "sarva-dharma-sama-bhava" (all religions are equal) out of context, causing much confusion. In the midst of this morass arises the ”lotus of Rajiv” (the word rajiv means a lotus in Sanskrit) in the form of his book, Being Different. Rajiv Malhotra's work is a kind of yajna that reverses the gaze upon the West through the lens of Indian knowledge systems. This process is traditionally called purva paksha, and in Rajiv’s work it is given a new mission and a new importance.... 

... The dharmic traditions have been a target for digestion into the belly of Western culture. Being Different challenges the legitimacy of such attempts with profound logic and examples. Its analysis of Abrahamic religions shows how they are history-centric. This fixation drives them into claims of exclusiveness and gives them anxiety over cultural differences which they seek to resolve through appropriation, assimilation, conversion - all forms of digestion that obliterate whatever seems challenging.... 

... Being Different breaks new ground in that direction. The result is a highly original and sincere attempt to compare the basic paradigms of Indian and Western thought. This book will open the eyes of any fair-minded reader regardless of worldview. " 

Shashi adds:

"In his book Decolonizing the Hindu Mind, Elst strenuously points out that there is a dearth for good material on Hinduism that takes a position. In that context Elst was dealing with the issues in political arena. Better yet, this precisely what Rajiv has been doing in the academic arena (and other non-political forums), which as Rajiv has pointed out in past, will have the greatest impact.

In http://koenraadelst.blogspot.com/2012/12/impressions-from-aar-conference.html, Elst says “It was typical for these academics: they fight by exclusion, they shamelessly  exploit the fact that they are in and Rajiv is out …”.

This is an old trick: they only indulge in monologs. If they had ever entered into a constructive Indian style purva and uttar paksha based debate with Indian pundits, among other things – AIT would never be born and we would not have to clean their mess..."

December 7 (New Thread)

Appropriating Music -- Takadimi.net?
I ran into this website in course of my research on rhythms -- http://www.takadimi

.net I suspect that this is a u-turn/appropriation classic -- Read the FAQ...

December 7 (New Thread)
A martyr in making in south india
Ram posts: 
Christian catholic church is slowly initiating attempts to digest the tamilnadu , kerala functions of pongal (makar sankaranti) by attaching it with the supposed martyrdom of Devasahayam pillai. An article on the whole myth of Devayasahayam pillai being killed for his religion

Shanti notes:
"Thank God we Hindus follow the Lunar calendar! Otherwise the Church would have long ago found a 'Christian reason' for each of our other festivals too.  The Church is known to have done this across Europe to all pagan festivals:

... In fact there is a widely held theory that the celebration of Christmas on 25th December is not the actual birthdate of Jesus but selected by the Church to coincide with the pagan winter festival."

December 7 (New Thread)
Ravi posts:
Prof. Ashok Aklujkar (Dept of Asian Studies, Univ of British Columbia

‘Languages give people a sense of identity’ Ashok N Aklujkar is Professor Emeritus, Department of Asian Studies, at the University of British Columbia. He received his PhD degree in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard University and was the founder of the Canadian Association of Sanskrit and Related Studies. He has published groundbreaking research on the Sanskrit Linguistic Tradition and Poetics. Why is Sanskrit a dying language in India? Incorrect educational policies are primarily to be blamed because they are aimed at taking Sanskrit out of the mainstream. We should create more space for languages in general — regional as well as languages of historical importance such as Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. Even Hindi is slowly being rooted out. This is because we emphasise on English way too much. Why do you think Sanskrit, in particular, should be focussed upon? For over 1,000-1,200 years, all Indian languages have drawn their sustenance from Sanskrit. Our vocabulary is based on Sanskrit. It cemented India when it was politically divided. Each individual needs a sense of identity, which is built through philosophy, religious teachings, ethics, and all of this is rooted in Sanskrit. This is why we need to promote it. What problems do you foresee if we do not focus on languages? If we do not pay enough attention to languages and humanities in general, our social problems are going to increase. Each language has a view of the world embedded in it and suggests different ways of solving social and scientific problems. So if we give English precedence, we are impoverishing the world of other points of view... What, according to you, is the future of the humanities stream? The policymakers as well as the public at large need to be educated. The people of India are restless because they are realising that their dharmic roots are being taken away and are being destroyed in the name of globalisation and westernisation. This will lead to a loss of truly creative people. ..." Rajiv responds: "I am glad to see the media give Ashok his due. In 2002 (exactly a decade ago) Infinity Foundation gave a grant to Harvard University for the purpose of appointing Ashok Aklujkar as full-time visiting professor. He taught courses there and did research. In the prior year, Infinity Foundation's visiting professor for Hinduism Studies at Harvard University had been Arvind Sharma. Both these are mentioned at our web site..."

 

This thread provides many links and information that brings us up to date with the latest debate. We plan to summarize this in a separate post.

December 7 (New Thread)
Critics Respond to Hindu Intellectual's Attempt at Being Different


Note: This error-filled article discussed in the next thread has been exposed for its lack of research by Sandeep Balakrishna here.
December 8 (New Thread)
The Case for Indian Islam by Neil Padukone
films2020 posts:
" ... Pragati is the publication of Takshashila Institution, a think-tank based in New..."
Arun responds:
"The Tamizh Alvars predate the arrival of Islam"

Manish notes:
"First thing first, I have been following Pragati for at least 3 years; it aspires to be nationalist but never rises beyond Nehruvian miasma. The quote below bears this out. This is the bane of all ''strategic'' thinking in India.

// The intermingling of Islam and Hinduism in the 12th century produced a profound evolution in Hinduism that remains salient today. //

-- there was no intermingling; Hinduism was mercilessly mauled. To term the rape of Hindustan as ''intermingling'' is the usual Nehruvian teachnique of lying while hiding behind pious platitudes, so as to avoind facing up to ugly realities. "

 December 8 (New Thread)
A plea for some help
Vish posts:
I wonder if some forum member, with accesses, could help me find a contact for Prof. (Mrs.) Bhaswati Sinha, who was (maybe still?) with the Department of Religious Studies in Punjabi University, Patiala.

I am coming here after doing my due, and in not getting anywhere.

Prof. Sinha, after a sustained labor of two decades published a very important treatise on Udayana-Acharya's work on the "Hindu Rational Enquiry into the Existence of God". It is a remarkable thesis in that Udayan talks of "Adrsta" (a kind of genetic notion still prevalent in a Hindu's way of life, but which everyone wants to summarily dismiss as non-scientific attaching tags such as 'chance', 'fate', 'bad luck' etc). Udayana-acharya  uses some powerful arguments to develop the notion of God as the cause for such an effect.

Prof. Sinha's elaborate work lays a powerful foundation to notions of "Poorva-Paksha" arguing against many of the notions advanced by Mimamsakas, Buddhists, Chaarvakas and the like (many thanks to BD for providing a resurrection of this long forgotten concept of the Dharmic way of  acquiring knowledge). She also provides a  terrific reference and examples on the powerful logic that was prevalent in India during those ancient ages.

Prof. Sinha did her MA from Calcutta University, and obtained her Ph.D. from Madras under Dr. TMP Mahadevan. In 1976 she was recommended by Mahadevan to join the Punjabi University to forge a research team there, and we believe that in some shape or form she still lends her services to them."

The thread below will be covered in depth in Part-2 of our series on this topic. Part-1 can be found in the June 2012 archive.
December 8 (New Thread)
Why the book American Veda is not called American Hinduism
Dear Friends Phil Goldberg is the author of the recently published American Veda. He explains why the word Hindu is not there. Book reviews can be read from...

December 9

Course on Indian Culture via MOOC
Alekshendra posts:
"Dear Dr. Malhotra,

This is my attempt to try to reach you. I have seen almost all of your lectures available on YouTube and the point made by you about the digestion of Indian Culture/History/Identity by the west.

In this regard, I would like to bring to your attention a new trending way of providing education online.
We have something called MOOCs (massively open online course) ( these links can give a better Idea:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixE1YAlHnVU
2. http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html )

I was a part of one such MOOC offered by Prof. Keith Devlin of Stanford University and the strength of the class was whooping 61 thousand.

I was wondering over the possibility of creation of an Online Course offered on Coursera which focuses on Indian Culture, its content, it's distinctiveness from the west
( https://www.coursera.org/category/humanities) then the knowledge and message can be spread on a much larger scale. "

Rajiv responds:
"I would be delighted. But some others must do all the logistics, funding, tech work, marketing, etc. I can supply the content itself. Many similar ideas have come and gone, because when the workload gets tough our folks' enthusiasm fizzles out. The core team has to be FULL TIME as I am. This means they need funding. It cannot be pursued as a hobby as and when one feels like. There has to be professional accountability just like in one's job"


We end this summary with a very thought-provoking post by Rajiv Malhotra. This post has some profound messages worth reading more than once. We cannot say later that we weren't warned.
December 10

Hindu Dharma is more than just a matter of naming  
"1) Many of our people seem confused and think that being Hindu is merely a matter of calling oneself by that name. This approach might be called "definition by naming". So long as someone uses the right name, its ok. I find this shallow and troubling. I know many who call themselves Hindus, but who are in one or more of the following categories of counterproductive persons:

    Using Hindu community to boost their own political status or raise self importance to get some appointment, etc. Obsessed with occupying some position of importance for which they are utterly unqualified, thereby denying someone better qualified the chance to serve us better.
    Happy to get digested; promoting digestion out of naivete/stupidity; seeing this as a sign of glory: "We have arrived on the world stage".
    Confused with ideas of sameness, as substitute for having to study hard to understand what dharma is.

2) So if naming cannot be the criteria for defining who is Hindu, another option many use is history centrism. Hinduism defined as a specific history in a specific geography. I reject this as well. It limits Hinduism's claim of universalism by defining it this history centric way. For one thing, it excludes many segments and movements which have separate histories (e.g. Swaminarayanan) and/or do not consider any unique history to be the basis at all (e.g. Kashmir Shaivism, Tantra, Yoga). This approach has been used for political expediency - turning Hinduism into a Semitic religion of sorts. It becomes a claim that downgrades us...

3) Definition by distinct principles and practices. This the approach BD follows. Here, I found it important to combine both positive and negative principles. Examples of positive principles are karma-reincarnation and non-translatables that are specific and shared by the diversity of dharma approaches. Negative principles are what we reject. These negative principles are is critical to formulate carefully so as to have non-digestible differences. Examples of negative principles: I reject the claim that God's manifestation on earth has been limited via one son and no other way...

4) So the combination of positive-negative principles define us.

    The positive ones root and ground us, in a manner that all (or almost all) dharma groups can accept; hence we get a unified platform.
    The negative ones prevent us from getting digested into some other religion that is lurking around sending its "good cops" to entice and us and fool us. ..

5) The cunning tiger would like to separate the quills of the porcupine from the meat, reject the former and digest the latter. If the porcupine is foolish and accept the tiger's offer and drops his quills, he will surely get eaten and digested. The smart porcupine must NEVER SEPARATE THE QUILLS FROM THE REST OF HIS BODY. The positive-negative principles come as one package, never to get separated.

6) Swami Vivekananda's greatness is because he followed the above method #3. I have been reading through his collected works now for a second time lately, because I realized that the AAR panelists' attack on BD was based on those scholars' lifelong attacks  of Swami Vivekananda. The central problem these scholars face is any claim of unity of Hinduism. They know how to deal with #1 and #2 approaches. #1 is simply trivial and easy to appease such fools by simply using the Hindu name. #2 has been attacked as Hindutva and hence they have lots of weaponry and soldiers trained to start firing. But #3 is very tough for them. This is why they have worked since 1950 to undermine Swami Vivekananda as a champion of unity using #3 approach. Digestion is one of their most aggressive and successful methods because Hindus get fooled into thinking the tiger is paying them a compliment.

7) I have a list of top tier scholars who have made their careers attacking Swami Vivekananda and now I am writing a response to their attacks on BD. Their attacks on BD use the same approach as their attacks on Swami Vivekananda. Basically, anything philosophical (not political) that unifies dharma, is seen as dangerous. Why? Because such a foundation for unity is very robust as a foundation for nation-building. To destroy India they must destroy every viable method of its unity. Modern economic growth is insufficient to hold a massive diverse country together when it faces crises and catastrophes. Only a shared set of dharmic principles can hold it together. Hence, this academic cabal has targeted Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Gandhi, B.G. Tilak, Radhakrishnan, etc. - calling them "Neo-Hindus" to imply that they lack authenticity...

8) I welcome sincere and COMPETENT help in this latest project of mine.I am working on it non stop 7 days/wk amidst some personal challenges..."

RMF Summary: Week of November 28 - December 4, 2012

November 29 (continuing discussion from November 20)
The Fully Digested Deracinated Chairman of the Press Council of India
Manish shared:
"Justice Katju (retired judge of the Supreme Court of India), distributes his pearls of wisdom from the vantage point he occupies as Chairman of the PCI. One sample, from his blogpost, titled ''What is India''.
[quote]
India is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America.  Over 92% people living in India are not the original inhabitants of India.  Their ancestors came from outside, mainly from the North West.
[unquote]

A few more.....
[quote]
The original inhabitants of India, as it is believed now, were the pre-Dravidians tribals, who are called adivasis  or Scheduled Tribes in India e.g. the Bhils, the Santhals, the Gonds, the Todas, etc., that is, the speakers of the Austric, pre Dravidian languages e.g. Munda, Gondvi, etc.  They are hardly seven or eight percent of the Indian population today.  They were pushed into the forests by the immigrants and treated very badly.  Except for them all of us are descendents of immigrants who came mainly from the North West of India
... a common culture emerged in India which can broadly be called the Sanskrit-Urdu culture. ..."


Rajesh responded:
"...Justice Katju sounds less than informed on the issue of Indian "pre-history". Genetics research tell a different story, and so do our traditions.

99% of all Indians are actually indigenous if one considers the last 40,000 years. Or seeing it differently, it may be true that ancestors of all Indians came from outside, if one goes by the Out-of-Africa Theory.

But the Aryan Invasion Theory mess is something successive Indian Governments have nurtured, so it is to be expected that even among high functionaries of GoI, there would be many who agree with such thinking..."

Bhattacharyya adds:
"...Rajeshji: Regarding your comment below, while I agree that the study of Sanskrit should be encouraged, one must be cautious when interpreting remarks like the one Katju made. In this regard, Sheldon Pollock, a well-known U.S. scholar
[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mesaas/faculty/directory/pollock.html], has made very similar statements ..." 

Rajiv Malhotra commented:
"...The post by S. Bhattacharya below is very important to understand. (BTW Pollock I think got the Padam Bhushan, higher than Padam Shri).

My recent encounter with Anantanand Rambachan ... caused me to investigate his background. It is amazing how most Hindus are unaware of his role in claiming that mantras are strictly "intellectual" devoid as energies, vibrations, etc. They are mere sentences like ordinary English. He is also against adhyatma-vidya/inner sciences and critical of yoga/meditation as something that contradicts Shankara. Also understand his pioneering role in undermining Swami Vivekananda and the whole movement he calls Hindu nationalism. This started with his 1984 PhD dissertation thesis written under a well known Catholic theologian in England. Ever since he has been nurtured by the Catholic Church as a "useful Hindu". There is so much eye opening stuff that I cant say more until I have written a longer article just on this.

One has to connect dots between Rambachan and others like Brian Pennington (who became famous for his book titled, "Was Hinduism Invented?" and Pollock who became famous for writing "The death of Sanskrit". Pollock is a left-wing sanskritist who claims that the old Brahamanical sanskrit is long dead; and he is reviving the "real" Sanskrit that belongs to subalterns like dalits, women, etc. whose voices have been oppressed. He got funded big time by Narayan Murthy's private foundation with a grant to select and translate Indian classical works. .." 

Uday shares some information:
"..

I am very thankful for having seen the video - this has been very insightful to get a sense of the mind of an academic scholar.!

coincidentally, I got another video that elaborates why sound had a special quality in Indian traditions as eloquently articulated by Rajivji and as easily dismissed by Sheldon. 

Clearly, this man is a Samskritam scholar, has even visited Sringeri and fairly well informed about Indian traditions - despite this, I was amused by the way in which he uses the Saraswati example in a derisive manner, expresses surprise on why the ancient Indian philosophers were also great poets, etc..."

Krishnan adds:

"...This what BD is all about. Katju may be say of 68 years of age, which means that he would have started education 63 years ago which would be when the British influence had not waned; It was at its peak. This would indicate that he would hve not known anything other than what has been taught by Missionaries or those Indian teachers who had been newly indoctrinated with the venom of POOR INDIANS. What else can you expect from other than what he is expressing? BD wants each one of us to get this poison out of the system and understand that we have to shift the chaff from the wheat. Berating or writing anjti katju slogans will get us know where. At least for us who have been introduced to our new selves let us make a change and think/talk/feel and behave differently..."

This next thread will be covered in depth in a separate thread, given the depth of the discussion and its implications.

November 29 (continuing discussion from November 12)
Very successful Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, Ahmedabad
I just returned from India after attending the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha's 5th Bi-annual Conference in Ahmedabad. I was fortunate to be invited to deliver a...
.... Rajiv comment: I too have been talking with westerners since a few decades. But thats not good enough to make a comprehensive assessment.

1) I have also provoked them beyond the surface goody-goody demeanor by questioning some of their cherished assumptions, thus forcing a choice between mutually contradictory beliefs. (Example: reincarnation cannot be reconciled with Nicene Creed, so which one do they reject? ..

December 1

Indian Rationalist charged by authorities, flees death threats for claiming leaky pipe caused "Crying Jesus" Statue Curved_sabre shares:

"

"Indian Rationalist charged by authorities, flees death threats for claiming leaky pipe caused "Crying Jesus" Statue.The Govt. of India caved into pressure from the Bible-thumpers.."

Rajiv Malhotra responds:
"So much for Indian claims of secularism, science, rationality. Send this to the media, justices and scholars who love to portray Hinduism as superstitious and support "anti-superstition" laws. Under such laws, the very notion of blasphemy must be challenged as something based on superstition and encouraging superstition." 

December 2

An illustrative dialog on HuffPost While browsing through HuffPost I found the following interesting exchange in the comments of section of this article:...

December 3 [New Post]

"Rajiv Malhotra on his Indian Challenge to Western Universalism"
Sunthar posts an interview of Rajiv Malhotra: 

The most prominent Hindu public intellectual to challenge prejudiced Western representations of Indian civilization, Rajiv Malhotra is President of Infinity Foundation (IF), which has been funding and running projects to rehabilitate and valorize the unique achievements of the Dharma traditions. Desi Talk interviewed him after the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies panel in Chicago around his recent book, Being Different: The Indian Challenge to Western Universalism.

Q.What was your professional background before establishing IF?

A. I was educated in physics, then computer science, worked as a techie, then as a corporate executive in strategic planning. Later I became a management consultant to the tech industry and finally started my own ventures before taking early retirement at age 44.

Q. How has IF been serving the cause of Indian civilization?

It pioneered in identifying areas neglected by gurus, Hindu civic leaders, as well as by the academy, areas where Indian civilization was being under-represented and misrepresented in prevailing discourse. Sometimes it is out of ignorance, but often there are well funded institutional mechanisms that perpetuate such discourse. IF identified these areas, spoke forcefully against them, and got people interested among all three constituencies. I am disappointed by the level of progress in instituting corrective measures that would make a lasting impact... "

December 4 [New post]

Hinduism: The ultimate anti-fragile

Rajiv Malhotra posts:

"http://docsubra.blogspot.com/2012/12/hinduism-ultimate-anti-fragile.html\?spref=tw

The above is an interesting and innovative use of BD's thesis. Clearly, the author has invested serious time and persistence to understand BD in depth.

[My response would be: thanks, Rajiv ji. I just connected the dots.]

Meanwhile, the 'Life of Pi' continues to generate a vigorous debate
December 4 (continuing discussion from November 24)

Life of Pi - lessons for Hindus Equal-equal Hindus might feel encouraged by the attention paid to that idea in Ang Lee's visually magnificent movie, "The Life Of Pi". A sampling of Christian...

Manish watched the movie and reviews it:
"I saw the film yesterday. Apart from the visually rich moments, which incidentally had nothing to do with the theme of the film, it left me unimpressed, and even offended at the attempt to exoticise India and Hinduism. We are real people, practising the oldest continuing faith of the world, with a highly advanced philosophical foundation; we are not merely subjects to be exoticised in Hollywood films for the consumption of largely western/Christian audiences. To me, it looked like a disguised attempt at digestion.

And, there was the gratuitous contrast between the French quarter (clean) and the non-French areas (filthy) of the town.

I also agree with Raj Vedam that the martinet father was hugely miscast. Incidentally, we saw the same phenomenon of using a miscast ugly father in Aamir Khan's ''Taare Zameen Par''.

Sadly, ''The Life of Pi'' seeks to exoticise Hinduism, and in the process, even resorts to perpetuating fallacies. The most egregious of these is the old cliche about ''33 million'' deities in the Hindu pantheon. Even while spreading misinformation, they got it wrong --- the widespread misconception is ''330 million / 33 crore'', not ''33 million''.."

Surya K quotes from the Upanishads to highlight a factual error in the movie:
"Then Vidaghdha, son of Shakala, asked him, "How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
Yajnavalkya, ascertaining the number through a group of mantras known as the Nivid (hymn on the Visvadevas), replied, "As many as are mentioned in the Nivid of the gods: three hundred and three, and three thousand and three."
"Very good," said the son of Shakala, "and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"Thirty-three."
"Very good, and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"Six."
"Very good, and how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?"
"Three."
"..."
"Two." ... "One and a half." ... "One."
"Very well, which are those three hundred and three, and three thousand and three, Yajnavalkya? ... "

Hemachandra comments on the book:
"... The boy cannot make sense of
Christian religion ("peculiar psychology", "Son appears only once in far away West Asia", "sense of disbelief", "bothered by it", etc) and is baffled by it. But, it suddenly cops out saying "I could not get Him [Christ] out of my head"
"the more He bothered me, the less I could forget Him"
and concludes "the more I learned about Him, the less I wanted to leave Him" The author forcibly makes the kid a Christian believer without a single good argument for him to follow Christ."

Ganesh adds:
"...Life of Pi was a definite attempt to clandestinely sell christianity to Indians. Just pointing out a few dialogues I noted.

1) Irrfan Khan says he is a Catholic Hindu.

2) Says "thank you Vishnu for showing me Christ through you".

3) There is a scene where pi as a kid says "I want to get baptized" and his Hindu mother (enacted by Tabu) gives an approving smile...
....
5) One scene shows the cast away pi beating up a fish, feeling bad but again saying "thank you Vishnu for coming in the form of a fish and providing food".

6) One can't get away from the fact that there was a definitive attempt to show that only christianity has is THE most righteous religion which has all the say about love and knows the true meaning of love..." 
  
Carpentier senses an overreaction:
"I think some people are making too much of the film as if it were a scholarly treatise on Hindu philosophy. It is not, it is a multi-cultural work of fiction that brings to life for an international audience the esoteric wisdom contained in the Indian scriptures and in others as well. The fact that all great Hindus from Antiquity to our days felt a natural kinship with and understanding for the real spirituality of other traditions (leaving aside dogmas and cultural habits and mores) is what the life of Pi emphasizes because it transcends monotheistic creeds..and gives a metaphysical symbolic reading of reality which in effect invalidates orthodox "semitic" theology. The fact that the Churches are uncomfortable with the film for obvious reasons should not make Hindus behave similarly because they should realise that the film symbolises the quest for mokshas (liberation from the ego) and its not an attempt at converting people to one or another religion."

Moderator responds:
"..Moderator's Note: ..., "Thanks Vishnu for leading me to Christ", said in word and deed, is not even that ambiguous....
.... This may not be commenter's intent, but it sounds like advice to Hindus to take the 'high road' and not criticize, while the Tiger goes about it's business of digestion. Even Pi, the movie's hero, understood the tiger better than that :) ...
 

Ganesh responds to Come Carpentier and argues that the movie is more about fate:
".."the film symbolises the quest for mokshas (liberation from the ego) and its not an attempt at converting people to one or another religion".

Neither does the film symbolise the quest for moksha nor does it attempt to hide the ulterior motive of wanting to influence audience (especially in India and China) towards christianity by using carefully crafted, emotionally tugging visuals with dialogues like I had stated in my earlier mail to the group.

That many movie critics have even gone on to give the review based on superflous understanding of the movie is quite astounding. I'm sure most Indian movie critics would've just done a copy paste job of reviews from abroad. Really funny that people want to say Life of Pi gives out the message that one needs to believe in God, while I seemed to be one of the few who understood clearly that the movie in effect was driving the point that one needs to believe in fate. The scene at the very end of the movie, when the Japanese insurers come to meet the cast away pi admitted in a hospital requesting him to narrate his unbelievable story in a logical way that they could understand, highlights that point. Irrespective of the two versions that pi narrates, what was unambiguous was, it was because of fate that he became a cast away, it was fate which ordained the ship to sink on that particular night leaving him stranded on a life boat with those animals,.."
 

RMF Summary: Week of November 22-28, 2012

Nov 23 [New Thread]

U-Turn example: Meditation experiences in Buddhism and Catholicism Chandramouli shares another case of U-Turn: " Becoming a Tibetan Buddhist nun is not a typical life choice for a child of an Italian Catholic police officer from Brooklyn, New York. Nevertheless, in February of 1988 I knelt in front of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, as he cut a few locks of my hair (the rest had already been shaved), symbolizing my renunciation of lay life. I lived in the vows of a Buddhist nun for a year, in the course of spending two years living in Buddhist monasteries in Nepal and India. Including my years of lay practice, I spent twenty years of my adult life practicing Buddhism, before returning to the Catholicism into which I had been born and baptized... ...Over the years, I have found that much of what I learned about and experienced of Buddhist meditation during those years enriches my prayer life as a Christian.... " Nov 24 White Hindus - Sarma on Huff Post Deepak Sarma, Associate Professor at Case Western and list administrator for RISA, has published an article on  Huffington Post entitled "White Hindu Converts: Mimicry or Mockery?" In addition to the comments below, it occurs to me that he is employing classic techniques of demonization, in an attempt to engender doubt about the validity of an entire swath of Hindu practitioners, both in themselves and in Indian-born and diaspora Hindus... Below find several of my responses. I'm sure I'll be contributing more, as I have experienced racism in Nepali temples.... ..."Deepak Sarma, who got his Ph.D. under Wendy Doniger, and is the moderator of the RISA-l discussion, chastised Antonio De Nicolas for supporting the petition and sent him warnings to stop further posts that criticized RISA members.... .... see his current and very crude rant against non-Indian Hindus as racist and anti-Hindu, and in the service of a Christian agenda opposing any acceptance of Dharma traditions. The only other possibility that I can imagine for his screed is that he would be in the service of Indian nationalists. Many, many westerners have embraced Hindu beliefs and practices, and live their lives accordingly. Manish responds: "... given that Sarma comes from the Wendy Doninger pack of hyenas, it isn't surprising that he slips in an offensively contrived conclusion, disguised as a question, in the midst of innocuous and sensible-sounding stuff. So, he slips in an insinuation (the text in red) even as he pretends to make saner comments before or after it.  Thus, in Sarma's warped Doningerised mind, everyone is forever a prisoner of their own religious history..." Another thread follows up on this HP post: Two Responses to Sarma's HuffPost "White Hindu Converts: Mimicry or Two very thoughtful columns have been published in response to Deepak Sarma's Huffington Post article, "White Hindu Converts: Mimicry or Mockery?" The earlier... The earlier has been written by Amod Lele, entitled "In Defense of White Hindu Converts." ..The second column is "Mimicry, mockery or mumukṣutva? A response to Deepak Sarma," by Jeffery D. Long, who earlier raised multiple criticisms and questions in the comments section of the HP article,.. November 25 The Kalavantulu of Coastal Andhra Pradesh Dear Friends, One of my friends who just completed a course on classical Indian music at IIT Gandhinagar sent me the paper I have attached with this mail, 'Memory and the Recovery of Identity : Living Histories and the Kalavantulu of Coastal Andhra Pradesh' by Davesh Soneji. It forms a part of his book, 'Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India'. Davesh Soneji is the Associate Professor of South Asian Religions at McGill University ... ... The paper makes for a very informative read and there were several times while reading it when I was reminded of Rajiv ji's work in "Breaking India" with regard to the colonial discrediting of the devadasi culture and it's art forms, and the later purging of Hindu motifs in Bharatnatyam by the likes of Leela Samson.... Here a YT video link [the uploader has prevented embedding, so I can't preview it here, sorry.]   Kavita responds: "Thank you for sharing this valuable information Sumantgaaru. Kalavantulu left behind a legacy and this dance form is now called VILASINI NATYAM. It has been painstakingly revived from its death throes (due to the unjust Devadasi Act) by Guru Padmashree Swapnasundari gaaru..." Sumant comments: "Thank you so much for your mail !  The videos were brilliant ! The perfect combination of music and dance had such a harmony to it...." [We take moment to silently remember the victims of the Nov 26 terrorist attack on Mumbai, as well as the many heroes that day revealed. Om Shanti.] Nov 26 (Mumbai) Evangelical Tycoon Gul Kripalani takes center-stage at 26/11 event  Ravi comments: *(Mumbai) Evangelical Tycoon Gul Kripalani takes center-stage at 26/11 Memorial Event* See last page of today's Rediff article: ...    .... More details about Gul Kripalani here: 'Christian businessmen must talk about Jesus' | The Christian ... www.christianmessenger.in/‘christian-businessmen-must-talk-about-j... Dec 30, 2010 – Gul Kripalani: Talk about Jesus in marketplace. By Pallavi Bhattacharya. IT took Gul Kripalani, a Sindhi businessman, a while to see the hand of... Nov 26 Life of Pi - lessons for Hindus Arun posts: Equal-equal Hindus might feel encouraged by the attention paid to that idea in Ang Lee's visually magnificent movie, "The Life Of Pi". A sampling of Christian reviews of the movie should open their eyes. Here is a fairly comprehensive one. Here is a quote from the post above, from the Christian Broadcasting Network: "While Christian audiences will be thrilled with the amount of onscreen time devoted to the cause of Christ and what it means to believe, they will also be quite disappointed as Islam and Hinduism receive equal representation." You should read the above just to glimpse the Protestant venom against Catholics! Let alone Hindus.   Venkat presents a passage for the related book: "I am not sure if the below passage from the book "Life of Pi" is told in the movie. Its worth reading. v http://hindus.livejournal.com/77001.html On Hinduism - from "Life of Pi" I am currently reading "Life of Pi", a novel by Yann Martel. While reading it I came across a passage which captures beautifully the essence of Hinduism and what it means to be a Hindu. I could relate to it so well that I couldn't resist reproducing it here. So here it goes: "But religion is more than rite and ritual. There is what the rite and ritual stand for. Here too I am a Hindu. The universe makes sense to me through Hindu eyes. There is Brahman, the world soul, the sustaining frame upon which is woven warp and weft, the cloth of being, with all its decorative elements of space and time. There is Brahman nirguna, without qualities, which lies beyond understanding, beyond approach; with our poor words we sew a suit for it - One, Truth, Unity, Absolute, Ultimate Reality, Ground of Being - and try to make it fit, but Brahman nirguna always bursts the seams. We are left speechless. But there is also the Brahman saguna, with qualities, where the suit fits. Now we call it Shiva, Krishna, Shakti, Ganesha we can approach it with some understanding; we can discern certain attributes - loving, merciful, frightening - and we feel the gentle pull of relationship..."    Vedam posts a review by a RMF member: "... In one scene, after Pi barely escapes the tiger's attack, stranded on a makeshift raft, reasons as only a Hindu would - that the tiger's nature is to kill and eat - for that is his Karma. Unencumbered by a philosophy that would put man in charge of all animals (thus in a position to decide the tiger's fate), Pi proceeds to do the unthinkable for a vegetarian - catch a fish, and kill it, to feed the tiger, despite the knowledge that keeping the tiger alive is suicidal for Pi: there could not be a better implicit message of duty/dharma. His breakdown at killing a fish is an explicit ode to the Dharmic credo of ahimsa. The trails and tribulations that follow with forlorn Christian and Islamic messages are perhaps the author's attempt to seek the divine from a syncretized viewpoint that is only possible in a Hindu, and would have monotheists squirming in their seats..."  Dvai adds: "My nine year old nephew analyzed pi as follows after having watched the movie --Pi represents the bridge between divinity and the individual soul...the circle representing the universe and the diameter the individual. It was interesting to see a movie evoke such questioning in one so young. Personally I found the novel a tad tedious. Also I found the attempts at religious syncretism a bit cliched..." Carpentier comments: "The film is a wonderful allegoric epic. The tiger is the ahankara while Pi is the infinite, nameless Brahman that is one with the universe and hence indestructible. The floating island on which he lands is the universe of matter, life giving during the day, deadly at night (prabhava-pralaya) in which the soul is entrapped. The boat is the physical body which takes the Self and its ego across the ocean of Maya-Samsara..." Western Universalism and Top-N lists shivadeepa1 posted: Exhibit 1: Foreign Policy magazine came out with a list of top-100 global thinkers recently.  It is an interesting exercise to go thru this list to see who's in and out, and their rank. Thanks to BD, we can start to see patterns. This list is from a western p.o.v, but it implicitly claims to speak for the globe, and most readers are conditioned to accept this at face value ... ... Exhibit 2: TIME came up with its top 100 novels of 'all time' but comes with a specific cut-off date :) ... Exhibit 3: Every school kid in India [at least in the 70s-80s] was indoctrinated with the "Top-7 list of the wonders of the ancient world"  ...Generations of Indian children were taught that that there were no wonders worth mentioning in ancient India (or in neo-India except the Mughal Taj), or South-east Asia or South America, but remarkably, we all bunched together around the middle-east and Mediterranean... Rajiv Malhotra responded: "Rajiv comment: A very important post. People should ponder and add substantive comments. Same also applies to international awards, institutions, laws, aesthetics, etc. WU is normative across civic society, with the exception of pop culture which is not where power resides. See my two videos on lectures at india international center in 2005. I explain the difference between pop culture and deep culture. The latter is where WU resides." Arun notes: "...It is our educational system's defect to elevate the ancient Greek list to something other than a fact about ancient Greece. As far as I know, we have no surviving travelogues from ancient India, and so we do not have ancient Indian opinion on ancient wonders." November 27 [Continuing thread from Nov 22] Request for RigVeda and Shiva translation/interpretation of involuti Rajiv Malhotra posts: Rig Veda: Aghamarshana rishi experienced the process of involution and described it in Rig Veda ( X.190.1-X.190.3). These verses speak in a very riddled manner of involution. And then of the movement of descent and ascent (samvatsara) and consequentely the alteration of light and darkness (ahoratrani) ordained by the ruler of Time. Then it speaks of the creation of the sun and moon, heaven, the intermediate world and then the world of svar, the heaven of descending light. Can someone find out a good translation/interpretation that I could cite to show the earliest sources for involution? Shiv-Sutras: Unmesha and nimesha are the terms used to describe involution and evolution. I need an expert interpretation of the text in this regard. This concept is the very foundation of Ken Wilber's claim to originality in his Integral Theory. He got this from Sri Aurobindo but denies it. I discovered that Sri Aurobindo got it from Swami Vivekananda  Kannan responds: "I can only hint at some pointers which may be pursued and tried. The concept of involution is very evident in what is called bhuta-shuddhi where the Gross Elements are "dissolved" into the Subtle Elements. Thus prthvi, the grossest, is dissolved into ap (subtler than that), which is next dissolved into tejas, and so on. The Sankhyan order is followed here. Hence after aakaasha, we have successive dissolutions into manas, ahamkaara, mahat (same as buddhi), prakrti (also called mulaprakrti/avyakta/pradhaana). And then finally into purusha/paramapurusha...." Murthy adds: "Dear Rajivji, having no immediate time to research fully into the subject, I just refer you, as others have done, to some pointers. Adishankara's Panchikarana is a compendium on the subject. The Vedas detail the subject in the Upanishads; in particular, the BrihadaaraNyaka and the Chandogya; which are exposited - again - by Adishankara..." Kesava comments: "..I thought Aghamarshana Suktam is from Krishna Yajurveda - Taittriya. I practice Aghamarshana Suktam during snanacharna, especially in tirtha sthala. I dont know if Yajur vedic suktam is different from that in Rig. Though I do not classify myself in "expert" group, I would like to point out what I understood from the purohita who taught me this suktam..." Jaideep comments: "Regarding your question on Rigveda, the best place to look for an authentic interpretation is the Sayana Bhasya, so I am giving below, the Bhaasya on the Aghamarshana Sookta along with my word-to-word translation. Dr. H. N. Bhat, who is a Sanskrit Scholar at IFP (cc'ed), very kindly helped me in the translation.." Rajiv Malhotra thanks those who responded with concrete help: "I thank the few persons who provided solid information. This has been very useful..." Chittaranjan adds: "..Evolution and involution of the tattvas are the very basis of creation and dissolution in both Samkhya and Vedanta. The principle on which evolution and involution are based is called `satkaryavada': the doctrine of the pre-existence of the effect in the cause. In the schools of Vedanta that hold Brahman to be the material cause of the universe,..." Vish posts: "...RV ( X.190.1-X.190.3) speaks of Cosmic creations  of layers from subtle to gross. (Harvard calls it a Cosmogonic hymn). (1) Here is a translation that I found on the internet, which literally appears correct: From blazing Ardor [of Purusha?], Cosmic Order came and Truth; from thence was born the obscure night; from thence the Ocean with its billowing waves. [x.190.1].." This thread below is a really important one because it talks about an event that brings together Rajiv Malhotra and other leaders of various decentralized institutions of Hinduism under one roof to discuss some really critical issues. We plan to cover this thread in-depth in a separate post. November 28 [continuing from last week] Very successful Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, Ahmedabad I just returned from India after attending the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha's 5th Bi-annual Conference in Ahmedabad. I was fortunate to be invited to deliver a... November 28 [Continuing thread from November 22] Angana Chatterji hosted at Harvard by Michael Witzel In Breaking India, Rajiv & Aravindan write about some US academics who produce literature with questionable funding that could aid in the disintegration of... Bhattacharya_S provides a brilliant, and extremely detailed investigative report on the activities of Angana, her husband Shapiro, and Fai over the last decade. We carry only some excerpts here [click the link to the original thread if you are interested in the complete details]: "...What is most confusing and troubling about the ongoing Angana Chatterji story is the continued backing and support she receives from top levels of U.S. government and academia. However, her relationship with Directorate of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)/Pakistani government agent Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, as well as Fai’s own bizarre story are instructive in understanding Chatterji's status in such circles. Chapter 14 of Breaking India describes how Chatterji called for foreign intervention while providing testimony regarding events in Orissa before a U.S. Congressional committee investigating international human rights in 2008. The Congressional committee was chaired by Congressmen Trent Franks and Joe Pitts. BI identifies Trent Franks as a strong proponent of U.S. intervention in India regarding caste/human rights issues, and as a board member of Dalit Freedom Network (DFN), while Joe Pitts, a Christian fundamentalist, is described as a fierce critic of India’s anti-conversion laws with a pro-Pakistani bent. Congressman Pitts has also worked with Congressman Rick Santorum in promoting DFN, which, as discussed at length in BI, is essentially a front for Christian evangelical interests... ...Despite U.S. lawmakers claims that they did not know of Fai’s ISI/Pakistani government links, he was a naturalized U.S. citizen and very much a political ‘insider’ in America. His Washington-based Kashmir American Council (KAC), founded in 1990 and located a few blocks away from the White House, regularly drew Pakistani dignitaries as well as U.S. scholars and powerful Congressmen to its various events, while Fai’s wife (a Chinese Muslim) worked for the U.S. government’s Environmental Protection Agency. In 2005, Fai reportedly received the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, and in 2007 he was given the American Spirit Medal, both from the U.S. National Republican Senatorial Committee. Fai himself was reportedly frequently invited to United Nations (UN) conferences during this period,.. ... in 2004, Joe Pitts introduced a bill before Congress that supported Pakistani interests in Kashmir, and called for U.S. intervention in the region. Shockingly, the bill was reportedly introduced only a few days after Pitts received a financial contribution from Fai’s KAC. Pitts has long been involved in Pakistani issues, and even traveled to Pakistan to meet personally with president at the time Pervez Musharraf in 2002 (as well as on earlier occasions). Pitts, a self-proclaimed “champion of Pakistan”, has served as Chairman of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus, created to safeguard Pakistani interests (Dan Burton has also held this post). Inexplicably however, Pitts has served simultaneously on both Congressional India and Pakistan caucuses, which some suggest was to help ease passage of pro-Pakistan (and anti-India) legislation... ... The picture that seems to emerge is that the ISI/Pakistani government arranged for Fai to testify before U.S. Congressional committees presided over and/or containing pro-Pakistani members such as Dan Burton. Fai’s ‘expert testimony’ was either directly prepared or approved by the ISI/Pakistan. And in turn, based at least in part on Fai’s testimony (and while they received money from the ISI/Pakistan), Burton, Joe Pitts (and perhaps others) continually pushed for Pakistani interests in Kashmir at the upper levels of U.S. government.... ...Surprisingly, after investigation and trial, in March 2012, Fai was sentenced to only 2 years in jail, for charges related to his attempts to cover up his association with the ISI/Pakistan and for tax violations. This punishment seems like a slap on the wrist for what appears to be a decades-long infiltration... ... However, her removal from CIIS was not for any connection to Fai, but rather for academic misconduct. Many likely assumed that Chatterji’s dismissal was related to her link to Fai, especially since news of her suspension coincided with details of Fai’s arrest (and his contacts in academia and government) becoming public. However, it now appears that her association with Fai was either ignored, not investigated, or not reported on. And amazingly, she turned up again this year (2012) in March at a U.S. Congressional committee hearing to testify about human rights in South Asia, where she provided predictably biased, distorted, anti-Hindu/anti-India testimony regarding Kashmir, religious conversion/Orissa, the 2002 Gujarat riots, and other topics... ... The transcript (and video) of the 2012 hearing contains an almost laughable exchange between Congressman Pitts and Chatterji during which, in the space of a few sentences, they effectively attempt to clear one another of any wrongdoing regarding their associations with Fai and the ISI/Pakistani government... ... Throughout the 2012 Congressional hearing, however, Congressmen Pitts and Franks make no effort to disguise their own pro-Christian and anti-Hindu biases, which are easily detected in the wording of their questions (to Chatterji and others). Chatterji is of course more than willing to indulge...  .... Noting her consistently anti-Hindu and anti-India stand, and her proximity to Fai, The Hindu American Foundation lodged a complaint against Angana Chatterji's involvement in the March 2012 Congressional hearing, in which the group even cited evidence pointing to her direct contact with Pakistan/ISI ... ... It is astounding that Chatterji continues to be regarded as a credible expert on human rights in India, but this only speaks to the biases of those who purport to ‘investigate’ human rights. She is still apparently in the good graces of the top levels of U.S. government, while in academia, she appears to have gotten some form of a promotion, moving from CIIS to the higher profile (and much wealthier) institution... .... At the time of their suspension, the two were the only full-time faculty members in the department in which they were found to have created and cultivated a bizarre, cult-like environment among students. The couple also frequently gave grades to students arbitrarily, based on non-existent work. Importantly, Shapiro himself has also been an invitee/speaker at Fai's Kashmir conferences, and a vocal critic of India's policy in Kashmir... .... Shapiro and Chatterji's student cult would thus apparently mobilize to actively demonstrate against the Indian government. The shadowy husband and wife duo have no doubt been instrumental in turning CIIS from an institution founded to promote the teachings of Sri Aurobindo to one in which anti-India propaganda and rhetoric is preached (discussed in BI).... ... Chatterji even apparently first met Fai at CIIS in 2003, when she claims he visited the university where she was teaching to give a talk [http://tlhrc.house.gov/docs/transcripts/03-21-2012_South_Asia.pdf , see page 48]... ... In this regard its notable how the whole Fai affair was dramatically downplayed by U.S. media, despite the profound, far-reaching implications of the saga. There are hardly any detailed reports on the internet among top newspapers, and information is always incomplete. For instance, there is little or no mention of the apparently close and long-standing relationship between Fai and the U.N./international human rights community, and it is extremely difficult to find any information about this aspect of his subterfuge... ... The issues discussed in this post may be appreciated in broader contexts of anti-India nexuses and strategies discussed in BI. Figures 11.5, and the various diagrams in Chapters 13 and 14 of BI (as well as the text of these Chapters) are particularly useful in understanding ties between ‘liberal’ left-wing academicians and 'conservative' right-wing Christian evangelical elements, who are seemingly at odds over a variety of issues, but united in their staunch anti-Hindu and anti-India stand. (Note: I referred to a number of articles on the web in writing this post that I did not mention. If anyone is interested in references, I'll be glad to provide them.) " Sumant posts:  I was sent the link below [from 2011] that discusses issues that have come up on this thread, and indeed on many other similar threads in the past. The author of the blog lists "Breaking India" first amongst his favourite sites. Not sure if he is already a member of this forum. Abhimanyu [Nice name!] adds: "I am a part of this forum and have learnt quite a lot from the information shared by Mr. Malhotra and others on this forum.  I am thankful to Mr. Malhotra and some of the other Hindu leaders for inspiring youth like me to create blogs exposing the nexus of Indian Communists/Christian Missionaries/Islamists around the world..."   .