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In the center of a well furnished room  in heavens a handsome person is sitting. He is in full army uniform with a side cap and is in tunic and wearing the rank of Japanese admiral. He is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose the most charismatic  leader of Indian freedom struggle and Commander of India National Army (INA). He wears  round glass spectacles and is neatly shaven. There are  many letters  lying on the table and   a Japanese pistol is close by on the table. A slight knock is heard  at the  door.  

Subhas. Please  come in.

(A person walks in and wishes) 

Visitor. Hello Mr Subhas. It is  long since I met you. How are you?

Subhas. I am fine. How are you Mr Patel? But feel sad because  I had to come here before I could achieve my mission. Damn it. The Japanese surrendered after Americans dropped the atom bomb on Japan. They still had power to  continue to fight. In fact many Generals  were not willing to surrender and wanted to continue fighting and see the end.

Patel. Yeah. But  there is nothing in our hands. It is god’s will..................

continue reading "INTROSPECTION IN HEAVENS"

Indians are crazy of awards and great lobbying goes on for these awards. Bharat Ratna is the highest national award in India and is given to very distinguished persons.Of late this award has become a controversy as all and sundry are aspiring for it.

Normal politicians who change their colors like Lizards are also claiming and lobbying for the award. In fact political leaders are resorting to all manipulations to get these awards. During British rule the Englishmen bought the loyalty of landed gentry by awarding title such as Rao Bahadur, Diwan Bahadur, Sir, Raja Bahadur etc. After gaining freedom these titles were abolished but were replaced by Padma awards. It is new wine in old bottles. Same rat race goes on. Lot of heart burning is noticed in India. Lobbying is going on for getting awards for men like Vajpayee, Karunaanidhi, Mulayam singh and Kanshiram. On the other hand army guys are after Seva medals which replaced British titles such as Distinguished Service Order etc. Only God knows the truth behind the award. Every General is given the award such as AVSM, PVSM, or at least one of these. Many deserving candidates vanish into history without any recognition because time, place and relations matter a lot in services. No heart burn. A simple fact of life. Why awards at all? They are doing the duty to their best and it is their duty. The awards result in rat race, cut throat situation, back biting, digging graves from behind, sycophancy in services. Many are of the view that the awards should be abolished because they are mismanaged.

continue reading "CRAZE OF AWARDS"

Editor's Note: This article offers a concise history of proselytism, showing the good the bad and the ugly of humanity's zealous efforts to lead one another to religious salvation. In the great Commons of Faith, proselytism treads ever so closely to the overgrazing that destroys the commons for all. Please read this article if you believe that coercing others to your religion will "save" them.

The aspect of conversions by various religions has always been controversial in the world. Hatred between certain societies in the world has been the outcome of this phenomenon. Inspite of modernity and dawn of scientific age and growth of scientific education in all corners of the world, the desire to spread the religions across various societies has not been eliminated and is being pursued with vigor too. Out of the important religions that are being practiced in the world today, Christianity and Islam are the active religious groups that are proselyte and are trying to expand their faith. Christianity from the beginning was a missionary religion and Islam did not lag behind either. Buddhism too is a missionary religion while Hinduism and Sikhism did not pursue this policy in vigor and remained passive. In fact Sikhism did not take up missionary activities. Most of the scholars claim that Hinduism has no missionary zeal although in ancient times Hindu princes invaded Malayan peninsula and established Hindu kingdoms.

continue reading "Should Religions Try to Convert Others?"